Pion-Ear: Lil Dicky

David Andrew Burd, aka Lil Dicky, aka Sweet Baby Ray, The Founder of the Sauce. The University of Virginia business major-turned-rapper is taking the rap world by storm through a new take on the same repetitive, but nonetheless catchy, rhythms and droning lyrics. He finds the perfect mix of what hip-hop listeners know and love, of catchy beats, but throws in a new spin with hilarious verses. His versatile style draws attention from anyone from Weird Al Yankovic to athletes getting pumped up before stepping out onto the field.

Burd’s somewhat self-deprecating style is incredibly relatable. Specifically in the hit single “White Crime,” he exposes the “struggles,” if you can even call them struggles, of his life. He says, “Walk into the movie with my pants full, Twix, bag of chips, plus a Snapple, stealing all the shampoos, from the hotel’s pretty bathrooms.” An outsider to the rap world, his perspective is that not everyone has to be a gang member, or a drug dealer, or have teardrops on their face corresponding to the number of people they’ve killed, to be successful in the hip-hop community. Burd is not a perfect role model, but then again unlike many rappers such as Gucci Mane and Kodak Black, nobody will be tossing out #FREEDICKY anytime soon.

If we substitute out Burd’s superior creativity and comedy, his lifestyle is similar to the average Joe. He was born out of a small suburb of Philadelphia, in an upper middle class family, not out of Compton or 8 mile road, where we often see the background of our favorite rappers. Such as in his animated music video featuring Snoop Dogg himself, he is questioned for his untraditional rise to rap stardom. Burd was unsatisfied with his career options moving forward in life and thought rap would be a good way to expose himself to the television and film writing world. Contrary to how he predicted hip-hop would shape his future, Burd’s career in hip-hop was already jump-started after he posted “Ex Boyfriend” on YouTube, reaching a million views within the week.

Burd truly embraces who he is as an unorthodox rapper. In his music video “$ave Dat Money,” Burd didn’t rent out any big fancy yachts, or mansions or buy bottle service at the most expensive club. Instead, he searched for willing one percenters in hopes of borrowing their precious, high-end toys for free. One wouldn’t think the video was shot on only two DSLR cameras (both of which they returned after finishing shooting), or that they didn’t spend a single dime, as surprise cameos were made by T-Pain, Fetty Wap and Rich Homie Quan. Many will never forget Quan dancing with Burd on top of a shaking ice cream truck to the lyrics “my AC never doing nothing, blow fans, Walgreen’s card shoppin’ all the off brands.”

After being exposed to a totally new style, I will now forever question why I listen to trashy rappers like Desiigner. I can never understand what they are saying, considering Desiigner talks how cursive looks. I give more credit to the producers who put together the beats for those somehow-billboard hits. Most of the time it seems like the producers make a good beat, then the rappers just fill in the song with gibberish so it’s rather considered as a “rap song,” than a sub-par techno one. Burd may not have the upper hand at producing billboard hits with every single he releases, but his lyrical genius takes the cake practically every time when put head-to-head.