GutterPutter

Lil Dicky, A.K.A David Andrew Burd, has gone a bit quiet since his 2015 debut Professional Rapper. Barring a handful of singles like 2018’s ‘Freaky Friday’ which features convicted domestic abuser Chris Brown and 2019’s ‘Earth’ that contains a “stellar” guest line from Kevin Hart as neo-nazi Kanye West, there’s little to write home about his discography. His main shtick of comedy hip hop can come off as being a bit of an acquired taste; some people are going to enjoy his self-deprecating stories of his everyman life while others would be put off by his sense of humour as being forced and cringy. As for me, I might not be a fan of him at all, but I do appreciate a punchline every now and then.

A big part of Lil Dicky’s brand is that of his aspirations to be recognised as a great rapper. One of his biggest singles with Snoop Dogg is one big attempt to sell his skills and his desire to be remembered like Nas or Jay-Z. He mentions that he initially started his career in music as a side gig only to get himself sucked in further by his ambitions. Penith is largely a concept album, a soundtrack from his television show Dave that had just been cancelled on 1 February at the time of writing. Given the quality of this work, one can’t help but hope that maybe Burd is going to at least put in more quality checks over his works…

The album is one big train of questionable punchlines, dodgy choruses, and too many generic trap beats. I would probably spare you the major gripes I have with them by first talking about the one major plus for Lil Dicky – he does have some genuine talent as a rapper. He knows how to flow well as shown in ‘Second Coming’, he has a good understanding on how to manage his cadence in ‘Honestly’, and has some Eminem-esque creative rhyming in ‘YG Interlude’. The good news is that they are prevalent in much of the album. Okay, that’s the one major plus that I am happy to raise up. If there is one reason why you could give it a go, then it’s purely because Burd is a good emcee at a technical level. It’s too bad that his desire to specialise in humour leaves one too many cringe-inducing bars because had he let it be a side aspect of his artistry, he could have the groundwork to go beyond being another white rapper.

Now, let’s talk about the big problems surrounding Penith. Straight from the name, you know that whatever lewd jokes it has in mind is going to be comparable to gonorrhoea. Never mind that, the way it tries to portray romance might come straight out of an unfinished Tommy Wiseau screenplay. ‘No Fruits or Vegetables’ feels like a religious fundamentalist parent trying to teach their kids about the birds and the bees. However, the innuendos and entendres feel so on the nose that not only does it come off as blatantly unfunny, but it’s even offensive with how hard it tries to make light of sex. ‘My D!ck Sucks’ is about Burd’s… girth. That’s literally the whole gag in the song. If we ought to go from physical to relational, ‘Ally’s Song’, ‘I Met A Girl’, ‘Mr. McAdams’, and ‘Harrison Ave’ fail to make us swoon for love. It’s actually amazing how Burd managed to get his first relationship in his early teenhood (at least based on the show) when he exposed his… hole to her.

With the production coming from a wide variety of individuals from other backgrounds, there’s only around one beat that sounds good with at most another one being “suitable”. ‘Brand New’ was handled by Dylan Brady of 100 gecs’ fame in which the bombastic and abrasive nature actually fits Burd’s style well. Maybe if he had decided to collaborate with him for a good while, we might actually get a good chance to enjoy it after listening to it for “ironic” curiosity. Aside from that, much of the record consists of the previously mentioned trap beats that were mixed with some chipmunk soul-esque vocal samples which doesn’t pan out the way it could have. Among the offenders include ‘Honestly’ with Benny Blanco as does ‘Burst’ and ‘I’m Drunk’, Jahnei Clarke’s ‘Hahaha’ with the hi-hat sizzles, and ‘Still Freestyling’ (done with Henry Kwapis) with a boring bit of piano chord. 

The biggest danger in Penith largely comes from one simple issue, that being the inability to articulate emotions well in the album. ‘Morning After’ has this weird accent attempt in the depiction of an intercourse which makes me wince in pain as he tries too hard to make it funny when he has virtually no jokes to make about it. ‘Going Gray’ feels artificial in the attempt to present the fears of being stuck while everyone moves on thanks largely to the blatant autotune, yet the verses also feel cliche in their own rights. How many people have heard of friends settling down and having kids without any elaboration on how deep that bond used to be or how they feel about the narrating voice like David? In stark contrast to much of the comedy shtick in the record, the attempts made to balance it out with drama fails to 

I could complain a bit more, but I have little energy to digress about ‘I Love Myself’ and ‘Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’. I’m sure that what I have already said could easily be applied to these two songs. Above all else with Penith, it is a disappointing letdown for someone with a talent like David Burd. He might not be the most artsy kind of emcee, but he has shown a clear aptitude in the technicalities while harnessing his experiences in entertaining others. It just so happens that rather than let the jokes build up naturally, it feels as if he needs to make nearly every line a skit. If he did not fixate himself on humour too much, maybe the whole album would have been half as decent. Then again, he does insist on sticking with Lil Dicky, a foremost commentary on “toxic hypermasculinity”.

1/5