It’s a pretty normal Tallahassee thing to do on a weekday – hit the mall, buy a pair of sneakers and then head home.
Locally grown rapper Real Boston Richey has probably gone through those motions a couple of times in his life.
But Monday was different. Now Richey is an up-and-coming trap artist, and when he went to the mall to buy shoes, he brought his friend, Future.
Future was recently hailed as one of the top achieving gold and platinum rappers of all time. He has 21.2 million fans on Instagram and won a Grammy for best hip hop performance in 2019 for the song “King’s Dead.”
“It was crazy,” said Richey, who boasts 200,000 followers of his own.
In case you missed it:One of the world’s most famous rappers, Future, stops by Governor’s Square Mall
Richey, who has skyrocketed to fame in 10 short months, returned to his hometown to shoot a music video. At the Holton Apartments on the South side of Tallahassee, after he filmed some scenes for his song “Bulls Eye,” he passed out food, $10,000 in shoes, clothes and a message.
“I love Tally,” he said. “We just got to come together and do better. We’re probably the best city in Florida, we just got to come together.”
There have been at least 82 serious shootings in Tallahassee and the capital county this year, resulting in at least 57 injuries and 13 deaths, according to an analysis of gun violence by the Democrat.
This past weekend, two shootings left three men and a woman injured.
“We got to bring the violence to a minimum,” he told The Democrat. “This isn’t even my hood, but there’s love over here. That should show a lot of people it ain’t where you come from. It’s where you want to go at.”
‘That isn’t him’: Arrested last week, Richey wants ‘a better lifestyle’
Richey, whose song with hip hop artist Lil Durk has more than 11 million views on YouTube, grew up on Ridge Road. Namesake rapper T-Pain also grew up in the same area and even titled a song after his old neighborhood.
An interview with the Tallahassee Democrat:Rapper T-Pain wants to take you to Moe’s, mix you a cocktail and talk about Tallahassee
He’s a product of the streets who has had several run-ins with the law. As a teen, after a string of grand theft and weapons charges, he was sent to prison at 16.
Richey, 25, said he went years without problems, until last week when he was the passenger in a car that Florida Highway Patrol caught speeding at 120 miles per hour near Capital Circle and Orange Avenue, according to records.
Police found a loaded handgun, fake IDs and marijuana in the car, according to the report.
Richey, whose real name is Jalen Foster, was arrested and charged with possession of drugs and carrying a concealed handgun without a permit, the report stated. He was released on a $2,500 bond.
Richey’s manager told The Democrat the gun wasn’t his.
“If you look at his record and what it could reflect, that isn’t him,” said his manager, King Watson. “He was getting in trouble as a kid just trying to find his way.”
Watson said growing up in Tallahassee as a Black kid at 15, 16, it’s easy to fall into a way of thinking that all you need is to make money, and the easiest way to make money is to resort to crime.
The new arrest left Richey depressed. He said he has friends whom he loves, and it hurts him to avoid them, but he knows if he hangs out with them he might feel the pull to make the wrong decision.
“If we’re going to be positive, if we’re going to make music, if we’re going to try to get everybody into a better lifestyle, everybody’s got to be willing to change,” he told the Democrat. “If not, you got to watch from the bleachers until your mind is made up.”
Monday’s giveaway will not be the last. Richey, who now lives in Miami, wants to share his success with the city.
“We could have shot that video anywhere, but he made sure we shot it in Tallahassee. We shot it in the projects,” Watson said.
Shoes, clothes and hugs
Word spread quickly through social media, and people shared videos on Instagram of the two rappers walking through the Governor’s Square Mall, buying shoes and hanging out at the Section 8 apartment complex.
Richey and Future stood on the metal stairs of the Holton Apartments and posed for photos in between takes for the music video. Richey’s music video for the remix to his song “Bulls Eye.”
Future left after he shot his verse, but Richey stayed. In between passing out Styrofoam boxes of chicken wings, he chatted with people and gave them hugs.
Then he hopped in the back of a U-Haul packed with shoes and clothes and started passing them out.
“Six-and-a-half!” yelled Richey’s manager to arms raised. Watson then handed the box of Nikes to whomever was closest.
For Richey to come back to the Holton Apartments meant something for locals who remember him when he was a kid.
“He’s a real one,” said Nene Blanco, who went to school with Richey’s sisters. “Nobody else has come back and given out shoes and clothes to the kids like he has.”
A Tallahassee Police Department spokesperson said 400 to 500 people were present at the apartment complex to see Future and Richey. TPD was dispatched after multiple complaints about loud music and people blocking the entrance to the apartment complex.
TPD officers helped alleviate the traffic jam and did not issue any traffic or trespassing citations, a spokesperson said.
Remembering his cousin
Miya, 19, has lived at the Holton Apartments for the past four or five years. The Lively Technical College culinary arts student got to take a video selfie with Future as he was making his way through the crowd on Monday.
She said she’s proud of Richey.
“I’m honestly in shock, especially when he brought out Future, like oh my gosh, out of all the people, he brought out Future,” she said.
Everyone around her was smiling, she said. It was a nice change compared to the violence the community has experienced.
In 2015, Richey’s cousin Devaris Bass, nicknamed Slugg, was shot and killed. Slugg, who taught Richey how to rap, was his mentor.
“I feel like since he definitely grew up in that type of environment, we all kind of grew up in that environment of violence, I feel like he’s doing a good thing trying to change it,” she said.
Tia Webster said she’s known Richey since they were 14. They used to hang out together every day. When his cousin died, it hit him hard.
“I feel like he’s living for Slugg,” Webster said.
‘Less violence, more music’
After passing out the shoes and clothes at the Holton Apartments, Richey needed a break before his next stop – another scene for his video shoot at the “Kelly store.”
He took some time to relax at his mother’s house before heading to the M&K Foodmart on Springhill Road, across the street from the Tallahassee Community Release Center.
After he got to the store, his music started blaring out of the back of a white SUV, the trunk space stacked with black and white speakers.
Richey stood in front and rapped along with his words for the video, at one point pulling out a suitcase of cash and sitting on the hood of his car.
His friends from Tallahassee, from before he was famous, rapped along with him and knew all the words.
“If you got everybody on the same page, it’ll be less shootings, less killings, less violence,” Richey told The Democrat. “That’s what we’re working for this year, less violence, more music.”
Contact Ana Goñi-Lessan at AGoniLessan@tallahassee.com and follow her on Twitter @goni_lessan.
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