bbno$

Alexander Gumuchian (/ɡʊˈmuːtʃiːɛn/; born June 30, 1995), better known as bbno$ (pronounced baby no money),[4] is a Canadian rapper, singer, and songwriter from Vancouver, British Columbia. He is best known for his collaborations with rapper Yung Gravy as well as his 2019 single, "Lalala" with producer Y2K, which has reached over 600 million plays on the streaming service Spotify.

bbno$
Birth name	Alexander Gumuchian
Born	(1995-06-30) June 30, 1995[1] Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada[2]
Genres	Hip hop[3] R&B[3]
Occupation(s)	Rapper singer songwriter
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	2015–present
Associated acts	Carly Rae Jepsen Yung Gravy Enrique Iglesias Y2K Lentra So Loki
Website	bbnomula.com

Early life

Gumuchian was born in Vancouver in 1995.[2] He was home schooled before he began high school.[5] While growing up, his mother had encouraged him to learn piano but he had always struggled with music theory.[6] Gumuchian claims that he was good with rhythm and that he enjoyed playing Djembe drums, but did not listen to music for recreation until the age of 15.[6]

Career

2014–2016: Broke Boy Gang and SoundCloud

Gumuchian started working with music after experiencing a back injury which prevented him from pursuing his dream as a professional swimmer.[4][7] He became interested in rapping and music production in 2014 when experimenting on GarageBand with a group of friends.[8] Gumuchian began simply making music for enjoyment with this group of friends who later deemed themselves Broke Boy Gang.[4] After five or six months of performing live as a group and releasing multiple tracks online, the group broke up.[4] He began posting tracks on SoundCloud in September 2016 under the moniker of "bbnomula" where he quickly gained millions of streams and followers.[9][4] He gained popularity in China where he sold out his first few "back-to-back" headlining tours.[2] He credited his overseas popularity to the Chinese dance crew TFBoys, after one of the members, Jackson Yee, danced to the track "Yoyo Tokyo" at his own birthday party.[10]

2017–2018: Baby Gravy EP and Bb Steps

In 2017, Gumuchian released his first EP, Baby Gravy, as a collaboration with Yung Gravy,[11] shortly before releasing his debut studio album, Bb Steps, and his second collaborative EP, Whatever, with So Loki in 2018.[12][13]

2019: Recess, "Lalala" and I Don't Care At All

In early 2019, Gumuchian released his second studio album, Recess, which draws inspiration from the original Disney show of the same name, and includes features from Y2K and Trippy Tha Kid.[14][15] Many tracks off of Recess gained millions of streams on Spotify.[10] Gumuchian and Y2K have been recognized for marketing their single "Lalala" online by using various websites and online apps, namely Tinder, Instagram meme accounts, TikTok and Craigslist.[16][10] The song was able to peak on over 20 charts around the world and gain over 400 million streams and 500,000 sales in the United States.[17][16][18]

Later in 2019, Gumuchian would go on to release another album, I Don't Care At All. The album featured various pre-released singles, "Slop", "Pouch", and "Shining On My Ex", the latter of which featured frequent collaborator Yung Gravy. The album was solely produced by Y2K.[19]

Artistry

Musical style

Gumuchian has described his own music as “oxymoronical rap” that is "ignorant but melodic".[20]

Influences

Gumuchian grew up listening to straight bass dubstep and house music from names like Datsik and Excision, before listening to hip-hop artists, namely Tupac, Gucci Mane and Chief Keef.[6] He has cited Yung Lean and Pouya as his main inspirations as a white rapper.[8][21]

Personal life

Gumuchian lives in Vancouver but has previously lived in Kelowna where he received a degree in human kinesiology at University of British Columbia Okanagan in 2019.[21][6]

Discography

Studio albums

Title	Details	Peak chart positions
		CAN [22]	US [23]
Bb Steps[12]	Released: July 12, 2018 Label: Self-released Format: Digital download, streaming	—	—
Recess[14]	Released: January 25, 2019 Label: Self-released Format: Digital download, streaming	—	—
I Don't Care at All[24]	Released : November 7, 2019 Label: Self-released Format: Digital download, streaming	88	—
Baby Gravy 2[25] (with Yung Gravy)	Released : February 14, 2020 Label: Self-released Format: Digital download, streaming	—	188
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released.

Extended plays

• Baby Gravy (2017)[11]
• Whatever (2018)[13]

Singles

Year	Title	Peak chart positions										Certifications	Album/EP
		CAN [26]	AUS [27]	FRA [28]	IRL [29]	NZ [30]	SWE [31]	UK [32]	US [33]	US R&B [34]	US Rap [35]
2018	"Money Conversation" (with Y2K)[36]	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—		Non-album single
	"Thankful" (with Y2K and Lewis Grant)[37]	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—		Recess
2019	"Pouch" (with Y2K)[38]	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—		Non-album singles
	"Cheesy" (with Warhol.SS and Dilip)[39]	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
	"Lalala" (with Y2K)	10	16	18	37	16	58	32	55	22	19	RIAA: Gold[18] ARIA: Platinum[40] RMNZ: Platinum[30]
	"Bad Boy" (with Yung Bae & Billy Marchiafava)[41]	84	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—		Bae 5
	"Slop"	—	—	—	—	—[upper-alpha 1]	—	—	—	—	—		I Don't Care at All
	"Shining on My Ex" (with Yung Gravy)[43]	—	—	—	—	—[upper-alpha 2]	—	—	—	—	—		I Don't Care at All and Baby Gravy 2
	"Iunno" (with Yung Gravy)[45]	—	—	—	—	—[upper-alpha 3]	—	—	—	—	—		Baby Gravy 2
2020	"Welcome to Chilis" (with Yung Gravy)	—	—	—	—	—[upper-alpha 4]	—	—	—	—	—
	"Off the Goop" (with Yung Gravy & Cuco)[48]	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
	"Out of Control" (with [e-mail] and Lentra)[49]	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—		Non-album singles
	"Mememe" (with Lentra)[50]	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
	"Quarantine Freestyle" (with Lentra)[51]	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
	"What Would Baby Do?" (with Lentra)[52]	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
	"Bad Boy" (with Yung Bae, Wiz Khalifa and Max)[53]	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
	"Astrology" (with Lentra)[54]	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released.

Notes

1. "Slop" did not enter the NZ Top 40 Singles Chart, but peaked at number 40 on the NZ Hot Singles Chart.[42]
2. "Shining on My Ex" did not enter the NZ Top 40 Singles Chart, but peaked at number 25 on the NZ Hot Singles Chart.[44]
3. "Iunno" did not enter the NZ Top 40 Singles Chart, but peaked at number 21 on the NZ Hot Singles Chart.[46]
4. "Welcome to Chilis" did not enter the NZ Top 40 Singles Chart, but peaked at number 40 on the NZ Hot Singles Chart.[47]

References

1. "bbno$ discography". RateYourMusic.
2. Fox, Isaac Nikolai (February 27, 2018). "This is how bbno$ got big in China – and why he's never going back to school". Good Juice Box. Retrieved 2019-09-07.
3. Lamarre, Carl (July 3, 2019). "Emerging Hip-Hop/R&B: Megan Thee Stallion, Y2K and Bbno$ Make Chart Moves". Billboard. Retrieved 2019-10-13.
4. Lyazov, Valentin (November 7, 2018). "Meet bbno$: The Definition of Fun Rap". Underground Underdogs. Retrieved 2019-09-07.
5. "Y2K, BBNO$ release official video for LALALA". Thisfunktional. Retrieved 2019-09-10.
6. Harvey, Brodie (September 3, 2019). "FROM MEMES TO THE MASSES: THE WILD RISE OF BBNO$". Lyrical Lemonade. Retrieved 2019-09-10.
7. Nazarian, Andrea (25 January 2019). "Bbno$ Is Having More Fun Than You". BeatRoute. Canada. Archived from the original on 7 October 2019. Retrieved 31 October 2019.
8. Bernstein, Sarah (October 12, 2016). "bbno$ Talks about The Rap Game". The Urban Hustle. Retrieved 2019-09-12.
9. "bbnomula". SoundCloud.
10. Fu, Eddie (July 11, 2019). "In Search Of: Bbno$' Y2K-Produced Hit "Lalala" Is Just His Latest Viral Success". Genius. Retrieved 2019-09-12.
11. "Baby Gravy – EP by Yung Gravy & bbno$", Apple Music
12. "Bb Steps by bbno$", Apple Music
13. "Whatever by bbno$ & So Loki", Apple Music
14. "Recess by bbno$". Apple Music.
15. Mike (January 28, 2019). "Bbno$ Unleashes Some Heat With New Project, "Recess"". Daily Chiefers. Retrieved 2019-09-12.
16. Leight, Elias (July 24, 2019). "How Y2k and bbno$ Turned 'Lalala' Into a Hit, One Tinder Match at a Time". Rolling Stone.
17. "Lalala by Y2K and Bbnos – Music Charts". ACharts.
18. "American single certifications – bbno$ & Y2K – Lalala". Recording Industry Association of America. September 6, 2019. Retrieved September 9, 2019.
19. "bbno$ Releases "I Don't Care At All" Album". HotNewHipHop. Retrieved 2019-12-15.
20. Nazarian, Andrea (January 25, 2019). "Bbno$ Is Having More Fun Than You". BeatRoute Magazine. Archived from the original on October 7, 2019. Retrieved 2019-09-12.
21. "THHGURU Exclusive Interview: BBNO$". TheHipHopGuru. July 28, 2017. Retrieved 2019-09-12.
22. "Bbno$ Chart History: Canadian Albums". Billboard. Retrieved March 24, 2020.
23. "Bbno$ Chart History: Billboard 200". Billboard. Retrieved March 24, 2020.
24. "i don't care at all by bbno$". Apple Music. Retrieved 2019-11-08.
25. "Baby Gravy 2 by Yung Gravy & bbno$". Apple Music. Retrieved 2020-02-14.
26. "Bbno$ Chart History: Canadian Hot 100". Billboard. Retrieved March 24, 2020.
27. "Y2k & bbno$ – Lalala". australian-charts.com.
28. "Le Top de la semaine : Top Singles (téléchargement + streaming) – SNEP (Week 36, 2019)". Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique.
29. "IRMA – Irish Charts | Week 36, 2019". Irish Recorded Music Association.
30. "The Official New Zealand Music Chart". Recorded Music NZ.
31. "Veckolista Singlar, vecka 38". Sverigetopplistan. Retrieved September 20, 2019.
32. "UK Top 100 | Sep 27, 2019". Official Charts Company. Retrieved September 28, 2019.
33. "Bbno$ Chart History: Hot 100". Billboard. Retrieved March 24, 2020.
34. "Bbno$ Chart History: Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs". Billboard. Retrieved March 24, 2020.
35. "Bbno$ Chart History: Hot Rap Songs". Billboard. Retrieved March 24, 2020.
36. "Money Conversation - Single by bbno$ & Y2K on Apple Music" – via iTunes.
37. "Thankful - Single by bbno$, Y2K & Lewis Grant on Apple Music" – via iTunes.
38. "Pouch - Single by bbno$ & Y2K on Apple Music" – via iTunes.
39. "Cheesy - Single by bbno$, Warhol.SS & Dilip on Apple Music" – via iTunes.
40. "ARIA Australian Top 50 Singles". Australian Recording Industry Association. September 30, 2019. Retrieved September 28, 2019.
41. "Yung Bae Shares New Single "Bad Boy" Feat. Bbno$ and Billy Marchiafava". RESPECT. Retrieved 2019-11-01.
42. "NZ Hot Singles Chart". Recorded Music NZ. October 28, 2019. Retrieved October 26, 2019.
43. "Shining On My Ex - Single by bbno$ & Yung Gravy on Apple Music". Apple Music. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
44. "NZ Hot Singles Chart". Recorded Music NZ. November 18, 2019. Retrieved November 16, 2019.
45. "Iunno - Single by Yung Gravy & bbno$ on Apple Music". Apple Music. Retrieved December 2, 2019.
46. "NZ Hot Singles Chart". Recorded Music NZ. December 9, 2019. Retrieved December 7, 2019.
47. "NZ Hot Singles Chart". Recorded Music NZ. January 27, 2020. Retrieved January 25, 2020.
48. "Off The Goop - Single by Yung Gravy, bbno$ & Cuco on Apple Music". Apple Music. Retrieved February 14, 2020.
49. "Out of Control - Single by [e-mail], bbno$ & Lentra on Apple Music". Apple Music. Retrieved March 19, 2020.
50. "Mememe - Single by Lentra & bbno$ on Apple Music". Apple Music. Retrieved March 19, 2020.
51. "Quarantine Freestyle - Single by bbno$ & Lentra on Apple Music". Apple Music. Retrieved April 7, 2020.
52. "What Would Baby Do? - Single by bbno$ & Lentra on Apple Music". Apple Music. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
53. "Bad Boy - Single by Yung Bae, bbno$ & MAX on Apple Music". Apple Music. Retrieved July 17, 2020.
54. "Astrology - Single by bbno$ & Lentra on Apple Music". Apple Music. Retrieved July 17, 2020.

External links

• Official website