Life as the hottest rapper in the sleepy city of Mobile, Ala., comes with its perks. Nobody bats an eye when you drive your Escalade on the sidewalk so you wont be late getting to the club. And they dont notice when you illegally park your vehicle in between two police cars once you arrive. See, you can do things like that when your earth-trembling single, D-Boyz, is blazing local radio.
But for Maurice Rich Boy Richards, 21, the ultimate goal isnt hometown VIP treatment its widespread acceptance. Out here, Im a ghetto star, he says.But Im focused on the bigger picture.
Music hasnt always been so heavy on the rappers mind.As a student at Alabamas Tuskegee University, Rich Boy majored in mechanical engineering. Then Rich, who occasionally dabbled in music, dropped out of school and fully committed himself to producing. School wasnt for me, and I knew I could make it doing music, he says with a shrug. But trying to go the Kanye West route brought out family differences. |
