Rapper Rich Brian Gets Vulnerable About His Asian Identity, Immigration Story

"I’m proud of being called an Asian rapper as long as people are willing to listen to my music with an open perspective"

Rich Brian Build Series
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Rapper Rich Brian is a child of the internet.

The Indonesian-born rapper taught himself English through YouTube, mastered dry web humor on Twitter, and discovered the alluring art of hip-hop while in front of his computer screen, NBC News reported. But perhaps most significantly, the internet prompted his fascination with American culture — a world, he says, he felt drawn to and virtually connected with as he spent a large chunk of his teen years immersed in all things American.

Roughly two years after moving stateside, the artist just concluded “The Sailor” tour Monday to promote his sophomore album of the same name. The new music is steeped in the weighty themes of Asian identity and the immigrant experience and is, in part, his assessment of his own journey to America. It’s also an ode to those who came before him.

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