Lil Dicky, born David Burd, always wanted to be a star. Even though he holds a college degree in business and marketing, entertainment and performing were always part of his dream. Even in his music, there's a good mix of rhymes and comedy that goes into each song, and Dicky thrives on both aspects. "I knew I could rap a little bit, which is not the most unique way for being funny," he told XXLmag.com. "The more I did it, the better I got at rapping and then I fell in love with the craft of it and the possibility that I was a good rapper was very intriguing." Now that his career is blowing up, the YouTube star is looking towards his next venture: acting.
If hard work really makes dreams come true, then Dicky is truly on track to be amazing. Between 2011 and 2012 the rapper laid down almost 80 songs. His mixtape, which he dropped in 2013 contained his memorable hits "Russell Westbrook On a Farm," which had him getting noticed by OKC Thunder small forward Kevin Durant, and "Ex Boyfriend." Dicky kept working, dropping songs and videos on a weekly basis for almost six months, and even used a Kickstarter campaign to raise the funds (over $100,000) to go on tour and deliver on a debut album.
Professional Rapper, Dicky's independently released LP, dropped summer 2015, and features by big names such as Snoop Dogg, Rich Homie Quan and Fetty Wap continue to get heads turning and bobbing in the young rapper's direction. In fact, the video for the LP's title track, featuring Snoop, has over 10 million hits thus far on YouTube, and the album hit No. 1—pretty impressive for an indie album. Dicky acknowledges that he's pretty "in tune" with his fans, and that his semi-openness has led to a lot of his success.
"I don't spend a ton of time interacting, but I feel like I probably do more than most rappers/artists. I just find it interesting, to be able to communicate with fans. It's cool," Dicky told Forbes. "Obviously, I did a Kickstarter where I relied on fans to back my career financially, and I think opening the lines of communication may have been one reason that people felt so incentivized to help support the cause. A lot of people call what they are doing a movement, but this really feels like an active movement, where I'm pretty in tune with the spirit of the listeners, and they feel like my spirit is in tune with their."
And with all of this going on, Dicky still strives for more, aiming for the big or small screen in the near future. "Ideally in five years you see me just as much as a rapper as you do an onscreen talent," he said. But that doesn't mean he doesn't appreciate his role in the rap game. "A part of me wants to rely less and less on comedic visuals and make more substantial stand-alone music," he explained. "And get a sitcom on TV where I can let my comedy do the talking there. But another part of me wants to continue to be comedic in my music even more, because it's really being appreciated as different and unique, so why would I want to become more like everybody else?"
Watch Dicky do what he does best in the video below for his hit "Save Dat Money," featuring Rich Homie Quan and Fetty Wap.
