- today
In the latest episode of Billboard’s 24 Hours With, Billboard cover stars $uicideboy$ take us around their hometown of New Orleans to discuss their early days starting out, the story behind their name and what fans can expect from their new album ‘Thy Kindom Come.’ Plus, the guys talk about addressing mental health and addiction in their music and if they would even change their name.
Category
🎵
MusicTranscript
00:00I'm Ruby DeCherry.
00:01I'm Scram.
00:02We're Suicide Boys.
00:03Come spend 24 hours with us in New Orleans.
00:24Where do you guys have us today?
00:25This is my parents' crib.
00:26This is where it all started.
00:28That's the studio, a.k.a. the shed.
00:30Can you tell me a little bit about starting here?
00:33What was the original setup like?
00:35The futon was right here.
00:37That was his computer station right there.
00:39We had a glittery chair that isn't here anymore,
00:41but it was really cute.
00:42We had black lights in here and shit.
00:43Haven't been in here in years, bro.
00:45I know, I know.
00:47I can't believe he got the AC put in here and everything.
00:49Look, still got the email list.
00:51No shit.
00:52That was my email list when I was just producing,
00:56and I would just spam beats,
00:58tear everybody's email, you know?
01:00This was originally a hair studio that his mom would cut hair
01:05and dye hair and stuff.
01:06And then we took it over and made it a studio.
01:08Started out DJing when I was like 12.
01:10Probably around 19, I got into producing.
01:15I guess when I was like seven, I played violin.
01:18My mom signed me up for lessons.
01:20I remember that.
01:21I hated that, and I quit.
01:23And then I picked up marching snare and then the drum kit.
01:27And I guess I started taking it seriously when I was like 14.
01:29We linked up in like 2013, and the rest is history.
01:32When did you decide to give it a name,
01:34and how did you come to the name Suicide Boys?
01:36I mean, it's like a famous story now,
01:38but we were going to give ourselves till 30 years old,
01:40and if we didn't make anything crack off by then,
01:42we were going to kill ourselves.
01:44We cut our hands and shook our hands
01:47and made a blood oath that that's what we're going to do.
01:49And I'm 35 now.
01:50He's 36, obviously.
01:51So we made it.
01:52He spent a lot of time working jobs,
01:55be it the pizza kitchen at Russell's.
01:57I put my time in.
01:58Laying tile down.
02:00Yeah, yeah, working jobs, laying tile,
02:02bunch of odd end jobs, doing fucking roofing.
02:04Even like doing studio sessions for like 100 bucks a pop.
02:07Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just something.
02:08If this didn't work, like we just,
02:10and I'm not knocking anybody that takes pride in them.
02:14I come from a working class family, so does he,
02:16but like, so not knocking that at all,
02:18but we just couldn't see ourselves doing that
02:21for the rest of our lives.
02:22To be honest, you know,
02:23this was something that I was pursuing
02:26since I was like 14 years old.
02:27And as soon as one band broke up,
02:29I'd start another band,
02:30and I always kind of knew it would happen.
02:32I just didn't know how or when.
02:34I would argue that if, you know,
02:35everything happens for a reason,
02:36everything has its place for a reason.
02:38Well, it just, to me, it just shows how amazing
02:41it is that we've made it to this point.
02:43Yeah. You know what I'm saying?
02:45Yeah.
02:45It could have imploded on itself several times.
02:47Yeah.
02:48I don't think if we would have gotten clean and shit,
02:49it definitely would have imploded by now.
02:50Nah, we would have been dead.
02:52Yeah, yeah, I mean, you talk about the dysfunction,
02:54but we would have been dead.
02:56Yeah, fair enough.
02:57So the first year, we didn't, I mean, we didn't know any better,
03:07and this is how shit used to happen, but like-
03:08This is just how we thought it worked.
03:09Yeah, for the first year, we printed out a bunch of-
03:12500.
03:13We had 500 CDs.
03:14We had 500 CDs.
03:15And we went around the gas stations, to-
03:17Went to LSU.
03:18To LSU, and handed them out, and long story short,
03:21downtown.
03:22And then one day-
03:23We would walk 10 feet and see every CD we just handed out on the floor.
03:25Yeah, yeah, yeah.
03:26I had a list of like, maybe over a thousand hip-hop blogs that I had-
03:31Oh, yeah.
03:32Accumulated, and we sat there for like a week straight just emailing every blog that was
03:37on this list.
03:38Yeah.
03:39We sent out like over a thousand emails.
03:40From numbers to A to Z.
03:41Yeah, yeah.
03:42We maybe got two write-ups from that, out of a thousand.
03:44Yeah.
03:45Remember the dude, James, told us that you're going to do it everywhere else first.
03:49Yeah.
03:50And then your hometown will fuck with you last, because it's your hometown, and they know
03:53you, and they know people that know you, and-
03:55We just weren't familiar with the new underground SoundCloud thing that was going on.
04:01We were doing things totally like in an ancient kind of way.
04:04I don't think we knew what the fuck we were doing back then.
04:06We were trying to make all sorts of different stuff at once, and it just wasn't-
04:09Right.
04:10It was too all over the place.
04:11But then your boy gave us that piece of information.
04:13That's when everything changed.
04:14That's when we started attacking the internet, networking with people on Facebook and Instagram,
04:18Twitter.
04:19I would argue if you're not doing that, you don't want it bad enough.
04:21Fact.
04:22I see my kids all the time, and they ask me, what do I do to do this?
04:26I say, if you're not eating, sleeping, breathing, drinking this shit, find something else to do.
04:29If you're not a psychopath about this, then-
04:32If you have-
04:33It's not going to work out.
04:34Any regard for your own life-
04:36Yeah, right.
04:37Right, right.
04:38Yeah.
04:50Where are we?
04:51We're in New Orleans. This is Jim Tilly, Seventh Ward. This is the Hornet's Nest, aka Seventh Ward Studios.
04:55Can you show me around a little bit?
04:56Yeah, absolutely. This is the studio. I used to live here for a little bit. Our good luck Ram, I guess.
05:00Our good luck Ram, Sam.
05:01This is the control room. In this room, Scrim and I made most of Stop Staring at the Shadows.
05:08Stop Staring.
05:09Made a little bit of I Wanna Die in New Orleans.
05:12A little bit, yeah. Mainly Stop Staring.
05:14Pretty much.
05:15I flew back in from Cali. You had just got this place up and running as a studio and Into Those I Love.
05:22Into Those I Love is made in here.
05:24This is the vocal booth room. I don't think any, maybe one Suicide Boys verse was done in here as of now.
05:37Yeah, this is new.
05:38This is newer.
05:39Yeah.
05:40We got the vocal booth in there. I forget what verse I did. I want to say...
05:45Didn't you do the Fast and Furious verse here too?
05:47Yes, I did. I did do that too.
05:54And I think like one or two tracks of long-term effects of suffering.
05:58We just record right next to the computer in my studio.
06:01Fucking right. That's the way we've done it most of our career.
06:03Right.
06:04And this is just a live room, but we're going to do some Duck Boy demos.
06:07That used to be in my bedroom back in the day. We did all of NMJC in this house,
06:11which is an old music video. And we did...
06:13A hundred blunts.
06:13A hundred blunts against this wall before I painted it.
06:16You got the DVD collection right here. I used to work at a video rental store called Major Video.
06:22That's where I stole most of these.
06:23How old were you when you were 18?
06:26Yeah.
06:2718?
06:27Yeah.
06:28That was the only job I ever had that wasn't at a restaurant.
06:31This house is like a shrine to Sopranos. You'll see some Sopranos art,
06:34some more Sopranos art on that side. And I basically make the guys that work here
06:40do a Sopranos run-through count. Right now we're at 23.
06:46That's how many times the entirety of the show was played in this house as background shit.
06:51We kind of talked a little bit about how you guys got started,
06:57and I want to bring us a little bit more to the present day with what you're working on with G59.
07:02Why did you decide to go that route in founding your own record label?
07:06We never wanted to be signed to someone else. For better or worse, it doesn't matter.
07:12Like, we wanted to be our own thing. And not only that, but develop it to where we can sign artists,
07:19and the brand can bring something to the table to help push these artists and make these other
07:25artists bigger, do whatever we can to help make them bigger. From the jump,
07:29even when we're done and we hang it up, we want that to live on.
07:34Do you guys consider yourselves to be entrepreneurs as much as artists,
07:38or do you really feel like the art has to always come first in that second?
07:42The art always has to come first. First and foremost, the art has to be
07:45not only presentable, but it has to have substance. It has to be packaged nicely,
07:50because I think that's the lifeblood of G59, is the music, is everything that we do that's on a
07:56creative level. But I do think that we are, to a certain extent, also entrepreneurial,
08:00considering that we're running a few different businesses. And one, merchandise, touring,
08:05the records, the music videos, all that kind of stuff.
08:08And we used to do everything.
08:10Everything. Designing the album artwork,
08:12designing the merchandise, making the beats, which we still do, making the videos,
08:16actually going to the post office and shipping out all the clothes that were ordered.
08:20Sitting there and typing up, because I didn't have, like, people can get the orders and print it.
08:25It's all, I didn't do none of that. Like, I had to type every single address in,
08:30go fill it myself, be at the post office from opening until after closing.
08:35Not only that, booking our own shows.
08:36Yeah, booking shows. I mean, we did everything.
08:40I think from the outside, fans probably look at y'all's lives and your careers
08:43as, like, this really glamorous and cool thing, but they don't have to see all the mundane, like,
08:48going to the post office type stuff.
08:50I always tell people when they meet us, or, like, I'll get told, like,
08:53man, my daughter's a really big fan of you. Like, it'd be crazy if she met.
08:58I was like, she'd be actually, like, really underwhelmed.
09:01You know what I'm saying? Because it's not, I promise you, you should be underwhelmed.
09:04Because other than business, we live, you know, I'd say pretty mundane, normal lives.
09:11Pretty quiet and quiet lives.
09:12Yeah, for sure.
09:13And this new album is coming out in August. So can you tell us a little bit about the new
09:17album and if there's any tracks you really hope that people...
09:21All of them.
09:21All of them.
09:22All of them, yeah.
09:23It comes out August 1st, that Kingdom Come, and we started it off with a four minute intro,
09:27which is a first. I don't think there's not a lot of Suicide Boy songs that are past three minutes.
09:31It's sick.
09:32It's sick. It's just us talking shit for four minutes. Kind of being like,
09:35fuck anybody that ever had anything bad to say about us and doubted us or cheered against us.
09:40And then it sort of takes you on this trip to where you think you're going in one direction,
09:44and then we completely reverse it on your ass. So I'm excited to see what the reception's going to be.
09:50To me, our albums, any music we make, whether it's our album, Scrum, Duck Boy, it's like,
09:56fuck a hit song. We're giving you all our diaries. You know what I'm saying?
10:00Like, fuck a hit song. Like, this is, here we are.
10:09How have y'all over the course of your career worked to make sure that when you're using like
10:15Suicide Boys and talking about mental health problems that you've had and addiction issues,
10:19that you're not glorifying it, but you're just like being real about it?
10:23I can only tell you my real experience. You know what I'm saying? I'm not,
10:26I'm not trying to glorify it. I'm literally telling you.
10:29It's like flexing our misery.
10:30Yeah, what is that?
10:31It was never like, hey, everybody, go do heroin. It's great. It was more like,
10:35this is what the fuck we do. I mean, we're still this way, I think, today, but we were very
10:39unapologetic. I didn't feel like we had to explain ourselves to anybody. And I think a lot of the
10:43glorifying of the drugs was sort of masked in that when it was more so like us just opening up and
10:49talking about what was going on in our life, but we like to take what flexing normally would be and
10:54flip it on its head to where we flex it, we're broke, we flex it, we're on drugs, whatever.
10:58I will say to add to that, that ever since I got sober, and this happened by accident,
11:04but ever since I got sober, I gave that speech that we do at the end of the show. I gave it at
11:10the end of a festival. Please understand that you've always got me and Ruby with you. We
11:15understand. We get it. Y'all are forever our family. Y'all are forever our brothers and sisters.
11:21I do feel a responsibility to say, hey, listen, this is where we were. Y'all have seen us at this
11:29point. This is what happened. And this is where we're at now. And if it can happen for us, it can
11:35happen for you too. So there's hope. That speech has become very important to us to let them know
11:41they're not alone. And if we can do it, like they can do it two and eight. You don't have to live
11:45like that. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. When y'all came up, there were a lot of,
11:49there was a lot of activity on SoundCloud. There was a lot of activity in kind of this emo rap genre.
11:53Some of those people have not stood the test of time that you guys have. And you're still growing,
11:58what, 10 years later? Something like that? I think we're on 11 now. Wow. Yeah. So why do you think
12:04that is? Why have you outlasted the SoundCloud rap? Short answer, quick answer, because we care.
12:09We care about the kids that listen to it. We care about making this be the best that it can be.
12:15And I think Scott and I learned a lesson early on, and that is don't make it about yourself.
12:20Right. Because when we started doing that,
12:23it only separated us and it only made us like not work as a team. Then it's like this giant ego thing
12:29about like, it's narcissistic is what it is. So I think Scott and I work together and we're humble
12:36people. I think most of the time we're pretty humble. And being selective of the opportunities
12:41presented to us and only doing it if our values aligned with it is sort of what maybe had us
12:47stand the test of time. We had a power struggle for a long time. I think our blood bond kept us
12:52together. People that worked for this kept us together. I was trying to blow the group up like
12:57every other week. I don't know if you were paying attention, but 2017, 2018, I was trying to blow
13:01this shit up. Today, the difference is since getting sober, we've come to realize that what
13:08has happened is absolutely bigger than anyone. It's not about us. It's not about me. Fuck what I want.
13:14It's not about him. Fuck what he wants. Fuck what the managers want. Fuck what anyone wants. This thing
13:20is bigger than us because it's bigger than like music really. We've done something to where people feel
13:26seen. They feel heard. They feel like they belong. They feel like they belong. There's people they
13:31relate to. They've seen us come out of the struggle, so they feel hope. That's what it's all about.
13:36I believe, it's my belief, that God put us in this position to help people out. I hope that
13:45doesn't sound too egotistical or anything. Especially now more than ever. Yeah, I really
13:50believe we're here to help people. Before I met up with you guys, I was just kind of trying to make
13:57sure that I had seen everything and did all my research. I went on TikTok and I searched suicide
14:02boys on TikTok and it popped up with a suicide prevention message. It wouldn't let me find
14:08anything. Did you guys ever consider changing the name knowing that there were some blocks?
14:13We did recently, actually. I personally haven't talked to you about this, but I personally was like,
14:16eh, fuck that. At the end of the day, we don't do this for followers. I don't care what that number
14:22is. It could be 40 million. It could be fucking 40. I don't care. At the end of the day, it's not
14:27about us. I think fans would get upset if we changed our names. It represents so much.
14:32It represents our unwillingness to conform to what's... The dark shit we came from,
14:36the way we are now. I can tie so much. It's a big part of our story. As much as we aren't in those
14:43days anymore, it's still there and it's always going to be there. It made us the men that we
14:46are today. Who knows? Maybe somebody types that in and they need to see that message when it pops
14:51up and they end up calling. That'd be great. It's the end of the day. What is this next location that
15:09you're showing us? We're in the ninth ward right now. This is where one of the spots I used to come
15:15and buy dope. You guys shot a music video in here, right? Yeah, I was about to tell you that. This is
15:20where we shot not even ghosts or this empty. I kind of walked in from one of the shots right here,
15:28kind of like we just did. Walked up to the altar and that's where we finished the video at up there.
15:35Yeah. Also, this church is gorgeous. Yeah. And abandoned, I guess, which just kind of adds a cool
15:41spooky quality to it all. I just have a few more questions for you guys before we take off.
15:46You guys had your first Hot 100 hit last year with Us Versus Them. Did we? Yeah. Well, that's
15:52the news to us. That's great. It was a number 96 and I'm wondering if chart achievements or something
15:57that matter to you guys. Obviously not. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's it's cool. We don't take it for granted.
16:04Like if it happens, that's great. But, you know, it's not what we're aiming for and we're not really
16:09checking like that. But I mean, if it does happen and yeah, absolutely. Like we're grateful.
16:14Are there any achievements that you guys haven't hit yet? You've had a lot of success over the last
16:1911 years. Is there anything that's still on the bucket list? I think it'd be cool to win a Grammy,
16:25you know, but it's not something that like we're banking on or something we're actively trying to
16:31achieve. But bucket list, I don't want to reveal too much, but there's a certain type of album
16:36that me and Audie want to make. I'd really love to do that before we hang it up. Yeah. For me,
16:41it's more music based. I just want to I just want to keep making music. Honestly, bucket list is like
16:47save 100,000 souls before I leave this earth. Yeah, that's it. Yeah. I love that. And so you guys have
16:54a new album coming out and then you're going right on tour. Yeah. What are you most excited
16:59about this year? Between Duck Boy, between Scrim with the solo drops, between working on this new
17:06S.B. album and that coming out and all the videos we're about to do. Here's the thing with tour. I
17:12used to hate it. I'm a homebody. No, I hate it. Yeah. I like being in my studio at my house. I don't go
17:18nowhere. But my wife reminded me when I was bitching one time that like this isn't going to be
17:24forever. So don't take it for granted and like take it. And it really did change my outlook on
17:29it to where I look forward to it. But anytime me and him are consistently dropping music,
17:33like however that looks and we're working on something, I'm he's a happy camper. Yeah, I'm good.
17:38Where do you guys see yourselves in 10, 20 years? Are you still doing the grade A tour? Are you
17:43chilling back? What do you think? If it were up to me,
17:45we would not do it for a long time. If we were going to be doing it in 10 or 20 years,
17:51I would want to like not do it for 10 or 20 years and then come back or something. I'm not knocking
17:56older people that do this, but I never wanted to be in a position to where me and him have to tour
18:00if we don't want to, because we need money or we need this. But I look at the end of the day,
18:06it's up to God. You know, I just try to do what I can. And I don't try to like whatever he got
18:12planned. I'm with. But like I said, if it was up to me, I would like to see grade A continue.
18:17Yeah.
18:18To where even when we're not on it, it's still a thing.
18:20It's still a thing that happens. Honestly, 10, 20 years, taking my kid to the
18:26soccer game that he's playing. Yeah. 10, 20 years, taking mine to baseball.
18:29If I'm being honest, I can't see my life without music. You know, hopefully I'm able to do it like
18:35Future or Kanye and still be an old motherfucker and still be cool and not fucking corny or anything
18:42like that. But maybe make a country album. Yeah.
18:45Maybe make a Zydeco album. Who knows, dude. I'll be grateful to be alive.
18:49Yeah. I really will be like a ragtime album. You know, there we go. Yeah.
18:54That's it. Yeah. That's a billboard exclusive.
18:55Some like Jelly Roll Morton.
18:57It's going to be a ragtime album in 10 years.
18:59Thanks so much for spending 24 hours with us and showing us around New Orleans.
19:03Yeah. No.
19:03Thanks for putting up with the humidity and the crime and the murders and all that good stuff.
19:09Yeah. No, we appreciate you guys coming and taking the time. Y'all have been cool.