Rich Brian

Brian Imanuel (born: September 3, 1999), known professionally as Rich Brian (formerly Rich Chigga), is an Indonesian rapper, record producer and songwriter best known for his viral debut single "Dat $tick", which was first released in February 2016 on YouTube. In the video, he represents himself ironically with a pink polo shirt and fanny pack.

His debut album, Amen (2018), peaked at number 18 on the Billboard 200.

Early life
Brian was born in Jakarta, Indonesia and comes from ethnic Chinese-Indonesian descent. He is the youngest of four siblings and was raised in West Jakartain, a middle-to-low class neighbourhood, despite his father being a lawyer. He never had a formal education and spent most of his time helping at his parent's café that his parent ran as he was homeschooled.

Before he became Rich Brian, he was growing up in Indonesia living as an internet-obsessed eccentric teen who scoured the web in search of knowledge and inspiration. As quoted, “I learned almost everything I know from the internet, even culture, basic common sense, cinematography, and I’m still learning.”

He started off in 2010 as an eleven-year-old, stumbling upton YouTube by logging onto his parents' computer to find strategies for solving a Rubik's Cube faster, also joining Twitter on August of the same year. This eventually led him to making video content, including dark-comedy sketches on Twitter. He moved to the platform Vine when he was 15 and began to post videos on there daily for fun.

Brian, who at the time spoke only Indonesian, taught himself to speak English by watching YouTube videos, listening to rappers like Childish Gambino, 2 Chainz and Tyler, the Creator, and talking to [himself]” for four years. He began listening to hip hop in 2012 when an American internet friend introduced him to Macklemore's "Thrift Shop", leading him to explore deeper into the genre, discovering artists like Drake, 2 Chainz, Kanye West and Logic at first. Brian wrote his first rap song in 2014 and recorded it onto an iPhone microphone over a produced MF Doom instrumental.

Brian currently lives in Los Angeles, California after moving there in May 2017. He is not a permanent resident of the United States; though in July 2017, he extended his stay.

YouTube/Career
On YouTube, apart from his vines and other short sketches, Brian made videos documenting the dangers of a phony disease called “kushothyleoma” and teaching people how to microwave bread. Everything changed once he released his viral single "Dat $tick", which whilst disguised as a comedic piece with a young-looking asian kid with a deep voice, showcased his talented skill as a rapper. "Dat $tick" went on to peak at number four on the Bubbling Under R&B/Hip-Hop Singles.

He also released a debut track before Dat $tick, titled "Living the Dream" on 17 July 2015 on his YouTube channel produced by DJ Smokey.

Comedy has will always be an integral part of his act, as stated himself, though he also tries to distance himself with that narrative in his more recent tracks, releasing more serious music with singles such as "Seventeen" and "Glow Like Dat", which Brian released on 15 August 2017, on 88rising's YouTube channel, as well as announcing a nationwide tour starting from 9 September until 21 November under the title, "Come to My Party Tour".

Trivia

 * Brian originally wanted to become a freelance videographer in Los Angeles, though he gave up once his music career began taking off.


 * While he regretted his choice of rap moniker, he would still leave the n-word in his “Dat $tick” verse because he wanted to take the power out of the word. Going forward, Brian said he’ll restrain from using the word because he has no desire to offend anyone.


 * Though Brian has no plans on attending college, he has stated that if given the chance, he would attend film school.