Lil Dicky
11th July 2018
Logan Campbell Centre, Auckland, New Zealand.
Review by Sarah Kidd. Photography by Matt Henry Mendonca.
David Burd, or as the majority of his fans would know him – Lil Dicky – is a conundrum. It’s not the fact that he is a white rapper; there have certainly been others before him, some successful, some … not so successful. It’s not even the fact that he’s a Jewish White Rapper. No, the conundrum with Lil Dicky is trying to work out if this guy is so beyond brilliant as to be working on a completely higher plane or if he truly is just a giant douchebag.
Critics and reviewers alike tend to sit firmly in two camps; those that tout his 2015 debut album Professional Rapper as an absolute ‘game-changer’ and those who would rather have pins inserted in their ear drums then have to listen to it again.
One thing that neither party can argue though – the guy is hella popular right now.
This is proved tonight by a venue heaving with fans, Lil Dicky’s show proving so popular on announcement that it had to be upgraded to the larger Logan Campbell Centre to accommodate the demand. Not bad for a thirty year old former advertising executive who graduated University with a 3.03 GPA. Making the transition from a white collar lifestyle to that of a touring rapper came easily to Lil Dicky thanks to the wonders of social media and a music video by the name of ‘Ex–Boyfriend’ which went viral with over a million views in 24 hours. A mixtape soon followed and then the aforementioned debut album – containing material from a number of hip-hop heavyweights such as Snoop Dogg and Rich Homie Quan. And yet the question remains – is Lil Dicky a serious rapper? Is he a comedian who raps? Or a rapper who at times just happens to be comedic?
His live show does little to answer this question.
Sure it starts out like most other hip-hop shows, screaming fans, a scattering of lights and Lil Dicky on stage with his hype man GaTa by his side. So far so good. Kicking it off with the title track off his album Professional Rapper – which has to be noted is quite brilliant in a character driven, parody kinda way – and Lil Dicky has the crowd eating out of his hand. Dressed in a simple tracksuit jacket and brown pants, he looks exactly as you would expect a Jewish white rapper from just outside of Philly to look. Which in many ways is refreshing, there are no pretences here, he is who he is.
A little banter about how it’s his first time in NZ (cue huge cheers from crowd again) is quickly followed up with a trip back in time to his 2013 Mixtape So Hard; his ‘day one’ fans getting the opportunity to prove their worth as they rap all the words to ‘How Can I Become a Bawlaa’.
So far so good…
Taking off his jacket, Lil Dicky then reveals an All Black shirt – understandably and rather predictably the crowd goes nuts. But Lil Dicky is determined to milk this patriotic gravy train for all it is worth; advising the crowd that at this point he would usually sing his own National Anthem but instead he would like to sing theirs. So God of Nations in both Maori and English is played and the crowd belts it out with true Kiwi gusto. It’s a cheesy move, but at the same time just a little heart-warming too.
But from there it all took a bit of a turn for the worse.
Long conversations of whether he should show his penis or asshole to the crowd soon started to emerge and then shapeshift (rather creepily) into the quest to find Lil Dicky a wife while on tour. A young female fan is brought to the stage and asked to sit at a table and draw a picture of Dicky while he goes on to perform ‘Work (Paid for That?)’ followed by the awfully cringe-worthy discourse entitled ‘Pillow Talking’ which features the existential meanderings of his alter-ego who goes by the name of … wait for it … ‘Brain’. The young lady is then invited to spin the wheel – the show suddenly moving into some strange version of the Price Is Right – which is filled with wonderful options such as ‘Slap Dicky in the face’ through to ‘Give the DJ a BJ’.
Yes Ladies and Gentlemen, that is the sound of eyes rolling.
After having a burlap sack thrown over her head (what the…) she is then handed a fake material penis which she is to then – blindly – pin on GaTa in accordance with the instructions on the magical wheel.
If Lil Dicky truly is a satirical lyrical genius – he ain’t proving it with this show. Throughout the evening he throws out tracks such as ‘Personality’, ‘White Crime’ and ‘Molly’ featuring – rather oddly – Brendon Urie of Panic at the Disco. And yes, in case you’re wondering ‘Freaky Friday’ makes an appearance too. But let’s just avoid that heavily loaded gun…
Two more potential wives are selected to spin the wheel, one getting to slap Dicky in the face while the other gets pecked on the lips after pretending to be on a first date. The ‘winner’ being chosen after a game of ‘Put the condom on the banana’… although using the word winner could be pushing it. Watching a young woman receive a lap dance from Lil Dicky in his skin tight boxers while he raps ‘Lemme Freak’ was as uncomfortable to watch as it sounds – but she got a bunch of flowers afterwards so hey… Respect y’all.
Hip-Hop show clichés filled in the rest of the space. A few samples here and there (including Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ a favourite of legends Wu-Tang Clan), some pot smoking and a whole lot of hyping up the crowd. Technically Lil Dicky can indeed rap. He has flow, and some half decent beats. But often his material is hit and miss as it leans heavily on the comedic angle while simultaneously communicating the message that he doesn’t really believe in this stuff – that there is way better shit to come. The night ended with a hotly demanded encore – Lil Dicky still in his boxers delivering the track ‘Ex-Boyfriend’ from which this whole charade started.
Mastermind or ignorant asshole – yeah, the jury is still out… Dogg.
Were you there at the Logan Campbell Centre for this comedic hip-hop show? Or have you seen Lil Dicky perform live somewhere else before? Tell us about it in the comments below!
Setlist:
- Professional Rapper
- How Can I Become A Bawlaa
- Work (Paid For That?)
- Pillow Talking
- Sports
- The 90’s
- Personality
- Freaky Friday
- White Crime
- Jewish Flow
- Molly
- Hype (Freestyle)
- $ave Dat Money
- Lemme Freak
- Ex-Boyfriend [encore]
![Professional Rapper [PA]](https://i0.wp.com/www.ambientlightblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/FishpondLilDicky.jpg?resize=300%2C157&ssl=1)
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