When I was younger, I loved listening to rap music. I didn’t care who sang it, as long as the lyrics flowed and there was a sick beat going on in the background, I was hooked. I was first exposed to rap through Emninem back in highschool – the fact that he could cuss and swear in songs was an eye (ear?) opening experience. After that, I started listening to other rappers who were big at that time – name Limp Bizkit (not pure rap, but it was still rap) and Cypress Hill.
And because these guys featured other rappers on their tracks, I started listening to their ‘rap families’ – DMX, Dr. Dre, Xzibit, Method Man (and eventually Wu Tang Clan), 2Pac and more. I admired these guys’ abilities to cleverly string rhymes together and deliver them over the mic effortlessly. During my upper secondary school years, I tried rapping myself and discovered how bad at it I was. Sure, I could memorize lyrics, but I could never rap as fast as those guys and my voice sounded terrible when I rapped. I pretty much gave up on the dream of being a rapper there and then, but I never stopped listening to rap (or trying to dress like them – everyone has been through that phase, right?).
As the years went by, rap became stale and done poorly (IMO), and nothing could ever top the rappers I listened to and admire. I mean, you can only listen to so many songs about popping bottles in clubs, fiending on chicks and throwing your hands up. Eventually, as I started listening to other kinds of music, I stopped listening to rap. Just a track every now and then, but not at the capacity which I used to in my younger days. Until now.
Ex-Boyfriend
I was introduced to Lil Dicky by a friend about a year ago through his super popular song, ‘Ex-Boyfriend’. I dug the song, so I downloaded his mixtapes and started listening to all his material. It was good, but I didn’t listen to him religiously. About a week ago, he released a new album ‘Professional Rapper’ with the title track as the lead single. I listened to it – again, and again and again. Holy shit, this guy was legit. Since then, there hasn’t been a day where I haven’t listened to Lil Dicky.
Professional Rapper feat. Snoop Doogg
Before you have any preconceived notions about him based on his name, he’s not your typical rapper. Instead of rapping about shooting up thugs, snorting coke or dealing drugs, Lil Dicky raps about stuff we, everyday people, can relate to: getting paranoid about ex-boyfriends, downloading music, and wanting to be the best (instead of already being the best). Not only are his lyrics on point and hilarious, his flow is incredible, and he has great music videos to match. Anyway, enough of this rambling about Lil Dicky – I’ll leave you guys with some of my favorite tracks from him.
Bruh
Bars
Russell Westbrook On a Farm
Classic Male Pregame
Lemme Freak
Awesome discovery!