About $uicideboy$
Suicide boys is an American hip hop duo from New Orleans, Louisiana, founded in 2014 by cousins Ruby da Cherry and Scrim (stylized as $crim). Via the music sharing platform SoundCloud, the duo rose to popularity for their abrasive, self-produced beats. This is as well as their harsh lyrical content and themes prominently featuring substance use disorder and suicidal ideation.
They own and operate their own label, G*59 Records, under which all of their music is distributed by Caroline Distribution. The duo is considered one of the most popular acts in the underground rap scene and is also considered to have a cult following.
After several years of solely releasing EPs and mixtapes, Suicide boys’ debut studio album I Want to Die in New Orleans was released on September 7, 2018. It fared well commercially, debuting at number 9 on the US Billboard 200
Member’s of the $uicideboy$
The scrim was born Scott Arceneaux Jr. on April 11, 1989, in Marrero, Louisiana. Arceneaux originally was inspired by T-Pain and Kanye West 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 Petrou on April 22, 1990, to an American mother and Greek Cypriot father. Raised in Metairie, Louisiana, Petrou’s interest in music began when he was seven, playing the violin and the 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 in order to pursue a career in hip-hop with Arceneaux.
Formation of the $uicideboy$
Arceneaux and Petrou are cousins, and as such shared a close relationship growing up. Realizing that both were interested in taking a musical career seriously, and both dissatisfied with the direction of their lives, the two formed Suicide boys, making a pact that if their musical career didn’t work out, they would both commit suicide.
More on this in an interview with Mass Appeal, Arceneaux states that “it was pretty much like cutting the hand, bleeding, and making a pact that there’s no plan B, that if this doesn’t happen by the time we’re 30, I’m blowing my head off”
$uicideboy$ Musical Career
The duo’s first project together, a three-track EP named Kill Yourself Part I. The $uicide $aga, was released in June 2014 on SoundCloud and Bandcamp, attracting attention for their collaboration with notable underground rapper Bones. In the following months, the duo released a further nine iterations of the Kill Yourself series.
After a number of collaboration EPs with fellow underground artist Black Smurf, their first full-length project titled Gray/Grey was released on March 3, 2015. Suicide boys’ underground breakthrough came with the release of 2015 EP $outh $ide $uicide, a collaboration with established South Florida rapper Pouya, which thrust the duo into the underground rap spotlight.
.As of October 2018, the tape has gained over 75 million track plays on streaming platform SoundCloud alone. The duo’s first foray into the mainstream music charts came with the release of Radical $uicide in the summer of 2016. The five-track EP, produced by EDM musician Getter, peaked at number 17 on the Billboard Rap charts.
On September 7, 2018, their debut studio album I Want to Die in New Orleans was released. A statement posted by the duo’s official Instagram account stated, “We started recording this album at the beginning of 2017. Initially, we wanted to write about our experiences on the road and express how our lives had become slightly more extravagant.”
Suicide boys have gained a cult following in the hip hop scene, in part due to their niche subject matter involving subjects scarcely seen in rap such as suicidal ideation and depression. As of October 2018, their most viewed music video on YouTube is for their song Paris, reaching over 60 million views; Paris is additionally the song with the most plays on their Spotify page, with 60 million plays.
The duo was featured in Billboard’s list titled “Billboard Dance’s 15 Artists to Watch in 2017”. In late 2018, a rumor arose that the group had broken up following a series of ominous tweets. However, they soon clarified that the tweets were in relation to “personal issues” facing Arceneaux and that they had in fact not broken up
$uicideboy$ Side Projects
Along with their work in Suicide boys, Petrou and Arceneaux have both released sporadic solo work as well as worked with other artists individually. Before Suicide boys, Arceneaux was an aspiring solo hip-hop artist, releasing several mixtapes under the name $crim.
These include Narcotics Anonymous, #DrugFlow2 and Patron Saint of Everything Totally Fucked, all of which were released before the group’s formation in 2014. Arceneaux has also worked as an in-house producer for Universal/Republic, producing several songs for artists, including one song that was commercially successful.
Petrou has released two solo mixtapes under the name Oddy Nuff da Snow Leopard; The Jefe Tape in 2012 and Pluto in 2014. Pluto contained the first collaboration between Arceneaux and Petrou on a commercial project; Arceneaux featured on the song Smoke a Sack.
$uicideboy$ Controversies
Suicide boys have come under much criticism by mainstream music critics for their often abrasive and offensive image, including their name, lyrical content, and behavior. Many of their songs contain themes and insinuations of devil worship. However, as Arceneaux states in an interview with Adam Grandmaison, their use of satanic imagery is simply a metonym.
This is for the negative effects of money, drugs, and other items that have the potential to manipulate people. Arceneaux is a former opioid addict, claiming in his No Jumper interview that he would lure people to him on Craigslist in order to rob them just to feed his addiction.
Having been a regular abuser of heroin, hydrocodone, and oxycodone, among others, Arceneaux has reputedly been completely sober from all substances since July 2017. In September 2016, the Canadian DJ and record producer Deadmau5 accused the duo of copyright infringement following the success of their song “Antarctica” (off of the 2016 EP Dark Side of the Clouds).
The song samples parts of Deadmau5’s “I Remember”, with Kaskade; the DJ lambasted the duo for this, claiming that Suicide boys were “publicizing other people’s intellectual property without consent”. The song, which had been out since January and subsequently reached millions of plays on both YouTube and SoundCloud, was taken down by Suicide boys on both platforms and no further action was taken.
$uicideboy$ Musical Style
The music of Suicide boys 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 Suicide boys songs using samples from the group’s songs. 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 Suicide boys 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 depressing music, or negative music… It’s really just connecting. It’s therapy, through music”.
Excluding occasional guest producers and usage of purchased instrumental loops, the entirety of Suicide boys’ discography is self-produced, mainly by Arceneaux under his pseudonym Budd Dwyer (an 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.
$uicideboy$ Net Worth
Their net worth approximation is $2 million.
$uicideboy$ Discography
-I Want to Die in New Orleans
-Songsthatwewontgetsuedforbutattheendofthedayweallgonnadieanyway
-Radical $uicide
-Kill Your$elf Part I: The $uicide $aga
-Kill Your$elf Part II: The Black $uede $aga
-Kill Your$elf Part III: The Budd Dwyer $aga
-Kill Your$elf Part IV: The Trill Clinton $aga
-Kill Your$elf Part V: The Fuck Bitche$, Get Death $aga
-Kill Your$elf Part VI: The T$unami $aga
-Kill Your$elf Part VII: The Fuck God $aga
-Kill Your$elf Part VIII: The $eppuku $aga
-Kill Your$elf Part IX: The $oul$eek $aga
-Kill Your$elf Part X: The Re$urrection $aga
-Black $uicide (w/ Black Smurf)
-Black $uicide Side B: $uicide Hustle (w/ Black Smurf)
-G.R.E.Y.G.O.D.S. (w/ Ramirez)
-Grey Sheep
-I No Longer Fear the Razor Guarding My Heel
-Black $uicide Side C: The Seventh Seal (w/ Black Smurf)
-$outh $ide $uicide (w/ Pouya)
-I No Longer Fear the Razor Guarding My Heel (II)
-G.R.E.Y.G.O.D.S.I.I. (w/ Ramirez)
-DIRTYNASTY$UICIDE (w/ Germ)
-Grey Sheep II
-Radical $uicide (w/ Getter)
-I No Longer Fear the Razor Guarding My Heel (III)
-DIRTIERNASTIER$UICIDE (w/ Germ)
-Kill Yourself Part XI: The Kingdom Come Saga
-Kill Yourself Part XII: The Dark Glacier Saga
-Kill Yourself Part XIII: The Atlantis Saga
-Kill Yourself Part XIV: The Vulture Saga
-Kill Yourself Part XV: The Coast of Ashes Saga
-Kill Yourself Part XVI: The Faded Stains Saga
-Kill Yourself Part XVII: The Suburban Sacrifice Saga
-Kill Yourself Part XVIII: The Fall of Idols Saga
-Kill Yourself Part XIX: The Deep End Saga
-Kill Yourself Part XX: The Infinity Saga
-Gray/Grey (2015)
-7th or St. Tammany (2015)
-YUNGDEATHLILLIFE (2015)
-High Tide in the Snake’s Nest (2015)
-My Liver Will Handle What My Heart Can’t (2015)
-Now the Moon’s Rising (2015)
$uicideboy$ Videos
