Last month saw Jakarta-raised 19-year-old rapper Rich Brian return with the thunderous new single "Yellow," teasing that he had a new album on the way titled The Sailor. After teasing the project further with the boom bap-inspired "Kids," the 88rising signee has shared the highly-anticipated record in full.
Featuring appearances from Bekon, RZA, and labelmate Joji, The Sailor follows Brian's impressive debut effort AMEN. 2018 saw him work with Offset and 21 Savage, while also flexing his comedy skills alongside Joji in First We Feast's cooking show Feast Mansion.
The Sailor shows Brian focusing on more mature songwriting. "On this album, I am writing about things that are really, really personal to me," Brian told Complex last month. "I am just trying to be as vulnerable as possible. Production-wise, too, I’m collaborating a lot more versus me doing it all by myself. On this album, I’m learning to let things go a little bit, while not sacrificing my creative freedom."
Listen to The Sailor below.
Before the arrival of the album, Brian was invited to hang out with Indonesian president Joko Widodo. During the visit, he was able to play him "Kids." In a quote tweet, Brian remarked, "To this day I still don't know if he liked it or not."
Next month, Brian will join the likes of Joji, Higher Brothers, Niki, August 08, and Dumbfoundead among others at 88rising's second annual Head in the Clouds festival. If you missed the Sing J. Lee-directed video for "Kids" when it dropped, check that out below.
