Rich the Kid: The Sound of the Future

What does the future sound like? According to Rich the Kid, it’s his song “Carnival” with Ye, Ty Dolla $ign, and Playboi Carti. But in the music video of the song from Ye and Ty Dolla $ign’s album Vultures 1 (2024), this future is rather dystopian.

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Featuring CGI images created by Jon Rafman, there are massive groups of hooligans who are violently fighting on streets that have been set on fire. Whether these images reflect Rich the Kid’s uncanny prophecy of our prospective world is something that remains uncertain. What is certain, however, is that this song marked a pinnacle in his career, as it peaked as Nr. 3 in the Billboard Hot 100—his first song to ever do so.

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Shortly after, he dropped his first solo album in four years. Life’s a Gamble (2024) includes for collaborations with Chief Keef, Offset, Quad, Peso Pluma, and others and was produced by Ye and Ty Dolla $ign. In an interview with Billboard, he explains the album’s title: “I feel like everything in life’s a gamble. You walk out the front door, you could get hit by a bus. Everything’s a gamble. I’ve taken wins and losses with my career, and I felt it was a perfect title.”

A few months after the album’s release, he sat down with Claire Koron Elat in Paris to reflect on futuristic sounds, uncanniness, and whether success kills creativity.

CLAIRE KORON ELAT: I wanted to start with your new solo album, Life’s a Gamble (2024), the first album you have released in four years. This project is somewhat framed as a comeback and even your Instagram name was “the comeback kid” at some point. So what are you coming back from?

RICH THE KID: I just took a little break from music and putting out albums and stuff like that. And you know, there was Coronavirus, and after that, I was just spending a lot of time with my family.

CKE: How was it to work with Ye on the song “Carnival” for Vultures 1?

RTK: It was just dope. And it wasn’t planned. Around two years ago, I went to dinner at Nobu in Malibu. I saw Vory there and hit him up, and he was with Ye. But when he said that, I was already home.So I was like, it’s going to be a little ride but I hadn’t met Ye before, so I wanted to go and see what would happen. So, I went back to Nobu, and they actually had a studio set up in the back of the restaurant with a mic and everything. Ye came up to me and asked me if I wanted to play some music. I played two songs, and when the second song played, he started dancing. He was like, “Can I get on this song right now? Can I put a verse on it?” And I was like, “Hell yeah.” So he put a verse on the song, and everybody was loving it.

And then I just went home, since it got late. I didn’t even get his number or the song. I didn’t have none of this. So I reached out to his assistant, and nobody wanted to give me the number or the song. Everyone acted like it never happened. What the hell? I then reached out to everybody on his team, and two days later, they said that he wants me to come and help with the album. I was there for a week, but in the end, nothing really happened at that time.

A year went by, and I was in Dubai because I had a show there. I saw that Ye and Ty Dolla $ign were in Saudi working on Vultures. So I hit them up and flew over to Saudi. When we arrived, we had to take a taxi that drove us probably one and a half hours at night. The next day, we were recording; everyone did their part, and I already had a feeling that this is going to be huge. When I heard the beat, I felt like I was hearing the future.

Sometime after that, there was a listening party for Vultures in Las Vegas. But when we came to the party, the police cut off everyone after Ye and Ty’s car, and Quavo and I were in the car behind them. So, at some point, I hear the song playing outside, and people started to tag me on Twitter and shit. And I was just like, this song is so fire. I remember listening to Ye’s albums as a kid, when I was riding the bus, and now I have a number one song with him.

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CKE: What felt so futuristic about this song?

RTK: It was mainly the beat. It has some sounds to it that just felt like when people would hear it they would rage and go crazy—like a future, official mosh pit anthem. And when they later added Playboi Carti to the song, it got even more dope.

CKE: Is there something specific that draws you to this new, more uncanny, eerie aesthetic?

RTK: I think I was just inspired by being with Ye and working with him. He is definitely one of my biggest inspirations in music.

CKE: Do you feel like this aesthetic shift also reflects our world that is becoming increasingly more dystopian?

RTK: For sure. And you can see that because a lot of artists are leaning towards the dark.

CKE: In the past, you’ve described your lyrical approach as just “go in [the studio] and boom.” For example, it only took you 12 minutes to record “New Freezer.” Are you taking things any slower these days or do you still prefer this sort of spontaneous approach?

RTK: It depends on the mood I’m in. Sometimes I take a little longer. But “New Freezer”and “Plug Walk”were recorded in a short time. “Carnival” was recorded in 20 minutes. For my best songs, I just go in there and the beat speaks to me. So, I instantly know what I’m going to say; it’s not like I have to think about it. The beat is telling me what you say.

CKE: Are there certain things that inspire you?

RTK: Traveling for sure. I like being in Paris. It’s one of the first places I came to overseas, and I’ve always had a big love for it. I was on tour with Future back then. I also just like being in conversation with different people all over the world.

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CKE: Are there any unconventional places where you have recorded?

RTK: Oh yeah, Jamaica. It was fun because it’s such a different environment. I liked being around my friends from Jamaica and the culture and food are amazing.

CKE: After releasing a project that big, do you give yourself any sort of space to breathe or are you always intending to do the next thing?

RTK: As of now, I’m just working on doing the next thing. My goal is to be one of the biggest artists in hip hop and music, so I gotta stay on it. I feel like in hip hop and rap, a lot of people don’t step outside of this genre and don’t try different things or work with different cultures. But to become one of the biggest in this genre, you have to step outside the box.

CKE: By stepping into different genres, are you also talking about entirely different spheres? I know that you skateboard, for example.

RTK: I’m launching my own skateboarding brand this year. It’s called Infinity Skate Inc. It’s going to be my own clean line. I have skaters on my team, and we’re going to make skate videos. I just want to bring back the skateboard culture because a lot of people gravitate toward it, but they don’t actually skateboard.

CKE: What drew you to releasing your own clothing brand?

RTK: I feel like I helped bring so many clothing brands to the forefront and helped them blow up. In 2016, I was one of the first rappers to wear Goyard in my age group. Virgil and A$AP Rocky wore it too, but in 2016, we just went crazy with Goyard and shot this music video. And now every rapper only wears Goyard. So, I was like, why not start my own brand?

CKE: And are you going to do the creative direction yourself?

RTK: I’m doing some creative direction, and I have teams that are helping me.

CKE: Are there any young brands that you’re following?

RTK: I love 424 and BLUEMARBLE. There are a lot of upcoming brands that I like.

CKE: Do you think you express yourself more through music or fashion?

RTK: I feel like it’s kind of the same. I just have fun with it and don’t take it too seriously. With some of my best songs that took me such little time to make, I was just in the booth having fun. And it’s the same thing with fashion. Even today, I’m not even really matching.

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CKE: I think what you’re saying about just having fun with your profession also relates to how the professionalization of creative work can eventually kill it.

RTK: There was definitely one point where I wasn’t having fun with it anymore. Sometimes it gets frustrating because you have to deal with labels and the business around it. So, I had to get back to being inspired and having fun. The way that happened was that Kodak [Black] just gave me this song, maybe a year ago. Then I was having dinner with my girl in Miami, and Kodak randomly showed up on a boat next to the restaurant. And he was like, “when are you dropping a new song?” So, I posted it on my page and everybody was going crazy for it and asked me to drop it. It just happened, it wasn’t forced, as in asking, “What’s the next single?” “What’s the next thing we’re doing?” And both of us are Haitian. So the dots were already connected, and it was great getting back to our roots.

CKE: Does the industry force artists to work or release in certain ways?

RTK: Yeah, for sure. I see a lot of people being too forced and their music not coming out good. I think sometimes people think too hard about it, and they’re not having fun anymore. At one point, you have to step back and ask yourself, “What’s fun for me?” When it’s forced, your music sounds forced.

CKE: What role does the record label play in your life?

RTK: It all goes hand in hand; you have to have a team of people supporting you. And I’m excited to start working with Rimas who are based in Puerto Rico because they’re just really good. And I’ve got to work with some of the biggest Latin artists, such as, Peso Pluma and Bad Bunny.