Jokowi loves Rich Brian, but a diplomat thinks the rapper is rude. Who has the right end of Dat $tick?

Dino Patti Djalal, Indonesia’s former ambassador to the US, sparked controversy online by calling the 19-year-old viral sensation’s tweets ‘disgusting, pornographic and demeaning to women’

But President Widodo is a big fan, hosting Brian at the presidential palace and calling him a young man who ‘makes us proud’

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Rich Brian’s career as a rapper kicked off in 2016, when he uploaded a home-made video of his first viral song, Dat $tick, which was filmed in his west Jakarta neighbourhood. Photo: Handout

Published: 7:00pm, 17 Jul 2019Updated: 10:35am, 18 Jul 2019

Dino Patti Djalal, Indonesia’s former ambassador to the United States, rocked the social-media-mad Southeast Asian nation on Wednesday for a reason that had nothing to do with diplomacy: he criticised viral sensation Rich Brian, a 19-year-old Jakarta-born rapper, and his tweets.

“Sorry, even though he has achievements, but I think as a father that [Indonesian] diaspora rapper Rich Bryan [sic] is not a role model for Indonesian youth,” Dino said on his verified Twitter account. “His tweets are disgusting, pornographic, rude, and sometimes demeaning to women.”

The former diplomat’s stance is at odds with that of President Joko Widodo, who earlier this month hosted the rapper at the presidential palace in Bogor, an hour away from Jakarta – and afterwards tweeted effusively about the meeting.

“Rich Brian is the first Asian rapper that could top iTunes’ hip-hop chart. His real name is Brian Immanuel Soewarno. He’s a young man from Indonesia that makes us proud,” the president said on Twitter.

Brian is an Indonesian of Chinese descent signed to American hip-hop label 88rising, which promotes Asian artists including South Korea’s Keith Ape and China’s Higher Brothers.

He initially rose to popularity for his funny content online, including jokes on Twitter when he was around 11 years old and short videos uploaded to now-defunct platform Vine. All of his content at that time was posted under a racially charged moniker, which he changed in February last year.