One morning I wakened and immediately 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 celebrities on TikTok. Within the clip, uploaded in April, Richman and his crew are within the studio, bumping alongside to the vibey single as the amount 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 way in which his frothy melodies are drowned out by the blown-out bounce. Immediately it was one of many largest hits of the 12 months, ultimately peaking at No. 2 on the Billboard Sizzling 100. It occurred so quick that it drew some outrage, from loudmouthed podcaster Joe Budden who stated, “I by no means wanna hear that Tommy Richman nigga once more!” and Sizzling 97’s Funk Flex who exclaimed, hilariously, “Should you’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 had been doing rather a lot. Truly, “Million Greenback Child” is fairly cool. It’s about completely nothing however that doesn’t matter due to all of the songs you’re inclined 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 fashionable 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 exhausting sufficient, his ghostly croons have a contact of Bone Thugs-n-Concord to them, however, after all, 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 within hit-or-miss style experiments for years now. The most effective stuff was both borderline beachy indie rock or Brent gone groovy. There’s a sick function 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 previous rap clique, like Doughboy Clay of Doughboyz Cashout or Mo B. Dick of No Restrict. However Coyote isn’t as attention-grabbing as any of that, selecting to tone down a lot of the hip-hop affect for secure, inoffensive playlist-R&B.
