"California Boy" is a song by American rapper

Lil B Brandon Christopher McCartney (born August 17, 1989), professionally known as Lil B and as his alter ego The BasedGod, is an American rapper. Lil B has recorded both solo and with Bay Area group The Pack. His solo work spans several genres, ...

. It was released for digital download on September 16, 2012, through Lil B's own record label, BasedWorld Records. "California Boy" marks as Lil B's debut

rock music Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States an ...

release and was intended to be the title track of an upcoming rock album. The accompanying music video for the song was also released on September 17, 2012.

Background and music

"California Boy" is a rock song and takes influences from various subgenres, including

garage rock Garage rock (sometimes called garage punk or 60s punk) is a raw and energetic style of rock and roll that flourished in the mid-1960s, most notably in the United States and Canada, and has experienced a series of subsequent revivals. The sty ...

surf-pop Surf music (or surf rock, surf pop, or surf guitar) is a genre of rock music associated with surf culture, particularly as found in Southern California. It was especially popular from 1958 to 1964 in two major forms. The first is instrumental su ...

college rock College rock was the alternative rock music played on student-run university and college campus radio stations located in the United States and Canada in the 1980s. The stations' playlists were often created by students who avoided the mainstream ...

and

soft rock Soft rock is a form of rock music that originated in the late 1960s in Southern California and the United Kingdom which smoothed over the edges of singer-songwriter and pop rock, relying on simple, melodic songs with big, lush productions. S ...

. The song does not utilize rhyming and beats unlike Lil B's previous works in hip hop genre, opting for a guitar-based sound reminiscent of the style of

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

acts such as

Real Estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...

and Best Coast. The song also incorporates acoustic elements. On the song, Lil B stated that he didn't use Autotune effect on his vocals, in reference to its extensive use on rapper

Lil Wayne Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. (born September 27, 1982), known professionally as Lil Wayne, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record executive. His career began in 1995, at the age of 12, when he was signed by rapper Birdman (rapper), ...

's rock music album, '' Rebirth'' (2010). Prior to the release of the song, Lil B claimed that he will be releasing a garage punk album, titled ''California Boy''.

Critical reception

The song generally received mixed to positive reviews from critics and was stylistically compared to Lil Wayne's ''Rebirth'' album and

Kid Cudi Scott Ramon Seguro Mescudi (born January 30, 1984), also known by his stage name Kid Cudi ( ), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, actor and fashion designer. Born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, Cudi would move to New Yo ...

's WZRD project. Chris Martins of ''

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning * Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis * Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...

'' was optimistic on his review of the song, stating that "it is shaping up to be at least more promising than the unholy mess that was Wayne's ''Rebirth''." Similarly, ''

Fact A fact is a datum about one or more aspects of a circumstance, which, if accepted as true and proven true, allows a logical conclusion to be reached on a true–false evaluation. Standard reference works are often used to check facts. Scient ...

'' magazine wrote: "Especially compared to ''Rebirth''s horrid approximation of

nu-metal Nu metal (sometimes stylized as nü-metal, sometimes called aggro-metal) is a subgenre of that combines elements of heavy metal music with elements of other music genres such as hip hop, alternative rock, funk, industrial, and grunge. Nu metal ...

, "California Boy" does quite a good job of capturing Lil B’s infectious earnestness." Phillip Mlynar of

MTV Hive MTV Hive was MTV's online music video portal and its editorial mouthpiece for coverage of indie music genres, providing music news and music on-demand. It is the successor to the former MTV Music website in the United States, which was merged int ...

described the song as "a poppy-guitar groove that would fit seamlessly into a drive-time radio show." Ian S. Port of

SF Weekly ''SF Weekly'' was a free alternative weekly newspaper founded in the 1970s in San Francisco, California. It was distributed every Thursday, and was published by the San Francisco Print Media Company. The paper has won national journalism awards, ...

described the songs as "a

parodic A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its subj ...

but somewhat credible acoustic-electric rock song that could stand in for a particularly tepid Goo Goo Dolls or Gin Blossoms

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

Exclaim! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features in-depth coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly Exclaim! print magazine publishes 7 ...

writer Josiah Hughes criticized the song's style on the basis of Lil B's upcoming garage punk album, calling his understanding of garage punk as "a bad Hootie & the Blowfish song." Max Bell of ''

LA Weekly ''LA Weekly'' is a free weekly alternative newspaper in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Jay Levin, who served as president and editor until 1991. Voice Media Group sold the paper in late 2017 to Semanal Media LLC, whose paren ...

'' panned the song, noting that "even his early advocate, Cocaine Blunt's Andrew Noz, dismissed the track."

Tiny Mix Tapes ''Tiny Mix Tapes'' (also ''TMT'' or ''tinymixtapes'') is an online music and film webzine that focuses primarily on new music and related news. In addition to its reviews, it is noted for its subversive, political, and sometimes surreal news, a ...

assumed that "the song is sure to alienate even the most hardcore fans."

Music video

The music video of the song was released on September 17, 2012. It features Lil B greeting fans at

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

, hanging out with a girl and performing the song with a backing band.

Track listing

;iTunes digital single # "California Boy" – 3:12

References

External links

"California Boy"
single on

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

Lil B - "California Boy" official music video
{{DEFAULTSORT:California Boy 2012 songs 2012 singles Songs about California