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Brian Imanuel Soewarno[1][2] (born: September 3, 1999 (1999-09-03) [age 25]), also known as Rich Brian (formerly known as Rich Chigga, HeelyRiddler and Brian)[3]), 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 ironically represents himself with a pink polo shirt, khaki shorts, and a fanny pack.
As of 2022, he has released two albums and is still making music to this day.
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 Jakarta in 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 a café that his parents ran as he was home-schooled.
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 in 2010 as an eleven-year-old, stumbling upon YouTube by logging onto his parents' computer to find strategies for solving a Rubik's Cube faster, also joining Twitter in August of the same year. This eventually led him to make video content, including dark-comedy sketches and photoshopping images 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, and continuing to be influenced by them today. Brian wrote his first rap song in 2014 and recorded it onto an iPhone microphone over a produced MF Doom instrumental.
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. Brian went onto to release music under an alter ego named Rich Chigga, releasing his first song "Living The Dream" in 2015. 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.
Amen - 2018
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".
Present Day[]
Brian currently lives in Los Angeles, California after moving there in May 2017. He is not a permanent resident of the United States; though, on July 2017, he extended his stay.
The Sailor - 2019
Rich Chigga[]
“Being in the United States made me realize that I wanted to [make the] change,” he said. “I wanted to go a certain way with my music, a certain direction. It just felt right.”
From January 2018, Brian changed his stage name from "Rich Chigga" to "Rich Brian", due to the controversy created by it in the past, and wanting it to be taken more seriously. Brian and his friend came up with the nickname when he came out with his first song on SoundCloud. "I realized I don’t really have a rap name. And then my friend [...] was just talking about it. We came up with a couple of names that were cool, and he was just like, 'Rich Chigga.' I was like, 'That is really catchy.' And that's honestly it."
Talking about his stage name, Brian said: "I do regret it – I didn't really know what I was doing and I definitely did not know people were gonna pop off like this." In a Twitter post, Brian said "I have been planning to do this forever and I'm so happy to finally do it. I was naive and I made a mistake."
Trivia[]
Brian originally wanted to become a freelance videographer in Los Angeles, though he gave up once his music career began taking off.
He is 5ft 8 inches (173 cm) tall.
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.
