West Coast Living Legend, Richard “Richie Rich” Serrell returns to the limelight after a more than nine year musical absence.
On his just released mix-tape outing, the appropriately titled Town Bidness, Double R continues to bless the masses with his reality fueled street narratives, delivered in that all-too-familiar raspy vocal tone. On the thirteen track extravaganza, Rich enlists the help of a few of his homies and colleagues in the biz; Snoop Dogg [“I Fux Wit You”], B-Legit & Erk Tha Jerk [“Doe (Remix)”], but in true actuality this audio affair is strictly about the man himself. Summing it up best on “#1,” He professes, “40 Water sprinkled me, $hort blew the whistle, Dubble got caught with a half thang and a pistol. Now, I’m an ex-felon with a gun, but in my mind, shit, I’m still #1.”

Richie Rich first rose to prominence as a lead member of the popular Oakland, California, quintet, 415, back in the late eighties. The underground collective’s heralded debut, 41Fivin, which spawned a succession of popular singles; “415,” “Groupie Ass Bitch,” & “Side Show,” is still considered, to this day, a Bay Area classic. It also sparked plenty enough interest and fanfare to enable Rich with the opportunity of recording his first solo LP. That project, Don’t Do It, with its excellent title track, followed in 1990, and was an instantaneous success.

Unfortunately, with triumph often times comes tragedy, and while 415 were in the midst of signing with, then, indie giant, Priority Records, Richie Rich was arrested for drug possession. For him, everything came to a complete standstill.

Upon his release from incarceration, Rich quickly began building up his name again by appearing on records from the likes of Tupac Shakur, who was one of his best friends till the very end, and the Luniz. Soon, he found himself in the midst of a vicious bidding war, with Def Jam Records eventually coming out the victor. Richie Rich’s, then, highly anticipated Seasoned Veteran bowed in November ’96, and was met with gracious reviews. The set’s second offering, “Do G’s Get To Go To Heaven?,” was dedicated to the memory of his fallen comrade, 2Pac.

A follow-up release was recorded for the label, but due to problems with the company’s infrastructure at the time, it was ultimately shelved. So, Rich, along with his longtime business partner, producer Lev Berlak, formed their own imprint, Ten-Six Records. The Game, which featured several tracks left over from the Def Jam era, dropped in 2000, and “Nixon Pryor Roundtree,” followed nearly two years later.

Currently hard at work on his “official” still untitled, solo release, consider the more-than-impressive Town Bidness a true gift of appreciation from Richie Rich to his die-hard fans, as they anxiously await the arrival of his upcoming sixth studio opus…

@24HOURHIPHOP @THERAPMANAGER