Robb Banks

Robb Banks

Robb Banks live in 2014
Background information
Birth name Richard O'Neil Burrell
Also known as Robb Banks
Born (1994-09-24) September 24, 1994
New York, New York, U.S.
Origin Coral Springs, Florida, U.S.
Genres
Occupation(s)
Years active 2011–present
Labels
Associated acts
Website yearofthesavage.com

Richard O'Neil Burrell[1] (born September 24, 1994), better known by his stage name Robb Banks (formerly stylized Robb Bank$), is an American hip hop recording artist. Born in New York City, the rapper later moved to Broward County, Florida, at age six and has lived there ever since. He gained recognition in 2012 with his debut mixtape Calendars and his follow-up mixtape Tha City in 2013. His debut studio album, Year of the Savage, was released on October 2, 2015.

Early life

Robb Banks was born Richard Burrell on September 24, 1994 in New York. He is known to be the oldest child of reggae fusion recording artist Shaggy. Burrell spent the first six years of his life in New York before he and his mother moved to Broward County, Florida. Burrell states that Florida and the experiences he had while living there is what made him the man he is today. He rarely spent time with his father in his childhood and often had to find his own way to make money for his family which included selling drugs. Richard loved rap at a young age but was discouraged from openly embracing it due to how poorly other rappers he knew were thought of. Before he graduated from high school in 2012, Burrell took a trip to New York City to record music in the summer of 2011. This became his first step into fully embracing his rap career and soon he and fellow rapper Matt Meyer Lansky released a collaborative mixtape, called Everyday except Monday, under the side project Tuesday thru Sunday.

Career

2011–12: Calendars and rise to prominence

In 2012, after releasing his project with Lansky and a slew of other songs, Banks released his debut mixtape Calendars. The solo project predominately consisted of Robb rapping over beats by artists like Clams Casino and SBTRKT, and samples from Aaliyah and OutKast. The project was successful and became a hit on the microblogging platform Tumblr. It soon threw Banks into the public eye. Capitalizing on the success of this mixtape, he soon released even more singles, collaborating with producers like Nuri and SpaceGhostPurrp. He began touring and spread his name throughout the country, emerging an underground following.

2013: Tha City

After a couple months of hiatus, and hype building over the previously mentioned Year of the Savage, Robb soon began working on another project titled Tha City. He soon began promoting the mixtape by releasing singles off the project including "Practice", "All the Way Live", and "On Me". Tha City was released on October 1, 2013. Prior to the release of this tape rumors had surfaced as to whether or not Shaggy was Robb's father, a fact that was formerly denied, but was soon confirmed by him to be true by making the cover for Tha City an old family photo of Banks and Shaggy. After the release of this mixtape, Robb went on a year-long hiatus as he continued touring and spreading his music around the world.

2014–15: 2PhoneShawty, No Trespassing and Year of the Savage

Throughout 2014, Robb began touring around the world and rarely released new music, only to show that he is still working on Year of the Savage. This was until the end of the year, when he began hinting new projects that have been in the work. In December, Banks put out the first (promotional) single for his debut commercial release, called "2PhoneShawty". It ended up being the only song recorded in 2014 on the entire album.

In 2015, he started working on a new batch of music for YOTS, which would mainly feature production from his new affiliate Nuez.[2] In April, Robb released two extended-plays: 2PhoneShawty and No Trespassing. The 2PhoneShawty EP consisted of outtakes from Year of the Savage, and No Trespassing was a collaboration between him and Memphis-born rapper Chris Travis, all recorded in 2014.

On August 13, 2015, Banks released the lead single for his album, titled "Pressure". After that he continued to promote YOTS by releasing a bunch of freestyled tracks. It was during one of these freestyles ("Throw It Up") that he confirmed the release date for his long-awaited album.

On October 2, 2015, after three years of work, Robb Banks released Year of the Savage on iTunes through 300 Entertainment's Dorian Distribution.

2016–present: C2: Death of My Teenage, Rich Gang and TC2: Falconia

On September 27, 2016, Banks Released "C2: Death of My Teenage", the long-awaited sequel to his debut mixtape "Calendars",[3] which featured guest appearances from Los Hosale and XXXTentacion.

Following the release of the mixtape, Robb embarked on a tour of the same name, which was to feature fellow South Florida rappers Ski Mask, The Slump God, Wifisfuneral and Ronny J. New Jersey's Dash and Chicago's Warhol.SS were also set to open. Before the tour began, however, Da$h was arrested, causing him to be dropped from the tour.

In early January 2017, it was announced by Cash Money Records founder Birdman that Banks was the newest member of the label's Rich Gang subsidiary. Robb later confirmed that while he was a part of Rich Gang, he would continue to be an independent artist, choosing not to sign with Cash Money.

At this time, Banks also took to Twitter to announce a new project titled "TC2: Falconia", a sequel to his sophomore effort "Tha City".[4]

Influences

Banks' style is notorious for its heavy sampling of old school R&B, pop culture and Japanese anime. Robb states his inspiration to rap comes from Biggie Smalls and that his favorite artiste of all time is British quiet storm singer Sade. Robb has also mentioned Gucci Mane, Webbie, SpaceGhostPurrp and Slug as an influence to his sound. His tag "I Think I Might Be Happy" is synonymous with his music and is taken from a scene of the U.S. version of Skins. Banks frequently makes references to Japanese anime Naruto and calls it his favorite anime of all time.

Discography

Studio albums

Mixtapes

EP

Singles

Guest appearances

List of guest appearances, with other performing artists, showing year released and album name
Title Year Artist(s) Album
"Threatz" 2013 Denzel Curry, Yung Simmie Nostalgic 64
"Kill Switch" 2014 Sir Michael Rocks, Pouya Banco

References

  1. ↑ "Richard Oneil Burrell's Record Vroward County, FL - 7/29/2014". openpasts.com. Retrieved October 11, 2015.
  2. ↑ "Robb Bank$ Talks Year of the Savage and Signing to 300". massappeal.com. Retrieved 2015-10-11.
  3. ↑ "Robb Banks - C2: Death Of My Teenage". Spinrilla. 2016-09-27. Retrieved 2017-05-24.
  4. ↑ FEMTOVerified account (2017-02-12). "FEMTO on Twitter". Twitter.com. Retrieved 2017-05-24.
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