Highly controversial American hip-hop duo $crim and Ruby da Cherry of $UICIDEBOY$ invaded the underground rap scene through their harsh, abrasive and depression-laden lyrics.
Coming from a punk-rap background, the cousins were inspired by the legends like Birdman and Master P from Cash Money and No Limit who set the precedent of creating their own independent record labels. They soon found a huge following on SoundCloud in 2014 when their first recording was made available on the streaming service. Since then, they have released a ton of albums – six of which made it on the Billboard 200.
Ruby da Cherry revealed, “When we first started, we wanted to do the exact opposite of what everybody in rap was doing. We didn’t have nice cars or gold chains, so we just flexed that we were losers, and mixed in some shock-rap and stuff about our mental health issues. We’re just trying to catch people’s attention.”
To keep pace with the trend of successful artists establishing their own labels, they launched G*59 Records (under Caroline Distribution) in 2017, and have signed artists such as Germ, Shakewell, Chetta, Ramirez, and Night Lovell.
Being one of the highest streaming independent artists on Spotify and one of the few artists that had the highest grossing rap tours in 2023 speak a lot of how far they’ve come thanks to their solid cult following from the U.S. down to New Zealand.
Ruby da Cherry relates, "Our fans always tell us, ‘You saved my life.’ That’s the first thing they tell us. And unfortunately neither of us have had a very good reaction to being told that. It’s a strange thing to be told, and I don’t think Scott [“$crim” Arceneaux Jr.] and I believed that we had the capability to do that. The truth of the matter is, they saved our lives."
Gold-certified albums
After previously scoring Gold and Platinum on their singles, they finally achieved their first two RIAA Gold-certified albums with "Stop Staring At The Shadows" and their third studio album "Long Term Effects Of SUFFERING," which was released in 2021. It featured the notorious duo’s stable long track titles: "If Self-Destruction Was An Olympic Event, I'd Be Tonya Harding," "Lighting the Flames of My Own Personal Hell," and "The Number You Have Dialed Is Not in Service.".
Speaking to Billboard, Ruby da Cherry described the album, "We wanted [it] to start off dark and then lift you up with positivity. I’ve learned so much. I don’t want to have learned how to be happy and feel good about my self worth and feel productive and not share that with other people... $crim and I feel responsible for the messages we put out there."
Of the 13 tracks in the album, the second released single "Avalon" has earned a lot of interest from fans. The song searingly delves into the dark corners of listeners with mental health and the struggle to find a semblance of peace in chaos. There's pain and defiance, and then there's the intensity of the lyrics with growling tones that bring back the rappers' memories in New Orleans where the rap artists come from.
Since its release, “Avalon” has more than 196 million streams on Spotify and 34.7 million views on YouTube.
Royalty Earnings
"Avalon" is part of a Royalty Exchange catalog that features other tracks from hip-hop's finest.
In February 2024, an investor purchased its performance royalties for $44,250. Since 2016, it has now earned $13,537 with a three-year average of $4,037. The price that was paid was 7 times larger than the earnings in the last twelve months.
In 2022, total earnings were recorded at $5,472 up from only $479 in 2019. That's a 985% increase in just three years!
Among the tracks, "Avalon" has earned the highest with $5,311 in the last twelve months, followed by "EZ Come EZ Go" by M.C. Mack and "Be a Witness" by Three 6 Mafia.
"EZ Come EZ Go" was featured on Grand Theft Auto 5 in 2019. When asked how he felt about learning the song would be picked up more than 20 years later since its release, M.C. Mack said laughing, "I had no idea! I was paying Juicy [J] at that time to collaborate with a couple of tracks. So, you know, I heard the beat and a couple of tracks from J, we recorded that right in my room. Yeah, put it on cassette tape. [I] had no idea twenty years later it would be on Grand Theft Auto 5... That goes to show that in the music business, you'll never know. That's why it's always good to just put out good music as long as you can because with music, it evolves... I'm a walking testimony of it. I had no idea that 20 years later the song would be as big as it is. I had no idea that [that] would be my number one stream song on Spotify."
"EZ Come EZ Go" currently has close to 6 million streams on the platform.
Fans are streaming more than ever
For this catalog, streaming has been the top earnings contributor in the last twelve months with $5,744.
Most music users streamed on Spotify, followed by Apple Music and YouTube.
Why Invest in This Catalog
$UICIDEBOY$ continues to be one of the most successful indie artists in the rap underground movement. The duo recently wrapped up their U.S., Australia and New Zealand concerts in early 2024 and has a series of 44 shows slated in the U.S., Canada, and Australia beginning August 2024 until March 2025.
The investor who purchased the catalog this year, will continue to earn from the royalties while waiting for the right offer.
You too can earn from catalogs like this one. Check out its asset details today to see how the earnings have continued to grow. Don’t forget to check out Royalty Exchange’s other hip-hop catalogs that are up for auction today, and sign up as an investor to get started.
