BY JULYSSA MENDOLA

Eighteen year old rapper, record producer, and songwriter Brian Imanuel, known as Rich Brian, was born and raised in Jakarta, Indonesia. He taught himself to speak English by watching rappers like Tyler, The Creator, Childish Gambino, 2 Chainz and many more on Youtube.

He originally broke out onto the rap scene with his first single “Dat $tick”. This song gained so much attention due to Rich Brian’s nice flow and goofy style. In the music video for this song, he is wearing a pink polo, fanny pack, and khakis which got even more people interested in his fresh new look in rap.

On February 2, Rich Brian released his first album Amen with 14 tracks that contain verses about heartbreak, depression, losing virginity, end of youth, and many about how life has changed since fame. In tracks like “Glow Like Dat”, “Arizona”, and “Introvert” include verses about serious topics along with beautiful vocals by featured artists Joji and AUGUST 08. In these songs, Rich Brian steers away from his usual “trap” style of music. He also shows his comedic side in the track “Kitty” which is a narrative of losing his virginity to his friend’s sister.

Many of these tracks such as “Cold”, “Attention”, “Chaos”, “Enemies”, “Amen”, and more include some great verses that very well showcase Rich Brian’s flow along with great beats that make listening to every song a new experience. Overall, Amen is an excellent debut for Rich Brian where he shows his different sides. Within the first few hours of the release, Amen reached #1 on the iTunes Hip Hop Chart, something no asian artist has ever done before. Rich Brian is undoubtedly making history.