A look at all of the stars who have graced XXL Freshman covers over the years. Continue reading…
Lil Dicky
Lil Dicky Said His Chris Brown Collaboration Let The R&B Star ‘Use His Talent For Good’
The name on everybody’s lips today is Lil Dicky (aka Dave Burd).
He’s back to tell everyone about why he personally hates concerts and earn comparisons to Larry David in a profile with GQ. Of course, Dicky has been a semi-joke-y rapper around for several years now, but the surprise success of his TV show Dave is really what spurred him to heights such as a massive profile in a fashion magazine like GQ.
Speaking to them about one of his “joke-y” songs from a few years ago, Dicky let the music world know why he felt collaborating with Chris Brown was a good thing to do. Their 2018 song “Freaky Friday” featured the two rappers switching places for the day and was deemed problematic for any number of reasons, facing serious backlash at the time, but also became a No. 1 hit. Dicky said he thinks letting Brown “use his talents for good” is the right choice with Brown.
“With Chris Brown, we can do one of two things,” Dicky explained. “We can never hear from him again and say ‘I won’t accept any Chris Brown whatsoever,’ or I feel like we can allow him to use his talent for good. When I see people react to the song, I really think that it makes people laugh and it makes people happy. I don’t think it’s the type of thing that really is making the world a worse place, on a micro-specific, talking-about-the-song level.”
He later added: “A song like ‘Freaky Friday,’ let’s be honest about it — it’s a f*cking global smash hit. It sounds like a hit. If you’re not even listening to the lyrics, it literally has the palette of a hit.”
And finally clarified that when he offends people, it really does hurt him “I’m aware of how insensitive my art can be, but I’m a very sensitive person and I hate offending people,” he said. “If I see anybody that’s offended by something I’m doing, it really hurts my heart, truly. I’m very confident that if I had 10 hours to spend with somebody, that they would like me. There have been very few instances in my life where someone has known me and disliked me. Yet a ton of people, understandably so, would dislike me as an artist or me as a comedian.”
And that last part is probably why the extended narrative of Dave has changed the perception of Dicky in culture quite a bit. Check out the full profile here to continue getting to know him.
A Longtime ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ And ‘Seinfeld’ Collaborator Says Lil Dicky Reminds Him Of Larry David
Getting compared to Larry David is a great thing if you’re working in comedy, and perhaps not as great a thing if it’s in reference to your social skills. But for Lil Dicky, that kind of comparison is exactly what he’s been going for all along.
The rapper and brain behind the surprise hit Dave is known for a lot of things, all of them sort of referencing parts of his own life and the musical persona that first made him famous. His success with Dave only tightens the connections between his persona, his real life and the show’s plot points loosely including all of the above. And if that sounds a bit like David’s work on Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm, well, you’re not alone in thinking that.
In a GQ profile of Dicky, the Larry David connections are front and center in a very flattering way. Early in the piece his mother quite literally says “You’re no Jerry Seinfeld. But you’re funny” when describing Dicky (real name Dave Burd) and his big ambitions. Apparently he used to straight-up ask his parents if he was a comedic genius, though he didn’t like the answer he got:
His friend Benny, the producer and hitmaking songwriter Benny Blanco, remembers this too. “Oh my God,” he says. “He’d be like, ‘Mom, Dad, am I a genius?’ And they’d be like, ‘Eh.’”
With two seasons of Dave now under his belt, though, the comparison isn’t nearly as absurd. And one longtime David collaborator is willing to broach the subject. The piece discusses Burd’s creative process and OCD tendencies at length, exploring how he first learned he could make people laugh and the stress that introduced into his life. The juxtaposition between attempted genius and the mental strain of actually realizing that makes him a difficult person to work with at times:
At work, the neurosis has a name: The No Stone Unturned Method. This means he must try out every single possible version of something, whether it’s a lyric or a joke, before he’s satisfied. “He’s the worst person I’ve ever been in the studio with,” Benny Blanco tells me. “But also the best person.”
The flipside of his neurosis is stratospheric confidence. The co-creator of Dave, Jeff Schaffer, remembers the first time he met Burd: “He’s talking to me, a stranger, about how he’s going to be so huge. He’s telling me he’s going to be the biggest entertainer in the history of entertaining. And I’m like, Oh, he’s delusional. This is great. I love this.” Schaffer, who’s also worked on Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm, adds that he sees “a lot of Larry” (that would be David) in Burd.
That’s high praise for a guy many know from funny rap songs, though the perception of Burd is certainly changing with Dave. The show is funny, and very successful, and as we see more of Burd’s work, it makes all of his talk about a wildly successful career not just more reasonable, but an actual reality.
(Via GQ)
Lil Dicky Gets Romantically Involved With Doja Cat In A New Trailer For Season 2 Of ‘Dave’
It was made official a few weeks ago that the second season of Lil Dicky’s beloved FX series Dave will premiere this summer. Now there’s a new trailer for the upcoming episodes and it reveals some of what will be going on this season. The new season, by the way, is set to premiere on June 16 at 10 p.m. on FXX before streaming on Hulu the next day.
Dicky seems to be experiencing a creative block and having trouble making his debut album, despite other things in his life going well. For example, Dicky seems to have connected with Doja Cat through an online dating platform. Elsewhere, he encounters Swae Lee and Slim Jxmmi of Rae Sremmurd, as well as Hailey Bieber and Kendall Jenner at Benny Blanco’s house. The trailer wraps up with him hilariously talking with NBA legend (and Airplane star) Kareem Abdul-Jabbar about how basketball used to be.
Other celebrities not in the trailer but previously revealed to be making appearances this season are Lil Nas X, CL, Kyle Kuzma, J Balvin, Lil Yachty, Kevin Hart, and others.
Press materials previously said of the new season, “Dave knows he’s destined for rap superstardom — but at what cost? With the pressure mounting as he records his debut album, he has to decide if he’ll sacrifice friendships, love, and his own sense of self in order to make his dream come true. Simultaneously exasperating and inspiring to his friends, Dave vows to leave no stone unturned on his quest to become the next superstar.”
Watch the new trailer above.
The Second Season Of Lil Dicky’s ‘Dave’ Premieres This Summer And Features Lil Nas X, Doja Cat, And More
Earlier this month, Lil Dicky declared, “That’s a wrap on season 2,” presumably talking about his breakout hit FXX series Dave. It didn’t take long, by the way, for FXX to renew Dave for a second season, considering it was the network’s most-watched comedy ever. Anyway, that seems to be what he was referring to, as the premiere date of the show’s second season has now been set for June 16.
Benny Blanco, who appeared in multiple episodes in the show’s first season, is set to return in Season 2. Also making appearances will be Lil Nas X, Doja Cat, CL, Kendall Jenner, Hailey Bieber, Kyle Kuzma, J Balvin, Rae Sremmurd (Swae Lee and Slim Jxmmi), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Lil Yachty, and Kevin Hart, among others.
Press materials also tease some topics to be covered in the new episodes: “Dave knows he’s destined for rap superstardom — but at what cost? With the pressure mounting as he records his debut album, he has to decide if he’ll sacrifice friendships, love, and his own sense of self in order to make his dream come true. Simultaneously exasperating and inspiring to his friends, Dave vows to leave no stone unturned on his quest to become the next superstar.”
Revisit our interview with the show’s GaTa here.
Lil Dicky, The National, And More Join The ‘NOW: Climate Action Campaign’ To Fight Climate Change
With climate change continuing to grow in importance as one of the most urgent issues facing society today, non-profit booster Propeller and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) are launching a new awareness initiative called the “NOW: Climate Action Campaign” to raise public consciousness of the looming dangers of climate change.
Beginning Earth Day (April 22) and continuing throughout the year, NOW will leverage the platforms of musicians and festivals to promote climate awareness. To encourage fans to take action — signing petitions, making donations, planting trees, and signing up for education courses — artists and festival partners will offer prizes like custom bikes and more.
Among the artists participating are Lil Dicky, who is offering a trip to an exotic location impacted by climate change so fans can see its effects firsthand, Julien Baker, A-Trak, and The National, while BUKU Music + Arts Festival, Deep Tropics Festival, and Sub Pop Records are all billed as participants as well.
Propeller, a digital marketing company that works to connect non-profit social causes with celebrity endorsers to, well, propel these movements beyond what they might be capable of otherwise, highlighted the importance of the NOW campaign in a press statement from founder Brandon Deroche. “Climate change is only going to be solved with sustained attention and pressure from all of us, and we see this campaign as a way to help energize the movement,” he said.
Lil Dicky, who previously recorded the celebrity charity song “Earth” in 2019 and donated the profits to environmental causes, echoed Deroche’s sentiment. “Climate change is an incredibly important cause for me,” he said. “I’m excited to get fans that may be new to the cause activated through the NOW Climate Action Campaign, and give them the chance to see the impact of climate change first hand.”
More information will be forthcoming but for now, you can learn more at propeller.la and nrdc.org.