Rich Brian

Brian Imanuel Soewarno (born 3 September 1999 ), known professionally as Rich Brian (formerly Rich Chigga), is an Indonesian rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer.

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.

Brian Imanuel Soewarno was born on September 3, 1999, in Jakarta, Indonesia, to Heru Soewarno and Megawati Purnomo.

He has one older brother named Roy Leonard Soewarno and two 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.