Zendaya’s Tashi Duncan character in Challengers defined tennis as a relationship. An unexpected tennis star in his own right while growing up in Florida, Real Boston Richey is adjusting to the give and take of his relationship with fame as his rapper profile continues to grow.
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Boston Richey served up a splash with “Help Me” earlier this year, which had fans comparing his motivational anthem to Meek Mill’s “Dreams and Nightmares.”
The MacFly-produced single picked up steam and powered its way to give Richey his first Billboard Hot 100 hit in July. “Help Me” would go on to peak at No. 50 and even cracked the top 10 of the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.
With burgeoning success on one side for the 27-year-old, he’s also had to tune out the haters on the other shoulder. Detractors have attempted to pepper him with accusations tied to snitching, which even peers have thrown in his direction trying to muddy his project’s rollout.
Through it all, Real Boston Richey is focused on what’s ahead while moving past the allegations and using the haters as fuel to his fire and bricks to “build a house.”
“At first, it made me feel a way. But I had to understand, it’s life,” he admits during a Zoom call with Billboard last week. “You gotta expect curveballs when you’re doing some kind of good. I had to embrace what I was going through. You can’t really say you the best if nobody ever seen you go through something and not make it through.”
After whittling down hundreds of songs to a package of 24, the Free Bandz Gang artist delivered his Richey Rich album on Friday (Nov. 8) featuring GloRilla, Lil Yachty and YTB Fatt. Check out our conversation with Boston Richey below as he goes long on his project, dealing with the haters and gems he’s taken from Future.
Richey Rich — what was the creative process for everything with this album?
Real Boston Richey: Richey Rich is really gonna be one of them ones. I put a lot of time in there. Like, over a year, for real. Most of the project I recorded in Miami. 80 percent there and the rest I did in my city. I put a lot of effort and feelings into this and I feel like this one’s gonna be one of them albums.
I was gonna touch on what makes this stand out from your other projects. What do you hope people take from it?
I put a lot of feelings into it. A lot of my thought process. These are the top picks from all of the music I recorded. I done recorded hundreds of songs. These were the best hand-picked songs.
How tough is that process to whittle it down?
That’s probably the hardest thing in the world for me. That’s probably why I took so long with getting it ready, because I was always indecisive with what I wanted to do. I might have these songs I have this week, and I might go to the studio and be like, “Nah, I don’t wanna use these no more. I like these I just made.” That’s the deal of the situation.
Would you save some for a deluxe?
Yeah, we got bonus tracks for sure coming.
How did you link with Lil Yachty?
He had hit me on Instagram. A month or two later I was in [Atlanta] so I had pulled up to the studio they was at. We was just in there vibing and listening to beats. We went to record and did probably seven songs that night.
When did you link up with GloRilla? She’s had a good run this year. You guys went to Magic City to shoot the video too.
I had dropped “The Type” with [YTB Fatt] and she had wrote me like, “You hard, man, I wanna work with you.” I’m like, “Hell yeah, we gotta do something.” We didn’t make it until two or three months later and we were in Miami and I went to her studio session. I think she was working on her album or mixtape if I’m not mistaken. She was bringing up music and I had jumped on one of her songs.
Then she was like, “Play me some of your s–t!” I was playing some of my music and she was really supposed to get on another song I had. She had walked out the room and her brother had heard “Get in There.” Her brother was like, “Oh nah, this the one right here.” Soon as she walked back in, I played it again and they all went crazy. She went in there and did her verse like, “Tell me if y’all don’t like it.” They played it and her verse and the whole studio went crazy. “You slid on that b—h, ya feel me?”
That’s crazy she wasn’t that confident in it.
Yeah, she was like, “Tell me if this hard.” Her whole studio went crazy like, “This is the one.”
We gotta talk about “Help Me,” your first Billboard Hot 100 hit. I think it’s reached No. 50. Talk about creating that record and seeing the heights it’s gone to.
When I heard that beat, the beat was telling me, saying, “Help me.” I had both my phone around and got a new phone. I told my engineer send me the new music I recorded. I literally had forgot about it. One day, we was on the road and my brother was in the car and played the car when everyone was asleep. Everyone woke up like, “What this is?!”
We went and shot the video that same night. Everyone was going crazy about it. I played a little snippet at one of my shows and it was going crazy on Instagram. We still had not dropped it until two months later. We were pushing the music and little snippets on the Gram so they were anticipating it for real.
So then it drops and it makes the Hot 100. What was your reaction to that?
Really just motivated me to know that as long as I apply myself and do the right thing I’m supposed to do I could really be somebody. I could really have a hit song. It motivated me to stay in that mode and keep going and doing what I’m supposed to do.
I saw people saying “Help Me” was the new “Dreams and Nightmares.” What do you think about that?
Nah, for sure. It kinda made me feel good. Comparing my song to “Dreams and Nightmares” – that’s been a banger for years and years. I still go to the club to this day and they play, it and it still gets that reaction same to when I first heard “Dreams and Nightmares.” For them to compare my song to that, it made me feel great.
With the success comes the hate. Do you feel like the snitching allegations were thrown at you to derail you?
At first, it made me feel a way. But I had to understand, it’s life. You gotta expect curveballs when you’re doing some kind of good. I had to embrace what I was going through. You can’t really say you the best if nobody ever seen you go through something and not make it through. I used it as gas to my fire, and really learn how to overcome and get through to show people I’m really one of them ones. These days, I just learned to use the bricks people throw at me to build a house.
Can you clear up anything around that situation?
Nah, it was just some bulls–t. It wasn’t on really nothing. I’m not really into it. I can’t explain no street s–t once I’m past it. I’m an artist now. If you ain’t from my city, you ain’t never gonna understand it. I’m here to prove no points to people. I’m still the biggest in my city, and I’m still active in my city… I don’t really be worrying about what a person got to say about me on the internet that don’t know me or don’t know where I’m coming, for real.
Signing to Future, what’s the communication there? What are your last conversations?
My last conversation, he hit me about “Help Me” saying how the song was amazing and s–t like that. Just how I did and how I overcome the bulls–t. Basically saying, like, “Damn boy, you got a a hit on your hands. Keep going.”
They listened to my project first-hand. I know when they send a song like, “This the one.” I just know not to question it. They helped me pick my Public Housing one. So when they tell me, “This the one, tweak this or do this with it.” I just understand and listen. They got hits on hits. When they tell me to do something different with a song, I just be listening and go with it.
I was looking into hobbies you had outside of rap and I saw you were into tennis. Did you play growing up?
I got championship trophies from tennis, man. I’m raw at tennis. I ain’t wanna be no tennis player or nothing. My mom didn’t want us hanging out after school, so she thought, “I’ma put y’all in sports.” I’m thinking she’s gonna put us in football or basketball or something like that. I remember one Sunday morning she woke us up like, “We going to practice.”
We drove an hour away – me and my brother looking like, “What is this?” She like, “Y’all finna play tennis. Y’all thought you were gonna play football and be around the same boys y’all had?” We did, and it grew to something me and my brother actually liked, and we won a championship too.
Do you pick up the racket these days?
That was more growing up, but I know I could still be raw at it if I wanted to.
What’s your dream collaboration?
Bad Bunny or something like that.
What was the rap scene growing up in Tallahassee? Did you ever get to meet T-Pain?
Yeah, I met T-Pain before. Me and T-Pain from the same hood… The rap scene s–t, when I think about back in the day, I really wasn’t big on the rap scene. My influence on music was heavy through my cousin. He passed away, but that’s who had me rapping through the years after he passed. My influence on music was dictated through what he liked because he’d be the one like, “Ay cuz, you gotta go listen to this new Thug.” He was the type of person that kept me rooted and grounded on music. I wasn’t big on music. I ain’t never wanted to rap or nothing like that.
What’s your album of the year so far outside of your own?
If I gotta say the album of the year, I probably gotta say I been bumping that We Still Don’t Trust You. I been bumping that the most. I ain’t gonna lie. A lot of times I be bumping my own s–t, but outside of that, that’s probably what I listen to the most.
Any goals for 2025 coming up?
One of my biggest goals is going on my own tour – just me in 2025. That’s what I’m working toward more than anything. That’s what I want to do and really spread my wings and show people I could do it myself. The greater me for real.
