The production, recording, and DJ outfit Christian Rich first drew major attention in 2013 through their contributions to Childish Gambino’s Grammy-nominated Because the Internet. Capitalizing on that momentum, the team delivered their own album FW14 in 2015.
Chicago-born and Lagos-raised brothers Taiwo and Kehinde Hassan began producing tracks around 2001 once they returned to Chicago from Nigeria for schooling. From 2003 to 2012 the Hassans established themselves in Los Angeles while working with Lil' Kim, Clipse, Foxy Brown, Armand Van Helden, mentors N.E.R.D., and Rye Rye, and they also issued their own recordings, among them the part-dubstep, part-trap, part-pop cuts “All You Need” and “Back Room.”
The year 2013 proved pivotal: the duo’s beats appeared on four of that year’s Top Ten albums—J. Cole’s Born Sinner, Earl Sweatshirt’s Doris, Drake’s Nothing Was the Same, and Childish Gambino’s Because the Internet—while their Gambino sessions earned a Grammy nomination. Christian Rich followed in 2014 with the dreamily off-center single “In Between” and the EP SS14. Their full-length FW14 arrived the next year and included a guest spot from funk legend Steve Arrington. In 2019 they released the single “Shibuya (Ghost II)” featuring Jaden Smith, Vic Mensa, and Belly.
