Credit: Spotify

The rise and fall of Tommy Richman was a weird phenomenon, which we can attribute to the internet. Like many modern hip-hop artists, he made a name for himself on TikTok. However, as we’ve witnessed with others in the scene when he had real listeners looking to see what he was about, his music career started to unravel quickly.

When Richman first came to the forefront of the culture with his viral hit ‘Million Dollar Baby’, it was hard to deny that the track was catchy. The rhymer had been making music since 2019 and even had an independent album when he arrived.

However, hip-hop culture was unsure of what he represented musically and knew little about him. Richman’s aesthetic presented him as a rapper, yet his platinum single was a Dirty South singalong. As such, he was initially a confusing proposition. Still, the Virginia musician who was signed to Brent Faiyaz’s label ISO Supremacy didn’t want to be a one-hit wonder with nothing to offer. As such, in interviews, such as his chat with Zane Lowe for Apple Music, he promised fans that he would showcase his true talent to the world on his album Coyote.

During his Apple Music interview, he explained to Lowe that his entrance into the music scene wasn’t what he had planned, unveiling, “It’s really not how I imagined it. I really thought that I was gonna put out this album, and that’s how I was gonna blow up.”

‘Million Dollar Baby’ was everywhere during this period, and people enjoyed the sound he had introduced them to with the single. Still, while the hit track was spreading like wildfire, Richman was in the studio working on Coyote and expecting a massive boost to his career upon its release.

In hindsight, he may have been overconfident about his ability to make a body of work as, musically, he was in no man’s land. With no idea where he was going to make his mark, he released Coyote to negative reviews, and the project only sold 3,400 copies in its first week. However, one incident significantly impacted the rollout of his album. In a moment of naivety, the fresh-faced artist tweeted, “I’m not a hip-hop artist.” Richman did this even though he had presented himself as a rapper for his entire career and also released ‘Million Dollar Baby’, which was very successful in the world of rap music.

This angered many, as it has happened previously with white artists. Post Malone entered the music industry as a rapper and switched to country music. The same can be said for Machine Gun Kelly, who entered the business as an emcee but decided to pursue rock after using rap for his fans. Still, in the case of Tommy Richman, many people saw it as a highly ungrateful thing to do since it was hip-hop and R&B radio stations that were promoting his music.

Despite all of this, Tommy Richman’s situation is not unique nor unfamiliar to many who understand the basic principles of the music industry. Richman’s music was validated and promoted by TikTok, an app that utilizes short music clips. As such, it is unsurprising when acts such as Richman and Ice Spice come to the fore and reveal that beyond catchy 30-second snippets, their musical capability is low.

Although technology may have advanced since the 1990s, unfortunately for people such as Tommy Richman, the basic tenets of the music industry haven’t. Only real musicians who build fanbases from the ground up achieve longevity in the industry, and whether it’s Ice Spice, the Island Boys, or Bhad Babie, success derived from social media is short-lived, and once the hype has died down, it will be hard to recover from the fall.