Lil Dicky
I was a business major at the University of Richmond, and after I graduated, I took a job at a corporate ad agency. I had comedic dreams, but I also had a realistic look at what I had to do when I left school: maybe I'm funny, but maybe I'm one of a hundred thousand funny people, you know?Collection: Dreams
'Ex-Boyfriend' is a really funny story that is that much funnier when you have visuals attached to it as opposed to just hearing it. I couldn't let a song like that go un-videoed.Collection: Funny
Sometimes I want to be completely outlandish and funny, but sometimes I feel the need to prove myself as a rapper.Collection: Funny
I have Kanye's ego to some extent.
LeBron James - I'm such a big basketball fan, and to be in his body for a day and be able to just dunk at will, have that level of court awareness and size, oh my goodness, that would be a treat.
I've been working a lot with Benny Blanco; he's a producer. And I've been working with Diplo and a bunch of other people. Detail, Charlie Handsome. A variety of people.
I remember, in fifth grade, doing a report on the Russian poet Alexander Pushkin as a rap. It was just an easy way to get an A back then because everyone was turning in boring stuff.
Love is a fickle thing. But I still believe in it.
I've always been totally enamored by hip-hop. I wouldn't say I liked it exclusively growing up. It was, like, that and alt-rock. But I always preferred it. It set a tone for everything I wanted to do in life.
I don't think any artist has really relied on music videos the way I do. It's almost like my radio.
I always have to poop right before I do a concert. I don't feel nervous, but I think that must be my body reacting.
Finally, the day came where I put stuff online for the first time ever. The Lil Dicky video got a million views the first day. It was one of the best days of my life. It was the day I learned I was who I thought I was. It was a fantastic I-told-you-so moment.
I have never been more physically tired than after that first song of my first concert.
I feel like the Philadelphia sports teams are really good at having my back.
In my heart, I believe I'm a top flight comedian and a top flight rapper.
I always dreamed of being an entertainer. So, my whole life to some extent, or from the age that I can remember onwards, I knew I was going to have to make some sort of attempt at being noticed for being funny.
You hear a lot of rap songs about spending money. I thought, wouldn't it be funny to make a song about saving money because it's ironic, but beyond irony, I genuinely have pride in saving money.
I'm a relatively cheap person who, to me, it's not cool to overspend; it's cool to get a great deal.
Deep down, I always had a belief I would get on the charts.
Rapping works like a sport... the more you do it, the better you get at it.
People see a 'South Park' episode, and there's racially insensitive jokes - nobody bats an eye because they're expecting that in that context. In hip-hop, they don't expect that kind of thing because it's a white person in a predominantly black world.
By putting this music out, I think I genuinely eliminated 80 percent of the previous jobs I was qualified for.
Deep down, I want to be a big rapper. I want people to love what I'm doing.
The way you respect hip-hop is by being true to yourself.
I don't necessarily think that when I graduated college, I had a plan to work at an ad agency. I had a plan in terms of getting the best job I could, like, just whatever normal job.
Working at the ad agency showed me just how possible things were from a production standpoint.
I knew I could rap a little bit, which is not the most unique way for being funny. 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.
I wanted to explain that just because I'm rapping in this funny way doesn't mean that I'm not worthy of actually being evaluated as a rapper.
Obviously, my aspirations are to be considered one of the best. Like, anyone rapping should have that mindset.
I will be in a position where I can afford the Bugatti, but I most certainly won't be buying it.
If I apply myself to rap, I'm gonna be the best rapper alive. If I apply myself to comedy, I'm going to be the funniest guy alive.
It's not that I'm playing a rapper. I definitely feel like I'm a legitimate rapper. I just think that, who I am, there's more to me than just being a rapper.
I think everybody has their own inner rap spirit animal.
Being funny is my biggest differentiator, and I think I'd be a fool not to use that, and there's nothing I enjoy personally more than making a human being laugh. But then, I also think I have a serious side to me.
Usually, I think of the song, and then the video plays out in my head as I'm writing the song. I started rapping to become a comedian, so I'm certainly thinking about the visual component of things beyond just the music most of the time.
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.
A part of me wants to rely less and less on comedic visuals and make more substantial standalone music. And get a sitcom on TV where I can let my comedy do the talking there.
I think, between me and Chris Brown, if you combined our games, you'd get, like, a real Division I basketball player.
I grew up when Chris Brown was, like, an icon. He was my ringtone when I was in high school.
I care most about what rappers think about me as a rapper, and I've gotten a lot of praise. I think rappers understand I'm a really good rapper, and that means more to me than a random person, you know, 'cause they know what goes into making rap music.
Personally, I feel like I'm trying to redefine what a really good rapper can be like. Like, I think it's not often where a good rapper can be making funny music.
I would say that I don't make music quickly; like, my process has been very slow, and my bar is very high, and I don't really rush to make music just to get something out there.
Snoop Dogg and T-Pain, to me, are like legends so it's like, any time you get to work with a legend like that, it's cool.
I think my TV show is gonna be my big thing, so I'm pretty focused on that, and I think doing that will lead to all of the other opportunities I want, to jump to movies and other stuff, but it starts with that.
My favorite part of festival season is probably the disposable income at hand for me... I get booked for more, and I make more money.
I really don't spend my money that much unless I'm reinvesting in my business.
I'm not a big festivalgoer as in, like, a citizen.
I can't really rap the way rappers rap; I drive a 2002 Toyota Avalon.
It is crazy how people can't understand the concept of comedy and music. It's like they have to be mutually exclusive.
One time, I performed 'Save Dat Money' with Justin Bieber. I was at his album release party, and he was like, 'Do you want to do the song?' I was also on a date, so the date met Justin Bieber, and I couldn't have looked cooler.