Learning About Youth and Hype with New York's Biggest Lil Pumpers

Every year there’s a new rapper who tests whether or not you are old. For some people, that rapper was Soulja Boi, for others it was Chief Keef. For my part, I didn’t realize I was old until I heard the musical output of Lil Pump. Lil Pump is a brace-faced, pink dreaded seventeen year old from Florida who claims to be a Harvard medical professor whose dream is to fuck iCarly. He was permanently banned from flying on WestJet after drunkenly screaming “Eskettit!” on one of their flights, and now he shit-talks the airline in his songs as though they're a corrupt government. Lil Pump’s rallying cry, “Eskettit,” seems like it could be either a slurred version of “Let’s get it!” or “Aesthetic!”or “I skeeted!” or “Eat s'ghetti!” This year, with his much-parodied single "Gucci Gang," he had the shortest song to get in the Billboard top 10 since 1975. The lyrics are: “Gucci Gang, Gucci Gang, Gucci Gang, Gucci Gang, Gucci Gang, Gucci Gang, Gucci Gang, Gucci Gang, Gucci Gang.” To better understand this phenomenon, I headed to New York’s greatest music venue, the Sony Playstation Theater in Times Square, where Lil Pump was performing, to talk to his fans. While standing in the line outside the theater, I noticed that most of the people in front of me seemed to be children between the ages of seven and fourteen. This surprised me—Pump’s songs are all about drugs and guns and WestJet's failings. I guess that’s rock n’ roll. The Rolling Stones had a song about adoring heroin called "Brown Sugar," and it didn't seem to hurt their reputation long-term.

I was wandering around talking to the concert-goers before the show when I witnessed a man dive down an ascending escalator in order to punch a female security guard in the face. I then watched that same man get the shit kicked out of him by any security guard within earshot of the shocking act of violence. Soon after, the police arrived and carted him off. This all occurred before any of the performers had taken the stage. It set the tone for a bleak evening.

It didn’t seem like most of the people I met were excited about music. Lil Pump is popular on Instagram and so people came to his show and posted about it on Instagram. I’m not trying to give Lil Pump any grief—he’s 17—but his success seems to be the product of an Instagram feedback loop, a popularity pyramid scheme. It felt strange to be surrounded by kids at a show where every performer sang codeine ballads about fucking, killing, and drugging. I saw a teenage girl passed out or possibly taking a nap on her friends lap in the corner of the venue and it brought back memories of seeing kids curled up on the floor, passed out on heroin at C-Squat around the time Lil Pump was born. Is the Sony Playstation Theater the new C-Squat? How long will music writers keep talking about rap being punk? The only thing I came away being sure of is that I’ll never be young again, and I don’t envy the kids. Here are my chats with the Lil Pumpers of the New York area.

Noisey: How’d you get behind the merch table?
Omer: This is my boy Bobby. He’s been on tour for a while now. I met him at an Uzi concert.

I thought the crowd might be a little older.
Me too, but it seems like these kids are trying to vibe out. There’s a couple of kids with parents here but you gotta start young. It’s pretty crazy. Just a buncha young rockstars trying to vibe out. How big do you think Lil Pump can get?
I think he could be the biggest in the game in about a year. Everyone loves him. What’s your favorite Lil Pump song?
Right now? "Gucci Gang." Who’s your favorite rapper?
Favorite rapper, favorite artist: Lil Uzi Vert. Who he is is dope and the people who he fucks with, like Marilyn Manson, I like them.

Noisey: What brought you out to the Lil Pump show?
Alyssa: One of our friends is performing before Lil Pump and we were like,”Why not go?” because we’ve never been to a rap concert before. You still haven’t really been to one.
Alyssa: We’ve already seen our first fight. And we were, like, in shock, because at the concerts we go to that doesn’t really happen. The security guard was arguing with this guy and then she said,”I’ll beat your ass” as he was going up the escalator, and he jumped down the escalator and she was kicking him and a bunch of the security attacked him and then the security guard kept kicking him and now he’s getting arrested. What kinda concerts do you usually go to?
Karlee: We usually go to metal shows. We saw Asking Alexandria, Bring Me The Horizon.
Alyssa: Attila.
Karlee: And we also like EDM and dubstep.

Who is the greatest metal band?
Karlee: Bring Me The Horizon.

Is there a metal equivalent to Lil Pump?
Alyssa: Maybe Good Charlotte but not really. That’s more Lil Peep. Rest in peace. What do you do for work?
Karlee: I do YouTube videos and I work on social media apps and broadcasting.
Alyssa: I’m a makeup artist and hairstylist. Do you have a favorite rapper?’
Karlee: I like Eminem.
Alyssa: I like MGK.

Is it weird to be some of the oldest people at the Lil Pump show?
Adrielle: A little bit.
Amanda: We’re older than Lil Pump.
Nina : I didn’t know he was seventeen until today. What brought you to the show?
Nina: My uncle. (laughs) He works for Sony. Are you excited for Lil Pump?
Amanda: We asked for the tickets but we only know "Gucci Gang." What do you listen to besides Lil Pump?
Adrielle: I hate this question!
Nina: I honestly don’t know the names of certain songs I listen to.
Amanda: It’s all over the place. I guess Drake… Do you have any musical acts that you listen to that no one else you know is into?
Nina: Like, really depressing songs? Yeah.
Amanda: Just sad love songs. How big do you think Lil Pump can get?
Adrielle: If he does more songs with big artists he could get pretty big. Like he already did a song with 2 Chainz. Go Lil Pump. Who is objectively the greatest rapper of all time?
Adrielle: Oh, I don’t know…
Nina: Kanye!
Amanda : I would say A Boogie.
Adrielle: I’m actually into A Boogie.
Nina: Does Post Malone qualify as a rapper? Sure, why not?
Nina: I love Post! Kendrick too.
Amanda: Kendrick’s good.

What brought you out?
Rone: Me and my brother know Robby who’s on the tour with them and we were gonna come and he gave us two tickets on the side and we just came because we live in New Jersey. I like Lil Pump but Lil Uzi’s my favorite. [Rone was then beckoned elsewhere].

Bryon: Can I use a pseudonym? I’d like to be John Carroll with two Rs and two Ls.
Kerry: I’ll be Kerry, it’s fine. Noisey: So how did you two end up at this show?
Kerry: His girlfriend is one of my best friends and she told me Lil Pump was coming so we came. Are you on something right now?
Bryon: No, we’ve just been drinking. We started drinking around 8:30. We had maybe a drink or two before we got here and we’ve just been hanging out. Are you two really big Lil Pump fans?
Bryon: Nooo… I was at my girlfriend’s apartment and we were talking about internet celebrities because I love memes and we were talking about Lil Yachty and he tagged Lil Pump in a picture and it was like, “Oh my god who’s this?” And I was like, “Lil Pump’s this SoundCloud rapper who’s racking up followers." There’s something about him that makes him different than every other Soundcloud rapper. I don’t know what it is because I’ve listened to his music and there’s something about his music that makes people attracted to it. I personally am a big music lover and I don’t find his music as good. So why are you here?
Bryon: Because it’s about the experience. His Instagram is about the experience. Music isn’t about music. It’s about personality. It’s about the creation of everything. Tyra Banks said this. If you look back at how modelling used to be, now you’re constantly modelling. Your life is up for display. You’re on the runway for your life. It’s about cult of personality. It’s why these poor people throw away their lives for a chance at Instagram stardom.
Kerry: Why are you here?

They’re paying me.

Noisey: Where’d you hear about Lil Pump?
Ray: We discovered him by "Elementary School" and every since then I’ve been listening to him. What’s your favorite song by this guy?
Ray: "Whitney."
Isaiah: "Molly." Has Lil Pump peaked yet? How far can he go?
Ray: He’s going up bro.
Isaiah: He’s going up for sure but he has a flow that no one has. His songs sound the same but no one else is doing that. He makes it catchy. Who is the greatest rapper of all time?
Isaiah: I think personally, Eminem.
Ray: Best rapper? I give it to Biggie, man. I give it to him all the time.

Noisey: What brought you to the Lil Pump show?
The hype. The hype. How do you know each other?
We all grew up together. What’s your favorite Lil Pump song?
"D Rose." Who’s the greatest rapper of all time?
Right now? No, of all time.
Drake. As of right now, Drake. Drake is the greatest rapper of all time?
Of current rappers? Yeah. No, of ALL TIME.
That’s not an easy question. Nas, Miguel, Drake… I say Drake takes it.

So then I watched the show. This guy I didn’t know performed while this girl checked her phone.

The stage was so moist from performers throwing water everywhere that I saw several people almost slide off the stage. The opening acts came back and mopped up.

I asked this kid what his favorite Misfits song was and he said that it was his friends shirt that he’d borrowed. He liked that it was full of holes.

Lil Pump’s Setlist.

Bighead, the popular producer, came out and walked around while Lil Peep's “Awful Things” played over the speakers.

Lil Wop, a Gucci Mane protege, came out and performed. He had some of the only good tattoos I’ve ever seen: an AK, a bride of Chuckie, a bat, the Guns N’ Roses logo.

Lil Pump came out and sang his songs. Everyone was very excited. He kept telling people to open the fucking moshpit up, but I don’t think the kids understood what that meant.

You may notice that there's man touching Lil Pump’s back in the photo above. That guy’s job seemed to be to pick Lil Pump up out of the crowd and carry him back to the stage like a big toddler. I thought it was pretty sweet and I wondered if the dynamic was more bodyguard or babysitter.

As I left I saw this stray dad, deep in thought.

The show ended and the kids milled about outside in the cold December night where bootleggers offered Pump shirts for $10. I heard a bunch of children scream “ESHKETTIT!” into the night air and others responded like wolves corresponding in the woods or hopeless kids with a bleak future yelling gibberish to feel better.

Nicholas Gazin feels old. Follow him on Twitter.