In the age of streaming, up-and-coming musical acts don’t need albums or even any music available for sale in order to build an audience and find success. New Orleans rap duo $uicideboy$ do have some songs available for download on major outlets currently, but that’s almost an afterthought compared to the millions of listens they’ve built up on services like SoundCloud and YouTube. With that kind of following, cousins $lick and Ruby Da Cherry have already played at Chicago’s Lollapalooza festival and toured the country as headliners.
The group’s official “debut” album, I Don’t Wanna Die in New Orleans, drops in December, but they’ve already released dozens of songs online, some barely longer than a minute, defined by a scrappy punk-rock aesthetic (Ruby started his musical career in punk bands) and often gloomy, downbeat lyrics. Still, the way that $uicideboy$ have successfully promoted their music and reached an audience hungry for authentic, raw sounds shows a level of dedication and ambition beyond just self-expression. “We just want to make a footprint in the world because when you die and are dead and gone, you want to be remembered,” Ruby told hip-hop magazine XXL earlier this year. “That’s how you live on.”
House of Blues at Mandalay Bay, 7 p.m. Nov. 17, $25 plus tax and fee, under 16 with guardian 18+. 800.745.3000 Ticketmaster
