Before you watch the video above, please close your eyes and take a few moments to just listen to the song. Now, open your eyes and take in the glory that is the “Dat $tick” music video.
Watched it? Ok… you’ve probably got some questions. Like first of all, is the skinny 16-year-old Indonesian kid in the video just lip-syncing over some other rapper?
Nope, that’s all him.
Second, is he aware of how ridiculous he looks in the video, spitting lines like “Everytime I see a pig, I don’t hesitate to kill ‘em” while wearing a pink polo shirt, kaki shorts and a Reebok fanny pack?
Yeah, he knows. That’s the genius of it, and what has made “Dat $tick” into a viral phenomenon with nearly 600,000 views in less than 3 weeks with zero marketing.
Rich Chigga is the rapper alter ego of 16-year-old comedian Brian Imanuel. Brian was born and raised in Jakarta. And despite his silky smooth flow and adept usage of gangsta terminology, he’s never been to the US. He doesn’t even go to an international school (he’s homeschooled).
“I actually learned English from watching YouTube videos and talking to myself, because I use to spend a lot of my time alone — that went on for about 4 years,” Brian told Hypetrak in an interview.
“Dat $tick” blew up after it was picked up by a site called KollegeKidd.com, but Brian had already been gaining a following for the wonderfully weird, dark, deadpan comedy videos he has been posting on Vine and Youtube.
He has also amassed quite the following on Twitter thanks to posts like these:
So yeah, Brian seems to know exactly what he’s doing. In fact, he even has a fairly articulate answer to those who would criticize his use of certain racial slurs in his music, telling Hypetrak:
“I get why people are offended, and I don’t want to sound pretentious but my goal is to help put an end to the negative effects of the N-word. I want more people to know that it’s a term of endearment in hip-hop rather than something racist when non-black artists use it. By putting out something that gets people to say, “I’m not sure if I’m okay with this but it’s dope,” as well as seeing the small percentage of dislikes compared to the likes in the video, I think it’s working.”
If Brian’s sense of humor isn’t your thing we totally understand. But, to be honest, we think he is pretty damn hilarious and has a very bright future ahead of him.
So is “Dat $tick” the funniest gansta rap video of all time? Well, it does have to compete against the all-time classic “Amish Paradise” but we’ll give Brian the hometown edge.
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