We live in a day and age that is governed by social media. These platforms can create celebrity personalities, build a million-dollar brand, influence political arenas, cripple a career, or even lead a person to take their own life. It's a phenomenon that is ever-increasing as billions of people who otherwise would never know each other are now connected with the click of a button. However, we all know that social media has it's dark side and tends to be a place where "thumb thugs" reign and people flex their false realities.
The Lost Boy rapper YBN Cordae has been making the press rounds as he continues to promote his debut effort, and during a visit to famed Los Angeles radio station 92.3 The Real, the 21-year-old caught up with Big Boy's Neighborhood. They discussed a wide variety of topics, but the subject of social media came up in conversation. Cordae was sharing what inspires his lyrics before the chat quickly moved to how social networks have become a place where people create their own realities in order to feel validation among their peers.
"A lot of things that I write, I'm inspired from real-life events," Cordae said. "That's how I feel like my best music occurs—from me being inspired by real event sh*t that really effects me. In a song that says, 'I think we all wanna be a little Instagram famous, but deep down inside we just don't want to be nameless.' You know what I'm saying? Everybody wants to be somebody in some sorta way and right now social media is like, the way to validate that."
"That blue check—that's the only way to self-validate that in today's society," he continued. "'[The likes, the hearts] is like nuts, if you think about it. You can be whoever the f*ck you wanna be on Instagram. You can create your own reality. Your own persona. You can literally construct whatever lifestyle on Instagram. In real life, somebody can be hurtin', going through it, whatever. But on the 'Gram they takin' flicks by Lambos. In L.A., it don't take nothin', you know what I'm saying, to show that off."
Cordae even shared a story of how his luxury car flex almost got him caught up with a relative. "One time, I took a picture in a Lamborghini and I was like, this is for manifestation purposes," he said. "I got a text from my aunt and she was like, 'N*gga, you just bought a Lamborghini?' And I was like, "No!'"
