Richie Rich

Background and 415

Richie Rich was born Richard Serrell on June 25, 1967, in East Oakland, California. In 1988 he co-founded the Oakland group 415 with D-Loc, DJ Daryl and J.E.D. The group took its name from the area code that then covered Oakland. Their album 41Fivin was released on Priority and Big League Records (dated 1989 on Richie Rich's Wikipedia page and 1990 on the group's page). Wikipedia notes that his style influenced Snoop Dogg and that 415 inspired the name of the group 213.

Solo Career

His solo debut, Don't Do It, came out in 1990 on Big League Records. That year he was convicted of cocaine possession and jailed, and 415 recorded its second album, Nu Niggaz on tha Blokkk (1991), without him. After his release he worked with 2Pac and the Luniz.

Half Thang came out January 31, 1996, on Shot Records, produced by Lev Berlak, DJ Daryl and others, and reached No. 57 on the R&B/Hip-Hop albums chart. By 1995 he had signed with Def Jam, reportedly the first Bay Area rapper on the label. His only Def Jam album, Seasoned Veteran, came out November 5, 1996, and reached No. 35 on the Billboard 200 and No. 11 R&B/Hip-Hop. Guests included 2Pac, E-40, the Luniz and T-Boz, and producers included Rick Rock, Jermaine Dupri and DJ Daryl. Its singles "Let's Ride" (No. 74 Hot 100) and "Do G's Get to Go to Heaven?" (No. 57 Hot 100) both made the Rap Songs top 10. A planned second Def Jam album stalled during the PolyGram merger.

Independent Years

With Lev Berlak he co-founded Ten-Six Records, which released The Game (2000). It featured B-Legit and Yukmouth, reached No. 10 on the Independent Albums chart, and is reported to have sold over 300,000 copies. He later ran Oakland Hills 41510 and released Nixon Pryor Roundtree (2002), Fed Case (2017) and Richard (2025), along with the Town Bidness compilations and The Grow Room (2020) with The Mekanix. "Let's Ride" was used in the TV series Blindspotting in 2021.