On April 26, a relatively unknown artist by the name of Tommy Richman dropped the song “Million Dollar Baby.” It debuted at #2 on Billboard’s Hot 100, and seemingly overnight, the song was everywhere, from your fyp page and friends’ IG stories to Offset’s X account—it was inescapable.
This marked Richman’s first Billboard entry, and for many, it was an introduction to an artist they had never heard before. But Richman’s catchy bass and smooth vocal riffs didn’t come and go as many songs do after their release.
As of July 23, “Million Dollar Baby” has spent 12 consecutive weeks in the Top 10 of the Hot 100 and 10 weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s TikTok Top 50 chart (the first song to do so since the chart’s 2023 inception).
A relatively unknown artist creeping onto timelines has two guarantees: industry plant allegations and Drake are not far behind. By now, Richman’s name has become a bit more familiar. He dropped the single “Devil Is A Lie,” which follows the “Million Dollar Baby” formula, and announced that his debut album, Coyote, is coming soon (although it doesn’t have a release date yet).
Pulling back the curtain on what Richman was doing prior to his newfound success and addressing the industry plant allegations, here are five things you might not know about the artist.
1. He’s the first artist signed to Brent Faiyaz’s label
First things first, Richman has been releasing music since 2016, so no, he did not pop out of nowhere with little to no discography like 4batz. His solo releases caught the eye of Brent Faiyaz, who signed him to his independent label ISO Supremacy in 2023.
Richman spent last year on the road with Faiyaz, opening for his Fuck the World, It’s a Wasteland tour, and he was featured on the song “Upset” from Faiyaz’s Larger Than Life mixtape.
2. TikTok helped boost “Million Dollar Baby”
As with most viral songs these days, Richman teased a snippet of his song on TikTok a few days before its official release. The VHS-style recording of him and his friends vibing to the bass-heavy record already has 10.5M views and you can even peep Brent Faiyaz in the background.
This, in part, explains the song’s early success as soon as it dropped.
@tommyrichman Ready to turn up wit yall, presave in bio.
♬ Million dollar baby - Tommy Richman
3. He’s from Woodbridge, Virginia
Like his mentor, Faiyaz, and one of his cited inspirations, Pharrell, he hails from the DMV—Virginia specifically. He grew up in a music-less household to a father who was a drum teacher and a mother who was legally deaf but began exploring music as a hobby.
In an interview with Lyrical Lemonade he says he decided to pursue music seriously before his sophomore year of College. He made a song called “Pleasantville” that received enough positive feedback to convince him it was worth betting his future on music.
4. He’s not really a rapper
Dive into his last EP, The Rush, and you’ll quickly understand why Faiyaz signed him. He can nail the R&B crooning and vocal riffs just as easily as he can incorporate punk rock elements into his sound.
His 2016 song “Ballin’ Stalin’” skews more alt rap, while the SoundCloud snippet “LIKETHATSHIT” sounds like he studied with Yeat and Fred again.
5. He’s inspired by NBA Player Dennis Rodman and punk
The tagline “Everything is punk” started out as a joke amongst his friends but has since become part of his brand. It appears in his YouTube bio and is the name of his underground concert series.
Unsurprisingly, he looks up to Dennis Rodman, who embodied the rebellious spirit of punk. Speaking to Lyrical Lemonade, Richman said, “During [Rodman’s] time, to be as metro, and athletic, and different, and fashionable and partying as hard as he did was ridiculous.”
“I mean, he played on the best basketball team ever, was defensive player of the year, and was outside f*cking Carmen Electra in Vegas every other night.”
