One morning I awakened and all of the sudden Tommy Richman went from the white boy Brent Faiyaz took beneath his wing to a viral pop-R&B sensation. The observe that carried him there was an deliberately grainy snippet of “Million Greenback Child,” which shot to the celebs on TikTok. Within the clip, uploaded in April, Richman and his crew are within the studio, bumping alongside to the vibey single as the quantity is cranked up so loud that the drums crackle such as you’re watching a 360p rip of ’90s Three 6 Mafia footage on YouTube.
The music resonated so strongly that one of many two variations of the music uploaded to streaming companies was labeled “Million Greenback Child (VHS),” made to recapture the best way his frothy melodies are drowned out by the blown-out bounce. Immediately it was one of many greatest hits of the yr, finally peaking at No. 2 on the Billboard Sizzling 100. It occurred so quick that it drew some outrage, from loudmouthed podcaster Joe Budden who mentioned, “I by no means wanna hear that Tommy Richman nigga once more!” and Sizzling 97’s Funk Flex who exclaimed, hilariously, “If you happen to’re somebody that likes this music, you’re a clown!” earlier than enjoying the observe anyway as if he was being held at gunpoint.
As somebody all for shitting on the overplayed pop music of the second, Flex and Budden have been doing so much. Really, “Million Greenback Child” is fairly cool. It’s about completely nothing however that doesn’t matter due to all of the songs you’re susceptible to listen to on the radio or at a bar it sounds distinct sufficient to face out each time it comes on. Richman takes his label boss Brent’s laid-back falsetto up a notch and mashes that stylish vocal model with a thudding beat that sounds just like the early 2010s Memphis-inspired thunderstorms of Bones brightened with some additional synths. And in case you squint laborious sufficient, his ghostly croons have a contact of Bone Thugs-n-Concord to them, however, in fact, with out the emotional weight.
The music Richman was making earlier than “Million Greenback Child” had a few of these qualities, too, because the 24-year-old Woodrbidge, Virginia native, who is alleged to be named after the drummer of Mötley Crüe, has been tinkering with these ethereal vocals inside hit-or-miss style experiments for years now. One of the best stuff was both borderline beachy indie rock or Brent gone groovy. There’s a sick characteristic he has on the 2023 mixtape of Maryland producer Sparkheem—a co-producer of “Million Greenback Child” widespread for his go go-infused DMV crank—that had me questioning if he was born to be a type of R&B hook specialists in an outdated rap clique, like Doughboy Clay of Doughboyz Cashout or Mo B. Dick of No Restrict. However Coyote isn’t as fascinating as any of that, selecting to tone down a lot of the hip-hop affect for secure, inoffensive playlist-R&B.
