Remember when Lil B created over a hundred MySpace pages filled to the brim with music?
Clams Casino does. The New Jersey native’s early productions were featured on a few of them.
“The first time we worked together was in the fall of 2008,” Casino said over the phone to HipHopDX. “I got his email from one of his many MySpace pages he had at the time. I sent some beats over and the first song we did together was called ‘What’s My Name.’”
Since then, both careers have gone in separate directions.
Lil B has become an enigma. CNN wants to hear his political ideologies, ESPN questions whether or not he can actually curse professional athletes and prestigious universities like Carnegie Mellon pay him for lectures. All the while, the former member of The Pack continued to release a slew of mixtapes featuring tracklistings that span hundreds of songs.
“He’s the most important artist of the internet age,” Casino explained. “All the kids that are coming up now are doing things on their own and not really caring. A lot of that comes from him in how people use the internet. He’s inspired a whole generation doing that.”
On the opposite end of the spectrum, Casino eventually found himself lending beats to A$AP Rocky, The Weeknd, Mac Miller, FKA Twigs, Jhene Aiko, Vince Staples, ScHoolboy Q and a host of others. According to him, working with that variety of musicians has made him a better artist. In his world, “it’s all experience” for Casino.
“It feels like we’ve been watching each other in parallel,” the producer said of his relationship with Lil B. “I’ve been watching him since then and he’s inspired me as well. It’s cool watching and being a part of that in branching out in our own different ways.”
Several mixtapes and an EP later, Casino dropped his major label debut under Columbia titled 32 Levels. Out of the album’s 12 tracks, Lil B is featured on four of them.
Call it a full-circle moment, but the collaborations have inspired a five-date tour set to kick off September 13 in San Diego and closing in Philly on October 14.
“It just makes sense from a tour point because of how big of a part he is on the album and process of creating it,” Casino said. “We’ve done a few shows together. I’ve come and supported him for some of his shows, but this is the first time we’re going out together.”
Though Casino kept quiet about future collaborations and projects, he’s constantly working and feels proud of the reception of 32 Levels.
“I just made as much music with as many artists as I could because it helps keep me fresh and I get bored,” he said. “I need new things and new challenges. I’m happy with how it came out and how artists have approached me.”
Clams Casino and Lil B 2016 tour dates are below.
09/13 – San Diego, CA @ The Observatory North Park
09/14 – Los Angeles, CA @ The NOVO
09/16 – Santa Ana, CA @ The Observatory
10/13 – New York, NY @ Playstation Theater
10/14 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Trocadero
Wtf is a “clams casino”??????………So many queers around these days, smfh.
He did produce some dope records on Vince Staple’s “Summertime ’06”
I disagree – I think the better answer is Soulja Boy. While just as garbage a rapper as Lil B, Soulja Boy was the first to show that popularity/buzz created strictly online can translate to real revenue/ringtone sales. You have to understand something – for a few years, Soulja Boy was one the most popular ‘hip hop’ acts, and I use that term loosely when describing Soulja Boy – but it’s the truth. Lil B is an internet side show; his ‘fans’ don’t buy his music. It’s simply cool, or was, for this under 21 hipster generation to say they liked him. Soulja was making real moves for sometime, all based off the internet hype created from one song – ‘Crank That’
You probably dont know much about b or really check him out. Your overgeneralizing
Am I? Please explain . . . .
Soulja Boy himself would be nothing without Lil B. Plus, Lil B is hugely respected in the rap industry. Oldhead fans hate him, but ask any great modern rapper and you’ll find that the vast majority of them are big Lil B fans. From Kendrick to Young Thug, the industry loves him. Lil B’s real accomplishment was deconstructing rap to show everybody how all the parts worked and how they fit together. The aesthetic may have come through strongest with Soulja Boy, he may have had the biggest hits, but the creative force behind that particular style of goofy internet rap was Lil B all the way. Ironically, oldheads who claim people don’t really listen to music anymore are often the ones to fail to look past the surface level of new artists and see beyond sales numbers. B had/has a lot to say, and has some talents that nobody else does, if its not your cup of tea, okay, but B is a legend for a reason, he influenced a generation of rappers and a generation of fans. Stay based. TYBG
Pure garbage
Yawn
You’re an idiot.
With opinions like these it is now no surprise why your new album sucks Clams.
This is actually true. He influenced most of the new rappers and some old since 2008.
Even if you look at the the trend of rappers naming songs after celebrities, Lil B did that first in 2008/2009 before anyone, Ross ran with it for BMF, then everyone else followed.
He’s the reason a lot of one hit wonders even came about, biting his style. From ‘Flick of the wrist’ to ‘All Gold Everything’
Even A$ap. His first song he said “I’m a pretty mother fucker” nobody was activly calling themselves pretty before Lil B.
Fast forward to now, Lil Uzi. Yachty. 21 Savage sound like him.
We can argue he’s inspired alot of bad music, but you can’t argue his DNA is in most of these new artist in the last 5 years.
Yeah because UGK featuring the late great Pimp C never made a song called Bobby & Whitney and there were many other. I’ll never knock anyone’s hustle get your money but they biting trash for the most part.
‘No idea original under the sun’
Nobody said Lil B was the first to do anything, just that he was the influence. UGK was around a long time, you even hear a lot of 3 6 mafia style in Future but if you think rappers we’re all of a sudden inspired by UGK in 2010 and not copying Lil B, you just don’t wanna see the truth.
Pump C also called himself a pretty mofo on several occasions & I’m pretty sure ll cool j did as well that’s the problem y’all might not know who the fuck Pete rocks of the industry are, but when you was getting milk on your mamas titties you heard it, it hot in your brain, your nuts drop, & you thinking it’s original nope y’all just mumbling what cats were rapping 20 years ago over different beats
little bee is not only a horrible rap artists if you listen to him you can CLEARLY tell he’s retarded