Wonton Don and Kid Rich Present the Rough and Rowdy Anthem
Lat week I was asked to fly out to Youngstown and film some promotional material for Rough and Rowdy 4. I figured I could give back to the community at the same time by finding an unknown Youngstown rapper (as opposed to the mainstream ones) and getting him to make a Rough and Rowdy anthem with me. When I stumbled upon the song “Aye Yo” by Kid Rich which has a chorus that just consists of “I’m From Youngstown” I knew he was the one. Plus at the time the video only had 200 views and I figured he could use some shine.
However, I still needed to see if he was even down to do it
I was immediately blown away by his confidence and started having high hopes for this track. However, the night before our studio session he informed me he had asked his producer friend Don Kody to make a beat but still hand’t heard back from him. Don’s always pull through in the clutch though so I wasn’t too worried.
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And lo and behold, when I showed up to his studio in the south side of Youngstown Kid Rich and Don Kody were ready to COOK. Cody had made the beat the previous night after putting his kids to bed and Kid Rich had already written a chorus and one verse. I could tell Don Cody actually spent some time on the track too as he threw in boxing bells and shit like that. I asked Kid Rich if I was allowed to hop on the second verse. He seemed hesitant at first and hit me him me with a “we’ll see how it sounds.” What followed was an hour of Kid Rich waving gigantic wads of cash around and going live on IG while I listened to the beat, drank busch light, and put my verse together. My camera guy Logan, whose favorite bands are probably O.A.R and Dave Matthews Band, was definitely out of his comfort zone (so was I) but he seemed to be enjoying himself. Then Kid Rich and I got in the booth and took care of business. Boom, a track was born. Kid Rich only had an hour and half free though before having to go work the night shift (no idea where but apparently he hadn’t slept in 5 days), so we had to immediately rush out to a few locations to film the music video. Kid Rich to us to a dive bar back in his neighborhood. We got there at like 3PM and the only people inside were 65 year old white dudes cranking hoons. Rich knew the owner though so they let us film there. Then we filmed outside in front of Rich’s Mercedez Benz. After he left, Logan and I recored a few more shoots around the city and VOILA, a music video was born. The time from when I texted Kid Rich to when this MV was made was less than 48 hours. I hope you enjoy it. My main takeaway from the video is that I’ve really let myself go since returning to the US. Those NYC bacon egg and cheeses can really do some damage in a short amount of time. Make sure to cop the Rough and Rowdy PPV and support some Youngstown Artists chasing the dream.
