Anyone who listens to rap music knows that it is a genre dominated by African American talent, largely from inner-city regions of New York, Georgia, Michigan and California. The lyrics that rap artists produce are often chock-full of references to money, sex, drugs and the overall gangster lifestyle.

How, then, has a white, upper-middle class, Jewish, honours university graduate from suburban Pennsylvania with a penchant for small penis jokes been able to figuratively flip the rap-game on its head with chart-topping singles, countless A-list collaborations and his own network television show?

Meet Dave Burd – better known by his self-deprecating, tongue-in-cheek stage name Lil Dicky. Dave’s career trajectory from account manager to professional rapper is equal-parts unconventional and fascinating. In 2013, he became an overnight sensation when the music video for his song “Ex-Boyfriend” from his first mixtape surpassed one million views on YouTube in its initial 24 hours. Two years later, Burd’s debut album Professional Rapper was released, peaking at number seven on the Billboard Top 200 list, even reaching number one on the company’s rap, comedy and independent album charts.

Alongside Professional Rapper came a single and animated music video of the same name featuring the one and only Snoop D-O-Double G. The song, presented as an interview between Burd – a prospective “professional rapper” – and Snoop – an industry titan – showcases the former’s unique ability to blend rhythm, flow and comedic timing into what would otherwise be a regular conversation. Snoop asks about Dave’s background, his interests in rap, his biggest strengths and his future plans, and the interviewee’s claim to “want to do the whole thing different” has the legend questioning how the two could ever be legitimate peers.

But legitimate peers they are, even if at face value they appear to be polar opposites in every conceivable way. As great of a track as “Professional Rapper” is, it’s not even the best dialogue-focussed song on the album; that title belongs – in my opinion – to “Pillow Talking,” an 11-minute post-coital conversation between two people who clearly don’t know the first thing about one another.

Here, Dave’s initial inquiries about his lover’s family lead to spirited debates about war, religion, the existence of extraterrestrial life, dinosaurs and animal rights – you know, all the usual topics you discuss after a steamy encounter of this nature.

Of course, I’d be doing Dave a disservice by failing to mention the song that truly separates him from the rest of his professional colleagues. Where most rappers use their platforms to boast about their extravagant wealth and material possessions, Dave uses “$ave Dat Money” to poke fun at these traditional rap themes while leaning into stereotypes about his Jewish heritage by focussing on the importance of saving money and economic frugality. The corresponding music video hilariously follows Dave’s attempts to solicit volunteers to help him display exquisite wealth – with mansions, fancy cars and luxury yachts – while spending as little money as possible.

Since Professional Rapper’s release, Lil Dicky has collaborated with Chris Brown for a “Freaky Friday” parody and raised money and awareness for the dangers of climate change alongside Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande and Leonardo DiCaprio (amongst countless others) with his song “Earth.” He’s also written and starred in two seasons of Dave – a show loosely based on his early career akin to Childish Gambino’s Atlanta. A sophomore album has been in the works for years, and fans like myself are eager to hear what comedic content Dave will come up with next. When he told Snoop that he “doesn’t want to leave the game the same,” he wasn’t messing around.

Connor Burk

Connor is in his second year of the Professional Writing program at Algonquin College. He has been obsessed with rap music since his inappropriately-early introduction to Eminem as a youth of 10 years old.