Suicideboys
who‘s the Suicideboys
Suicideboys is an American hip-hop duo from New Orleans, Louisiana, founded in 2014 by cousins Ruby da Cherry and Scrim. Via the music-sharing platform SoundCloud, the duo rose to popularity for their abrasive, self-produced beats, as well as their harsh lyrical content and themes prominently featuring substance abuse and suicidal ideation. They own and operate their label, G*59 Records, under which all of their music is distributed by The Orchard.
The duo is considered one of the most popular acts in the underground rap scene. After several years of solely releasing EPs and mixtapes, Suicideboys' debut studio album I Want to Die in New Orleans was released on September 7, 2018. It fared well commercially, becoming their first top-ten album on the US Billboard 200. In May 2019, they released their collaborative six-track EP with Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker entitled Live Fast, Die Whenever, which also featured Korn guitarist James Shaffer.
Scrim was born Scott Anthony Arceneaux Jr. on April 11, 1989, in Marrero, Louisiana. Arceneaux originally was inspired by T-Pain and Lou Reed to produce music, buying his first laptop which he used to start DJing with money gained from selling drugs. Arceneaux's passion for DJing extended when he started to attend Delgado Community College, where he was hired to DJ parties. He also worked selling used furniture, getting fired for his new hand tattoos after three years.
Ruby da Cherry was born Aristos Norman Petrou on April 22, 1990, to an American mother and Greek Cypriot father Pavlos Petrou, a former soccer head coach at Mount Carmel Academy who arrived in the country after obtaining an athletic scholarship to the University of New Orleans. Raised in Metairie, Louisiana, Petrou's interest in music began when he was seven, playing violin and then drums when he was ten, eventually joining bands in middle school. He worked at his father's restaurant as a waiter, a job he held until 2015. His experience with the punk rock scene continued as he joined the band Vapo-Rats as its drummer; however, disillusioned with the apathy his bandmates showed towards the future of the band, Petrou left to pursue a career in hip-hop with Arceneaux.
The music of Suicideboys varies between different subgenres of rap; while some songs have melancholy tones with lyrical content that focuses on subjects such as depression and suicidal ideation (topics not widely exposed in rap music), others are wildly aggressive, with themes of violence and sexual content. Some of their music is based around life growing up in New Orleans; song titles such as Audubon, Tulane, Elysian Fields, and St. Bernard reflect streets and neighborhoods that influenced the life of Arceneaux and Petrou.
There is a clear Three 6 Mafia influence in much of their music, with many earlier Suicideboys songs using samples from the group's songs, most notably in Mask & Da Glock. While the use of Three 6 Mafia has been met with reservations by some of its former members, particularly Gangsta Boo, it has been embraced by others; founding member Juicy J has been vocal about his support and mentorship of Suicideboys and enlisted the duo to produce his mixtapes Highly Intoxicated and ShutDaF*kUp, featuring artists such as ASAP Rocky, Cardi B, Wiz Khalifa, and XXXTentacion.
A large portion of their music focuses on depression and its symptoms, an angle not often received in mainstream hip hop; Arceneaux elaborated on this in an interview with Mass Appeal, stating, "A lot of people take it as emo, or depressed music, or negative music... it's just connecting. It's therapy, through music".
Excluding occasional guest producers and usage of purchased instrumental loops (especially from the website "Big Citi Loops"), the entirety of Suicideboys' discography is self-produced, mainly by Arceneaux under his pseudonym Budd Dwyer (a homage to the former politician of the same name). Arceneaux has produced tracks for multiple artists, including Denzel Curry, Dash, and Juicy J; additionally, he states that he once held an in-house deal with Universal/Republic.
Suicideboys' huge impact
No matter the duo's inspirations, their music is connecting with an increasingly larger audience: 2016's ‘Radical $uicide' EP landed in the Top 20 of Billboard's R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, and their first official full-length, 2018's ‘I Want to Die in New Orleans,' debuted in the Top 10. Produced by $lick under the moniker Budd Dwyer, the independently released ‘I Want to Die in New Orleans' exemplifies the darkness lurking at the core of the $uicideboy$ sound. Dank R&B beats, slurred vocals and tempos, and jet-black production dominate, creating a macabre vibe saturated with horror-movie-caliber tension. Naturally, the pair's I Want to Die in New Orleans tour also promises no shortage of moments for fans to find communal catharsis in embracing vulnerability.
