Rich Brian

English-speaking Indonesian rapper Rich Brian, whose real name is Brian Imanuel Soewarno, was born in Jakarta on September 3, 1999. As a teenager, he taught himself the English language by listening to the songs of his early role models Childish Gambino, 2 Chainz, Macklemore and Tyler, the Creator on the Internet. He was first known as Rich Chigga and released his first track, "Living in the Dream", produced by DJ Smokey, directly on his social networks in 2015. It was the following year, however, that he exploded on the back of the success of "Dat Stick" (No. 4 on the specialized R&B/Hip-Hop charts in the USA). The following year, "Gospel", recorded with Keith Ape and XXX Tentacion, reached No. 7 on the same chart. In 2018, Rich Chigga was forced to change his pseudonym to put an end to a controversy: as Chigga was a pun on the words Chinese and nigga, the singer found himself accused of racism. He became Rich Brian and released his first album, Amen, which confirmed his popularity and international breakthrough, reaching number 18 on the Billboard 200. The following year saw the release of his second opus, The Sailor, which again reached number 62 in the United States. The Indonesian rapper then added two EPs, 1999 in 2020 and Brightside in 2022, to his discography. A fan of collaborations, Rich Brian was invited by Bbno$ and Yung Gravy on "C'est La Vie" and $NOT on "Vivid " in 2022, then took part in several tracks on 1999 Write the Future, starting with "World Stop Turning" (with Zion.T and Warren Hue) in 2023, followed by "Light Rails" (with Rick Ross), "Silence Stares Me Down" (with Cuco) and "Pump It Up" (with TiaCorine), in 2024. He then set to work on his new album, releasing the singles "Little Ray of Light", "Butterfly", "Jumpy" (with Ski Mask the Slump God) and "Oh Well", before the release of Where Is My Head? in August 2025.