''Professional Rapper'' is the debut

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

by American rapper

Lil Dicky David Andrew Burd (born March 15, 1988), better known by his stage name Lil Dicky, is an American rapper, singer, comedian, and actor. He first received recognition after the music video for his 2013 song, "Ex-Boyfriend" became a viral video, v ...

. It was released on July 31, 2015, by Commission Records, Dirty Burd Music and

Alternative Distribution Alliance Alternative Distribution Alliance (ADA) is a music distribution company owned by Warner Music Group, which represents the rights to various independent record labels. ADA provides "independent artist and label partners with access to the resource ...

. The album features

guest appearance The term guest appearance generally denotes the appearance of a guest in an artistic or pop-culture setting. The guests themselves (referred to as guest artists, featured artists, guest stars, or guest fighters, depending on context), are disting ...

s from

Snoop Dogg Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. ( ; born October 20, 1971), better known by his stage name Snoop Dogg (previously Snoop Doggy Dogg), is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. Rooted in West Coast hip-hop, he is widely regarded as one of t ...

Rich Homie Quan Dequantes Devontay Lamar (October 4 989 or 1990– September 5, 2024), known professionally as Rich Homie Quan, was an American rapper. Beginning his career in 2010, Lamar first saw mainstream success with his 2013 single " Type of Way", which ...

Fetty Wap Willie Junior Maxwell II (born June 7, 1991), better known by his stage name Fetty Wap, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. He quickly rose to mainstream prominence after his 2014 song " Trap Queen" peaked at number two on the ''Bil ...

Jace Jace or Jase is a masculine given name, often a shortened version of Jason, and more rarely a surname. People Given name *Jace Alexander (born 1964), American television director and actor *Jace Amaro (born 1992), American football player * Jace ...

Viper Vipers are snakes in the family Viperidae, found in most parts of the world, except for Antarctica, Australia, Hawaii, Madagascar, New Zealand, Ireland, and various other isolated islands. They are venomous and have long (relative to non-vipe ...

Brendon Urie Brendon Boyd Urie (born April 12, 1987) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician who is best known as the former lead vocalist and frontman of Panic! at the Disco, the only constant member throughout the band's 19-year run. Many of his ...

Panic! at the Disco Panic! at the Disco was an American pop rock band formed in Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Nevada, in 2004 by high school friends Ryan Ross (guitar) and Spencer Smith (musician), Spencer Smith (drums), who recruited classmates Brendon Urie (vocals and ...

, and

T-Pain Faheem Rashad Najm (born September 30, 1984), known professionally as T-Pain, is an American singer and rapper. He is known for popularizing creative use of Auto-Tune pitch correction, often used with extreme parameter settings to create electro ...

, alongside narrations from

Hannibal Buress Hannibal Amir Buress ( ; born February 4, 1983) is an American comedian, actor, producer, and writer. He started performing comedy in 2002 while attending Southern Illinois University. He starred on Adult Swim's '' The Eric Andre Show'' from 20 ...

and Lil Dicky's parents. The album debuted at number seven on the US ''Billboard'' 200, with first-week sales of 22,000 copies, created a total of 26,000

equivalent album units The album-equivalent unit, or album equivalent, often shortened to just unit, is a sales metric in the music industry that defines the number of songs streamed and songs downloaded equal to one traditional album sale. The album-equivalent unit ...

in the United States.

Background

On May 22, 2013, Lil Dicky self-released his first official

mixtape In the modern music industry, a mixtape is a musical project, typically with looser constraints than that of an album or extended play. Unlike the traditional album or extended play, mixtapes are labeled as laid-back projects that allow artists mo ...

, titled ''So Hard''. Following the release of the mixtape, Dicky began using the

Kickstarter Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...

website, to create a goal of raising $70,000 for him to release his upcoming first studio album, with accompanying music videos and tours. On November 20, 2013, Kickstarter projected a month-long for a

crowdfunding Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and Alternative Finance, alternative finance, to fund projects "withou ...

period of reaching a fundraising goal within a week. The fundraising was dramatically successful, raising it at a total of $113,017.

Singles

The album's

lead single A lead single (or first single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. A similar term, "debut ...

, "Lemme Freak", was released on September 17, 2014. The song was produced by Jim Cummings. The music video received over 90 million views as of May 2021. The album's second single, "White Crime", was released on December 10, 2014. The song was produced by Roger Goodman. The music video received over 21 million views as of May 2021. The album's third single, " Save Dat Money", was released on June 10, 2015. The song features

s from American rappers

and

, with production by Money Alwayz. The song peaked at number 71 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The music video received over 165 million views as of May 2021. The album's

title track A title track is a song that has the same name as the album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-t ...

, " Professional Rapper", was released as the album's fourth and final single on July 31, 2015. The song features a guest appearance from American rapper

, with production by Stan Lane. The music video received over 207 million views as of May 2021.

Other songs

The music video for " Molly" was released on June 9, 2016. The music video features Lil Dicky as a dejected wedding guest as he watches his lost love (portrayed by Isabelle Loeb) get married.

is also featured in the music video as a wedding singer. The music video for "Pillow Talking" was released on April 12, 2017. The music video's high use of special effects reportedly cost $700,000 to create, making it the 49th most expensive music video of all time.

Commercial performance

''Professional Rapper'' debuted at number seven on the ''Billboard'' 200, with first-week sales of 22,000 copies, created a total of 26,000

in the United States. The album debuted at number one consecutively on

Comedy Albums Comedy Albums is a ''Billboard'' chart that lists the "top-selling spoken word and musical comedy albums" each week, as ranked by sales data compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The chart debuted as Top Comedy Albums in October 2004 when it was publishe ...

Rap Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a music chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks R&B and hip-hop albums based on sales in the United States and is compiled by Luminate. The chart debuted as Hot R&B LPs in the issue dated January 30, ...

and

Independent Albums The Independent Albums chart (previously titled Top Independent Albums) ranks the highest-selling independent music albums and extended plays (EPs) in the United States, as compiled by Nielsen SoundScan and published weekly by '' Billboard'' mag ...

Background

Singles

Other songs

Commercial performance

Track listing

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

See also

References