From swimming at an elite athletic level, to rapping at shows all over the world, Alexander Gumuchian, better known as bbno$ (baby no money), has become one of the most exciting new figures in the rap scene. The Canadian artist is unlike any of his peers due to his unique funky-futuristic style and his distinct personal background, having finished a bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology. While his first song ever was him simply laughing over a ‘Chief Keef type beat’ after a blunt with his friends, Alex is currently sitting at 50,000 followers on SoundCloud and 1,000,000 monthly listeners on Spotify.
bbno$ and his close friend Yung Gravy came into the spotlight at the same time, as the two of them form an incredibly dynamic duo when they work together.
“It’s so sick that my music can move people in such a way and I’m so grateful for it. The tour with Gravy was so lit.”
Perhaps the most significant moment in Alexander’s journey is when he broke his back in 12th grade, as it also stopped him from pursuing the ambition of being a professional swimmer. This unfortunate event led him to take up a degree in kinesiology as he wanted to understand how pain works.
“It caused me to learn what my body needs to not be in pain, because people don’t know what to do when they are in pain. I thought I might as well give back to those people because I kind of lost everything when I broke my back… But then I found music.”
bbno$ initially started making tracks with his friends in a crew called Broke Boy Gang, but he started taking music more seriously two years into his degree. “We did music for 5-6 months and it was really fun; we had our first show together and it was an excellent learning experience. Then after having a tough break up and moving away to school where I didn’t really have any friends, I decided to take music extremely seriously. I think it was around September 2016 when I started making as many songs as I could.”
Considering Alexander’s personal story, you might assume that he is just another ‘sad trap rapper’ on SoundCloud; but you would be far away from the truth. Although some of his favorite rappers and inspirations are artists like Pouya, $uicideboy$ and Bones, who very clearly have dark connotations in their music, Alex takes a refreshing positive approach to his craft. A typical bbno$ song has swing and bounce, immediately puts the listener in a good mood, and carries an old school groovy vibe which has transcended into a futuristic fast-paced trap sound. “I like making upbeat music because my aesthetic is just me being me. I don’t preach anything and that’s the point, I really like to have fun. I have no interest in making sad stuff because if you do, you kind of end up living into what you’ve created even though music is still a business, the energy leeches into your everyday life. I keep most of my songs upbeat as I want the crowd to go crazy for me while performing and that’s how I’ve always liked music.”
One of Alexander’s most favorite songs he has created is the song “Opus” from his debut project bb steps.
Alex himself doesn’t know how to describe his sound, and he believes that people can’t really process his music because it might be seen as too experimental or futuristic. “People don’t really know how to react to it, you can’t really dance to my songs. It’s funny cause it’s popping and hard hitting but it’s too fast-paced to react, I don’t know.” This is especially true when he works with Lentra, a producer that he has been collaborating with for the past year and a half. “He is a really good friend of mine and “What I do” is the first song I dropped with him featuring Yung Bambi; that was one of the first songs that noticeably gained traction for me.” Since then, they have made numerous tracks together and the next bbno$ project will be almost entirely produced by Lentra. The project is set to be reminiscent of Missy Elliott, with a groove and funkiness that not many rappers tend to work with.
As music next to food is the most important thing for bbno$, he seeks to stay true to himself and just have fun. He doesn’t have a particular message, nor is he trying to promote a healthy lifestyle, but rather the whole point is that he personally doesn’t need a significant meaning.
As previously stated, Alex recently finished his degree in kinesiology. Although music had already become his career, he believes that having an alternate path may help change people’s perception of rappers. “I wanted to finish school because being a rapper with a university degree is slightly uncommon, and I wanted to display my determination to my following and others. Musicians have always had a stereotype that there is something wrong with them and it brands them. Being a musician is accompanied by tons of social stresses and mental health problems in this industry because of how demanding it is. And I hate social media, it’s the worst. If I could be just as successful without using it, I wouldn’t ever use it… No matter how good your music is, you just need to be different on social media.”
Perhaps the most peculiar thing about bbno$ and his career, is his seemingly random popularity in China. Alexander woke up one day to a girl messaging him about how popular he is there and that he should do a tour in China. After the initial confusion, he sat down to check what is going on and stumbled upon a dance group by the name of TFBoys. The group apparently made a choreographed dance video to one of his songs on the 16th birthday of one of the members, after which bbno$ went viral in China. bbno$ has toured there twice since that day, and he says a fan told him his image there is like an “underground bedroom producer/rapper that looks like a teddy bear.” Although his biggest song abroad, “Yoyo Tokyo,” has been deleted in the West as “it simply isn’t good”, he seeks to stay relevant in the country and release his music there for free.
His most recent EP is a collaborative project with the Vancouver rap group So Loki. “It’s a really solid project although it didn’t take much work. I’m glad to put it out because who doesn’t want more music!” You can have a listen to the song ‘’Bubblin’’ from the EP here: