Rich Kidd

Rich Kidd

Rich Kidd Ontario Native
Background information
Birth name Ritchie Acheampong
Born (1987-04-28) April 28, 1987
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Genres Hip hop
Occupation(s) Record producer, rapper
Years active 2007-present
Associated acts Drake, Busta Rhymes, Frank n Dank, Redman, Raekwon, DMX, Talib Kweli, Kardinal Offishall, K-os
Website richkiddbeats.com

Ritchie Acheampong (born April 28, 1987), better known as Rich Kidd, is a Canadian hip hop recording artist, record producer and film/video director from Toronto, Ontario. He is a two-time nominee for the Juno Award for Rap Recording of the Year as a solo artist, garnering nominations at the Juno Awards of 2013 for The Closers and at the Juno Awards of 2014 for In My Opinion.

In 2013, he formed the project Naturally Born Strangers with collaborators Tona and Adam Bomb.[1] That group's debut release, The Legends League Presents: Naturally Born Strangers, won the Juno Award for Rap Recording of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2015.[2]

Early life

Acheampong was born in Toronto, Ontario,[3] to parents Elizabeth Acheampong, a warehouse laborer, and Morgan Acheampong, a taxi driver. Both are of Ghanaian descent. He was raised by his parents in Scarborough, in the city's east end. At age 3, his family moved to the suburb of Mississauga and frequently within the city. When his parents divorced, he and his mother moved to a subsidized housing area in Erin Mills (west Mississauga), locally known as the Ridgeway complex.[4] He graduated from Loyola Catholic Secondary School and was also a graduate of The Remix Project; an educational youth program for music, art, and business.[5]

Career

Debut

Rich Kidd began producing music as a teenager[5] and received his first production credit at 19 years old for rap artists Frank n Dank's "Get Right Song". In 2007, he released the first of an annual compilation series called We on Some Rich Kidd Shit currently composed of six volumes and featuring nearly 100 artists.[6] In 2007, he produced four songs on rap artist Drake's Comeback Season mixtape.

2009-present

In 2009, rap artists Busta Rhymes and Billy Danze from MOP released the song "Undescribable" using a Rich Kidd production.[7] That same year, performing artist K-os released his fourth studio album which included the single "I Wish I Knew Natalie Portman" featuring Nelly Furtado and Saukrates produced by Rich Kidd.[8] We On Some Rich Kidd Shit Vol. 3 was released in July 2009, featuring "The Search" a song featuring Drake and Saukrates.[9]

In 2010 Rich Kidd performed at Canadian Hip Hop festival Manifesto, and received production credits on Shad's Juno award-winning album TSOL[10] with the song "Listen".[11] He received a nomination for Producer of the Year at the 2010 Stylus awards[3] and returned the following year to five nominations including an award for Artist Mixtape of the Year.[12]

Rich Kidd launched his directorial debut Trespassing, a semi-biographical short film featured in the City Life Film Project[13] and debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival’s Bell Lightbox.[14] "Take It Slow" served as his debut solo single.[15] Soon after Rich Kidd was named top 5 local MCs by the Toronto Star[16] and began to tour the UK and Australia.[17]

In 2012, Rich Kidd released an instrumental mixtape Kiddstrumentals and his first studio album The Closers along with Vancouver MC SonReal[18] which landed him a Juno Nomination for Rap Recording of the Year[19] and another nomination for Hip Hop Video of the Year for the song "Hometown".[20]

In April 2013, Rich Kidd released his most complete solo full length project In My Opinion[21] which features singles "SYKE",[22] "Can I Get A [Bom Bom]",[23] and "I'd Be Lying".[24] In March 2013, the CBC named Rich Kidd "your favourite Canadian rapper's favourite rapper" in their top 25 list.[25]

Discography

Albums

Mixtapes

Singles

Awards and nominations

Awards

Nominations

Juno Awards 2013
Stylus Awards 2011
Stylus Awards 2012
MMVA 2010

References

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