Mumble rapper Lil Pump calls himself 'the New Age Michael Jackson': Here are 3 reasons why he's not
Sometimes, a big head can swell beyond measure and it can be funny to see how certain celebrities rate themselves, especially when their self-aggrandizement feels misplaced.
If you feel our headline is jarring then rest assured it does. Those are the words issued by Lil Pump for himself in his latest Instagram post. Taking to his social media account on December 23, the rapper dropped an "IM THE NEW AGE MICHAEL JACKASON" (sic) for the caption of two photos - in one of which he gives an expression of appearing somewhere between chuffed and mysterious. Surprisingly, the post drew over 365,000 likes on Instagram, but declaring himself a new version of The King of Pop, Michael Jackson, was bound to get its fair share of criticism. Check out his post here.
If you second Lil Pump's notion, all's fair in having your own opinion, but we'd like to offer a few points as to why we say he's far off the mark.
Music
Grammar policing aside (the rapper did misspell a globally famous name in music), it all comes down to the art. We live in a world where you can slap one stroke of a paintbrush onto a canvas, call it art, sell it for millions and have art enthusiasts trying to decipher its deeper meanings, but something needs to be said about effort. Albeit, we're discussing the art of music here and comparing both Lil Pump and the late Michael Jackson for their efforts, it should be obvious that Jackson is and already was the winner.
In the realm of being a musician, both Lil Pump and Jackson have written their own music. While Lil Pump's instrumental skillset includes only vocals, Jackson could play a bit of several instruments such as drums, piano and the guitar. In the 'Dangerous' court case of 1994, Jackson stated that he could hear full songs in his head, almost like classical composer Mozart. From court documents reported by NME, Jackson said: “The lyrics, the strings, the chords, everything comes at the moment like a gift that is put right into your head and that’s how I hear it." He added, “I’ll just sing the bass part into the tape recorder. I’ll take that bass lick and put the chords of the melody over the bass lick and that’s what inspires the melody.”
Looking back, the dynamics of Jackson's music was enough to change the style of pop music or at least complex enough to impact the entire genre to a point where the industry has recognized pop as the biggest and safest money-maker. Additionally, he was the pioneer of highly produced music videos. Before 1983, when 'Thriller' was released, there were simply no other music videos like it.
Move on to lyrics and you had Jackson challenging the way we looked at other ethnicities in 'Black Or White' long before the Black Lives Matter movement. Cue in Lil Pump's 'Gucci Gang' with lyrics "Gucci gang, Gucci gang, Gucci gang, Gucci gang, Gucci gang, Gucci gang, Gucci gang (Gucci gang!) Spend ten racks on a new chain. My b***h love do cocaine, ouu. I f**k a b***h, I forgot her name. I can't buy a b***h no wedding ring. Rather go and buy Balmains." You can choose whatever you want to listen to, but storytelling and the thought-provoking nature of music should not become a lost art. If it heads that way, as an artist, you're essentially dumbing down what listeners believe are wise words. Think about it.
Choreography
There is almost no comparison needed here. Jackson was arguably the best dancer in the world. Jackson's style and moves are still used today in popular variations of dance. Watch this clip and declare Lil Pump a better dancer?
Discography/success
This topic is almost synonymous with the music, so let's have a look. Jackson was a pre-teenage boy when his family group The Jackson 5 released their debut album. Jackson has a total of ten studio albums if we're excluding the posthumous iterations, the plethora of compilation records, video records, remixes, soundtracks, and his inclusion in the discography for The Jackson 5. Several of his albums have diamond and multi-platinum certifications in the US. Lil Pump has two studio LPs, the first of which he released in his late teens and both are certified gold.