$uicideboy$, Long Term Effects of SUFFERING | Album Review 💿

Hip-Hop duo $uicideboy$ shine on their latest album, the dark, honest, pain-laden, and unapologetic Long Term Effects of SUFFERING.  

N

eed an intriguing, if dark-tilted rap act to add to your music collection? Look no further than New Orleans duo 🎙 $uicideboy$. Cousins 🎙 Scott Arceneaux Jr. and 🎙 Aristos Petrou work seamlessly to concoct music that is edgy, grimy, pessimistic, unapologetic, and violent.  While some of those characteristics are indeed disturbing, the inspiration, often, are elements of their own lives, which have had their share of issues.  Once more, on their latest album, 💿 Long Term Effects of SUFFERING, Arceneaux Jr. and Petrou use various personas, including their best known, 🎙 $crim and 🎙 Ruby Da Cherry, to deliver short, yet intriguing performances.  Long Term Effects of SUFFERING runs a skinny 33 minutes in duration but the Boy$ shine throughout the LP’s 13 tracks.

---

“Degeneration in the Key of A Minor” 

$uicideboy$ commence Long Term Effects of SUFFERING morbidly.  On ✅ 🎵 “Degeneration in the Key of A Minor,” 🎙 Lil Oozing ($crim) and 🎙 Lil Hurt (Ruby) essentially characterize life on earth as paralleling hell.  That’s charming! “Throw my lifeless body down the haunted wishing well,” Oozing spits on the first verse, adding, “My carcass starts to swell, the explanation’s that I fell.” Oh my! As for Lil Hurt, things remain dark over this 🎙 2 Low Key sampling opener: “Come and play down by the river, got fifty-nine killers in masks / Scarecrow deliver the pull of a trigger while you fucking die and I laugh.” Tone setter, indeed.

“The cult of the Grey*59, make up your mind.” 🎵 “If Self-Destruction Was an Olympic Event, I’d Be Tonya Harding” is one of the best song titles you’ll here in 2021.  Harding, of course, is a renowned figure skater, with her life being captured in the 2017 film, 🎦 I, Tonya. The personas from the Boy$ on this joint? 🎙 Yung $carecrow and 🎙 Tony with the Tommy ($crim) and 🎙 Lil Waaaaaa (Ruby).  Like the title suggests (at least the self-destruction part), the boys keep it dark to the nth degree, over a banging, sampled backdrop. Among the best moments? When Lil Waaaaaa alludes to 🎵 “Independent” by rapper, 🎙 Webbie: “I-N-D-E-P-E-N-D-E-N-T, do you know what that mean?”

---

“Life is but a Stream~”

🎵 “Life is but a Stream~” follows, continuing the pessimistic vibe of Long Term Effects of SUFFERING.  We wouldn’t have it any other way, of course! “My life is a movie, but I bought the tickets too late,” 🎙 Prince of Tides (Ruby) asserts, continuing, “Missing the show, refund me they won’t /… My sorrow is comforting, and I’m in pain.” The highlight might be 🎙 Junior ($crim), who gets personal on the second verse regarding drug use, family drama, and an abusive, controlling girlfriend.  Three songs in and Long Term Effects of SUFFERING is nothing short of intriguing.  Worth noting, the production remains dark, though not to the same degree as “Degeneration in the Key of A Minor” or “If Self-Destruction Was an Olympic Event…” “Life is but a Stream” has a more melodic quality.

“Ain’t nobody fuckin’ with me like they used to / Open seat in the coupe, so I scooped you.” ✅ 🎵 “5 Grand at 8 to 1” provides some contrast, bringing jazz-rap into the fold.  Safe to say, the production bangs hard. The extent of the jazz is confined to the backdrop, as 🎙 OG Worry ($crim) and 🎙 Maire de Gras Ville (Ruby) remain true to their respective personas.  Still, both rappers bring a compelling flow with interesting rhymes, and I enjoy hearing them spit over jazz.

✅ 🎵 “WE ENVY NOTHING IN THE WORLD.” Might be the crowning achievement of Long Term Effects of SUFFERING.  This is a must-hear B-A-N-G-E-R.  🎙 Lil 2/3rds ($crim) kicks things off on autopilot over a menacing trap beat.  Of course, the bars he delivers are deranged and violent: “Christ be the king, you gon’ leave with a blessing / Empty the shells, hear a pin drop / Scrimmy bipolar, flip and I flop.” Indeed, as he goes on to assert, “Scrimmy insane.” 🎙 Ruby Rougarou doesn’t let up either: “Ruby been the boss for like ten centuries (Ten centuries) / I’m the alpha, omega, and every letter between (Letter between).” Woo! “Ruby insane” too!

---

“Lighting the Flames of My Own Personal Hell” 

On the brief 🎵 “Lighting the Flames of My Own Personal Hell,” 🎙 Northside Shorty and 🎙 Southside Shorty are on board.  Northside ($crim), speaks about his come up, asserting, “From pentagrams to Instagram, how I mainstream the 6.” Southside (Ruby) has a similar, hard-knock past: “Mixin’ up milligrams with millimeters, nine in the chamber / Got thirty inside the heater, bloody nose, I smell the reaper.” From there, we move to advance single, ✅ 🎵 “New Profile Pic,” where $uicideboy$ sample themselves, twice! Notably, the chorus is sampled from Yung Plague’s (Ruby) rhymes.  As far as the verses, for the first time on the album, the personas are merely $crim and Ruby da Cherry, their two best known and most used.   As always, the Boy$ are on, eating up one of the more electrifying backdrops of the album.  “Big dog, no heart, we ain’t built the same, nah,” $crim bites, adding, “Big gars, Xan’ bars, fucking up my brain, yeah.”

✅ 🎵 “Bleach” welcomes 🎙 Trap House Scrim and 🎙 Spooky da Scary. Calling “Bleach” dark would be a vast understatement.  The production is eerie and unsettling, something both rappers use as fire.  While both verses are awesome, Spooky da Scary ‘takes the cake,’ going TF off on the second verse: “They can run, they can hide / They can swim, they can fly / But I’ll hunt ‘em day and night / For the rest of my life just to watch ‘em die.” Now that’s cold AF! 🎵 “Forget It” marks the longest record from Long Term Effects of SUFFERING – the only song running north of three minutes.  Notably, it’s more melodic, even gentler, at least contextually. This is a welcome change of pace, showing that $uicideboy$ have significant range.  Here, we welcome 🎙 Anthony Mars ($crim) and 🎙 Norman Atomic for the first time this album.

---

“Avalon”

🎵 “Avalon” restores the edge of Long Term Effects of SUFFERING.  For just the second time, it’s all $crim and Ruby Da Cherry.  Both drop aggressive, unapologetic bars.  A couple of surefire gems from Ruby: “Tryna save me, it’s all because I suck her titties like a baby” and “Give me bread, watch how quick I start to duck (Quack).” There’s no back-down on certified banger ✅ 🎵 “Materialism as a Means to an End,” which has this nasty-ass beat.  Again, it’s $crim and Ruby, ‘doing the damn thing.’ I love the way $crim hold things down on the first half, before Ruby masterfully contrasts with his more overt, ‘in your face’ approach.  “Gunnin’ and fuckin’, I murdered her pussy and her friend,” $crim brags on the first verse, while Ruby accurately characterizes himself as “Stubborn, motherfucker, you know Ruby never listens.”

The beat on penultimate joint 🎵 “Ugliest” recalls the 90s.  It’s dusty and old-school – refreshing in 2021.  Also, those jazz-rap vibes return for the first time since standout “5 Grand at 8 to 1.” Interestingly, there’s a mix of personas: Northside Shawty, 🎙 Oddy Nuff da Snow Leopard, and Lil Waaaaaa.  Those $uicideboy$ are literally characters. ✅ 🎵 “The Number You Have Dialed is Not in Service” concludes this short but sweet album superbly.  We get more of that melodic sound, though “The Number You Have Dialed is Not in Service” retains a pessimism.   For the first time, we welcome 🎙 Raindrop Walka (Ruby) and 🎙 Hearse Boy ($crim).  “I keep on damagin’ myself, tryna fill the void,” Raindrop asserts, later adding, “All these drugs up in my nose, I taste the drip, that shit’s so sour.” As for Hearse Boy, he’s filled with misery.  “My therapist made me promise before I end it all / That her phone would be the one I choose to call, crying, asking / “Is it really worth it?” That’s heavy.  Positively, despite the shit that disturbs both, on the outro, they are positive: “When life gets hard / Keep on marchin’ on.”

---

Final Thoughts 💭

So, how does Long Term Effects of SUFFERING stack up? All in all, this 33-minute album is enjoyable and consistent from start to finish.  $uicideboy$ do an awesome job of delivering songs that fit the album title.  Even though much of this LP is dark and there’s ample pessimism, Arceneaux Jr. and Petrou own and sell it like champs.  Also, again, give them credit for the hope exhibited at the end of closer, “The Number You Have Dialed is Not in Service.” Long Term Effects of SUFFERING gets my seal of approval.

✅ Gems 💎: “Degeneration in the Key of A Minor,” “5 Grand at 8 to 1,” “WE ENVY NOTHING IN THE WORLD.,” “New Profile Pic,” “Bleach,” “Materialism as a Means to an End” & “The Number You Have Dialed is Not in Service”

---

🎙 $uicideboy$ • 💿 Long Term Effects of SUFFERING • 🏷 G*59 • 🗓 8.13.21

[📷: G*59]

---