10 Best $uicideboy$ Songs That Are HARD and Surprisingly SAD

The rap duo composed of cousins Ruby Da Cherry and $crim from New Orleans have pioneered their own genre of rap, and in doing so have become some of the most successful independent artists in history. Their name may seem like it was an act of rebellion to cater towards edgy, angsty teenagers, but it runs a little deeper than that.   So here are our picks for the best $uicideboy$ songs that we think you’ll love.

Best $uicideboy$ Songs

Let’s begin with the song “New Chains, Same Shackles.”

New Chains, Same Shackles

Even if you’ve made immense progress in your life and have gotten yourself to milestones you never thought you’d reach, you might still feel stuck or left behind, especially if you struggle with mental illnesses. New Chains, Same Shackles is a perfect example of this conundrum, as the boys are wearing “New Chains” (i.e., became more successful in the industry and gained lots of material wealth), but they still feel weighed down by their addictions and negative thoughts (“Same Shackles”). 

No amount of money can cure depression, but it’s easy to feel that way if troubles with money or career have contributed to your sadness. Through their rap journey, the boys got basically a guarantee that they’d never have to live a conventional life again. This didn’t make their problems disappear, though, and they aren’t shying away from the fact that suicidal ideation is not limited to any specific lifestyle (“I can’t recall why I’m suffocating, my lungs are failing”).

Ugliest

Ugliest (2021) is the third in a trilogy of songs, alongside Ugly (2015) and Uglier (2016). Like many of their songs, Ugliest is about drugs, and goes into detail about the struggles of opioid addiction. The song begins with a sample from a 1998 commercial from Purdue Pharma, which is marketing opioid medications as safe and non-addictive. Nowadays, this ideal is widely considered to be far from the truth.

The irony of this commercial right before the boys delve into intimate details about their addiction is what makes fans love them. $crim calls himself a “death addict” before saying it’s “so tragic, my baggage comes from no backup,” and talks about how trying to get himself off of pills is a vicious cycle “like splittin’ atoms, it ain’t happenin’, psychosis wins, the world spins.” He also visualizes people talking about him, calling him a lost cause for something that wasn’t his fault to begin with.

Putrid Pride

Putrid Pride is an easily and painfully relatable song about time passing faster than we can comprehend. The boys look back on their past (“still the same boy that came from Jeffer street, still the best friend that the devil keep”) and acknowledge that despite this, things have drastically changed for them (“the drugs used to be fun, now they’ve become a problem”). They’ve come a long way, and a lot has changed, but still, a lot hasn’t. 

This invokes a sense of urgency to become more productive and consistent (“all the things that you were gonna do, you never did ‘em, now you’re wondering how come they’re never listening whenever you’re talking”). It’s a common truth that the most efficient/responsible/successful person in the room is the most likely to be heard out and trusted.

Things like addiction and suicidal thoughts can set you back, but Putrid Pride is an anthem of trying to grasp at time before it passes you by and doing whatever you can to not be left in the dust with people in your hometown who are living the same lives that they had a decade ago. 

Kill Yourself (Part III)

Sampling A Bitter Song by Butterfly Boucher, the verse “it’s not fair, I found love, it made me say ‘now get back’, you’ll never see daylight, if I’m not strong, I just might” plays slowed down as the duo raps over it, with similar struggles that Butterfly Boucher had in her song. In both A Bitter Song and Kill Yourself (Part III), the artists struggle with feelings of worthlessness and destructive habits that cause them to push away good things.

In this track, the two imagine the hypothetical aftermaths of their suicides, and let listeners hear some of their most vulnerable thoughts. Ruby pictures himself being a sunset that people pay no mind to unless they’re sitting outside smoking cigarettes, and says, “in my head I feel like I’m a guest so I’ma throw it all away, I’m matter but I don’t matter” and paints a graphic image of someone trying to clean grey brain matter off of a wall. Meanwhile, $crim feels like people think he’s joking when he talks about suicide. He wants to prove that he’s serious and has the same mission: “to die and blame my addiction.”

Antarctica

Antarctica samples the song I Remember by Kaskade, beginning with the eerily peaceful lyrics, “letting a new day begin, hold to the time that you know,” before exploding into bass as the boys’ intense and quick raps start flowing out. In their verses, $crim says that he doesn’t know how to explain it but feels like his birth was a mistake, and that twenty years “seem like a lifetime, I been hanging every day from a lifeline.”

Meanwhile, Ruby calls himself the lord of loneliness and says, “this world was never made for me,” as well as saying that he has a lump in his throat every day, and he’s unsure if it’s because of the pills he’s taking or if he takes the pills to try to combat the feeling. As far as the title, Antarctica is well known for being a cold, isolated continent. Anyone who’s struggled with depression might feel like they’ve been to Antarctica, in a metaphorical sense, as it can be lonely, and the days seem to drag on forever.

My Flaws Burn Through My Skin Like Demonic Flames from Hell

This song easily has one of the most addicting beats out of $uicideboy$’ songs. That’s what keeps fans listening, after all—the boys’ ability to sing about the same few topics in an entirely different way every time. The lyrics begin with Ruby telling a story about driving, and he’s “tryna see the road but all I can see are four horsemen comin’ closer to me,” and while he experiences suicidal ideation, in the face of death, he says, “b*tch it ain’t my time.” 

$crim has a similar sentiment, acknowledging that he’s narrowly avoided tragedies which could’ve taken his life, and says, “death keeps cheating on my life, but on my soul it’s feeding.”

The Number You Have Dialed is Not in Service

Through depression, one might start to isolate themselves, and the rap duo is no stranger to that feeling, though they have a lot at stake with their career if they don’t follow through with their responsibilities. The irony of creating something they’re passionate about due to their depression, as well as building a cult fan base; yet being unable to make progress in this venture if the depression wins, is prevalent in this song.

Ruby comes into the song saying, “you might’ve thought I was playing a part in the art I’ve created, but most of the words reflect what’s happened or what’s waiting to start,” making it clear that $uicideboy$, as personas or as themselves, is nothing but reality. He continues to say, “all these cars that I bought either don’t start or they got impounded, pursue the American dream, the nightmare’s what I doubted,” alluding to the fact that no amount of wealth can make internal problems disappear, and that wealth can even make emotional turmoil worse, which is something you wouldn’t imagine before having a lot of material wealth.

He also says, “life ain’t like a rap video, that’s just a warning.” Rappers’ music videos are known for showing off money and expensive things, and while they may really own ridiculous amounts of assets, real life isn’t as luxurious as it seems. The song does end on a good note, though, a rarity for the boys’ discography. The last few bars explicitly offer positive advice to fans, “when life gets hard, keep on marchin’ on, even if the finish line is far or you have to push the car, keep on marchin’ on.”

122 Days

122 Days is a song from the album I Want to Die in New Orleans, which was released on September 7, 2018. This day was 122 days after May 9, or 5/9, which is the boys’ record label, so there is some speculation that this is where the title comes from, as there aren’t really any allusions to this number in the song, or in the rest of the album.

In the song itself, the boys are questioning their identities and existence as a whole. They don’t feel like they fit in with other people, and don’t really want to anyway, but this leads to a sort of crisis. At one point Ruby even says, “who am I, Freud?” as if famous psychologist Sigmund Freud could solve his problems. As the song continues, Ruby keeps saying he “doesn’t want the life you live, I don’t want the f**king kids,” which transitions into a beat drop for $crim’s verse, and perhaps the most memorable part of the song, “ask me if I’m happy, stupid motherf**cking question.”

$crim expresses similar thoughts to Ruby, but he confesses that he does, in fact, want to live a normal life. He recalls his life going wrong from a young age, dealing drugs on his bike, and addiction to those drugs was soon to follow. He says he “just wants some happiness, to live a normal life again,” and to “talk to my cousin like he actually my cousin,” likely referring to how the boys wouldn’t be where they are without doing business together, but in turn this has made them more of business partners than cousins.

Meet MR. NICE GUY

This song appears to be about coping with a heartbreak by relapsing on drugs. $rim begins the song by saying, “double the cup to cut the stress in half, guess who the f*ck just left,” with “doubling the cup” being a reference to the lean, a beverage made by mixing different prescriptions. He regrets the past but knows that there’s nothing to do except move on, but he doesn’t know what that means for him (“got a long way to go, I don’t know, I don’t know”).

On Ruby’s verse, he says that he’s been contemplating suicide and that he does drugs because it’s the only way he knows how to keep living. It feels like he dies when people leave him, and “delusions keep me going, illusions keep me hoping.” The two come together to finish the song, saying “suicide been on my mind, pour my heart on the concrete every f*cking time.” They regret being vulnerable with people who only took advantage of them. 

…And to Those I Love, Thanks for Sticking Around

This song could easily be attributed to the rap duo’s massive success, as it was trending on TikTok. If you don’t listen to them, you definitely know this song from the short-form video app. Throughout the song, the boys battle with themselves because they don’t want to continue life as it is, and feel like death is the only option to be at peace. 

Ruby begins the song, singing “take me home, take me home, it’s the one place I can rest in peace.” He’s always felt out of place and doesn’t know how to deal with the uncomfortable feeling of being an outcast. He’s “burning down all of my bridges, dig a moat, now I’m finished,” as if self-sabotage is the only way to deal with tough times. $crim feels the same way, and wonders, “what the f*ck do I do when sabotage is all I know? I dug myself my own grave in this hole.” All they do know is that “these old habits will kill me quick.”

Conclusion

$uicideboy$ has an amazing success story. Two cousins had a passion for music, and brains that seem to plot against them. They decided to channel their dark thoughts into their music, and it paid off massively. By doing this, they garnered fans who feel the same way they do and have heard their emotional lyrics screamed back to them countless times. 

The overwhelming sense of understanding they’ve been able to give fans, and have it returned to themselves, has given the duo a reason to keep going. The inspiring story of $uicideboy$ and their addictive beats makes it hard for fans to go a day without their music. Picking
the best $uicideboy$ songs is not an easy feat, and any of them could be argued to be their best work.

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