Richie Souf
Artist
This lyric from Gunna’s 2017 single “Rich Bitch” gained a second life, serving as a tagline used to represent the “faceless producer.”
Richie Souf is a record producer and entrepreneur from Atlanta, Georgia. He is known for his production for Future, Young Thug, Gunna, Juice WRLD, and Playboi Carti, among others.
Richie developed a keen interest and passion in music production at the age of 12, sparked by watching Craig Brewer’s 2005 film Hustle & Flow:
There’s a scene where they make a beat. When I saw that, it put a bug in my head, like, “This is cool; I want to try it.”
His friend gifted him a copy of the beat-making software FL Studio, a gesture that provided him with an outlet for his creativity and played a role in his eventual success in music.
In 2011, Richie produced “Rollin” by Soulja Boy, a song that he described made him “the cool kid at the time.” However, this early fame paled in comparison to the recognition he received from MadeinTYO’s 2015 breakout hit “I Want,” which established him as a distingushed figure in the music production scene.
After releasing a collaborative album with Drake in 2015, Atlanta-based recording artist Future was on the search for a fresh sound. He would be introduced to Richie by videographer Patrick Fagan, leading to a phone call between the two and then a studio session subsequently. Impressed by Richie’s unique production style, Future quickly developed a strong working relationship with him and made the pivotal decision to have him as the first producer signed to his record label, Freebandz.
Since then, Richie has produced a multitude of acclaimed songs, such as “Top Off” by Gunna, “High End” by Chris Brown, “Demons and Angels” by A Boogie wit da Hoodie, as well as “All da Smoke” by Future and Young Thug, among others.
Throughout his entire career in music, Richie has maintained an air of mystery by never revealing his face, distinguishing him from many other record producers who often seek visibility. He masks his identity by covering his face with his long, blonde hair. In his 2016 interview with The FADER, he states that this deliberate choice to remain unseen was to heighten intrigue towards his musical artistry:
It’s mysterious. If you don’t know something, you want to figure out what it is. I think it makes people want to come to me more. They’ll be like, “Who is this? I like his hair, I like his beats, but what does he look like?”
In 2022, Richie founded and curated his production group, SOUFSIDE, with the vision of gathering a group of record producers with potential and collaborating closely with them to enhance and build upon their abilities and talents.
