“Consider this … my ‘kickstarter’, except it’s for a cause greater than myself.”
The life of Richie Branson is coming up golden these days. Award-winning music producer, touring rapper with MC Chris, and undisputed nerd, this man is doing it all.
In 2011, Branson was just one more Frog Dog running the Huttball in Star Wars: the Old Republic and thinking ‘damn, this music kinda rocks.’ By mid-December, he’d released the first of many nerdcore rap songs to come, titled “Cold Republic”. (You can download his available mixtapes for free from the sidebar of his site here.) That’s when things really took flight.
A year and a half later, he has six mixtapes under his belt, has toured 33 cities throughout the USA performing at different conventions, and is making music for Adult Swim.
And he’s still working hard at giving it all back.
“I told you I’d be the type of rapper who would blow his money in children’s hospitals rather than strip clubs, well now I’m putting my money where my mouth is.”
Almost a week ago on May 28th, two days after the one-year anniversary of Toonami’s return, Richie finally released his newest rap album “From Guardia With Love” dedicated to his favorite game of all time, Chrono Trigger. After a month of pre-sales, and even longer since he released a sneak peak of at least one of the tracks off of it, fans were eager to get their hands on a copy. The limited edition CD with bonus track “Level Up” and instant digital download sold out almost immediately, and after a brief combing of Richie’s Reddit AMA and website, there still appear to be no signs of a reprint.
The best part?
“Every penny that I personally earn from this album will be donated to charity…specifically the Extra Life organization that works with Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. I have no intent on making any personal financial gain from this project.”
I have to say, seeing this kind of conscientiousness and goodwill in my nerdverse and rap scene seriously makes me smile. I’ve been rocking his “Code Republic” mixtape all through the writing of this article, and it so ain’t gonna stop there.
The digital edition can be purchased on either Bandcamp or iTunes for about $7 USD.
