Rich the Kid is riding high on the response to “Carnival,” a highlight off the artist formerly known as Kanye West’s joint album with Ty Dolla Sign, Vultures 1.
The 16-track album, the cover art for which features a Jason Vorhees mask-clad Ye alongside wife Bianca Censori, sees the track in question sequenced in between lead single “Vultures” and the six-minute Chris Brown collab “Beg Forgiveness.” Rich takes the song’s first verse, as well as joins Playboi Carti (who also gets a verse of his own) on the chant-supported chorus.
The song quickly became an instant hit among fans, as evidenced by its charts performance thus far. As of Tuesday morning, for example, "Carnival" was No. 1 on Spotify's Global Songs chart. It was also at No. 1 on Apple Music's Top 100: Global, Top 100: USA, and Top Songs (All Genres) charts.
Amid the "Carnival" talk, Rich thanked fans for helping the track secure the top spot, while also taking the time to respond to a tweet from Elliott Wilson.
"Rich the Kid is the luckiest n***a on the planet," the Rap Radar podcast host and decades-strong hip-hop journalist said on Twitter, a site I refuse to refer to as X.
In his response, Rich took issue with the "luckiest" descriptor, like so: "How the fuck I'm lucky? N***as made that song from scratch..hating is not cool bro."
Rich also addressed the statement on Instagram by pointing to a comment from a fan who argued that the Life's a Gamble artist should be commended for having “built everything up on his own” and “worked for his connections." To that end, I can personally attest to Rich’s work ethic dating back to my earliest days here at Complex circa 2015. To put it short, Rich knows what he’s doing. He always has.
Vultures 1, meanwhile, is slated to be followed up by two more volumes of new music in March and April.
