Richmond alumnus, Lil Dicky, to perform for Richmond students on Friday

Richmond alumnus turned famous comedian and rapper David Burd, known by his fans as ‘Lil Dicky,’ will be performing for Richmond students on Friday evening.

The event will take place at Club Tucan at 10:30 p.m. Tickets are required, but can be bought at the door.

“I heard his name before, but never listened to his music,” Sarah Styslinger said, a Westhampton College senior who plans to attend the event. “I think it’s exciting to have a Richmond grad performing on homecoming weekend.”

The event organizers declined to comment.

University of Richmond, I'm coming back Friday. I may even swing by tonight if you guys wanna hang out

— Young Man (@lildickytweets) October 28, 2015

Burd initially achieved fame in 2013 when he released the comedic music video ‘Ex-Boyfriend,’ in which he raps about meeting his girlfriend’s ex boyfriend and becomes extremely insecure regarding his own stature. The video garnered over one-million views in 24 hours.

Burd graduated from Richmond in 2010 with a business degree, according to a previous interview with Philadelphia Magazine. He did not immediately pursue a musical career after college. Instead, he worked as an account manager at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, a San Francisco-based advertising agency, according to the same article.

After a few months, Burd became jaded with his day-today duties and decided to present his monthly progress report in the form of a rap song, and distributed copies to his superiors in the office, according to an article in The Guardian.

“I knew I would get rewarded for trying something different,” Burd said. “Everyone was singing the song around the office.”

Burd was swiftly transferred to the agency’s creative department, where he wrote copy ads for the NBA’s ‘BIG’ campaign, according to the Philadelphia magazine article. Burd soon began putting music videos online and developed a solid following.

Although Burd’s videos amassed millions of views, they were free to the public. Looking for a way to fund a studio album and a subsequent tour, Burd began a fundraising campaign on Kickstarter, a crowdfunding website.

The campaign raised over $100,000 and resulted in Burd creating the number one selling rap album during the month of August, according to Billboard.

The album, ‘Professional Rapper,’ features songs with rap icons such as Snoop Dogg, Fetty Wap and Rich Homie Quan.

Burd, born to an upper-middle class family in Cheltenham, Pa, found himself unable to relate to most rap music about “being the man,” so he attempted the exact opposite, according to an article in The Boston Magazine. Instead, he raps about his every day experiences, such as staying in for the night, maintaining his “Jewish curls” and having a party with more men than women.

“Everybody likes someone who is self-deprecating, obviously,” Burd said to Boston Magazine. “But in rap, when people are hearing a song, they’re trained to react to it the way they have to every other rap song they’ve heard their whole lives."

Contact reporter Hunter Ross at hunter.ross@richmond.edu