In 2003, twin brothers Taiwo and Kehinde Hassan, now known as the production duo Christian Rich, got their first placement on a Lil Kim record. That was when they were both Speech Communication majors at the University of Illinois in Champaign, a couple of hours south of their native Chicago. That same year, they gave beats to Clipse and Foxy Brown.
Those placements were hooked up by New York producer EZ Elpee, an NYC fixture in the '90s, behind Junior M.A.F.I.A.'s "Get Money," Nas & The Bravehearts "Oochie Wally," and Shyne's "Bad Boyz," to name a few. He connected with the Hassan bros while he was visiting Chicago, looking for bright young producers to sign to his label, Paperchase Records.
Their breakout year would prove to be more prolific than the few that followed. While on Paperchase, they remotely produced a few more decidedly East Coast tracks, for Roc-A-Fella duo Young Gunz in '04 and Raekwon in '06. They also started a band, which they called Christian Rich, that became their primary creative outlet. Taiwo sang, and both he and Kehinde, alongside a rotating cast of their talented friends, blended their productions with live instrumental improvisations. At the same time, they both picked up investment banking jobs in New York. Music was a passion, but not necessarily a viable career path.
Meeting The Neptunes
In 2009, Taiwo decided to quit his job and, along with his brother, who had been laid off a few months earlier, give music their undivided attention. "I remember this very clearly. I just decided and said, 'I'm gonna do this full-time.' That was that.' And as fate would have it, their underground buzz soon reached the ears of quite possibly the hottest producers in the game: The Neptunes.
The collaborative years that followed their tenure at Paperchase led them into the circles of forward-thinking electronic musicians and DJs. They even ended up on a compilation mix from Boston house legend Armand Van Helden (now one half of Duck Sauce with Fool's Gold boss A-Trak). The direction of their sound -- as well as their definitive decision to pursue music -- is evident in the 2009 visual to their synth-poppy jam "Famous Girl," which depicts a macabre dinner party during which the guests, each wearing different animal masks, indulge in a ritual sacrifice of a Hollywood starlet. The ambitious video caught the eyes and ears of N.E.R.D.'s third member, Shae Haley.
Shae never introduced them to his bandmates. Instead, he played Christian Rich music in the car to see if they would catch on organically, and indeed, Pharrell asked to meet Taiwo and Kehinde in New York. During their first hangout, the duo accompanied Pharrell to a performance at Governor's Island and then straight to the studio of Diddy, who, at the time, was preparing to introduce his immensely talented Dirty Money collective.
Christian Rich worked on Last Train to Paris for a couple of months, only to eventually see their hopeful single left off the album altogether. The same instrumental was also purchased by Lupe Fiasco but, again, went unused on Lasers. In any case, they were earning sustainable income and had a huge industry playmaker on their side with Pharrell, who provided the effusive intro to their 2010 mixtape The Decadence, for which he also hooked the twins up with fellow Virginian Pusha T, whom Christian Rich had already unwittingly produced for seven years prior.
Earl Sweatshirt's "Doris"
At the end of 2010, Taiwo and Kehinde moved to L.A. with hopes of extending their brand and building relationships with younger artists. Across the country, they found their initial calling card was still their Pharrell connection. "People would try to work with us to try to get to Pharrell, but then by the time they would sit with us, we would give them a banger, and they would forget that's why they met us." Taiwo implied that's what happened with singer/songwriter John West.
After meeting the Def Jam artist at an industry party, they quickly turned one one of his demos into a minimal slow jam, even grabbing another verse from Pusha T. It was then, following a relatively unremarkable record, that Rich's years of lingering connections and near-hits soon led to a career-defining project. West's publisher introduced them to the A&R of Earl Sweatshirt, who was planning his first new music since returning from a mysterious and highly scandalized stint at a Samoan reform school, to which he fled soon before his music and that of Odd Future began to proliferate.
In late 2012, Earl made an emphatic and surprising return with the Christian Rich-produced "Chum," the lead single off Doris, which would be released the next summer. The song began softly, but with a little "something sinister to it." The basement-type beat featured a pretty piano line on top of tight snares and snarling, low-end bass. It was Earl's reintroduction -- on his own terms -- and not a friendly one. He ditched all expectations of Odd Future shock gags for a depressing lament on his childhood, and he proved that every outsider's perception about his rehab in Samoa was dead wrong.
With the increased self-awareness came his desire to shape a specific, challenging sound, for which Christian Rich were the perfect candidates. Doris became the first major label project that they were really able to sink their teeth into. In turn, the still relatively obscure duo brought in their own mentors, Chad and Pharrell, to crash the studio sessions for one of 2013's most exciting projects. The Neptunes got the lead credit on "Burgundy," but their protégés landed a total of four tracks on the album, including a collaboration with RZA.
Somewhere amid an all-day session during which a teenage Vince Staples had been shocking the Wu-Tang legend with stories about Long Beach gang life, Taiwo found a sample on RZA's MPC ("Rose Len" by Jamaican vibes master Lennie Hibbert) that became the foundation of "Molasses." RZA's main contribution consisted in rapping "I'll fuck the freckles off your face, bitch" on the hook.
Later on the album, Christian Rich introduced a teenage Vince Staples to much of the world on "Centurion." Here was an immediately riveting voice, whose gangsta raps provided a frightening mix of youthful creakiness and an adult sense of nonchalance. The menacing tone was set by another adept sampling choice, as Christian Rich layered creeping drums atop an eerie jazz composition from the otherworldly catalog of David Axelrod. Even more of their budget was eaten up by sampling a jam by krautrock pioneers Can, as swelling horns make way for a few seconds of freakish German blabbering that somehow perfectly separates Earl's opening verse from that of young Staples.
"Señorita" and Their Debut Album, "FW14"
Before the release of Doris, J. Cole and Jhené Aiko grabbed a three-year-old Christian Rich beat on "Sparks Will Fly," which ended up as a bonus track on the Dreamville emcee's sophomore album, Born Sinner. Later in 2013, Taiwo and Kehinde gave a brand new beat to Childish Gambino, for the Because the Internet single "Crawl," an adrenaline-filled production that brings out some of Glover's hardest rapping on the album.
Earlier this year, they linked up with Staples once again for "Señorita," the lead single off his stunning debut album Summertime '06. "We made the beat with Pusha T in mind," said Taiwo, who sent the instrumental to Vince's manager after Push surprisingly turned it down. "A lot of people don't know that we make a lot of 808 beats, so my brother wanted to dive into that sound and make it creepy, like some Michael Myers shit." He had even added a Future sample, taking the gripping first two lines from Honest's "Covered N Money," as a reference, though they eventually cleared the sampled hook with the Freebandz team, giving the record the raw sting of Atlanta trap, which Staples was able to repurpose with his visceral brand of storytelling.
Though their placements have continued to get more impressive, their success over the past few years has allowed Taiwo and Kehinde to refocus on Christian Rich the band, as they released their first official album, FW14, this summer, behind which they've been touring, with an exciting live show, ever since.
Loosely based around the sci-fi novels of Philip K. Dick, the album takes listeners on a spacey, romantic journey that runs through a diverse range of influences, from EDM to soulful R&B to the fuji music of Nigeria -- the homeland of Rich's parents and where the twins spent five years of their childhoods. They recruited a wide array of talented young artists, including Staples, again, who shows up on the banger of the bunch, "High," as well as those from other genres such as L.A. indie-rock group DWNTWN.
There's an immersive deep house number, "Compromise," that seamlessly incorporates DMV up-and-comer GoldLink, Sinead Harnett, the singer who guested on a couple of Disclosure's early hits, and producer Secaina Hudson, both from the U.K. The wonderfully nostalgic "What More," FW14's final song, features funk legend Steve Arrington, who gives his stamp of approval on Rich's exploratory project, which embodies a timeless sort of creative spirit.
After a career that's already spanned over 15 years, Taiwo sees the album as evidence that he and his brother are still in it for the right reasons. "Yeah we make beats for this person or that person, but we have to focus on ourselves as artists in order for people to really understand what Christian Rich is all about. Whatever the fuck is going on, we're gonna be doing what we're doing no matter what."