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Blog Topic

Introduction

Today, I will be proposing my blog topic of choice— one of the most renowned, influential and controversial music artists in the world, and my favorite artist of all time: Symere Bysil Woods, also known professionally as Lil Uzi Vert. I chose this topic because to many including myself, Lil Uzi Vert (whom I will abbreviating to just ‘Uzi’ throughout the blog) is more than just a musical artist. In the eyes of many, he is modern day Michael Jackson who has transcended his influence beyond music. Throughout the illustrious career of Lil Uzi Vert, there are many ways in which he has impacted the life of many, including mine. Therefore, I would like to discuss this topic because his impact on various cultures is something that not only I could discuss in detail, but also something that should be discussed and studied in general.

Lil Uzi Vert’s Tonight Show Outfit via Jacket Era

Michael Jackson 1992 via MD Shock

How I Became Connected to This Topic

Growing up in East-Northeast Las Vegas, I grew up and attended school in a community that was predominantly African-American and Hispanic. Additionally, there was a very large street and hip-hop culture stigma around. Being a bit different from the majority around the time I was in elementary school, I never really concerned myself with assimilating to the culture of the community around me. I liked many things that differed from the other kids growing up—Books, Japanese Anime, Yu-Gi-Oh, etc. This often led to me being teased, shunned, and ostracized, since I wasn’t into the things that were popular at the time. This however, all changed in 2016, following the introduction to Lil Uzi Vert to the mainstream after his previous success of his underground Soundcloud Exclusive mixtape in 2015 “Luv is Rage“, and his hit feature with Migos on one of the most famous rap songs of all time: “Bad and Boujee” the year afterward. In 2016, Lil Uzi Vert exploded onto the scene following his release of one of his most accomplished mixtapes, “Lil Uzi Vert vs. The World“. This began the start of something that drastically changed the dynamic of my life till this day. This music was something unbeknownst to the genre of Rap and Hip Hop and had never been seen before. The vibrant, flashy Lil Uzi Vert paired alongside elite lyricism, flow and production paved the way to his immediate success. Being introduced to his music from via my uncles, I was immediately hooked because his music was something I could immediately connect and relate to. In what way did this change my life however? Uzi was never your typical mainstream artist. It was apparent that from the very beginning, he was somebody extremely eccentric, in both his fashion and word choices. Hailing from the streets of Philadelphia, one would expect him to speak about violent and irrational topics typical that of a rapper. Instead, he spoke about the things that I liked and were considered “weird” at the time. He would often make allusions to Japanese Anime, and even famous works in pop culture, such as Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. For a rapper, this was completely unprecedented and atypical of what was considered normal.

Lil Uzi Vert in 2016 via The Fader

Eventually, people caught onto all these allusions and started delving into them. These allusions piqued the interest of many and brought people together for the sake of understanding Uzi’s artistic vision. In my community, I was finally able to stop being insecure about these things because other people began to like the same things as me as well. Long story short—Uzi made weird things and weird people look cool, something still true to this day and is what I’m connected to because this is part of what shaped my identity and what allowed me to fit in and connect with others growing up.

Lil Uzi Vert vs. The World cover art— paying homage to Scott Pilgrim and Ramona Flowers from Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

Album Cover via Wikipedia

The Community and Fandom

The community in this fandom are the avid fans of Lil Uzi Vert. These communities live mostly online, where there are many platforms to share and discuss the art and the artist. Additionally, in the rare instances which Uzi performs at a music festival or is on tour, then us as fans will congregate to these events to collaborate, discuss, and celebrate his artistry. I truly believe that out of any Hip-Hop & Rap artist fanbase, I truly believe that the Lil Uzi Vert fanbase is one in which contains the most dedicated fans. Uzi’s mysterious online persona causes massive speculation as to his whereabouts and what he has planned next, which as a result causes massive speculation among fans. This creates for an incredibly active community and never a dull conversation. On a personal level, I have been incredibly grateful to have met my closest friends back home in Las Vegas, who similar to me, were also impacted greatly by the music of Uzi. I would have never have thought to have met so many people who are so like-minded and also love Uzi as much as I do. A detail that I particularly like about the community is how open minded everybody is. Lil Uzi Vert throughout his career has proved his versatility time and time again, introducing his fans to new genres and gaining fans from other genres as well. as I stated before, he is not your run-of-the-mill rapper and artist. He has experimented in Rock, Country, R&B, Metal, country, etc. And has collaborated with artists from all sorts of genres. British rock band Bring Me The Horizon, Japanese metal band BABYMETAL, and electronic artists Snow Strippers to name a few.

Lil Uzi Vert and BABYMETAL fanart via digital artist Neo Nara

As a result, this created a fandom which contains people who listen to music of all genres and not just one, as opposed to other artists. This creates for an incredibly diverse community that you can not only talk to about Uzi’s music, but practically every other genre as well. In all, this blog topic is something that truly means something to me, as this is something I’ve been connected to since I was as young as eight years old. I’m incredibly excited to continue speaking on this topic and I hope to learn more things about the community, influence, and culture behind his music as we continue to blog.

Lil Uzi Vert at Rolling Loud 2023 via Yahoo