''I'm Gay (I'm Happy)'' is the fifth studio album 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, ...

. The album was released digitally on June 29, 2011. On June 30, 2011, the rapper provided a free download link on his Twitter account. The album entered the ''Billboard'''s

R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a music chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales in the United States and is compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The chart debuted as Hot R&B LPs in the issue dated Jan ...

chart at number 56 and the

Heatseekers Albums Top Heatseekers are "Breaking and Entering" music charts issued weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. The Heatseekers Albums and the Heatseekers Songs charts were introduced by ''Billboard'' in 1991 with the purpose of highlighting the sales by new an ...

chart at number 20 for the week of July 16, 2011. The album's cover is an

allusion Allusion is a figure of speech, in which an object or circumstance from unrelated context is referred to covertly or indirectly. It is left to the audience to make the direct connection. Where the connection is directly and explicitly stated (as ...

Marvin Gaye Marvin Pentz Gay Jr., who also spelled his surname as Gaye (April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984), was an American singer and songwriter. He helped to shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player and later as a solo ar ...

's 1976 album, '' I Want You''.

Critical reception

''I'm Gay (I'm Happy)'' received positive reviews; fans commented on the album's wide variety of positive messages and also the unique beats and lyrical styles not common to mainstream hip-hop. Lil B rapped about many controversial issues in the album including

race relations Race relations is a sociological concept that emerged in Chicago in connection with the work of sociologist Robert E. Park and the Chicago race riot of 1919. Race relations designates a paradigm or field in sociology and a legal concept in the ...

, poverty, humanity and the justice system. The album, according to many fans, shows the "true" side of Lil B, many noting the album's inspirational theme. ''I'm Gay'' received generally positive reviews from

music critic ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' defines music criticism as "the intellectual activity of formulating judgments on the value and degree of excellence of individual works of music, or whole groups or genres". In this sense, it is a branch of mus ...

s. At

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which assigns a

weighted mean The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...

rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

score of 73, based on 10 reviews. Lil B was the subject of controversy because upon the album's release he decided to provide a free version via a download link on Facebook. Many believed this to be a publicity stunt; however, he cleared the controversy when on his Facebook page he posted: "for all my fans who don't have 10 dollars to buy my album, here it is for free."

Accolades

Controversy

Lil B was criticized for deciding to name his album ''I'm Gay'', even receiving death threats at one point. Many saw the move as a publicity stunt; however, the rapper has said that the title is meant to be used as the formal definition of 'gay' (merry) and as a message of support to the LGBT community. He states it simply means "I'm Happy". After all the controversy and receiving death threats, he added "I'm Happy" in parentheses to the title.

Track listing

;Samples * "Trapped in Prison" contains a sample of "Leaving Shire" by

Bo Hansson Bo Hansson (10 April 1943 – 23 April 2010) was a Swedish musician best known for his four instrumental progressive rock studio albums released throughout the 1970s. Early life and musical career Hansson spent his early life in a remote vil ...

. * "Open Thunder Eternal Slumber" contains a sample of " Catch the Breeze" by

Slowdive Slowdive is a British rock band that formed in Reading, Berkshire, in 1989. The band consists of Rachel Goswell on vocals and guitar, Neil Halstead on vocals and guitar, Christian Savill on guitar, Nick Chaplin on bass and Simon Scott on drum ...

. * "Game" contains a sample of "Of All the Things" by

Stephanie Mills Stephanie Dorthea Mills (born March 22, 1957) is an American singer and songwriter. She rose to stardom as "Dorothy" in the original seven-time Tony Award winning Broadway run of the musical ''The Wiz'' from 1974 to 1979. The song " Home" from t ...

* "Unchain Me" contains a sample of " Cry Little Sister" by Gerard McMann. * "Neva Stop Me" contains a sample of "Quasimodo's Marriage" by

Alec R. Costandinos Alec Rupen Costandinos, (born Alexandre Garbis Sarkis Kouyoumdjian in 1944 in Cairo, Egypt) is a French composer, music producer, songwriter and singer of the 1970s, known for his contributions to disco music. His father was Armenian and his m ...

. * "Gon Be Okay" contains a sample of "One Summer's Day" by Joe Hisaishi. * "The Wilderness" contains a sample of "Futari Dake No Ceremony" by Yukiko Okada. * "I Hate Myself" contains a sample of

Boyz II Men Boyz II Men (pronounced ''boys to men''), also known as B2M, is an American vocal harmony group from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, best known for emotional ballads and a cappella harmonies. They are currently a trio composed of baritone Nathan M ...

's cover of " Iris" by Goo Goo Dolls. * "Get It While It's Good" contains a sample of "Dreaming" by

Bill Summers Bill Summers may refer to: * Bill Summers (car builder) (1935–2011), American car builder and longtime speed record holder * Bill Summers (musician) (born 1948), American jazz percussionist *Bill Summers (umpire) William Reed Summers (November ...

. * "I Seen That Light" contains a sample of "Lost in Time" by Eric Benet. * "My Last Chance" contains a sample of "Still Waiting" by Johnny Gill.

Charts

References

{{Authority control 2011 albums Lil B albums Amalgam Digital albums Albums free for download by copyright owner LGBT-related controversies in music