For the past three years, Lil Dicky has quietly been creating one of the biggest all-star charity records since We Are The World and hes finally ready to share it. Earth, a song about the desperate need to save the environment before its too late, was produced by Benny Blanco and Cashmere and features the rapper alongside Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, Halsey, Zac Brown, Brendon Urie, Hailee Steinfeld, Wiz Khalifa, Snoop Dogg, Kevin Hart, Adam Levine, Shawn Mendes, Charlie Puth, Sia, Miley Cyrus, Lil Jon, Rita Ora, Miguel, Katy Perry, Lil Yachty, Ed Sheeran, Meghan Trainor, Joel Embiid, Tory Lanez, John Legend, Bad Bunny, Psy, Kris Wu, Backstreet Boys and Leonardo DiCaprio.
Most of the guest stars appears as cartoon animals in the animated Earth video, which is destined to rack up historic numbers on YouTube. Lil Dicky also launched a website to give fans more information about climate change and ways to help. The rapper called up Rolling Stone before its release to chat about the origins of the song, how he roped in so many A-listers,his fruitless pursuit of Kanye West and the status of his upcoming album and TV show.
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Tell me the backstory of this song and video. What sparked the idea?
It started with me just wanting to make a song about animals. It wasnt an environmentalism type of climate change song in my head at first. I just had the idea of, Wouldnt it be funny to cast different artists to play different animals? As I began working on the song, I had this vague understanding that there is an environmental issue on Earth. I knew what we were doing on Earth, vaguely, was harming the environment. I knew we were polluting the Earth, but I didnt know any of the specifics of it.
As I started thinking about my song, I thought, Its probably a good thing that all the profits that come from this song go to charities involved in saving the environment. It was always in my head that this was going to be something that helped raise money for environmental issues, but I didnt really know the facts. I looked into it and was blown away. I didnt realize, remotely, that it was such an urgent, dire situation. I didnt know that we literally have 12 years to completely change how we do so many things on Earth, from a fundamental standpoint, or the damage will be irreversible and in our lifetimes were going to experience such drastic impact. Upon realizing that, it went from a silly song about animals to, Oh my God, this is the most important thing Ill ever do.
Tell me about getting these guest stars. I imagine at first you didnt think youd get quite so many people.
Well, Im an optimist. [Laughs] You start with your friends and people you have relationships with. Its not that hard to say, I need you on this song. Its all for a good cause. I explained the premise and got a good solid five. Once you have five people, its easier to go to somebody you are less friendly with and be like, Hey, would you want to get on this song with Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, Ed Sheeran and Charlie Puth where everyone is playing a different animal? The pitch wasnt that difficult. Take into account that everyones part is so short that logistically its easy for each artist to execute. Its like a 10-minute operation.
My main priority is to get people to give a shit about saving the Earth Lil Dicky
Who were the first people you signed up?
Charlie Puth was the first person. I think I got Snoop and then Adam Levine, Meghan Trainor. Its blurry, but I got Bieber pretty early. Ed Sheeran was in early, but he didnt record until late.
Then it just snowballed?
Yeah! It just snowballed and then all of a sudden we had 15 [artists] and I was like, This is the coolest thing! By the end, I didnt want to stop. Even now, I want to put out a remix and get like 50 other people. I dont want to do that quite yet, but it was really cool.
How did it work logistically? Did they e-mail in their parts? Did you ever get in the studio with some of these people?
It varied. Id say half of them I was in the studio with them where Id either go to their sessions or theyd come into Benny Blancos studio. The other half of the time, they were sending it via e-mail. It definitely wasnt like We Are the World where you see all these icons sitting in one studio and hanging out like theyre The Avengers. I dont think there was any time where even two were in the studio. Well, actually there was one time where we went to the Wango Tango concert and we set up a booth since we knew Shawn Mendes was there and Ariana Grande, the Backstreet Boys, Miguel. We rotated people in and just got a bunch of people in one hour. We literally set up a booth in Arianas dressing room.
How did you match up each artist to an animal?
That was a me and Benny thing. We kind of just talked it over. The first version of the song was me singing everyones parts. Wed write down every part and start brainstorming. We talked about who we had relationships with and whose voice would be really funny. Lil Jon as a clam is one of my favorite ones. Its so random, but his voice is perfect for it. I take a lot of pride in casting, even with my TV show I really tried to cast it well. I felt like this was an exercise in casting.
Why is Kevin Hart playing Kanye West?
[Laughs] I was planning on getting Kanye to go, Im Kanye West. That was my plan. Im friendly with Kanye. I used to play basketball with him. I have a relationship with him. And I wanted to wait until the video was nearly done because I wanted him to be the last person asked so I could put together the best possible presentation for Kanye. That left me a very limited window to get him on the song. And hes very hard to get in touch with. He changed his cell phone number and his e-mail. I couldnt get ahold of him. The animation was so far along that it still had to be his avatar coming out and saying, And Im Kanye West. I still love that joke. I really love it no matter who plays Kanye, but I didnt leave myself enough time to get ahold of him, so I called Kevin Hart and was like, Will you play Kanye on this song? And he was like, Yeah!
How long total did this take you from the first session until it was totally done?
Probably about two-and-a-half or three years.
Wow. How hard was it to keep secret that whole time?
Its kind of something Ive always been looking forward to. I didnt view it as something that was hard to keep secret. I saw it as something like I havent met my wife yet. I cant wait to meet her. I love that I still have that to look forward to. I feel like I have the best part of my life to look forward to. With this song I kept thinking, I have the best part of my career to look forward to with this thing. Thats how I thought about it.
How did Leonardo DiCaprio get involved?
Im so not involved in the environmental space. I dont know anything about nonprofits and I knew there had to be a non-profit part of this. I knew that I shouldnt be making money off this thing. I thought all the proceeds should be going to charities that help the earth and to raise awareness. One of the main things that woke me up, that helped me go from vaguely-informed to aware, was the documentary Before The Flood, which is a great documentary that is a digestible way to understand whats going on.
And Ill never forget when he won Best Actor [for The Revenant]. That guy has been waiting his whole life to win that and he gets onstage and starts talking about climate change. I respected that so much. I knew that I had to partner up with somebody in that space and he was always on my mind because his documentary really opened my eyes. I also love movies and hes one of my favorite movie stars ever. Hes a great actor. I brought the song to this woman named Justin [Winters] who runs his foundation. She was moved to borderline tears when I played her the song. She was like, Ive been working for 20 years to try and get people to care about this as much as possible and its not an easy fight to fight. When an incredibly mainstream, accessible way to raise awareness for people that arent naturally inclined to know about this issue.
I loved Justin. I felt such a connection with her. She loved it and brought it to Leo. And then all of a sudden, Im at Leos house and were talking about it. One thing I can tell you about that guy is he actually cares. Its not a front. Its just me and him talking and hes getting so worked up to the point of anger talking about how its crazy that people arent really caring about this stuff. I could tell how much he cared. It felt like a very organic collaboration.
You mentioned We Are The World. Do you see this as a sort of modern-day version of that?
Uhhh I guess. I dont know. You can see that parallel because its not often that there are that many artists on one song. But its like a different type of movie even though its about something serious. Its a funny song too, but I do see the parallels. But I dont want to compare them. I dont want to be like, I just made a We Are The World.' I am honored by the comparison.
Was there any one person besides Kanye you tried to land but couldnt get?
There really wasnt. Towards the very end, I went crazy trying to figure out who else I could get. I was like, Can we get Obama? Then everyone was like, I dont think Obama is going to do it. And I want to save my Obama ask. Who knows when Ill need Obama?
Do you think people are going to view you differently after this? Youre known as a pretty goofy guy, but this is something serious.
I dont know. Im still a goofy guy! And the song is silly. I dont know. I have no idea. I dont know how that will shape the perception. My main priority is to get people to give a shit about saving the Earth. But if I was to think about what I want this song to do selfishly for my career, I want people to be like, Oh my God, this guy is legit. This isnt some one-hit wonder gimmick thing. I want people to see me as a legitimate artist, which I feel I am.
It just snowballed and then all of a sudden we had 15 [artists] and I was like, This is the coolest thing!
Whats the status of your album?
Im like two songs away, but Ive definitely been two songs away for six months. Ive got like 15 songs. Its going to be a long album. Theres a certain type of song that Im missing, like a certain itch Ive got to scratch. Id love to get one or two of them on my album, but I gotta put it out by the end of the year. I feel badly for my fans. Including Earth, Ive put out two songs in a four-year period. Thats all. They are starving. I really think theyre going to love my album and I want them to hear it. But realize it takes me a long time to do this stuff. It cant happen for me overnight. I dont make many filler songs or songs about nothing. My album is very conceptual and its own kind of an event. My last album came out in 2015. I listen to some it now and Im like, Ugh, I hate it. I want to do everything I can so that when I listen to it in 2025 I still like it.
Are you working now on your FX show?
Yes I am. Were about to start the writers room. Were shooting this summer and season one should begin in early 2020.
Theres a lot happening all at once. Is it overwhelming?
I think the overwhelming period of my life where its legitimately overwhelming will start once Earth comes out. I have a lot going on, but its been manageable. I dont feel too stressed. But once I start shooting that TV show its literally the process of a TV show is 15-hour days for me, seven days a week, for three months straight. Thats going to happen as Im finishing my album and Im going to go insane. Thats my thing Im scared of, but I think the end of the tunnel will be true light.