There aren't many Asian musicians making moves in the U.S. entertainment market, but Indonesian rapper Rich Brian and his 88rising affiliates are somewhat at the forefront of the movement. Hailing from Jakarta, the capital of the country, Brian, whose real name is Brian Imanuel Soewarno, is among those who're responsible for the rise of "the Disney of Asian hip-hop." Although he began his career making dark comedies on Twitter and Vine, Brian rose to maturity and found his place in the music industry in the mid to late 2010s.
With that being said, however, there is still so much to be said about the rising star who has just made history as one of the first Indonesians to perform at the Coachella festival. He originally had very problematic moniker, found his love for hip-hop after listening to Tyler, the Creator, and became the first Asian artist to top the iTunes Hip Hop charts with his debut album. To sum things up, here's a timeline of Rich Brian's rise to fame.
8 2010: Rich Brian, Then Aged 11, Joined Social Media & Learned English
Born Brian Imanuel Soewarno in September 1999 in Jakarta, Indonesia, young Brian was fascinated by the internet from such a young age. The son of a lawyer, he spent most of his youth in the middle-to-lower class of West Jakarta and was homeschooled for the majority of his life. His first interaction with the World Wide Web taught him the English language - and most importantly, how to solve Rubik's cube.
7 2012: Rich Brian Discovered His Love For Hip-Hop
By 2012, Brian discovered hip-hop after an internet friend from the US introduced him to "Thrift Shop" by Macklemore. In an interview with Highsnobiety, Brian, who at the time went by the name of Rich Chigga, said that he didn't have a lot of friends in Indonesia so he "really thought I was the only one listening to hip-hop."
"It was the first song that I tried rapping to and my English was so bad back then. And then through that I started listening to 2 Chainz and Childish Gambino," he recalled.
6 2014: Rich Brian Wrote His First Rap Song
Two years later, Brian recorded his first-ever freestyle under instrumentals cooked by legendary rapper MF DOOM. In his own words, he said, "I did some more. I uploaded them to a SoundCloud, and my friends liked it, so I was like, "Damn. I should start doing this seriously." I know now your references seem to be more like Tyler, The Creator, $uicideboy$, Awful Records and stuff."
"For the mainstream stuff now, Kanye, Drake, and all that stuff, a lot of people listen to that here. But the people who listen to the rare stuff, the more underground stuff, is very small. Hip-hop is still super small over here, I can tell it's definitely getting bigger though," he recalled further about the hip-hop scene in his home country.
5 2016: Rich Brian Released His Breakthrough Track, 'Dat $tick'
Rich Brian's big breakthrough, however, didn't come until 2016 when he sported a pink polo shirt and fastened a fanny pack around his waist in "Dat $tick." Produced by his longtime friend Ananta Vinnie, the track discusses heavy themes like violence and poverty in his hometown ("People be killing for food with that crack and that spoon / But these rich motherf***ers they stay eatin' good" in a contradictory comedic manner. The track went viral in a short period of time and landed him a recording deal with 88rising.
4 2018: After Signing To 88rising, Rich Brian Released His Debut Album 'Amen'
At the time of Rich Brian's signing to the label, 88rising was just starting out as an outlet for Asian artists to express themselves in the American market. He was seen as a perfect example of that, and found himself in a roster consisting of Joji (formerly known as Filthy Frank), Keith Ape, Dumbfoundead, Jackson Wang, Guapdad 4000, and more. His debut neo-G-funk-influenced album, Amen, was released in 2018, and it helped him score history as the first Asian artist to top the iTunes Hip Hop Albums chart.
"I think it's going to be an introduction to a more serious rap. There's still going to be funny stuff. When you listen to it, you might still laugh and stuff, that's cool. That's what I'm going for too," he told XXL about his debut album, adding, "But it's not a joke. When people listen to it, they're going to be like, 'It's that real s**t."
3 2019: Its Sophomore Follow-Up, 'The Sailor,' Explores Deep Themes In Heavier Tones
In his 2019 sophomore album, The Sailor, Brian entails his maturity. Its lead self-critical ballad single, "Yellow," details his love-hate relationship of his experience coming to the United States at the age of 17 to pursue his musical career. He raps, "Rock 50 stages in all 50 states, b***h / I did it all without no citizenship / To show the whole world you just got to imagine."
"On this album, I am writing about things that are really, really personal to me. I am just trying to be as vulnerable as possible. Production-wise, too, I'm collaborating a lot more versus me doing it all by myself. On this album, I'm learning to let things go a little bit, while not sacrificing my creative freedom," he told Complex about the creative process of the album.
2 2020: Rich Brian Released An EP Titled '1999'
While The Sailor is Rich Brian's last full-length studio album up to this writing, he still writes music and releases a few EPs here and there. A year later, he teamed up with Day6’s eaJ for his seven-track EP titled 1999.
"The past few months have felt like a huge trip and we’re all just kind of like, ‘What the f**k is going on?’ And we’re all just trying to process it, like, collectively as humans," said the rapper about the EP during an episode of Verified by Genius.
1 What's Next For Rich Brian?
It seems like the rising star is showing no sign of slowing down. Rich Brian's latest project, Brightside, was just released earlier this year, and he's been promoting the EP since then. This summer, he and his labelmate, NIKI, had just become the first Indonesian solo-artists to headline the Coachella Festival, and it's surely a moment to be proud. He manifests it in "Slow Down Turbo" from The Sailor, "You gon' need to buy umbrellas, you gon' see me at Coachella."