After making history in 2012 with his now infamous lecture at New York University, Lil B returned to academia this weekend, addressing a lucky group of students and select press in the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, currently ranked as the number one university in the world. After presenting nuanced observations on workplace efficiency, human empathy, and GMOs, Lil B opened the floor to a riveting discussion on art, race, gender, and countless other free-associated topics. Below is the lecture and Q/A session, transcribed in full, along with audio from a rare, on-the-spot, Based freestyle specially dedicated to the student body. FADER gifted B a hat from iconic campus haunt Anna's Taqueria, then ran home to put the Based word to paper. Brraaang-dang.



How's everybody doing tonight? If I could get a water on stage, because this will be intense and I will be speaking from the heart. MIT, I appreciate you all coming out here tonight and us spending this time together, and me getting a chance to give you this love that I yearn for, that I live for. This is why I make music, this is why I create art. To use that media to spread love and talk to the people. It makes me so happy to see that my message is getting through.



You are the future, and it's obvious. We know it. You can't get in here, this is rare. So a big pat on the back to everybody that worked so hard to get into this school, oh excuse me, university—this is not a school. I really wanted to come and be honest, real transparent. I didn't want to do that average lecture where they come on and use those keywords, like, "We'll make it!" and you insert the applause. Or I come in and I wear glasses, or wear a suit. Which is cool, that's all good, but I want to make sure that I come here honest. Please ask me any questions. Anything. I have nothing to hide and all to share.

The main thing I want to bring tonight is positivity in the workforce. I want to start off with a quote I made especially for MIT. This is something for everyone to think about. "Less opinion, more perspective." What I mean by that is, sometimes I feel like an opinion is more ego driven. We're protecting the outer. We work hard, and it's a lot of mental things that go into working hard as well as training yourself, as all the beautiful people in here future scientists, engineers, programmers, all that. People I might be working for. The code of ethics in your job and where you work, the company you may create, or if you work for somebody, make sure you bring that love, and bring that positivity. Making sure you come and understand that we're in this together. Even if we're not, we need to learn, and learn to figure out ways to understand. Look at everybody and say "I'm the receiver." I'm here to decipher the information, and decipher what they say. Not to say, "Hey, you spelled that wrong," but maybe ask them. It's all about the way you say it. Some people, and I can speak for myself, sometimes you take things the wrong way. The wording that you say to the different people you may be teaching. But you're all smart in here. Sometimes people have preconceived notions about other people. You might be saying something real nice, and because the receiver of the information has a preconceived notion about you, they might be like "argh, what?" you might just be giving some legit direction, like "hey this is how I feel." I might be trying to give some information, but because of how I'm perceived by the receiver, they tend to have different feelings. Which makes life beautiful. That's why, us as empathetic people that are looking for that next level of understanding—everybody doesn't understand. Everybody can't spell the word correctly, but they know the word. As the receiver and as good people, give that person the right of way instead of automatically correcting them. If you want to automatically correct that's not bad, that's good too, but just make sure you're doing it out of love and out of care instead of saying "You did that wrong because I know you did it wrong," but really trying to comfort and show love.

I appreciate everybody in here, I appreciate the Black Student Union for making this happen. Everybody should be in the Black Student Union, because we're all black, remember that. I can look at everybody in here and see a piece of beauty. I see you, I see me. I can look at you and say "man you are so dope." Dope meaning cool, dope meaning respectful, meaning I appreciate you for being alive and what you bring. You just being there and being yourself. That's the number one thing. I know all you guys are about to be taking lead positions in your work force or working for the people or whoever, but making sure you bring that love and using your influence and the respect that people give you. All the people that wish they could be in the positions of the students that go here, and the staff and adults. I know plenty of people that have never made it to this building and this is my first time. It's a very big honor and a big weight, but also a positive weight.

Make sure you comfort everybody, because you have so much power. The influence you do have, make sure you use that for the right things that's going to propel you, and propel your company. It's not always about making profit. I know y'all know how to make profit, and I know that's what it's about! But I'm very happy that I can come here and tell you I'm someone that has not been driven by the profit. You can succeed with the people. All the people that you see in here, we have in common. You can make new friends. We all need each other in here. Each and every person in this building is extremely special and extremely beautiful, and is gifted. If you guys left tomorrow—which you wouldn't, and I hope you won't—you still are beautiful and amazing and very special. Everybody has to remember that. A lot of people forget that within the hard work. You might be working so hard that you forget about your family. You might be working so hard to show your family and show your friends that you're on, that you forget to love them, or you forget to call them. And forget to appreciate, and take a deep breath in and appreciate the air. And realizing that won't last forever, being able to do that. We won't be able to do that forever.

We right now are in a special generation. This is our generation, and this is our family. It's not about violence. It's not about correcting people, but you can correct out of love and positivity and protection. You can tell people "I love you, and I'm telling you this because I want you to be better, and that I care about you." It's also about knowing the receiver well enough to say, "This is the receiver, and where is this receiver at in this point in their life?" We cant judge, we can't mind-read, but like my mother said, sometimes to talk to people you have to meet them where they're at. My mom, she recently had a minor stroke, and it was a wake up call for me. I was just living life thinking things don't happen, people don't get hurt. Because stuff is so good, and you be on a roll, or stuff is bad and it's crazy. But that's life. So you're living, and things get you back in that perspective. You get humbled again when you see your mom in the hospital, and she has to get a shot in her throat to check her thyroid. That was something I couldn't see, that was a little rough for me. But you have to prepare yourself. You have to say, "This is real life," and be very happy with where we're at right now. My mother was going through that, and it really brought us closer. It made me take a step back from work and not think about anything but the care for my mother and make sure that she's okay. It brought everything back to what I means to be alive and be human and live this beautiful life that we have, this beautiful earth, and I think the word is ecosystem.

I want to give a shout out to all the engineers and scientists, and all the people in here, swag. Everybody that's dealing with math, you know what I'm saying? Salute man. This is the place that I would love to be, as I'm really into plants, animals, life. We know about that photosynthesis! I didn't forget that! It's about doing things that you really love, that's where you get the best results for your product.



What I do right now, this music, I do it all for free [applause]. You can't put a price on the love. I'm not as greedy as these greedy—I'm not! It's priceless. That's what I'm pressing, integrity, with your business, and making sure the customer comes first. They all say that, but who supports you, and appreciating that. How many people in here have more than one follower on social media? It's about that integrity, and making sure you push for the customer. What I mean by that is, going to your fans' house. If you've got someone that supports you and cares about you, feel them out. See your fan base, see the people that support you. Each of us in here have influences. Each of us has a support base that we can reach out to. Each person, one person, can push you so far, and push your dreams and what you really believe in, and push your goals and your business, the next idea that you have. Ideas are propelled by the people. If you have a lot of money that could help too, but that's not what it's about. Because as we see, you can have no money and have beautiful ideas and have morals, or have a lot of money and have beautiful ideas and have morals, and make it. The main thing I'm trying to press here with everybody is that I love you. Somebody that doesn't know you, loves you. I need you guys to take care of me. I need you to take care of my family. I need you to take care of everybody else's family, and the future.

Understand that the media has agendas. The media doesn't get everything right. You have to realize who's behind the camera. Think deeply. When you do get your information, and the perception of other people, which is beautiful, you've got to realize: what is the motivation of this director or this brand or this media company? What are their motivations? Is this person a trusted source? That's why I wanted you guys to ask me anything, because I want you to feel totally comfortable, and know that I have nothing to hide. You want to have that trusted source. A lot of people don't understand—once you become the creator, and you create the content, you have a lot of power. With me, I realized that I would use this power for the better. That's why I put indirect images of love, it's all sprouted from love, and bringing people together subconsciously. That's what a lot of these other companies are doing, but for other reasons, with other interests. It might be all about profit. They're about continuing to expand, and making sure that they stay prevalent and out here.

With that being said, I took on my first consulting job in a company that I'm going to be working with, and I'm developing an app for them. They're a vegan company, called Follow Your Heart. They deal with no GMOs, which is genetically modified organisms. They don't have any animal products. It took me a long time to align myself with another brand. There's a lot of brands that come to me, and they might offer any amount of money, but I'm not going to just conform or change the vibe of my brand or my ethics or what I stand by for money. I work too hard. When you really have pride in your brand and what you do, you have to be very careful of who you align yourself with and who you endorse. A lot of people don't get it. It takes a long time to get it. It takes a lot of love and a lot of respect. You have to meet people and realize that person may not be your friend. It's about awareness. that's something I really want to tell you about because I love you. Awareness, awareness, awareness. It's a big thing because, to the people that aren't aware, that's how the predators come in. There's many different predators of different kinds. I love you guys, I want you to be safe. That's why I came. It's a lot of different predators. It's so many that know the game, they've been in it. These companies that have been here, and they're protected by money, they're protected by power, and then there's the predators that are on different levels. The street predator, or the business predator, the lawyer predator, to the top company head predator that's making his workers feel weird and putting pressure on his staff—or her staff, excuse me, because it's not always him. I apologize for saying his staff because it's a lot of women and we don't know who is going to run what. With the predators of the workforce, you have to go through things and just learn them, also ups and downs. You have to be a victim to understand and to feel. To feel pain, to understand and to relate.

If you aren't a victim, make sure you listen and try to put yourself in that person's place. Give the person your all when you're listening. When you're talking to someone, this is their time. I'ma listen, I'ma tune out, and try to feel you. That's a huge thing, understanding empathy. I base my core foundation, anything with business that I do, I have to feel and respect a company that I work with, as well the people behind that company. You've got to have love. The money is there, we've all got money, or we might not, but y'all are struggling and hustling. We love hustling, we love working. Don't feel bad, don't beat yourself up if you have a little extra money, or you don't. Don't feel like "I have money, I can't relate to someone who doesn't." What does having money really mean? We all can relate to each other and we all are brothers and sisters, friends, family, lovers, whatever that means. We all need to respect and love each other, and each other's parents and grandparents. Look at each other like, once again, this is a baby. This is a person that's grown, but is still beautiful. We've got a lot to learn, and I know we've got a lot of teachers in here too. Like I said, I'm here to listen to everybody in here. As well as coming here and lecturing, I want to listen, and I want you guys to tell me what you feel.