If you think Lil B is going away anytime soon, you’d better think again. Despite the fact that Odd Future seems to be all anyone wants to talk about lately, the Bay Area rapper might just be rap’s most important free agent right now. After announcing that he plans on naming his next album, I’m Gay, at Coachella last week, he’s taken his popularity to another level this week—and even gone as far as telling New York Magazine that it’ll take (get this!) $10 million for a label to get him to put his signature on the dotted line and officially make him a signed artist.

Yeah, yeah—we hear the grumbling out there already. Ten million dollars?! That’s a whole lot of green for an artist that’s yet to really catch his big break as far as national radio spins and mainstream popularity goes. 50 Cent only got a tenth of that when he signed! But we say: If you work at a label right now and you want to impress the hell out of your boss, you need to find a way to get Lil B on your team. And it really doesn’t have anything to do with the music he’s putting out right now, either. To show you what we mean, we put together a list of the five reasons Lil B is worth a big investment. Get your checkbooks out and let’s get to work…

1. Lil B has a faithful following that reminds us a whole lot of another young, up-and-coming MC who just blew the eff up.

Does the name Wiz Khalifa ring a bell? Uh, yeah. Of course it does. A few years ago, Wiz was Lil B. Not that they make similar types of music or anything, but he was Lil B in that he had a whole legion of loyal fans who downloaded every song he put out, hit Mediafire to cop every mixtape, and paid for his first official album when it dropped. His shows were crazy packed for an unsigned artist and there was a buzz behind him that let you know that he was just bound to blow up eventually. That’s Lil B right now. If all these people out there love him already, just imagine what he could do with a few marketing dollars from a major label.

2. He comes with a diesel catalogue that would make for a nice “Introduction to Lil B” EP.

Lil B doesn’t really have that one hit yet that’s gonna make a major label a ton of money. “Wonton Soup” is cool and all, but he’s not going to take over the world with it. What he does have though is hundreds and hundreds of songs (with original production!) that could be used to create a major label EP or could just be packaged in a more effective way to help him get his name out. We’re sure he’s got plenty more songs in the stash, too, just waiting for the right opportunity to emerge.

3. He seems to know what it takes to get attention.

That whole “I’m naming my album I’m Gay!” idea? Genius! Even if it never materializes, Lil B’s next album title has been a buzzworthy topic for damn near a week now. In fact, that was arguably the biggest news to come out of Coachella—despite the fact that Odd Future performed, Kanye West unveiled the Air Yeezy 2, and Cee-Lo threw a temper tantrum. And the ability to get attention for yourself and make yourself newsworthy is a priceless attribute for any artist, let alone one who is unsigned.

4. He has an interesting back story that adds to the character he has created.

He was a part of The Pack. He got a cosign from Too $hort at the beginning of his career. He’s interested in pursuing everything from films to books. And we get the sense that his story is only going to get more interesting from here on out.

5. He doesn’t seem to need a major label at this point—which should make him even more appealing to the majors.

Lil B doesn’t really need a major label right now. He could probably continue to put out music on his own, tour the country, and make enough money to survive without one. But that is only going to drive his asking price up when the major labels eventually come knocking. $10 million might be a steep price to pay, but if the majors aren’t banging down this dude’s door right now, they’re in way worse shape than we originally thought. Love him or hate him, Lil B is doing something right right now—and he deserves to be compensated for it. Swag.

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