In 2007, the Mobile, Alabama, MC Rich Boy was inescapable. His Polow Da Don-produced anthem “Throw Some D’s” was bumping out of every trunk, window, and computer speaker across the nation, from the most decrepit hoods of the South to the shimmering suburbs of the Midwest. His self-titled debut rose to number three on the Billboard pop charts back then, signaling that the rapper with a penchant for Dayton wheels and an uncanny ability to write infectious hooks had arrived. Then there was radio silence, and we didn’t hear from Rich Boy for nearly six years.
A lot has changed since 2007. We have a black president, Dennis Rodman is a diplomat, and Michael Jackson is pushing up daisies. The rap game has changed, too. It is overrun with angry emo teenagers and thugs in skin-tight leather pants who spit over beats with EDM-inspired wubz. Where does Rich Boy fit in? With the sound of “Pimp On,” the lead single from his upcoming sophomore effort Break the Pot, he doesn’t and that is a good thing. It would have been severely disappointing if the rapper who first came on the scene with such a fresh sound returned with an “All Rose Gold Everything” or “Fucking Fuckin’ Problems.” Instead, “Pimp On” gloriously harkens back to the days of hip-hop when legends like Pimp C and Snoop Dogg spit yarns of laying their mack down. It’s refreshing because it is different, and it gives us hope that with Break the Pot, Rich Boy is not trying to pick up right where he left off or sound like what’s hot right now. Instead, he’s going to give us something refreshing and new, just like he did when he first told us to throw some D‘s on a Cadillac.
Videos by VICE
Rich Boy drops Break the Pot on April 9th, check out the video for the album’s title track below:
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