As an adjective, the term Martian is used to describe anything pertaining to the planet Mars.

However, a Martian is more usually a hypothetical or fictional native inhabitant of the planet Mars.^{[citation needed]} Historically, life on Mars has often been hypothesized, although there is currently no solid evidence of life there at present. Some scientists have theorized that there is evidence of fossilized microbes in the meteorite ALH84001.

The idea of intelligent Martians was popularized by Percival Lowell and in fiction, especially by Edgar Rice Burroughs's John Carter (Barsoom) series, H.G. Wells's The War of the Worlds and Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles. Despite the observation by Alfred Wallace that Mars's atmosphere was too thin to support an Earth-like ecology, various depictions of a Martian civilization were popular throughout the 20th century. The first pictures of Mars returned by space probes dashed hopes of contacting Martians, although claims of past Martian civilizations have continued into the 21st century (see Cydonia for one such claim).

Brandon McCartney (born August 17, 1989), known by his stage name Lil B or "BASEDGOD", is a rapper from Berkeley, California. He has recorded both solo and with The Pack. In addition, Lil B is noted for his extensive use of social media websites such as MySpace and Twitter to build an online following.

Lil B began rapping at age 16 with hip hop group The Pack. After two locally successful mixtapes, and at the peak of the Bay Area's hyphy movement, the group's song "Vans" became a surprise hit. The song was ranked as the fifth best of 2006 by Rolling Stone magazine. The strength of "Vans" led the group to release Skateboards 2 Scrapers, featuring a "Vans" remix with Bay Area rappers Too $hort and Mistah F.A.B.. In 2007, Lil B and The Pack released its first album, Based Boys.

Aside from his involvement with The Pack, Lil B garnered popularity through the use of social media Web sites. He created over 155 MySpace pages in order to upload all of his music. He recorded over 1,500 tracks as of July 2010, including hits "Wonton Soup," "Pretty Bitch," and "I'm God."