Lil Dicky

Lil Dicky

Lil Dicky in the video for his song "All K"
Background information
Birth name David Andrew Burd
Born (1988-03-15) March 15, 1988
Cheltenham Township, Pennsylvania, United States
Genres
Occupation(s)
  • Rapper
  • songwriter
  • comedian


Years active 2013–present
Labels School Boy Records
Website lildicky.com

David Andrew Burd[1] (born March 15, 1988), better known by his stage name Lil Dicky or LD, is an American rapper and comedian. He came to prominence with the release of the music video to his song "Ex-Boyfriend", which went viral with more than one million views on YouTube in 24 hours. He released his debut album Professional Rapper on July 31, 2015.

Early life

Burd grew up in an upper middle class Jewish family in the Elkins Park neighborhood of Cheltenham Township, a township on the north border of Philadelphia.[2] He attended Cheltenham High School and then the University of Richmond[3] where he graduated Summa Cum Laude from the E. Claiborne Robins School of Business.[4] He then relocated to San Francisco, California,[5] where he worked in account management at the advertising agency Goodby, Silverstein & Partners. After reimagining his monthly progress report as a rap video, the company brought him to work in their creative department, where he wrote copy for ads such as the NBA's "BIG" campaign.[2]

Career

Lil Dicky performing at SXSW on March 14, 2014

Burd says he initiated his rap career "simply to get attention comedically, so I could write movies, write TV shows and act." However, he "fell in love with rapping" and says he's "not leaving that game until I've proved my point."[6]

Burd had been working on his songs and music videos for two years before he began releasing them as part of his debut mixtape So Hard in April 2013. His music video for his song "Ex-Boyfriend" went viral almost instantly, receiving one million hits within 24 hours of being posted on YouTube.[3][7][8] Once a week for five straight months, Burd released a new song or music video. Following the release of 32 songs and 15 music videos, Burd launched a Kickstarter, stating, "I've officially run out of money... In a nutshell, you are funding phase two of my rap career." The month-long crowdfunding period began on November 20, 2013, with the goal of raising $70,000 in order to enable Lil Dicky to create and produce more music, music videos, and go touring.[9][10] The Kickstarter well exceeded its target, raising $113,000.[11]

Lil Dicky held his first live concert at TLA in Philadelphia on February 19, 2014.[12] Burd has signed with CMSN, who also manages Tyga, Chiddy Bang and others.[10][13] He plans "on having two concurrent careers going on, as a rapper, and as a comedian/actor/writer."[6]

Burd released his debut album Professional Rapper on July 31, 2015, and features artists Snoop Dogg, T-Pain, Rich Homie Quan, Fetty Wap, Brendon Urie (Panic! at the Disco), RetroJace and Hannibal Buress.

On June 13, 2016, XXL Magazine released the 2016 Freshmen line-up. It included Lil Dicky, along with Anderson .Paak, Kodak Black, Lil Uzi Vert, 21 Savage, Dave East, Denzel Curry, Desiigner, G Herbo, and Lil Yachty.

Music style and influences

Lil Dicky's style blends the comical with the relatable. According to Boston magazine, "Content-wise, Lil Dicky comes up with his material from everyday occurrences and everyday experiences. From there, he crafts his videos around those topics to create a visual narrative that accompanies his talent as an emcee. 'It’s like a comedian. They are out in the world, and writing things down,' he said. What followed 'Ex-Boyfriend' was a series of other videos that covered similarly average everyday experiences—songs about staying in for the night, songs about being a Jewish kid—he even has a rap battle with Adolf Hitler in one of his videos."[7]

He says his style is a response to the excessive egotistical nature of rap today: "I really wanted to embody the exact opposite of that, and I think people are appreciating it. There just hasn't been a voice for that normal dude when it comes to rap."[7] He added, "I think a lot of rap is just escalated to a place that many people can't relate to... My niche is that I’m relatable. I don’t rap about going to the club and popping bottles."[14] In terms of his rapping skills, Lil Dicky is able "to manipulate words at an excessive speed, and weave rhyme patterns together in a way that's funny while also making viewers want to rewind parts of his videos."[7]

Burd says his musical inspirations are Drake, J. Cole, A$AP Rocky, as well as Donald Glover "as a guy with similar aspirations."[15]

Discography

Studio albums

List of albums, with selected chart positions and sales figures
Title Album details Peak chart positions
US
[16]		 US
R&B
[17]		 US
Rap
[18]		 US
Indie
[19]		 US
Comedy
[20]
Professional Rapper 7 2 1 1 1

Mixtapes

List of mixtapes, showing selected details
So Hard[21]
  • Released: May 22, 2013
  • Label: Self-released
  • Format: Digital download

Singles

As lead artist

List of singles, with selected chart positions and certifications, showing year released and album name
Title Year Peak chart positions Certification Album
US
[22]		 US Com.
[23]		 US R&B
[24]
"Lemme Freak" 2014 — 3 — Professional Rapper
"White Crime" — — —
"Classic Male Pregame" 2015 — — —
"Save Dat Money"
(featuring Fetty Wap and Rich Homie Quan)		 71 2 23
"Professional Rapper"
(featuring Snoop Dogg)		 — 1 —

As featured artist

Title Year Peak chart positions Album
US
 US R&B
 US Rap
"Just a Lil' Thick (She Juicy)"
(Trinidad James featuring Mystikal & Lil Dicky)		 2016 — 52 — TBA
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory.

Tours

Year Tour Name Notes
2014 Professional Rapper Tour
2015 Looking for Love Tour
2016 (Still) Looking For Love Tour
2016 Dick Or Treat Tour

References

  1. ↑ "Songwriter/Composer: Burd David Andrew". BMI. Retrieved 6 January 2016.
  2. 1 2 "Cheltenham Rapper Lil Dicky Kicks Off His First Live Tour at TLA Wednesday". Philadelphia Magazine. 18 February 2014.
  3. 1 2 "Meet Kickstarter's Newest Musical Star". Bloomberg News. 6 December 2013.
  4. ↑ "Before pop stardom, many of today's young musicians earn college degrees". Washington Post. 2 January 2016.
  5. ↑ "S.F.'s Lil Dicky Wants To Be the Larry David of Rap -- Watch Him Get "Too High"". SF Weekly. 16 September 2013.
  6. 1 2 "Lil Dicky Talks Upgrading His Rap Career Via $100,000 Kickstarter Campaign". HipHopDX. 10 April 2014.
  7. 1 2 3 4 "Rapper Lil Dicky Talks Stereotypes, Expectations, and Battling Hitler in a Music Video". Boston. 11 February 2014.
  8. ↑ "Lil Dicky - Ex-Boyfriend (Official Video)". YouTube. 25 April 2013.
  9. ↑ "Lil Dicky's Kickstarter - Album, Videos, Touring". Kickstarter.
  10. 1 2 "Rapper Lil Dicky Reaches Kickstarter Goal". Variety. 27 November 2013.
  11. ↑ "THANK YOU". Lil Dicky's Kickstarter. 20 December 2013.
  12. ↑ "Cheltenham Rapper Lil Dicky Kicked Off His First Live Tour at TLA". Philadelphia Magazine. 20 February 2014.
  13. ↑ "Lil Dicky signs to Pop-Up Music". Jingle Punks. 16 January 2014.
  14. ↑ "Lil Dicky Talks Rapping, YouTube, and How To Make A Viral Video". Maxim. 2 July 2013. Archived from the original on May 12, 2014.
  15. ↑ "Rapper hopes to gain fame with comedy". Daily Trojan. 21 April 2014.
  16. ↑ "Top 200 Albums - Billboard". Billboard. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
  17. ↑ "R&B/Hip-Hop Albums - Billboard". Billboard. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
  18. ↑ "Rap Music: Top Rap Albums Chart - Billboard". Billboard. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
  19. ↑ "Independent Albums". Billboard. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
  20. ↑ "Comedy Albums: Top Stand Up Comedy Chart - Billboard". Billboard. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
  21. ↑ "So Hard: The Debut Mixtape". Lil Dicky.
  22. ↑ "Lil Dicky - Chart history - Billboard". Retrieved 13 September 2016.
  23. ↑ "Comedy Digital Tracks". Billboard. Retrieved 7 October 2015.
  24. ↑ http://www.billboard.com/artist/6656889/Lil%20Dicky/chart?f=367
  25. ↑ "Gold & Platinum - RIAA". Retrieved 13 September 2016.

External links

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