New Orleans, LA · underground hip-hop · trap metal

$UICIDEBOY$

1 upcoming festival →

Grimy, Memphis-indebted rap about self-destruction, built into one of the largest underground followings in music — G59 loyalty runs religious.

$uicideboy$ began in New Orleans in 2013, when cousins Scott Arceneaux Jr. and Aristos Petrou started recording together as Ruby da Cherry and $crim. Arceneaux had been DJing house parties in the city, while Petrou had played drums in a local punk band before the two committed fully to the group.

Their sound draws on Memphis horrorcore and lo-fi tape rap, pairing distorted, bass-heavy production with lyrics centered on addiction, depression and self-destruction. $crim produces most of the material, and the pair trade short, dense verses rather than full songs apiece.

Their first release, a three-track EP called Kill Yourself Part I: The $uicide $aga, appeared on SoundCloud in 2014 and featured underground rapper Bones; nine further volumes followed. Alongside a steady run of self-released EPs and mixtapes, the pair built their own label, G*59 Records, distributed through The Orchard, which also puts out work by affiliated artists.

Their debut studio album, I Want to Die in New Orleans, arrived in 2018 and became their first top-ten entry on the Billboard 200. A year later came Live Fast, Die Whenever, a six-track collaboration with Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker that also featured Korn guitarist James Shaffer. The group has grown from an internet-native following into an act capable of filling arenas and headlining large outdoor shows, largely without conventional radio or commercial support.

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underground hip-hoptrap metal