Lil B is a lot of things: rapper, Based God, goth-girl lover and outspoken gaming nerd. In an interview with English electronic-music publication Fact magazine from February (it just landed on my radar! Sorry!), B (real name Brandon McCartney) discusses a lack of diversity in gaming culture, suggesting that video games need their own “Black Panther moment.”
He tells Fact:
It is in my soul and I’m a die hard gamer. ... Whether it’s playing games or rapping to video game beats, it’s all natural to me. I don’t need to be a poser and speak about it constantly or have a YouTube page dedicated to me monetizing my opinions on games. Folks can check out my Gamestop account if they want the proof. ...
There definitely needs to be more diversity [in gaming]. More people need to go to college to learn how to develop games that get to a deeper sphere of the world and take us to another portal. Maybe gaming needs a Black Panther moment.
It’s an interesting idea, one that our friends at Kotaku have considered, too: What will it take to change the image of gaming, to make it a more accessible place, one that better reflects the reality of who gamers are? Whatever a Black Panther moment in video games looks like, sign me the hell up.
Lil B also suggests that he’s working on his own video game, which sounds really great and I certainly hope is currently under construction:
I definitely want there to be a Based God game. ... Something where I’m in the same kind of world as Dungeons and Dragons would be cool. There’s been some cool rapper games like the Wu-Tang and 50 Cent titles, but I am trying to work out what would be the perfect developer to bring the Based God to life. There should be some news real soon.
But how soon? We’ve reached out to Lil B’s representatives to hear more about this Based God game and will update this post if we hear back.