MTV: Lil B Wants ‘I Got AIDS’ To Encourage STD Testing
By Tamara Palmer MTV RAP FIX
The Young Based God made headlines this past summer when he named his album I’m Gay, but now Lil B hopes that a new song (from his BasedGod Velli mixtape) will raise more than just eyebrows. His latest single “I Got AIDS” is a dramatic, cautionary tale imploring people to get tested for HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.“I have a lot of songs that have sexual lyrics, and I want to tell people the truth about sexuality and to make sure that they get tested if they’re sexually active,” Lil B tells MTV News.
“I wanted to paint a picture that’s very realistic, nothing sugar-coated that the streets to Wall Street could feel—I wanted people to understand what these young guys are thinking,” Lil B continued.
“A lot of guys think it’s cool to have sex with a lot of women. I’m not having sex with all these women. I lie about it a lot; I lie about having sex with 40 girls. I’m not doing that, and I want people to know, if you are doing that, you are at high risk of getting AIDS or other STDs and you need to make sure you get tested. This is me paying back to the world and just being truthful, honest, and doing something that I feel is right.”
Lil B might be guilty of using shock tactics for attention— and there are already people who have registered negative opinions of his rap delivery—but, like it or not, he’s paired this song with a call to action. “If you care about me,” he writes on the song’s YouTube page, “upload a video of you going to get tested and send to me.” He has also promised to get tested and publicly share his results, though he admits it hasn’t happened yet.
Given his fans’ propensity for making and sharing response videos, we hope that this encourages those who are open-minded to accept the positive message. Hopefully it can save a few lives along the way.
