Being surprised by anything weirdo Bay Area rapper and/or Internet meme Lil B does seems like a tough task given the multitude of weird shit he’s put out. Ambient rap record? Check. Songs about being Ellen Degeneris and Miley Cyrus? Check. Rapping over the X-Men theme? Google it. Yet here I am a little tickled by B’s new song “Gon Be OK” off his I’m Gay album, ya know the one that generated a lot of controversy given the title but that B sorta snuck around by adding the “I’m happy” bit. Listen below.
[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyS9kU4F9x4″]
It isn’t that stunning to hear Lil B release an Obama “we did it!” track in time for the 2012 primaries, nor is it to hear him continue to be the Glass Joe of rap. Nope, it’s the sample. He went and sampled a piano-driven track from the Spirited Away soundtrack, “One Summer’s Day.” Finally Hayao Miyazaki meets the Based God. Listen to the original below.
[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mavdv0VqOZQ”]
At this point I considered writing a bit about the trend of anime crossing over into rap, but realized this has actually been happening for a while now. Like, MF Doom drops what sound like English dubs into that Take Me To Your Leader CD, or uhhhh Kanye’s Graduation art. Lil B and his pal Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em have certainly been a bit more unabashed about their love of Dragonball, but it isn’t a shocking new thing. Still, maybe now Odd Future can rap over Ponyo or something.