Bear Rapper Big Dipper Offers Track-by-Track Commentary on His New Album ‘Late Bloomer’
It’s been three years in the making, but the Big Dipper album Late Bloomer is finally here. A full-length album of 12 tracks, the Chicago-born and now L.A.-based queer rapper calls it his “most authentic, honest and personal music work ever.” We’ve loved this raunchy bear rapper’s rhymes for years now and couldn’t be more excited that his latest project has finally come to fruition.
“This has been a huge labor of love and I’m just grateful that it’s actually out in the world,” Big Dipper tells Hornet. “Also it’s like really good, and I want people to DM me videos of them dancing to the album in their underwear.”
We asked the “ultimate big boy of rap” to break down the new Big Dipper album Late Bloomer for us, track by track. From the backstory on some of the album’s more emotional tracks to the reason for resistance on others, he spills it all. Did you know the “feel good song of the summer” has a Rebecca Black reference in it? Well, you do now.
Check out this track-by-track commentary of the new Big Dipper album, Late Bloomer:
1. “Pressed”
This is like the thesis statement of the album. It’s the first song, so it sets the tone. I’ve grown a lot and matured as an artist, and I’m just out here trying to be myself no matter the challenges and obstacles in my way. It’s a little harder sounding and more forward lyrically, and I like that as the first track of the album.
2. “Lookin”
This is the summer bop dance floor anthem for all the fat boys out there who like to shake their weight. I wanted to make something for people to sing along with and dance to while they live out their #BigBoyBliss.
3. “Cut Up (feat. Uncle Meg & Peppermint)”
It’s a political song that mixes the idea of partying and socializing and building queer community as an act of resistance. This is my “fuck the bigots, fuck the racists, fuck the conservatives and mostly FUCK DONALD TRUMP” song. I don’t say any of that word-for-word in the song, but I’m a faggot, and my people are smart and clever and we like to pull stunts … so that’s what this track is.
4. “Intimate”
Lyrically, “Intimate” zooms in on those little moments of intimacy with someone through physical touch or eye contact. It’s about the back-and-forth sexual games played between two people (or a group if you’re looking for an orgy) before they seal the deal. Sonically it’s a dance song and definitely something to fuck to.
5. “Why We Can’t (feat. Rena)”
This is a breakup song. It’s probably the most emotional track on the album and possibly the most vulnerable I’ve ever been on a song. I wrote this song when I was in an awesome relationship with someone who I loved but wasn’t in love with, and I knew we couldn’t stay together long term. I wrote this song awhile ago and held onto it until I was really ready to share these thoughts. The album seemed like the right place.
6. “One Minute Crush”
This is a storytelling song. It’s fairly comedic and playful but also about that very real moment of having a fleeting crush on a stranger. Those crushes happen all the time where you see someone and immediately know in your heart they are your soulmate! But then they, like, turn to the left and you see their face different, or they say something dumb, or they have a gross tattoo and your whole fantasy crumbles. (I often still will fuck someone even if the fantasy crumbles, ’cause why not?)
RELATED | KC Ortiz and Big Dipper Update a Classic Salt-N-Pepa Track With ‘Let’s Talk About PrEP’
7. “Snooze (feat. Shea Couleé)”
“Snooze” is that song for those moments when you are really feeling yourself and you don’t see it for anyone else. Like those moments when you look in the mirror and say, “I really am that bitch, and no one can touch me” — that’s when you put on “Snooze.” It’s about drowning out all the negativity and haters in the world and stroking your own ego cause you know you’re worth it. It’s really just about me and Shea Couleé talking shit, and I love that.
8. “Waiting”
This is honestly the story of my life, staring at three little dots. I don’t like to admit it, but my phone holds so much power over me and I’m always sitting at home waiting for someone to get back to me. I’ve literally called my phone company to complain about service before because I was being ghosted. We’ve all been there, and it sucks. Digital flirting and dating and fucking is hard, whether on an app or text or email or whatever. So this song is about that journey and finally saying “fuck it,” putting your phone on airplane mode and living your life for you.
9. “Good Good (feat. Show You Suck)”
This is the feel good song of the year! I wanted to make a song that immediately made you want to sing along and jam out. I feel like it’s a perfect driving song, and it’s got so much imagery of like a beautiful day on the weekend just cruising around with friends and feeling good. (And who doesn’t love a Rebecca Black reference)?
10. “Feeling Like (feat. Divoli S’vere)”
A perfect collaboration for the club with Divoli S’vere. I’m obsessed with his music and production, and I love the way this song turned out and how it mixes both our styles. I think “Feeling Like” is perfect for both the last song on your playlist before you head out to the club when you’re still fresh and clean and just about to turn up and the height of the club moment on the dance floor when people kind of make a circle because someone is really going off!
11. “That Nut (feat. Will Sheridan)”
This song is about sucking dick and earning your reward: semen. Will and I are dick pigs.
12. “Thiccness”
“Thiccness” is a celebration of big thicc bodies. There is just something inside me that quivers when I see a bit of shape and heft on a guy. It’s almost unexplainable, and I wanted to make a song that really speaks to that urge to grab on to a thicc dude and never let go.
Bonus Track: “Muffin Man”
This song has been stuck in my head for almost a decade. At any given moment I could bust out into this old nursery rhyme, so one day we made it into a rap song. I really wanted to play with the idea of classic albums with this release, so I have interludes and skits, but I also wanted a bonus track. I wasn’t really sure how to successfully do that in the digital world and with people streaming music, so I just left a bunch of blank space at the end of “Thiccness,” and then boop … a surprise!
The new Big Dipper album Late Bloomer is out now. Find more info here.
Images of Big Dipper by Rakeem Cunningham
