Sound Advice: bbno$

Join bbno$ on Sound Advice, the weekly interview series diving deep into artists’ creative process and career growth strategies. In this episode, we discuss the rapper’s experiences going viral on SoundCloud, creating content, building an online — and IRL — fanbase and more.

‍

Welcome to Sound Advice, the series spotlighting artists’ creative process and their SoundCloud journey. We’ll get the inside knowledge straight from the source on how musicians, producers and creatives are leaning into everything SoundCloud offers to elevate their sound, get heard and catapult their careers. Sound Advice is now available in audio format on the SoundCloud Stories profile. 

‍

On this episode of Sound Advice, we’re talking to Alex Gumuchian, better known to most as Canadian rapper, singer, songwriter and meme lord bbno$. He’s truly built his career from the ground up. In 2016, he started uploading trap beats with crazy comedic lyrics to SoundCloud, building up an audience with his catchy and irreverent sex raps, and collaborating with online friends like Yung Gravy, So Loki and Y2K, collaborating with the latter on his 2019 breakout hit, “lalala.” In a recent installment of Sound Advice, Yung Gravy also reflected on meeting bbno$ through SoundCloud, recalling how their friendship began on the platform and led them to team up as Baby Gravy.

In the years following “lalala,” bbno$ has proven that he can do any style; from funky pool party pop, to emo ballads and big EDM bangers; collaborating with everyone from Carly Rae Jepsen and Rebecca Black to Wiz Khalifa and Diplo. But perhaps his greatest skill is the way he’s harnessed the internet, social media and algorithms to gain millions of fans and make money while remaining an independent artist. 

We caught up with bbno$ on a tour bus in the Netherlands for a frank conversation about his history with SoundCloud, DIY marketing and his ethos on making music and having fun. He offers a ton of advice for artists on content creation, touring, collaboration and engaging with fans. If you’re ever wondering how he went from no money to big money, then we’ve got the answers for you.

‍

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO EPISODE OF SOUND ADVICE FEATURING BBNO$

‍

LISTEN TO 'BOOM' BY BBNO$

‍

‍

Things We Talked About In This Episode of Sound Advice

‍

bbno$ Talks Elevating His Live Show, Building a Viral Internet Personality and How Consistently Uploading Music is Key to Connecting With Fans

‍

• We begin the conversation by hearing about bbno$’s recent shows; he’s calling in from his tour bus, where he reflects on his growing fanbase. On this recent run of shows, bbno$ tells us that he can see that the people coming to his shows are more invested in his music than ever before — and that gives him a confidence boost when it comes to making new music. 
• Digging into the inspiration behind his recent music and live show set-up, he recalls a moment at Pukkelpop (a long-running electronic music festival held in Belgium), when he was "embarrassed" to play after Bru-C, a drum ‘n bass MC. Seeing how high energy his show was, with quick track mixes and repeated drops, bbno$ decided to crank up the energy for his own show. 
• Now, he’s begun incorporating drum ‘n bass remixes of his tracks into his live set, and has re-worked the format to keep the crowd more hyped and surprised. His set is “a fever dream rave, stand up comedy shitfest,” he says, with his characteristically silly, self-aware edge. You can check out bbno$’s tour dates here.
• To get to a place where he can tour his music, bbno$ speaks honestly about the hard work it took. As an independent artist, he focuses on consistent content creation to keep his audience locked in: posting a new track a week, every week, for nearly 3 years, he says, is what it took before he felt like an audience clicked with him and his vision. 
• Speaking more about the contemporary discoverability of music online, and how vastly that discoverability has grown over the last 10 years, bbno$ sees himself as a product of a new internet age, where social media algorithms are key to music marketing. 

‍

How Being Chronically Online Has Shaped bbno$’s Music Marketing and Content Creation 

‍

• Back in 2016, when bbno$ was studying in college and making music in his dorm room, he would ask himself a question: “How stupid can we get today?” This fun-loving approach to music-making has guided him ever since. Even his tour bus taps into that energy, with its brightly colored cartoon and anime decals. Whatever “loud” and “obnoxious” thing he can do to get people’s attention and laughs, he says, he’ll do it. It’s an attitude that he’s cultivated through being a chronically online young man and artist. As bbno$ explains, widespread internet access has created a new attention economy for artists, and he sees his music as an extension of how internet culture is evolving. 
• His advice for growing an online fanbase in 2025? Keep your content snappy, bright and topline — with a good hook and a good caption — and most importantly, figure out a way to be constantly engaging your fans in your content. As bbno$ sees it, the public loves to live vicariously through their favorite artists — so let them, no matter the size of your fanbase. 
• With “call to action” content that will tap into what they want from you, bbno$ explains how to drive traffic to your profiles and promote your music. He notes how this approach helps cultivate a connection where your fans feel like they are an integral part of an intimate audience, even if they never see you perform IRL. 
• In that process, though, not everyone is going to like you and your music, bbno$ says — but that’s still an opportunity to get yourself out there. When someone roasts you in the comments section? Take that comment and use it as ironic self promotion. If someone makes a meme of you? Repost it, and ask your fans to make their own versions of it. 
• For bbno$, “no press is bad press” and it’s all about operating with a self-confident mindset. “The world has a lot of hate, so why not go out there being silly and positive?” he insists.

‍

How bbno$ Developed an Audience on SoundCloud and Connected with Musical Collaborators 

‍

• bbno$ got his start on SoundCloud back in 2016, when a culture of experimental, independent rap music was blossoming on the platform. It’s a time that continues to inspire him as an artist: its sense of community, free-thinking ways and ability to collaborate with like-minded independent artists have impacted how he and his team operate today.
• Through SoundCloud, he tells us, he explored music by influential artists such as Gucci Mane, Playboi Carti, Chief Keef, Yung Lean and Denzel Curry, and met artists that he now counts as core collaborators and long-time friends. Fellow rapper Yung Gravy, for example, linked up with bbno$ through SoundCloud DMs, and started on a journey of music-making that continues today.  
• When it comes to using SoundCloud, bbno$’s favorite thing to do is to read through the comments on tracks. As an artist who is keen to tap into real, organic internet fanbases, he finds reading the comments to be a great litmus test of whether an artist is truly making an effort to engage their fanbase. 
• Today, he explains how he makes decisions about which artists to take on tour with him based on this kind of sincere fan interactivity. Those “real organic interactions sell tickets,” he says; translating URL to IRL once again. 

‍

How to Harness Your Unique Voice to Flourish as an Independent Artist, and What bbno$ Has Planned for 2025

‍

• When it comes to giving advice to other independent artists trying to break through right now, bbno$ has some direct and sage advice: put the music out, everywhere, constantly. When it comes to music-making and content creation, you have to keep moving, posting and sharing until you find your unique voice as an artist. 
• “Everyone is cringe, but there’s a fanbase for you — I’m cringe, but I’m free, so have as much fun as you can,” he says.
• Reflecting on how that “cringe, but free” attitude has translated into a fulfilling career in music today, bbno$ brings us back to the tour bus; giving honest advice about how to plan a tour as an independent artist today. You have to “really slug it out” to build hard ticket value as an artist, and to have people care about you enough to come see you perform in person. This is the flipside of cultivating a devoted online audience — will they stay entirely online and consume your music and content for largely free, or will they also spend their cash to come to your show? 
• As bbno$ learned the hard way, in his early days, having a hit track — like “lalala” — doesn’t immediately translate into you being a live draw, so work hard on building a live show that’s as engaging as possible. It’s an expensive undertaking, he admits, but it’s worth it. 
• Looking forward to the rest of 2025, bbno$ reveals that he’s working hard on new music. His latest track “boom” just dropped online, with an accompanying music video, and he’s working on tracks that are in the same upbeat, fun lane. He’s sticking to his own mantra: content is king, keep posting and stay as independent as possible. 

‍

Links and Extras

‍

Follow bbno$’s journey on SoundCloud.

Listen to bbno$’s latest track, “boom.”

Press play on bbno$’s 2023 collaborative album with Yung Gravy, ‘Baby Gravy 3.’

Listen to ‘Baby Gravy 2,’ the 2020 collaborative EP between bbno$ and Gravy, who first connected via SoundCloud DMs.

Check out Yung Gravy’s episode of Sound Advice.

Check out bbno$’s 2019 breakout hit with Y2K, “Lalala.”

Explore some of bbno$’s wide-ranging influences, including Gucci Mane, Playboi Carti, Chief Keef, Yung Lean and Denzel Curry, to name a few. 

Listen to the Party Bangers playlist on SoundCloud Stories.

Never miss an episode and follow the official Sound Advice playlist on SoundCloud.

Getting The Most Out of SoundCloud

‍

• Learn more about using DMs to connect with fellow artists and potential collaborators.
• Learn more about how to make a custom playlist on SoundCloud.
• Learn more about unlimited uploads, available with an Artist Pro subscription.
• Learn more unlocking access to unlimited distribution, available with Artist Pro.
• Learn more about getting heard with SoundCloud’s updated algorithm, available to Artist and Artist Pro subscribers.

To discover additional features a SoundCloud Artist or Artist Pro subscription offers, visit here. To catch up on past installments of Sound Advice and make sure you don’t miss out on future episodes, visit here.

_{CREDITS Host: Vivian Host, Executive Producer: Mike Spinella, Producer: KC Orcutt, Audio Engineer: David “DibS” Shackney, Coordinator: Trevor McGee, Editorial Associate: Lauren Martin}

‍