Robb Banks

Robb Banks

Robb Banks in 2015
Background information
Birth name Richard Burrell
Born (1994-09-24) September 24, 1994
New York CIty, New York, United States of America
Origin Coral Springs, Broward County, Florida, United States of America
Genres Hip hop
Occupation(s)
Years active 2011–present
Labels 300 (former)
Associated acts
Website yearofthesavage.com

Richard O'Neil Burrell[1] (born September 24, 1994) better known by his stage name Robb Banks (often stylized Robb Bank$), is an American hip hop recording artist. Originally born in New York City, the rapper later moved to Broward County, Florida at the age of six and has lived there ever since. He gained recognition in 2012 with his debut mixtape Calendars and his follow-up mixtape Tha City in 2013. Banks' debut commercial release, Year of the Savage, was released on October 2, 2015.

Early life

Robb Banks was born Richard O'Neil Burrell on September 24, 1994 in New York City. He is known to be the oldest child of reggae fusion recording artist, Shaggy. Burrell spent the first six years of his life in New York before he and his mother moved to Broward County, Florida. Burrell states that Florida and the experiences he had while living there is what made him the man he is today. He rarely spent time with his father in his childhood and often had to find his own way to make money for his family which included selling drugs. Richard loved rap at a young age but was discouraged fom openly embracing it due to how poorly other rappers he knew were thought of. Before he graduated from high school in 2012, Burrell took a trip to New York City to record music in the summer of 2011. This became his first step into fully embracing his rap career and soon he and fellow rapper Matt Mayer Lansky released a collaborative mixtape, called Everyday except Monday, under the side project Tuesday thru Sunday.

Musical career

2011–12: Calendars and rise to prominence

In 2012, after releasing his project with Lansky and a slew of other songs, Banks released his debut mixtape Calendars. The solo project predominately consisted of Robb rapping over beats by artists like Clams Casino and SBTRKT, and samples from Aaliyah and OutKast. The project was successful and became a hit on the microblogging platform Tumblr. It soon threw Banks into the public eye. Capitalizing on the success of this mixtape, Banks soon released even more singles, collaborating with producers like Nuri and SpaceGhostPurrp. He began touring and spread his name throughout the country, emerging an underground following. With this Robb soon announced the name of his most highly anticipated mixtape, Year of the Savage - a project originally meant to serve as his debut studio album.

2013: Tha City

After a couple months of hiatus, and hype building over the previously mentioned Year of the Savage, Robb soon began working on another project titled Tha City. He soon began promoting the mixtape by releasing singles off the project including "Practice", "All the Way Live", and "On Me". Tha City was released on October 1, 2013, to critical acclaim and excitement from a new crowd of fans that began forming across the country. Prior to the release of this tape rumors had surfaced as to whether or not Shaggy was Robb's father, a fact that was formerly denied, but was soon confirmed by him to be true by making the cover for Tha City an old family photo of Banks and Shaggy. After the release of this mixtape, Banks went on a year-long hiatus as he continued touring and spreading his music around the world.

2014–15: 2PhoneShawty and Year of the Savage

Throughout 2014, Robb began touring around the world and rarely released new music, only to show that he is still working on YOTS. This was until the end of the year, when he began hinting new projects that have been in the work.

On December 10, 2014, Banks dropped his first (promotional) single for Year of the Savage, called "2PhoneShawty", with it being the only song recorded in 2014 on the whole mixtape.

In 2015, he started working on a new batch of music for YOTS, which would feature production from his new affiliate Nuez.[2]

On April 3 and April 6, 2015, Robb released two extended-plays: 2PhoneShawty and No Trespassing. The 2PhoneShawty EP consisted of outtakes from Year of the Savage, and No Trespassing was a collaboration between him and Memphis-born rapper Chris Travis, all recorded in 2014.

On August 13, 2015, Robb released the lead single for Year of the Savage, titled "Pressure". After that Banks continued to promote YOTS by releasing a bunch of freestyled tracks. It was during one of these freestyles ("Throw It Up") that he confirmed the release date for his debut commercial release.

On October 2, 2015, after three years of work, Robb released his album Year of the Savage through 300's Dorian Distribution.

Influences

Banks' style is notorious for its heavy sampling of old school R&B, pop culture and Japanese anime. Robb states his inspiration to rap comes from Biggie Smalls and that his favorite artiste of all time is British quiet storm singer Sade. Robb has also mentioned Gucci Mane,Webbie and Slug as an influence to his sound. His tag "I Think I Might Be Happy" is synonymous with his music and is taken from a scene of the U.S. version of Skins. Banks mainly makes references to Japanese anime Naruto and calls it his favorite anime of all time.

Discography

Mixtapes

EP

Singles

References

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, May 06, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.