Album Review: “Professional Rapper” by Lil Dicky
Written by Julia Ong on August 6, 2015
David Burd, known more famously for his stage name Lil Dicky, is an American rapper straight from Philadelphia who also integrates comedy into his raps. If you’ve ever seen his YouTube video “Ex-Boyfriend” from his first mixtape “So Hard,” you would see how it went viral and launched his career into the rap stratosphere.
It’s not hard to see why his fans would want more of his hard spitting raps and comedic punch lines. After waiting two years since his last mixtape, “Professional Rapper” has come to light, and with 20 songs, it is surprisingly still very enjoyable.
Like any other relationship between a kid and his parents, Lil Dicky introduces his Jewish parents through comedic phone calls on “Meet the Burds (Interlude),” “Parental Advisory (Interlude),” and “Parents Still Don’t Understand (Interlude).” All of which give a good sense of how he is no different from any other person despite being a rapper.
David Burd also has plenty of features that you will recognize on this album. One of them being Snoop Dogg on “Professional Rapper.” His feature is unique in that Snoop interviews Lil Dicky about why he wants to become a rapper and what he plans on doing as a rapper. Much like “Lemme Freak,” the very first single from “Professional Rapper,” Lil Dicky integrates rap and storytelling in a comedic style that still fits the beats very well. Check out the Youtube videos for both songs below!
Brendon Urie from Panic! at the Disco on “Molly,” Fetty Wap & Rich Homie Quan on “$ave Dat Money,” Jace of Two-9 on “Oh Well” and T-Pain on “Personality” are also other well known features from “Professional Rapper” that give this album a well bodied line-up. An additional comedic interlude by Hannibal Buress is also included in the line-up for the album, exploring why rappers bring so many people on the stage with them as well as why Lil Dicky chose such a strange rap stage name. Personal favorites of mine are “$ave Dat Money” and “Personality.”
“Pillow Talking (feat. Brain)” and “Classic Male Pregame” both show off Lil Dicky’s comedic talents. “Pillow Talking (feat. Brain)” is a 10 minute conversation between Lil Dicky and one of his one night stands that hilariously explores aliens, God and pizza, while his brain also chimes in. For a ridiculously long song, it is still extremely entertaining and it has become one of my favorites from the album. In “Classic Male Pregame” Lil Dicky raps about the steps men go through in their “pregame,” which ultimately leads them to not even going to any parties by the end of the night. I predict this song will be a bit too relatable to many of its listeners. Watch the music video for “Classic Male Pregame” below.
However, Lil Dicky is still very socially aware of the world despite talking about “getting p*ssy with his personality.” In “Oh Well” he addresses how people, himself included, are ignorant about events in the world because they are so attentive to their phones and social media. A reflective song of his own ignorance is eye-opening as well as refreshing to hear between the other tracks.
To close out “Professional Rapper” he uses “Truman” to draw parallels between his up-and-coming life as a rapper and the movie the “The Truman Show.” In a nutshell, Lil Dicky explains how he feels much like Truman, being pressured to meet his listeners’ expectations of making comedic raps. But just like Truman’s scene of the “ship crashing into the wall moment,” Lil Dicky realizes he can make a real difference in rap and exclaims how ready he feels for it. After many shout outs to those who have helped him, “Truman” with a famous line from the “The Truman Show.”
“Good afternoon, good evening, and goodnight.”
TL;DR: “Professional Rapper” is a fantastic compilation of what he has done in the past two years since his last mixtape, “So Hard.” If you love rap and comedy mixed into one, you will love Lil Dicky’s new album and will catch yourself internally remembering one liners from the tracks as well.
Listen to: Professional Rapper, Lemme Freak, Molly, Bruh…, $ave Dat Money, Oh Well, Personality, Pillow Talking, Classic Male Pregame, Work (Paid for That), Truman
Skip Over: I thoroughly enjoyed the album as a whole, but if I had to pick anything to skip I guess Who Knew and White Crime since I listened to those songs the least.
Rating: 4.6/5
