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[h1]Rising Star Rich The Kid Explains How To Make Money As A Rapper[/h1]

Photo credit: Spudds Mckenzie

Atop a banquette in the makeshift V.I.P. section of lower Manhattan’ D.I.Y. venue Elvis Guesthouse, Rich The Kid stood tall to oversee the crowd that came out for him. Dressed almost entirely in Supreme and with a Hennessy bottle in hand, the Atlanta rapper was minutes away from performing live for a young diverse New York crowd of tastemakers, trendsetters, and music industry reps.

To say Rich is on his come up would be an understatement. During our conversation a few days earlier, he made clear just how much he has on deck. ”Everybody’s realizing now that I’m the hardest working in the industry–period,” he said.

After last year’s collaborative releases with artists like Fetty Wap and iLoveMakonnen, he’s got music with Diplo, Frank Ocean, Jaden Smith, Ty Dolla Sign, and Justin Bieber  already lined up for 2016, to name but a few. Last week, major label EDM duo GTA released their “My Mamacita”single with him, which garnered over 115,000 SoundCloud plays in just six days time. Given his current rate of output, he anticipates dropping his debut album this summer with Quality Control Music and Lyor Cohen’s 300 Entertainment.

Ostensibly in town headlining the Young Hustle tour, Rich seemed intent on making the most of his New York visit, spending no small part of it recording new material with the likes of Mac Miller and up-and-comer Playboi Carti. “I did the studio yesterday,” he said. “I’m at the studio like literally right now.” In addition to playing his own show at notable downtown hip-hop club SOBs, he also appeared as a guest onstage during Billboard Hot 100 artist G-Eazy’s recent sold-out run at Terminal 5, a 3000 person capacity venue.

This time last year, many of these people were likely unfamiliar with Rich. Those clued in to the mixtape circuit no doubt caught his verses on the Streets On Lock  projects alongside Migos, the trap trio who first broke out in 2013 with the RIAA gold-certified hit “Versace.” But even before his association with that group and Quality Control, he was releasing mixtape compilations of his work under an assumed DJ name  through popular website LiveMixtapes.

Indicative of those tapes’ influence, one such project entitled Lobby Runners  featured early work from current hip-hop phenomenon Young Thug. “I’m in the background for a lot of stuff,” Rich said. “People don’t know.”

Still, at this highly competitive time in rap music, making money while trying to make it can prove an enormous challenge. In addition to live performance fees and streaming royalties, Rich explained that recording guest verses or chorus hooks on commission makes for a significant revenue source. ”I make a lot of money off featuring, doing songs with up-and-coming artists,” he said. “I can charge someone $10,000 to $15,000 to do one song.” Given his rapidly growing profile, that price range is probably already outdated.

The requests for features typically come through his management, and Rich estimated he can do around 5 or so in a given week.  ”Everybody wants to work with me right now,” he said with a modest laugh. ”If I’m not on tour or doing a show, I’m in the studio.” He describes his work ethic as going from “working hard to the hardest working.”

Expectations are high for what Rich could accomplish this year. He’s following the Young Hustle Tour almost immediately with Migos on The Dab Tour. He’s also not limiting himself to one genre. In addition to the GTA single, he’s worked with EDM acts like Carnage and Steve Aoki. Released last month, the latter’s ”How Else” features Rich and has more than 720,000 SoundCloud plays so far. His dream collaborator? “Katy Perry.”

“This year, you’re not going to know what to expect from me,” he said.

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TennakeySlim said:

Maximus Meridius said:

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View media item 1924349

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Maximus Meridius said:

View media item 1987176
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