Lil B is a cultural force. In the last few years, he’s released over a thousand tracks, hundreds of music videos, and dozens of mixtapes. Many of his songs are energetic, obscene, ridiculous, and over-the-top; his goofiest tracks, which he calls “based freestyles,” are loose and unrehearsed (he claims to be “the rawest rapper”), and shine with a playful willingness to break conventions, pairing the most ebullient, positive emotions with abrasive lyrics. Recently, his “cooking dance”—miming stirring, chopping, and other culinary actions, as displayed in a ten-minute video he released in 2010— has become a mainstream meme, and NFL players use it during touchdown celebrations. In 2015, Lil B (whose given name is Brandon Christopher McCartney) put a public curse on NBA player James Harden for doing the dance but refusing to credit Lil B as its creator. This was the second curse he’d placed on an NBA player; in 2011, he cursed Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant after Durant insulted his music on Twitter. (When Durant signed with the Golden State Warriors in 2016, Lil B rescinded the curse, and Durant won his first title the following year.)

The Lil B oeuvre is vast, and it mainly orbits around language. His catchphrases “Thank You Based God,” “Stay Based,” and “Protect Lil B at All Costs” have spread online, circulating his slang globally. (For Lil B, “Based” describes “just being who you are and not afraid of that,” and his work includes many references to “Based World,” “Based Fam,” and, of course, “the Based God.”) Lil B’s fans have arranged for him to lecture at NYU and MIT, where his speeches have covered topics such as accepting others for their differences and being authentic as an artist. He’s released a song by his adopted tabby cat, KeKe, which features her purring over a beat. He’s also tried out for both the Golden State Warriors’ and the Philadelphia 76ers’ D-league teams.

Social media is a good introduction to Lil B. His Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr feeds share messages like “NOBODY IS UGLY ON EARTH IF YOU THINK OTHER HUMANS ARE UGLY, I FEEL BAD FOR YOU, THANK YOU FOR WAKING UP TODAY I LOVE YOU” and “I wanna give you a hug when i see you, rember any day can be your last dont be scared to love.” This tenderness and focus on love is present in much of his other work, including songs like “We Are the World,” which is labeled on YouTube as “THE MOST POSITIVE SONG EVER MADE,” and “I Love You,” whose music video ends with him crying and saying, “The world’s so big… I want to spread so much love… I got a...