“I’m supposed to be tough.”. That’s when I realised I needed help.”, The stigma around bipolar disorder and mental health in the black community breaks GaTa’s heart. “The relationship between the two of them, it just couldn’t be faked,” said “Dave’s” co-creator, Jeff Schaffer. I was saying, ‘Obama’s gonna come get me.’ They locked me in a padded room for 72 hours with a camera in the wall. Dr. Todd Boyd, who teaches about the intersection of race and popular culture at USC, linked GaTa’s portrayal to earlier pronouncements regarding mental health by Kanye West and the Lakers’ Metta World Peace. ‘Drivers License’ made its ‘SNL’ sketch debut and Olivia Rodrigo is ‘shaking’, ‘BEST BIRTHDAY PRESENT EVER,’ singer-songwriter Olivia Rodrigo tweeted after ‘Saturday Night Live’ aired an entire sketch about her song ‘Drivers License.’. He wanted GaTa to be Lil Dicky’s hype man. “It’s crazy to say it,” he says, “but I walk around like a ticking time bomb. Open up the trunk. “I always knew I could make people laugh, but I’m not gonna lie — I never thought I’d be able to make people cry,” says GaTa, right, with Dave Burd. I was tripping, running around the house naked, like, ‘I’m gonna get a record deal!’, “My mom was scared so she called the sheriff, then the cops came and arrested me. I try to compress my emotions and hypeness to better myself, but I’m always excited.”. Other family members and associates include Benny Ganter, Mark Espat, Cameryn Loggins, Leveretta Garland and Patricia Espat. It’s a man’s job to be strong. Davionte' Ganter is on Facebook. “They’ve got to respect it. It illustrates the highs of GaTa’s mania and the crushing lows of his depression — along with the shame and stigma he carries. “I always knew I could make people laugh, but I’m not gonna lie — I never thought I’d be able to make people cry,” GaTa, 33, said in a video chat from his apartment in Koreatown, where he’s been hunkered down during the COVID-19 pandemic. GaTa has witnessed police brutality countless times in his life. The whole world’s gonna think I’m crazy.” GaTa plays himself in the series, the hype man to Dave Burd aka Lil Dicky, real-life white Jewish rapper and viral YouTube sensation. Yet along the way we come to understand GaTa as much more than a mere accomplice; he’s a multidimensional person with specific problems of his own. By exulting in the power of teen-girl melodrama. Guy Chookoorian was the novelty record king of Armenian L.A. His death marks the end of an era. Now, his portrayal of a bipolar rap hype man is earning early Emmy buzz. From dancefloors to festivals to the Grammys, the dance-music duo Daft Punk conquered the world. Raised by an aunt he refers to as his mother, GaTa got into hip-hop through West Coast giants like Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre and 2Pac. Join Facebook to connect with Davionte' Ganter and others you may know. They took me to the hospital, I talked s*** to them the whole way, like, ‘F*** y’all, you don’t even know who I am, I’m gonna be famous one day.’ They strapped me down and handcuffed me. It’s sharp, funny and moving; crack open its carapace of dick jokes and risqué raps and you’ll find a thoughtful series tackling issues of race, mental health and masculinity, as a rapper tries to break into the music industry. What's interesting about GaTa's breakout role is that he hasn't been an actor. The rapper’s response is garbled and unapologetic. The rapper feels a responsibility to speak up for his black peers now that he has a bigger platform: he is being bombarded with scripts and FX have just confirmed Dave’s second season. But in his music, the immigrant dream and struggle was writ large. The mock ‘Munsters’ theme song ‘Agatha All Along’ accompanied the big plot reveal in last week’s ‘WandaVision’ episode and has become a sensation of its own. ‘Dave’ Season One Finale: The Real Lil Dicky Stands Up The sneaky FXX series began as a one-dimensional ode to bro humor but turned into something smart and much more sensitive GaTa had wanted to be a rapper since his teenage years. “I’ve got so many black friends who don’t have the resources to get help and fix their minds,” he says. "GaTa" is Dave’s hype man, who moves fluidly — if misguidedly — through the rap world. The episode follows Dave, GaTa and their crew as they prepare for a concert, intercut with vivid scenes of psychological turmoil (including a breakdown in a shoe store and a subsequent hospitalization) from GaTa’s past; it climaxes with a stirring monologue in which GaTa, his voice cracking, tearfully explains his condition to the group. The men he knows are reluctant to get therapy because “a man always wants to look macho. Rapper/comedian Dave Burd (aka Lil Dicky) co-creates and stars in this new series on FXX, which is based on events from his real life.Both Dave and his pal GaTa (Davionte Ganter) play fictionalized versions of themselves, with Ganter drawing from his personal experience living with bipolar.In an episode called “Hype Man” and centered on GaTa, flashbacks reveal GaTa’s … I want people to shine and feel bright and know that every day they’re above ground is a good day.”. Our environment is just so f***ed up that all we think about is f***ed up things. So it made sense that to portray his onscreen hype man — an essential figure in rap tasked with stoking a crowd’s excitement — Burd would turn to … his actual hype man: Davionte “GaTa” Ganter, who’s been playing gigs with Lil Dicky since shortly after the release of the rapper’s breakout viral track “Ex-Boyfriend” in 2013. And hey, it worked.”. So I couldn’t believe I was in a room with 50 white people cheering me on.”, GaTa’s tears in the scene were real. Davionte “GaTa” Ganter, who before co-starring in the FXX sitcom “Dave” had never acted. He thinks of his aunt and cousin as his mother and sister, calling them his “guardian angels”. During one standout epsiode, GaTa admits to being bipolar. “He didn’t like or believe it,” says GaTa, laughing, “but he respected my vision [of greatness]”. GaTa is confronted by a man whom he owes money while shopping with his mom. “I f***ed up the studio, I was feeling so good,” says GaTa. “Sometime I feel crazy, sometime I feel lazy,” he tells them, to which Lil Dicky’s manager (played by Andrew Santino) replies, “I’m glad you told us — and I think it’s pretty cool that we’ve got the first hype man that’s clinically depressed.”, The rise of quarantine pop: How two charming breakup songs became unintentional coronavirus anthems. Bobby Shmurda’s friends and family were celebrating Tuesday after the rapper’s release from prison. The comedy contains enough raunch to catch viewers’ attention, but they stay for the heart and thoughtfully nuanced performances, particularly from Davionte “GaTa” Ganter, who, in real life and on the show, is Lil Dicky’s hype man who struggles with bipolar disorder. GaTa is an LA native and the spiritual cornerstone of the Lil Dicky camp. It really helped me through one of these hard times.’”. “You can’t embarrass me like that. “Get out the car, boy,” he says, lowering his voice to impersonate a police officer. “Suddenly the kind of character that traditionally has shown no vulnerability is consistently showing the utmost,” Boyd said. #4 Dave: GaTa . He reluctantly returns his new shoes to pay the man back, and … Davionte “GaTa” Ganter from the TV show Dave makes a special appearance. Based on Burd’s real-life experiences as an aspiring white rapper named Lil Dicky, “Dave” relies on the authenticity of its depiction, according to Burd; the show works only if it nails the finer points of the hip-hop domain into which this jester-ish outsider has so eagerly sought entrée. “That’s where GaTa was so vital. As has been the case throughout the vaccine rollout, wherever there is a slight opening, the resourced and tech savvy find their way in. How did ‘Drivers License’ become the song of 2021? “Those tears are as real as anything.”, Burd said it was strange to want one of his best friends “to dig deep into that pain for the sake of the show.” He knew GaTa “wanted to go there, but I felt …,” he trailed off. Currently, Davionte lives in Los Angeles, CA. “Get on the ground, boy. For the bipolar episode, Schaffer worked closely with GaTa on the set, taking a seat behind the camera and talking through some of GaTa’s memories between takes of his monologue. He’s so interesting, and the entire concept behind what he is doing right now is beyond cool. He wasn’t sure at first if he was ready to put his innermost self on screen. “He started to go back to that place in his mind, and it all just came out,” Schaffer said. ‘I’m over Dr. Fauci’: ‘The View’ host Meghan McCain rips vaccine rollout. Davionte “GaTa” Ganter, musician and actor on FX’s Dave series based on Lil Dicky’s aspiring dreams to take over the rap world, recently sat down with Deadline to discuss racism in America. When Dave Burd was casting the role of GaTa on his TV series “Dave,” he had only one actor in mind for the job — even though the fellow in question wasn’t really an actor. In Dave’s final episode, The Breakfast Club radio host Charlamagne Tha God, playing himself, accuses Lil Dicky of being a culture vulture. 17.8k Followers, 2,296 Following, 1,345 Posts - See Instagram photos and videos from Devin Brye Gant ⚡️ (@devinbrye) Lil Dicky was not, as it turns out, impressed at all. “I want every black person to be able to go out in the street and hold their head high, without anyone judging them for the colour of their skin.” He nods vigorously. His big moment as an actor — one that elicited a passionate response on social media — comes in the fifth episode of “Dave,” which premiered last month on FXX and averages around 5 million viewers a week, the network says. Best friends: GaTa and Dave Burd in ‘Dave’, {{#verifyErrors}} {{message}} {{/verifyErrors}} {{^verifyErrors}} {{message}} {{/verifyErrors}}, Dave star GaTa: ‘I didn’t want people to know I’m bipolar'. Eventually, the pair became “best friends”, says GaTa, hammering the emphasis on those two words. He’s really Davionte GaTa Ganter, and he’s a sitcom star who has never before acted in his life. They collaborated with Lil Wayne and toured together, GaTa acting as Tyga’s hype man and helping him with everything from music and style ideas to naming albums. Schaffer, who’s also an executive producer on “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” said it was clear from the beginning of production on “Dave” that GaTa could easily play himself — and that he could help Burd, also an untested actor, get comfortable in front of the camera. I was gonna commit suicide a year ago, but I wanna say thank you for sharing that. In Los Angeles, founded for Spain and a part of Mexico for generations, we pronounce our Spanish-language place names in a unique way. The sun is shining, there are dogs walking down the street, neighbours are waving at each other, people are baking cakes. “Doing sold-out concerts, having girls run up to us with their boobs to sign them.”. Want an ad-free experience?Subscribe to Independent Premium. Start your Independent Premium subscription today. “I’m trying to find the word for it.”. He was 17 when he met Compton artist Tyga, then 14, who he went on to work with for the best part of a decade. The pals make an unlikely duo, with Lil Dicky having grown up in a leafy Pennsylvanian suburb. A number of pop songs, including growing hits by newcomers Benee and Powfu, have taken on added meaning in the face of quarantine. He was wiggling again, and he looked every bit the part. Dressed in a black T-shirt, with a pendant spelling out “M-O-M” dangling from a chain around his neck, he sat on a sofa next to a pillow designed to resemble a mixing console; on a wall behind him hung two plaques commemorating platinum sales of Lil Dicky’s music. But if it was one thing to expect GaTa to bring his ample charm and live-wire energy to “Dave,” it was quite another to predict that the gangly South Los Angeles native would become the comedic series’ emotional heart. GaTa brought a fake personal assistant and photographer to their first meeting to impress him. “The two of them could just go like they were in their own world,” he said. It’s just one of many restaurants footing the bill as diners discover new ways to dine and dash. Rapper and professional hype man GaTa (real name Davionte Ganter) grew up in South Central Los Angeles, where he was raised by his aunt and cousin after his parents passed away when he was 18 months old. Standouts of the cast include Andrew Santino, a comedian who plays Burd’s friend and manager, and Davionte “GaTa” Ganter, Burd’s real-life hype man who plays the same role on the show. Guy Chookoorian was an old-school entertainer, plying novelty 45s and belly-dance revues. That idea unsettled him at first: “In the music business,” he said, “people are already picking at you.” But he’s begun to think of self-expression as a form of therapy, whether it’s on the show, onstage or in his own music, which sets his laid-back flow over au courant trap beats. It’s not like that in the black community. (Think “Green Book” or “The Legend of Bagger Vance.”). Olivia Rodrigo’s swooning power ballad ‘Drivers License’ is the latest in a rich tradition of teenage melodrama in pop music, from the Shangri-Las to Taylor Swift. “The View” panelist Meghan McCain took aim at Dr. Anthony Fauci for “inconsistent messaging” during the COVID-19 vaccine rollout. GaTa, meanwhile, gives a performance so powerful that it is already earning him early Emmy buzz. Looking ahead to touring again with Lil Dicky — “I can’t wait till this virus dies down so we can turn up,” he said — GaTa acknowledged that performing will likely feel different now that audience members, having seen “Dave,” will know so much more about him. California’s coronavirus strain is more transmissible than its predecessors, is more resistant to vaccines and may cause more severe cases of COVID-19. “I’m from the trenches. And yet that’s just what’s happened thanks to a deeply moving performance — his first outside of music videos — drawn in part from his own real-life experience with bipolar disorder. “Filming that scene was one of the happiest, saddest, most emotional outbursts I’ve ever had in my life,” says GaTa, 33, whose real name is Davionte Ganter. “Filming that scene was one of the happiest, saddest, most emotional outbursts I’ve ever had in my life,” says GaTa, 33, whose real name is Davionte Ganter. “In the beginning of the show Dave doesn’t even know what he doesn’t know about the situations that inspire the music he’s trying to emulate,” said Schaffer. Added Burd of his naturally magnetic pal: “GaTa behaves as though he’s a star. Here’s how he weathered the crash. Bruce Springsteen, who took tequila shots with fans while riding his motorcycle on federal property, will pay a fine. “Examples like that weaken the stigma around a diagnosis.”, GaTa’s bipolar storyline also disrupts “Dave’s” susceptibility to the so-called magical negro critique, in which a black character exists in a movie or show primarily to aid the moral development of a white character. But GaTa, who’s shown more than once taking his meds, steers the series into new emotional territory; he’s a gentle but irrepressible striver who’s unafraid to put his feelings on the line, and his empathetic presence establishes a tone that “Dave” continues to explore through the season finale scheduled for April 29. But to all you white rappers out there, I love y’all. Gata is all about what he calls “the gander” and helps inspire Dave’s confidence. We’ve been on the bottom for so long, and it’s time to get to the top. That ensemble deserves credit, too; Misiak’s Ally is radiant and playful, while Davionte “GaTa” Ganter, Burd’s real-life hype man, translates his friendship and history with … And it’s all rooted in the rookie actor’s real experiences. “The guy literally has never acted before, never taken an acting lesson, and now people are talking about him like he should win the Emmy for best supporting actor,” Burd said with an admiring laugh, and those people aren’t wrong. GaTa, left, and Dave “Lil Dicky” Burd in “Dave.”. That wasn't just because it was hard to be vulnerable. It’s based on comedian/rapper Dave Burd (aka Lil Dicky)’s experiences, as he tries to become the best rapper of all time, alongside his enthusiastic (and real-life) hype man, Davionte “GaTa” Ganter, who becomes an integral part of the crew.