Rich Rocka
First known as Ya Boy, then as YB the Rockstar, and since 2013 as Rich Rocka, William Crawford quickly made the right connections in the industry as a developing artist in the Bay Area underground rap scene. Supported throughout his career by the likes of San Quinn, the Game, Akon, and Mack 10, and a label operator himself, he has amassed a discography of well over 20 EP- and LP-length recordings, all the while maintaining his self-assured and cocky attitude, with no concessions made for mainstream appeal. Among his major releases are the proper debut Rookie of the Year (2005), the three-volume The Fix series (2006-2016), and Matrix Music, another multi-volume concept (2019).
As a youth coming up in San Francisco's Fillmore District, a neighborhood known more for its violent crime than its jazz heritage, Crawford caught the hip-hop bug early on because of Bay Area mainstays San Quinn and Messy Marv, who are his first cousins. The local buzz surrounding the eager rapper began with the song "16's with Me," which sampled the Darth Vader theme, "The Imperial March," from Star Wars. He continued to release many mixtapes and local singles with help from San Quinn's independent label, Done Deal Entertainment. On his 2005 debut album, Rookie of the Year, Crawford gathered Bay Area rap luminaries such as E-40 and producer Rick Rock to cement his status as a noteworthy newcomer. Also around this time, the Bay's more club-oriented hyphy movement started to bubble over into the national mainstream, but Crawford didn't follow the trend, still brandishing his style of gangsta rap.
In 2006, he amicably left his cousin's label to pursue opportunities with his uncle, who was an executive at Compton rapper the Game's Black Wall Street imprint. His affiliation to the Game allowed him to work with top industry producers and lead to greater exposure outside of the Bay Area locale, as shown by his feature in The Source magazine's "Unsigned Hype" column. Although he ultimately didn't release any albums on Black Wall Street and settled only briefly on labels run by Akon (Konvict Muzik) and Mack 10 (Hoo-Bangin'), Crawford never seemed to be sidelined, and supported himself by starting his own imprint, Black Card Music. Black Card became home to full-lengths such as Rich Rocka II (2015), the second and third volumes of The Fix (2010 and 2016), and the freestyle-oriented Matrix Music EPs (2019).
© Cyril Cordor & Andy Kellman /TiVo
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