Rich Chigga really came up in the game in 2017. He made his name by going viral on social media platforms like Youtube and Vine clips with his comedy. By establishing a name for himself he was able to put out rap songs with an audience. He recorded his first rap track in 2014 using his iPhone and has grown since then. On February 2016 he dropped his first official single, “Dat $tick” and it went viral.
Check out his break out track:
He combined rap with comedy to make a hybrid modern day rapper. Throughout the year he also released a series of other tracks including “Who That Be” and “Seventeen.” Then in August 2017, he released his other massive hit, “Glow like That.”
Check it out here:
But now under all his music videos, it says the song is by “Rich Brian” instead of his stage name “Rich Chigga.” The term Chigga is an ethnic slur portmanteau of “Chinese” and “n—a” used to degrade “Black-acting” or “ghetto” Asian people. Some people thought this was offensive, but I thought it was all in good fun. He clearly didn’t have the intentions to piss people off- how would he get fans?
The first time I saw the name change I was really confused because I had no idea why he would do that. Also, it’s pretty uncommon to change your name after you get big, but the problem is he isn’t even that big yet. Yes, he has made countless great songs but it isn’t like he is Jay-Z. Changing his name might cause audiences to forget about him. We already associate his music with “Rich Chigga” which was not only a great name but also funny. The name really has a star quality power to it. Rich Chigga has always been a funny guy, so why does he want to switch it up on us now?
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bdap4GeFnLl/?utm_source=ig_embed
He basically just used the name to have a viral quality to it so his music would be clicked on more due to the offensive nature that is the word “Chigga.” I understand that some people might be offended by the name but it is the artist’s decision on how to brand themselves, and he certainly did that and more. It’s also weird to trash your offensive name after the hype dies down because it just shows that you were trying to create drama. I really don’t think it was smart to change the name but he said that he has wanted to do it for a while now. I don’t know guys, “Rich Brian” just seems so boring.
