Brian Imanuel Soewarno (born 3 September 1999), known professionally as Rich Brian (formerly Rich Chigga), is an Indonesian rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He is known for his viral debut single “Dat $tick”, which was first released in March 2016 on SoundCloud. The single was later certified gold by RIAA. His debut studio album, Amen, was released in 2018 and peaked at number 18 on the US Billboard 200. Brian’s second studio album, The Sailor, was released in 2019. He released an EP titled 1999 in 2020. He released another EP titled Brightside in January 2022. Brian has collaborated with many artists from China and South Korea such as Chungha, Keith Ape, Jackson Wang, and Jae Park.
Early life
Brian Imanuel Soewarno was born on September 3, 1999 in Jakarta, Indonesia to Heru Soewarno and Megawati Purnomo. He has 1 older brother named Roy Leonard Soewarno and 2 older sisters named Stephanie and Sonia Eryka Soewarno. He is of mixed Chinese and Manadonese descent
Brian 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 his parents’ café while being homeschooled.
In 2010, while growing up in Indonesia, Brian began his career with social media when he was 11 years old. He discovered YouTube after he got a Rubik’s Cube and realised he could log onto his parents’ computer to find strategies for solving it faster. He also joined Twitter in August 2010. He taught himself English by watching YouTube videos and listening to songs from rappers such as Childish Gambino, 2 Chainz, Macklemore, and Tyler, The Creator. 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 daily videos there. Brian, who at the time spoke only Indonesian started to learn and polish his English, had an American friend on Skype that he could talk and converse with to improve his English. He also taught himself to speak English by watching YouTube videos and by listening to rappers like Childish Gambino, 2 Chainz, Macklemore and Tyler, the Creator.
Brian began listening to hip hop music in 2012, when an American friend he knew on the internet introduced him to “Thrift Shop” by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis. Brian began to explore the genre, discovering 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 an MF DOOM produced instrumental.
Brian originally wanted to become a cinematographer in Los Angeles, however he gave up the aspiration once his music career began taking off.
Career
2015–2016: Career beginnings
Brian began his career under the name Rich Chigga and released his debut track, titled “Living the Dream” on 17 July 2015, on his YouTube account. The song was produced by DJ Smokey. Brian then went on to release his debut single “Dat $tick” on 11 March 2016. Shortly after, he was signed by 88rising. “Dat $tick” track caught international success after 88rising released a reaction video featuring American rappers Ghostface Killah, 21 Savage, Tory Lanez, MadeinTYO, Desiigner, and many more. Since the official music video for the track was uploaded onto his YouTube account, it has been viewed over 200 million times. “Dat $tick” then went on to peak at number four on the Bubbling Under R&B/Hip-Hop Singles.
Brian then went on to release his second single titled “Who That Be” on iTunes on 9 August 2016. The song was produced by Sihk. He then released a remix of his debut single “Dat $tick” which features rappers Ghostface Killah and Pouya. Brian later released his third single “Seventeen” which quickly surpassed the one million hits mark on both YouTube and SoundCloud.
2017–2018: Amen
Brian released his fourth single “Back At It” on 19 April 2017. He later started his first US tour in April 2017, which concluded in May. In May 2017, Brian released the single “Gospel” with XXXTentacion and Keith Ape. This was XXXTentacion’s first collaboration with Brian and the song was released through 88rising and has since received over 38 million views on YouTube since its release.
Brian won an award at the 4th Indonesian Choice Awards as Breakthrough Artist of the Year in May 2017. Brian announced his debut album in an interview with XXL, saying “I’m working on a debut project and there are some serious songs and some comedic stuff, but the serious songs are my focus.” In an interview, Brian said he was spending most of his stay in Los Angeles, California working on his debut album.
Brian released “Glow Like Dat” on 15 August 2017, through 88rising’s YouTube channel. He then announced a nationwide tour starting on 9 September and concluding on 21 November titled “Come to My Party Tour”. Brian later released the singles “Chaos” and “Crisis” featuring 21 Savage in October and November 2017 respectively. On 19 December 2017, Brian announced on the social media platform, Twitter, that he was releasing his debut studio album titled, Amen. On 1 January 2018, Brian officially changed his stage name from “Rich Chigga” to “Rich Brian” with the release of “See Me”. This was due to backlash he received as a result of the racial undertones of the original name. Six days later, he changed his stage name again to “Rich Brian”. Brian later went on and appeared on a single and music video with Kris Wu, Joji, Trippie Redd and Baauer titled, “18” on 16 January. On 2 February, Amen was released and made him the first Asian musician to reach number one on iTunes Hip Hop charts and went on to peak at number 18 on the US Billboard 200.
Following the release of Amen, Brian released “Watch Out!” on 4 April 2018. He later appeared on 88rising’s compilation album, Head in the Clouds and released two singles to promote the album with “Midsummer Madness” featuring Joji, Higher Brothers, Kyle Chan, 8 August, and “History” which were released on 7 June and 18 July respectively. The album was released on 20 July 2018.
2019–present: The Sailor, 1999 and Brightside
On 26 June 2019, Brian released a new single, titled “Yellow”, featuring the artist and producer Bekon and later announced his second studio album titled The Sailor. He then released the second single from the album “Kids” on 17 July 2019. The Sailor was released on 26 July 2019 with guest appearances from RZA and Joji.
On 25 August 2020, Brian released an EP titled 1999. The seven-track EP was preceded with three singles with accompanying music videos: “Don’t Care”, “Love in my Pocket” and “DOA”.
Brian’s career jumped into the mainstream in August 2021 when the soundtrack for Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings was released with several songs by and featuring Brian, including “Run It” by Brian, DJ Snake, and Rick Ross. The track received heavy airplay as ESPN’s anthem for its 2021-2022 college football coverage. It was then reported in October that Brian had been cast in his film debut by indie film director Justin Chon to play an up-and-coming rapper whose escalating popularity leads him to confront his relationship with his father.
On 20 January 2022, Brian released an EP titled Brightside. The four-track EP was preceded by a single titled “New Tooth”. On the day of the EP’s release, a music video for one of its songs, “Getcho Mans”, which features fellow Indonesian rapper Warren Hue, was also released.
