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When we think of rap and hip-hop, we tend to think about the United States; West Coast rappers vs. East Coast rappers. Rap originated from here and over the past few decades, it has spread all over the world. Almost every single top rap artist has originated from the U.S. and that’s because rap in every other country is somewhat still underdeveloped. The next big group are from the United Kingdom but these rappers don’t do very well, like U.K. rapper Big Shaq with his god awful song Man’s Not Hot (it’s actually a meme now). So, when I think of non-U.S. rappers, I can't help to automatically assume it’s very bad. It comes to a surprise then when a somewhat popular artist in the U.S. is actually from Indonesia; Brian Imanuel or best known as Rich Chigga. 

Brian Imanuel is an 18 year-old rapper/comedian from Jakarta, Indonesia that has a very different background when compared to North American rappers. Before he started his rap career, he spent a lot of time just toying around with social media; photoshopping images and posting them on twitter as well as making dark-comedy sketches before moving onto Vine (R.I.P. Vine, you will be missed). He actually wasn’t a native english speaker either. He taught himself by watching Youtube videos and also by listening to American artists such as Childish Gambino, Macklemore, 2 Chainz, and Tyler, the Creator. It wasn’t until 2012 when an American friend of his introduced him to hip-hop through Macklemore’s song, Thrift Shop, where Brian decided to take a role in the hip-hop genre. 

His comedy sketches really show an awkwardness that is very apparent in his personality, but not in his music. His debut single/music video Dat $tick sounds like a very well made trap song that should be coming from a developed artist, not a brand new one. All of his few tracks have the consistency and flow of a seasoned veteran despite being very new to the game. The awkwardness I mentioned earlier really shows how young he his and it brings back his roots of his comedy background. In his music video of Dat $tick, he is wearing a very bright pink polo, with boring khaki shorts and a huge fanny pack. Mind you, the song has a very trap-like sound to it,which caught the attentions of rappers 21 Savage, Desiigner and Ghostface Killer. Imagine a nerdy-looking teenager in a serious rap song and that is exactly what Rich Chigga is portraying and it is hilarious. 

Brian Imanuel is quickly gaining popularity in the United States. He has already collaborated with notable artists such as 21 Savage, Keith Ape, and XXXTentacion. Despite his rise to fame, he’s still a kid at heart and it really shows in his character both inside and outside the music industry. He’s as humble as ever and for right now, he still very loyal and dedicated to his fan base. It was hard at first to see him transition from comedy sketches to serious music, but it’s something that I was very glad to witness. He’s very much like Childish Gambino–who is one of his biggest inspirations–where they both started with comedy and gradually turning towards the music industry creating very great music. His funny personality is still there and it’s something that I probably won't ever get tired of. My favorite line from Brian is probably from an interview where the interviewer congratulates Brian for reaching one million followers on instagram and asks him how did he celebrate. Brian goes, “umm [I] drank some water”.