Brian Fresco

Emerging through membership in Chicago's SaveMoney collective alongside Chance the Rapper, Vic Mensa, and Towkio, rapper Brian Fresco built his early profile. He grew up in the city's Ida B. Wells and Harold Ickes projects. At the Beasley Academic Center in fourth grade he first encountered music when classmate Kami De Chukwu, later known simply as Kami and himself a SaveMoney member, grew obsessed with Eminem's The Eminem Show. Throughout high school Fresco also pursued athletics seriously enough to receive an offer to play college football at Wisconsin. He declined the scholarship, and the time he spent at Middle Tennessee State University ended quickly once he returned to Chicago to focus on music. Back in the city he started developing his debut mixtape, 2013's Mafioso. After the project's release his attention moved elsewhere following his departure from his parents' house and the arrival of his first child. A call from prominent Chicago MC Tree restored momentum, leading the pair to record the Soulmoney EP together. The release placed the rising artist on RedEye's Top 15 Acts to Watch in 2015. Continued links to SaveMoney further elevated his standing when award-winning Chance the Rapper appeared on the lead single "Higher" from his next project, Casanova. The Casanova mixtape arrived in 2017.