Richie Branson facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Richie Branson
Background information
Birth name	Marcus Brown II
Born	November 18, 1985 (1985-11-18) (age 39)
Origin	San Antonio, Texas, USA
Genres	Nerdcore
Occupation(s)	Rapper, game designer, music producer
Years active	2010–present
Labels	Otaku Gang

Richie Branson (born Marcus Brown II; November 18, 1985) is an American music producer, game designer, and nerdcore rapper from San Antonio, Texas. Nerdcore is a type of hip-hop music that focuses on "nerdy" topics like video games, anime, and comic books. Richie Branson's stage name comes from the famous British businessman Richard Branson. He has also created songs for the web series Camp Camp by Rooster Teeth, where he also voices a character named Jake Stonewall. People also know him as the "Otaku King" and the person who started the group Otaku Gang.

Richie Branson's Career

How It Started

Before he became a well-known nerdcore hip-hop artist, Richie Branson worked as a music producer. He later decided to focus on being a music artist himself. In 2011, he signed a music deal. However, after releasing his first song, "Jersey Shore Fist Pump," he decided to change his music style.

He realized he wasn't really interested in making mainstream music. He wanted to create songs inspired by video games and other "nerdy" things he loved. His journey into nerdcore began in December 2011. He was playing the game Star Wars: The Old Republic when he heard the game's main music theme. This inspired him to make a hip-hop song based on it.

Early Music Success

In February 2012, Richie Branson released a free album called The Cold Republic – Episode I: The Empire Likes Rap. This album had 12 songs inspired by his experiences playing The Old Republic.

• The Cold Republic became very popular in the nerdcore community.
• Major gaming websites like TheForce.Net, AOL's Joystiq, and IGN's The Jace Hall Show wrote about it.
• A TV station in San Antonio, KABB, even filmed a music video for his song "Looking For A Group" from the album.
• The San Antonio Express-News newspaper also featured the music video online.

After The Cold Republic, Branson released a song called "Letter To Squaresoft." This song was a protest because he felt that the quality of games from Square Enix (a game company) was getting worse. This song was talked about by gaming news sites all over the world, especially Kotaku. Square Enix's online content manager even responded to the song on Twitter!

The Wing Zero EP

Around the same time, Richie Branson announced he was working on an album inspired by the anime series Mobile Suit Gundam Wing. This album was called The Wing Zero EP.

• Famous comic writer Rich Johnston wrote about the album announcement on his website.
• The album helped Richie Branson become known in the anime and manga world.
• TOKYOPOP, a publisher of Gundam manga, shared his music on their social media.
• Crunchyroll, a popular anime streaming service, praised The Wing Zero EP. They said it was very focused and a great listening experience.
• io9, a tech news site, found it interesting that a mainstream musician was moving into nerdcore. They called one of his songs, "Wing Memories," the "Coolest Gundam Wing Rap Song You'll Hear Today."
• Music from The Wing Zero EP was also featured on many other anime and comic websites.

Toonami and Tours

In May 2012, Richie Branson released "Bring Back Toonami." This song was inspired by the Toonami cartoon block on Adult Swim. Adult Swim liked the song so much that they started using it in their TV ads! When Adult Swim announced that Toonami would return, they used another song from Richie Branson as the theme music for the first broadcast.

Soon after Toonami came back, Richie Branson went on the Monster Hunter Tour. He toured nationally with other artists like MC Chris and Powerglove.

Life After Death Star

In late 2015, Richie Branson and producer Solar Slim released a special album. It was a mix of songs by the rapper The Notorious B.I.G. and music from Star Wars. This album was called Life After Death Star. It was the first big release from their group, Otaku Gang. The album quickly became very popular online and was praised by news sources like Nerdist.

Otaku Gang

Richie Branson was given the nickname "Otaku King" early in his nerdy rap career. With the release of Life After Death Star, he introduced his new group, Otaku Gang. This group first included Branson, Solar Slim, and a graphic designer named Plush Giant.

The group later released other projects:

• Marshall vs Capcom (in 2016)
• The OG 64 Mixtape (also in 2016)

The group took a break but returned in 2016 with new members. They also launched their Facebook page. New members included Kadesh Flow, NyteXing, A.O. Lyrical, EyeQ, Creative Mind Frame, KickFlamez, Ish1da, 8th-Light, and The Epitome.

Game Development

Richie Branson also works in game development. In 2015, he took part in a 72-hour game jam called Ludum Dare. During this event, he created a game called Shafed. In Shafed, players control a frustrated tech employee who wants to get revenge on his boss.

He also worked on a game called RhymeQuest, which was planned for PlayStation 4 and PC. Later, he was hired as a game designer by Harmonix Music Systems. He then worked for Epic Games as a designer on the Festival game mode for Fortnite. He also released "Not Like Us: The Game," a popular online game inspired by Kendrick Lamar's song "Not Like Us."

Discography

Albums

• From the Underground to the Stars (2020)

Production

• Chalie Boy – "Let It Drop"
• Sun feat. Slim Thug – "Round and Round"
• Mega Ran – "First Day Of School"
• Mega Ran – "Everything

EPs

• The Cold Republic – Episode I: The Empire Likes Rap (2012)
• The Wing Zero EP (2012)
• OtakuTuesdays Vol. I (2012)
• The NERD EP (2012)
• OtakuTuesdays Vol. II (2012)
• The Ghouls 'N Ghosts EP (with Mega Ran) (2012)
• From Guardia With Love (2013)
• Ghouls 'N Ghosts II (with Mega Ran) (2013)
• OtakuTuesdays Vol. III (2014)

Singles

• "Jersey Shore Fist Pump" (2011)
• "Letter To Squaresoft" (2012)
• "Bring Back Toonami" (2012)
• "Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis" (with Mega Ran) (2012)
• "Seig Zeon" (2012)
• "Bring Back Chrono" (2013)
• "MechaGod" (2014)
• "Finish Him" (2014)
• "Aznable Dreams" (2016)
• "MEGA MAN CYPHER" (feat. Mega Ran) (2017)
• "Ask DNA" [IchiGO! 2018 Remix] - Raj Ramayya & Richie Branson (2018)