Independent artist Rich Chigga, real name Brian Imanuel, made waves with his first release, ‘Dat $tick’, a trap rap track and video which came out last year. Now the rapper, currently based in LA but originally from Indonesia, returns with his new single, ‘Glow Like Dat’.
Rich Chigga’s popularity spread not just for his music, but also for his USP: he’s a young Asian rapper in a collared shirt – pretty unusual. But there’s no gimmicks; his production, lyrics, and flow are the real deal. He first started listening to hip-hop in 2012, when an American friend introduced him to Macklemore’s ‘Thrift Shop’. This led him to discovering Drake, 2Chainz, Kanye West, and Logic. Brian wrote his first rap song in 2014 and recorded it on an iPhone, over an MF Doom instrumental track.
‘Dat $tick’ was released to great acclaim, with hip-hop fans declaring it indispensible, and other emcees embracing Rich Chigga as one of their own, including Ghostface Killah of the Wu-Tang Clan, who thought enough of the track and Rich himself to contribute a verse to the official remix.
‘Glow Like Dat’ brings out a softer side to Rich. It’s dedicated to a former girlfriend, and has a mellow, thoughtful chorus. ‘Glow’ demonstrates that Rich Chigga is more than just a one trick pony, he’s a multi-faceted writer and singer, with depth. His fans clearly feel this too, with the video for ‘Glow Like Dat’ receiving more than 4 million views in the first 72 hours after it was uploaded.
The video is brightly coloured with soft elements like a field of sunflowers and roses, and Rich laying on a bed of petals. But he’s suitably fierce still – smoking a cigar, dancing, while images of aeroplane tickets, lingerie, jewelllery and so on flash past. There’s a nice outtake at the end too, but we won’t spoil it for you! Rich Chigga co-directed the video for ‘Glow Like Dat’ with James Defina, who’s also worked with Post Malone and BADBADNOTGOOD.
You can find out more about Rich Chigga online on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. ‘Glow Like Dat’ is available to stream and download here.
See here for details of Rich Chigga’s tour.
