Real Boston Richey - 2023 XXL Freshman Freestyle, Interview

GOV'T NAME: Jalen Foster
AGE: 26
REPPIN': Tallahassee, Fla.
TWITTER: @OfficialRealB
INSTAGRAM: @realbostonrichey
TIKTOK: @realbostonrichey
NOTABLE RELEASES: Songs: “Bullseye 2” with Future, “Keep Dissing 2” with Lil Durk, “Certified Dripper”; Projects: Public Housing, Public Housing, Pt. 2; EP: Trapping & Finessing; Guest Appearances: Peezy and Jeezy’s “2 Million Up” featuring Rob49, Yungeen Ace’s “Trap Money,” Rob49’s “Yes, You Did”
LABEL: Epic Records
CURRENTLY WORKING ON: Welcome to Bubba Land project dropping this summer.
WHO ELSE SHOULD BE PART OF THIS YEAR'S CLASS: “My little brother, Wizz Havinn. If you ever go to Florida [and] you ask, ‘Who are some of the rappers that’s in the top?’ his name come up. It’s a couple more guys out of Florida that deserve to be on there.”
INFLUENCED BY:“Future, most definitely. He’s one of the persons that always just told me, ‘No matter what, hurt, crying, no matter what you’re going through, bad, good, stay in the studio. The studio more important than anything.
You got T-Pain. Me and T-Pain from the same hood—Tallahassee, Fla. [He’s] real musical, real good. [He told me] to keep going and just stay positive, stay consistent.”
AS A FRESHMAN IN HIGH SCHOOL:
“I was in jail. I think my second week in ninth grade, I went to jail. I was always a class clown. I wouldn’t say I stayed in trouble, but I was one of the ones, like, I always did my work, everything was on point. But I’m one of them [who’s] going to come into class, they’re going to call me a teacher’s pet because the teachers love me. I get to do what I want to do. I’m going to keep the class laughing.
When it’s time to get serious, I’m going to be like, ‘Hey, man, teacher say you all chill out.’ I was just one of them in class. I liked math. My favorite sport I played was tennis. I got trophies for tennis, won the championship and all. Me and my brother.”

TRUTH ON BEING AN XXL FRESHMAN:

“Man, it’s crazy because the day I found out [I was going to be a 2023 XXL Freshman], me and my brother was on the way back from Miami. We was on the way back to our city and we was kind of tired. Man, I f**ked around and hit a curb, bust two tires on my Cadillac truck. So, it was a hot, stressful day. About five in the afternoon, the tire shops was closed. We just stuck on the side of the road, man. So, as we get to Cadillac, my engineer, he blowing my brother’s phone up like, ‘Man, call [Epic Records] ASAP. They need to talk to you. Call them right now. I ain’t going to tell you.

My brother get on the phone, called them. They tell him, he tell me. When he tells me, at that moment, everything just changed. We both looking like, ‘What the hell? For real?’ But we lit, ‘Call my mama, call my mama.’ So, it’s just crazy how sometimes when you be going through things, you don’t even be realizing what you be already having at hand. Life is already written. So, it’s like, we’re going through, we mad and then bam, XXL just changed [the] mood. Like, Damn, boy, we blessed.

I ain’t made XXL by just sitting on my ass, you know what I’m sayin’? So, that’s going to tell you something about me. I’ve been in the mix, man. I’ve been working. I’ve been doing everything I need to do to get on XXL because I’m pretty sure XXL ain’t just going to go pick no hand-me-down, like, ‘OK, he made one song, but he...’ Nah, man, I’ve been working.”

Buy the 2023 XXL Freshman Class Magazine Here

Watch Real Boston Richey's 2023 XXL Freshman Freestyle

XXL

Real Boston Richey prides himself on two things: consistency and putting on for his home city of Tallahassee, Fla. The 26-year-old rapper is determined to become one of the very few superstars in hip-hop to represent Tally by never taking his foot off the gas. Over the course of 90 solid seconds, Real Boston Richey uses his distinct Florida twang, mixed with an impeccable flow and slick wordplay, to drive those points home in his 2023 XXL Freshman freestyle.

Much like the iced-out timepiece he references off-rip, not only is Real Boston Richey's timing flawless, but the time is certainly right for the "On Site" rapper to be part of the 2023 XXL Freshman Class as well. Through street-centric punchlines and nonstop diligence behind the scenes, it's no surprise Real Boston Richey has been at the forefront of the booming Florida rap scene for the past year-and-a-half by building both his resume and solid fan base in the process.

Richey's Freshman freestyle is all about money, women and how he moves in the streets with his crew, who he likens to the toughest football players on the frontlines of the gridiron.

"Rose gold Patek, 185, perfect timing," Real Boston Richey raps in the video below. "Dank and Lock gon' hold the trap down just like a lineman/Beat a doonies down that b***h gon' need a new alignment/Shoot if it go down, n***a, I don't just be rhymin'/I done popped that n***a bubble, that man there, he tried to pop it/Got your chain and your car took, n***a, your a*s flockin'."

From there, Richey keeps his syncopated cadence flowing but switches the focus to the goals he has in mind for his home state of Florida. At the same time, he's already spreading his flossy wings on a national scale.

"You know I f**k with Pompano, I hit the club on Kodak boppin'/You see me fly to L.A., I'm buying bubbles while I'm shoppin'." He later raps, "Ridge Road youngin, raised up a real problem/Nobody die from my hood yet, we ain't droppin'," Real Boston Richey rhymes.

In speaking with XXL during this year's Freshman shoot, Richey doubles down on how his talent meets his consistent work ethic as well as how important it is for him to put Tallahassee, Fla. on the map.

"Man, one of the key accomplishments, I could just say was just rubbing the right shoulders, staying in the mix." Richey Boston Richey says regarding his success over the past 18 months. "Meeting the right people. Staying in the studio. Me being able to stay in the studio and make a lot of music, it just got me into all the doors I needed to get in."

He adds: "Where we from in Florida is different because it's like, 'Oh, you're from Tallahassee? Man, that country behind place. Who from there? What y'all got there?' We got one of them cities. So, now, we showing and proving. Now we got everybody like, 'Oh, Tally lit. Tally got it.'"

With staggering streaming numbers and tens of millions of views on YouTube with projects like 2022's Public Housing and this year's Public Housing 2, Real Boston Richey's music has garnered major cosigns from the likes of Future and Lil Durk, who are featured on notable tracks, “Bullseye 2” and “Keep Dissing 2”, respectively. With all that, Richey is set to drop his next studio album, Welcome to Bubba Land, this month.

Watch Real Boston Richey's 2023 XXL Freshman freestyle below.

Watch Real Boston Richey's 2023 XXL Freshman ABCs Video

XXL

Real Boston Richey knows how to turn nothing into something, which is likely the reason why the 2023 XXL Freshman has such an affinity for the finer things in life such as beautiful women and money. After he began taking his rap career seriously within the past two years, the proud Tallahassee, Fla. native is certainly enjoying the fruits of his labor. Certified hood bangers like the Future-assisted "Bullseye 2" and "Keep Dissing 2" featuring Lil Durk have flooded the streets over the past year allowing Real Boston Richey to rightfully claim that he’s currently leading the pack when it comes to Florida’s thriving style of hip-hop. In his version of XXL's ABCs as part of this year's Freshman Class, Richey flexes his big-time bravado with the same consistency he brings while delivering his well-polished raps.

"A is for awesome," Real Boston Richey begins in the video below. "Because the females, they just think I'm so awesome." For letters B through E, the "Trapping & Finessing" rhymer keeps his mind on his money and his money on his mind noting that "B is for Bubbas ’cause that's how I get my money" and "C is for Cash 'cause I love money." According to Richey, D represents the many "deals" he signs while E is for the "effort" he put in to get to this level in the rap game.

As he progresses through the rest of the alphabet, Real Boston Richey takes the letter G as an opportunity to reflect on where he came from—the "gutter"—before offering up a warning to any potential ops with letters K and L.

"K stands for kutthroat, with a K though," Richey says, perhaps giving a nod to fellow Florida rhymer, Kodak Black, who often refers to himself as Kutthroat Bill. "’Cause that's how I am. I'ma kutthroat you. L stands for Lick 'cause I'm gon' get my lick back at the end of the day."

Watch Real Boston Richey boastfully navigate his ABCs and even express his desire to one day see a majestic zebra in the flesh in the video below.

Buy the 2023 XXL Freshman Class Magazine Here