AMC’s “Dispatches from Elsewhere” and its star/producer Jason Segal is getting all of the love for its dedication in showing off the totality of Philadelphia now. But, only one new television show, the FXX Network’s “Dave,” can boast an actual one-time Philadelphian at its roost: Dave Burd, the Cheltenham native better known as comic rapper Lil Dicky.
Although the show focuses on Burd’s exploits in the Los Angeles music scene and commercial hip hop culture with him trying to score a record deal – as well as work out the mess of having a small penis, lots of tiny dick jokes in this one – Lil Dicky is something of a universalist. He had his first real hit in 2013 when his YouTube video for his track “Ex-Boyfriend,” snagged a million plus views in just 24 hours, and the whole of his schtick went viral in a huge way. After that, his 2015 single, the goofy “$ave Dat Money,” got over four million streams, with most of its clicks coming from YouTube, according to Nielsen Music. The charm of Lil Dicky’s brand of caustic comic hip-hop is that he sounds like all three Beastie Boys rolled into one skinny dude.
The Philadelphia-area native was a goofball as a kid; a class clown. “I was the kid who made everyone laugh,” he told me in a past interview. As far as hip-hop went, he was a fan of rappers such as Jay Z and Nas in grade school, and Kanye West and Lil Wayne while at Cheltenham High.
With that, “Dave” dreams of being a big name street rapper, but from a block closer to the suburbs than the Bronx, Brooklyn or Compton, just like its star, Lil Dicky. And you can call “Dave” stupid, but, I say there’s something stoopid fresh to it – at least for a couple of episodes. Check it out, and you let me know.
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