[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=corY-FZAZog&hl=en&fs=1&]
On The Age Of Information – one of 2010′s best songs – Lil B breaks down the boom bap format subatomically and recombines it into an entirely new creature, beyond battling and backpack topics, catapulting himself onto new territory, with the sitting-on-a-park-bench state of mind and the blunted The World Is Yours type flow intact, over a Boards Of Canada type beat, landing right in the present, describing how the internets have changed humanity.
“Even though we’re in space we still hate ourselves
The age of information is Hell“
Lil B is making it too easy for himself , in the age of information, but also capitalism continued, when he says that “the internet has destroyed the human race“. The internets possess innate tendencies of bringing us together, creating new communities, but also work at intensifying the alienation of capitalist society, tearing us apart. It’s a double-edged sword.
“How come the human race isn’t progressing as fast as technology has?“
It’s sad to see users glued to their terminals in their homes, alone, when they ought to explore computers in the company of others; in the same physical room. We need spaces for that. Especially for those who like me lack hacker-like skills. The meritocratic order of the computer worlds needs democratic mutations. In with more people from all walks of life into these hackerspaces, turning them into social centers. Human beings need to meet, friendships need to be established, situations without a point of return need to be created. Until now technology has been in the service of capital, not humanity. Establish the new infrastructures.
Besides being early with embracing information technology – from the Homebrew computer club to the transnational empires of Silicon Valley – California has always been on the frontlines of new age philosophy. The Berkley-based rapper is one mind in a tradition of seekers, reminding me more of beat icons like Jack Kerouac and Neal Cassidy than later rock music heroes slash heroin junkies like Jerry Garcia and Jim Morrison; this nomad state of mind is shown on tracks such as Walk The World, Todays Weather and I Dont Want Shit.