“Yellow” by Rich Brian (ft. Bēkon)

“Yellow” is basically a song celebrating the extraordinary success of Rich Brian. Rich’s story is truly unusual in that not only has he been able to make it in the rap game as an Indonesian, but additionally as of the release of this song, he has only known English for the past 4 years. He taught himself the language at the age of 15, partially by studying popular rappers. In fact the title of this song is based on Brian instructing listeners not to hate on him just because he is “yellow”, as in of Asian descent.

But the purpose of this track is not for Brian to brag about his professional accomplishments per se. In fact, relatively-speaking, he appears to be quite humble. So what really is “Yellow” about?

The song is intended to be an exercise in possibility thinking. In other words, his ultimate goal is to inspire the listener with his story.  Thus if he has been able to pull off feats such as touring the United States “without no citizenship”, he wants “the whole world” to know that they can accomplish likewise if they “just… imagine”.

Meanwhile in addition to producing the track, American musician Bēkon also delivers the outro. And through the utilization of highly-symbolic language, he seems to express a sentiment tantamount to people being their own worst enemies in terms of achieving their individual dreams.

Facts about “Yellow”

Rich Brian teased the release of this song by clearing his Instagram account and then posting a pic of himself in “an extremely golden hue” on 18 June 2019.

“Yellow” is the first collaboration between Rich Brian and Bēkon. The latter is a producer who is gained international recognition for working extensively on Kendrick Lamar’s critically-acclaimed album, Damn (2017).

On 25 June 2019, 88rising released “Yellow” as the lead single from Rich Brian’s second album, The Sailor.

As further proof that Rich Brian is on the come-up, the music video for “Yellow” was directed by Dave Meyers. Mayers is a famous director who has worked with extremely-popular musicians such as Ariana Grande, Drake and Kendrick Lamar.

Who wrote “Yellow”?

In addition to producing the song, Bēkon also contributed to its lyrical composition with Rich Brian himself and the following songwriters:

• Caloway
• Sean Miyashiro
• Gregory Hein