David (Dave) Burd may not be exactly like most of the popular rappers people know. He's skinny, and awkward, and grew up in an upper-middle-class neighborhood in Philadelphia. Although it may seem like he likely lacks material for popular rap songs, he uses his look and people's expectations of him to his advantage. Despite living in a loving family, he grew up with great amounts of insecurity which he incorporates into his songs. A lot of his insecurities surround the state of his penis, due to a condition in which his urethra tangled around itself and required multiple surgeries. He uses that pain and shame to create songs that highlight his insecurity and poke fun at the emphasis people put on shallow things like appearance, money, etc.
The rapper got his start in 2015 by posting a video on Youtube entitled "Ex-Boyfriend." It garnered over 1 million views in 24 hours and his career took off after that. He has created one album, and many music videos featuring A-list celebrities.
In addition to his rap career, he has transferred his creative ideas away from music and now is focusing on his FX show, DAVE, which tells his story. The show gives a behind-the-scenes look into the life of a struggling then finally successful actor.
Dave says that he's not an "infinite good ideas guy," and that he has a good idea "once every 10 years." This quote shows how Dave is not as interested in putting out more quantity and less quality material. He is always following his own path and is intrinsically motivated, doing what he does because he believes it is important and means something to him. He is not creating content to just appease his fans or record label.
Some fans are questioning whether Dave can consider himself mainly a rapper now because it has been quite a while since he has put out music, but his show just aired a new season. It may be too difficult for him to balance both of these jobs and it seems as though he is prioritizing the show right now. In both domains, I believe he is a pro-C creative because he has gained enough following on both of those fronts to be considered a professional C creative.
References:
https://uproxx.com/music/lil-dicky-recording-new-album-anticlimactic/
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/16/arts/television/dave-lil-dicky.html
Great blog post! I find him to be a fascinating creative! His music videos especially are like nothing I have ever seen before. I have never seen his show.
ReplyDeleteInteresting to see another rapper star in an FX show. I'm a big fan of Glover's Atlanta on the same network, and the parallels here are interesting. The jump from music to television is a tired one, but as a producer/writer, it becomes much more interesting.
ReplyDeleteI remember when Dave was Lil Dicky and first came onto the rap scene in the XXL Freshman Class. It's also very interesting to see how he was able to successfully pivot from music into comedy and acting fairly well. I have never seen his show, but I have heard nothing but good things about it. It is good to see an intrinsically motivated creative that really puts thought into his work as opposed to just spitting out ideas as I'm sure recording labels and tv networks would prefer.
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