Queens rapper Dai Burger got her start as a background dancer for rappers like Lil Mama, but since then she’s become a fixture at queer parties around Brooklyn. Her new album, Bite the Burger, continues the evolution of her lascivious sound—foul-mouthed, sex-positive lyrics over thrumming production that pulls from Baltimore club and trap. It’s raucous and it’s fun, but some of the most promising moments are the quieter ones, when Dai’s songwriting chops are given space to blossom.
The biggest example here is “Miss Me,” a slow-burning ballad built around a hissing AutoTuned chant. Dai bounces between singing and rapping, delivering reassurances like “The bullshit made me who I am today” before complicating that pride with petty jabs at exes: “You should miss me, wanna kiss me.” Later on “Pics (Interlude),” a wispy and playful jam about the regret that comes with sending nudes, she issues a blithe, baby-voiced warning: “Don’t leak my shits/Cause if you do, I promise you, I’m going to leak your shits.”
Her ability to both sing and rap, along with her Queens accent and the fact that women MCs are hardly ever allowed to stand on their own, is bound to bring up Nicki Minaj comparisons. But where Nicki’s lyrics are often devoted to her singular place in the spotlight, Dai’s are more illustrative of the people around her, whether it’s friends on the dancefloor or lovers in bed. “The Function,” for example, is a ’90s-style house anthem for the club’s most bold and beautiful, complete with cheesy trance synths. On “Urz,” she giddily dives into the benefits of having a down-low lover, confessing, “We be on that sneaky shit, but it’s better off that way/I just keep you on a shelf, call you down when I wanna play.” The track also stands as a showcase of Dai’s knack for describing sexual encounters in hilariously creative ways, none better than the line, “Playing with this pussy like it’s Ableton.”
Dai’s sexuality has always been at the center of her work, unapologetically divulging the juicy details of past relationships and flings. She wields it like a weapon on the album single “Vitamin P,” using the chorus to clearly outline what the “P” in the title stands for: “P for pussy, P for power, P for pride and prestige,” she growls. The line could serve as a thesis statement for all of her music.
But while much of Bite the Burger sizzles, there are moments that fall short, lyrics that don’t work hard enough. On the aforementioned “Miss Me,” an otherwise-stellar track kicks off with a dud when she hollowly boasts, “Couldn’t even walk a mile in my shoes, cause this shit so high you’re guaranteed to lose.” The verses on “5 Dubbz,” meanwhile, are almost endearing in their one-take quality, but start to stumble as Dai repeats herself: “You wouldn’t know love if it slapped you right in the face... You wouldn’t know love if it walked up and slapped you in your motherfucking face.”
And then there are the trap-leaning songs, like “I Be Knowin” and the title track, which rely on shaky keyboard melodies and plastic drums that sound like they were ripped from a YouTube tutorial. Placed aside the high-energy club-oriented tracks, which are thrilling in their influences from a wide range of dance music, they seem small and mundane. An artist as bold and honest as Dai should never sound so boring.
