Two Broke Boys, One Backroom: The bbno$ Interview

Expect the unexpected: sometimes classically cliché, which still holds merit to those who’ve experienced it firsthand. It was unexpected for a white-out shitstorm to snake its way into some St. Patrick’s Day festivities. It was unexpected for vandals and protesters to put out an open-season protocol on a once-respected brand’s line of prism-shaped “cyber trucks.” And it was unexpected for Canadian hip-hop artist Alexander Gumuchian to agree to an in-person interview, but you know how the saying goes. Now, Gumuchian is known by many names –– primarily through mispronunciations and jokingly nicknamed the “lalala” guy. However, friends, fans and yours truly know him as bbno$.

For the BIGGEST show on his It’s Pronounced Baby No Money World Tour, The Complex welcomed the pop star with open arms and an even warmer (sweatier) auditorium with the same type of fancy-free badassium. “I’ve cultivated a very positive fanbase that just enjoys whatever is presented in front of them,” bbno$ says. With his highest-selling performance on the North American side about to commence, I was able to sit comfortably close on a two-seater couch and figure out if there’s any separation between the artist and the man. His evergreen and Old Spice aroma made him a cool, calm and collected presence, yet I was slightly hyperventilating about one mentally-strained warning sign: “15 minutes.” However, once the twitching aftershock of being starstruck wore off, it was like another hangout session with the bros — until TikTok barnacle James Seo and his entourage of clucky camera gear and hype men rushed the clock with their “dollar or mystery gift” gimmick. Oh look, it’s a money-laundering scheme!

From his fun-loving beginnings up in the Great White North, bbno$ first discovered his love of music with a group of friends later deemed the Broke Boy Gang. Taking music seriously wasn’t the name of the game, but the freedom ro do so was half the enjoyment. “It’s just fucking around,” bbno$ says. “It’s the purest form of fun and eventually we turned to making music and then having fun in front of people that want to have fun, too.” It was this “fucking around and finding out” motive that made him excel from his SoundCloud launching pad and slowly make his way overseas. In 2017, he released his first EP, Baby Gravy, collaborating with another up-and-coming rapper — the suave and cleverly humorous Matthew Raymond Hauri aka Yung Gravy! The two would spin a type of anti-stoic “oxymoronic rap,” which most journalists (like myself) took a bit too seriously. “I just make dumbass music that bangs,” bbno$ says. “It’s pop music that’s laced with really stupid lyrics.”

Tracks like “two” and “antidepressant” carry a strobing percussion, and hilarious wordplay gives birth to an invasion of earworms. His music might raise a few eyebrows from the older generation, with lyrics like “Funko pop that pussy like calico / Dust on the table, ain’t talkin’ no Cheeto,” it’s the type of zone-hitter to defibrillate any dying party to coherency. And that’s exactly bbno$’s plan. “That’s the goal for this year, to dig my feet down … and basically make my show into a rave,” bbno$ says. It’s loud and in-your-face — pulling its professionally immature state from punk rock and modern day meme-ery. “Recently, I’ve been putting out music that’s been doing so well. It’s a no-brainer to play it live,” he says.

Although bbno$ has recently taken plenty of side quests, dabbling in Hatsune Miku cosplays and several failed attempts to get his very own Fortnite skin, I consider him a professional. Even though he may not give himself that much credit, his track record shows true endurance. There’s the E. coli poisoning from Shake Shack, enduring the pain to keep the party going on his 32-show tour with Yung Gravy. What about slicing his hand with a kombucha bottle while traveling in China? Or, most recently, twisting his ankle into a Nike swoosh on stage? For bbno$ the persona, the show must go on! So after dodging three greenish concertgoers being wheelchair-ed out and praying to whatever God there might be that my car wasn’t towed, I would say anyone who has the chance to see bbno$ live should take it and run. He’s a new-age rockstar, a hurtling force to shed a bit of poking-fun humor in such unpredictable times. “As long as I can leave [some fun] with people, I’m doing my job,” bbno$ says. Thank you for such a kickass night, but please get some rest!

P.S. Whatever we can do to get “bbnodick” on an edition of SLUG‘s Bold & Beautiful (or if you just want to say hey), keep in contact!

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