At 7, he has no plans to slow down
Annapolis' Dylan Gilmer has hit it big on Instagram and appeared twice on ‘Ellen'
Dylan Gilmer reached into a pile of his drawings of Pokemon figures and football player Odell Beckham Jr. to pick up his most recent creation.
At school this past week, the Germantown Elementary student was asked to write and draw what he was thankful for this holiday season.
He wrote that he's thankful for God, his teachers, his parents — and Ellen DeGeneres.
“They made me a celebrity,” Dylan said.
This fall has been a whirlwind for Dylan, who has become an Instagram sensation thanks to his appearances on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.”
In the last three months, the 7-year-old has appeared on “Ellen” twice, met celebrities Justin Timberlake and Gabrielle Union, doubled his Instagram followers to a total of almost 140,000 and performed at the Toronto Raptors halftime show in front of about 20,000 people.
Oh, and he met his idol, Drake, who called him a star.
Now, he and his family have no intention of slowing down.
Dylan's fame started last spring with a 12-second video showing the then-6-year-old with no front teeth singing Bryson Tiller's “Don't” on Instagram. It caught the attention of “Ellen's” producers. Dylan first appeared on the show in September.
Dylan has been singing and rapping to popular R&B and hip-hop songs since he was a baby, said his mother, DeAundra DeJesus. It's was common for Dylan to give mini-performances in grocery store aisles, she said.
DeJesus said her son's ability to perform in front of a crowd came as a surprise, since no one in either side of the family has “performing genes.”
“My family still cannot believe it. Everybody is still in disbelief,” she said. “He wasn't nervous. Him performing [in public] is like him performing in a room for us. When kids perform in front of a crowd, they're typically shy. [Dylan's] not like his momma.”
Dylan's father, Damon Gilmer, shoots most of his Instagram videos, which are posted a few times a week. Dylan said he doesn't practice before any of the videos since it comes naturally.
While most of his posts are of him rapping, there are a couple of him finishing his homework, showing off his report card and playing wide receiver in football games.
DeJesus described the past three months as a “blessing” since most people don't get the opportunities Dylan has had.
“As a parent you can only hope your kid's dream comes true,” she said. “It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. We could not say no.”
For many in Annapolis who know Dylan, his almost-instant success was not entirely surprising.
General's Highway Tigers football coach Demeiko Ross started coaching Dylan around age 5. He described Dylan as a “7-year-old with a teenager's mindset” who is determined to be a winner. Dylan is one of the smaller kids on the team, but isn't afraid to tackle an opposing player, he said.
“He's very mature for his age,” he said. “It's like he's been here before.”
From the beginning, Ross said, he could tell Dylan liked to perform in front of others.
At one football game, the then-6-year-old caught a 15-yard touchdown pass — a play the coach had never seen a player that age do before. The crowd went wild, he said.
Ross grew up with Dylan's parents, who were born in Annapolis. They're the kind of parents that will “make sure Dylan remembers where he came from,” Ross said.
“This kid from Annapolis is trying to make it in the mainstream, and the things he said about [helping] orphanages?” Ross said of Dylan's “Ellen” interview. “It touched my heart. He remembers people.”
About a year ago, Dylan was dancing to Drake's “Hotline Bling” for the other students in Brooke Streit's first grade class. The entire class loved it, Streit said, but no one thought he would be doing something similar at a Raptors game.
“I didn't doubt it,” Streit said of Dylan's fame. “But you never think it's going to happen like that.”
What does Dylan want to do next?
Be on a Disney TV show and (just like Drake) record an album.