bbno$: On staying independent, Fornite and his next album
The rapper talks upcoming plans to get into the studio and finish his new album, due this October.
Photo: Isla Kerr for The Indie Scene
As he walks over to us in a busy garden in Central London (it’s 19°c, so the British have come out in droves), it’s clear we won’t be getting the outlandish character of bbno$, but rather Alex Gumuchian, the laid-back, humble man – who is turning the big 3-0 in two months (“and 4 days”, he points out) – that feels much more like an old friend than a Canadian rapper who has gone viral more times than we can count. It’s almost like we’ve met before, but perhaps that’s down to his online presence – I don’t think I’ve opened X without seeing a meme from him first. “I just sit on my phone making memes constantly,” he laughs, signalling a typing motion with his hands.
Photo: Isla Kerr for The Indie Scene
He assures us he won’t get mobbed, telling us, “I don’t get recognised, my fans don’t leave the house.” But, as we walk around, the whispers of “is that bibinos?” and other variations of his name are resounding as he gets stopped on almost every corner. My favourite interaction is a fan asking him for a photo, telling him his friend is inside the Bubble Tea shop we’re standing outside of, and a ‘huge fan’. Alex courteously tells him to “bring him outside,” just for his friend to come out, take one look at Alex, and not react in the slightest. His friend even nudges him, encouraging, “It’s baby no money, I thought you were a fan”, but, alas, still no reaction. These interactions only add to the public persona of bbno$ and are laughed off like they’re second nature.
He’s just travelled on the London Underground (specifically the “Liz Line”, as he calls it in a text) from Brick Lane’s TikTok famous Beigel Bake to film a video for his new food review account ‘winedine59’ on TikTok, rating popular spots on tour either a five or nine. Unfortunately, for the majority of the British, we ask him if he’s had a Nando’s – it’s the question everybody wants to know – and he tells us “it’s mid”. You know what? He might just be right. Perhaps next he ought to dig into true British culture and go to a Wetherspoon.
He casually name-drops fellow Canadian Michael Bublé, whom he met at the Juno Awards earlier this year, and he explains that, “He’s been messaging me a lot of dad jokes recently, I think he’s bored.” We flirt around the idea of a collaboration, perhaps, and he says he’d love to “sing out of pocket lyrics in a crooning style,” but admits it’s “my friend Yung Gravy who has the perfect voice to do that”.
Yung Gravy, aka Matt Hauri, met Alex during their SoundCloud days back in 2016, and they’ve now released three albums together under the name Baby Gravy. The process of creating their music together is different from his solo work, as Alex tells us, “He gets in his super ‘I gotta write this perfectly’ mode, where he freestyles it perfectly and it sounds exactly like it would if he were to write it. Whereas, for me, I take my time writing things. Well, not that much time… As long as it sounds good, I’m like ‘hey, let’s move on’.”
Photo: Isla Kerr for The Indie Scene
Having already doubled in size this year (we’re not even at the halfway point) and seeing 2019’s collaboration with Y2K Lalala reach a billion streams in February, the sky really is the limit for Alex, who has set his sights on reaching an even larger audience by the end of the year. He casually tells us, “I want to break the internet for 48 days straight.” To do this, he plans to release six songs, as well as do six cosplays, post 48 pieces of long-form content and thousands of reels. “My goal is to be posting a Fortnite meme and be like ‘hey, I need a Fortnite collab’ until I get one,” he laughs.
What you see is what you get with bbno$; he’s honest and self-confessed “chronically online,” even if to a fault, causing him to ruin a deal with Fortnite that would have seen him have a character skin in the game, admitting to us that it wasn’t a joke – he did in fact “mess that up” by sharing a screenshot of an email from Epic Games. Understandably – as anyone would – he got a little overexcited.
The name bbno$ comes from Alex being the baby of the family and being wise with his money, which we witnessed in full force when he tried on a hat in a shop, encouraged by us, only to reveal it’s price tag was £500 – money he wasn’t willing to spend, and we don’t blame him. Instead, he ended up buying a jazzy tie adorned with tartan stars, and has gone on to wear it on tour, making sure to get his money’s worth and supporting an independent designer. He’s not that frugal, though, as he offers to buy us all coffee when we make a pitstop.
With around 240 songs released and having just written “around 300” for his next album, it’s safe to say Alex isn’t restrained by a record label and is completely in charge, telling us “they’re all pissed off with me” because of the way he does “stiff business”.
Although he’s used to being in control when it comes to his music, he’ll be signing his next nine songs over to an independent label for distribution, while still staying independent himself: “They’re like the first team that I’ve ever met that gets it. With radio pluggers, it’s honestly kind of a waste of money – I paid for one and it got three spins on [BBC] Radio 1. So now I know where to allocate my money and time, for instance; to take a flight to Tampa to hold two posters up of Sonic [The Hedgehog] and Shadow in front of Charlie [MoistCr1TiKaL] did more for my career and $500 than $500 could have ever spread anything anywhere, right?”
“Understanding what moves the needle and how the internet works and flows has given me the ability to stay independent. If I didn’t want to do any of the shit that I do, and I didn’t find the sociological effect of pressing upload and seeing why a video does well interesting, and I didn’t wanna make content, then I would be on a label, but I just don’t think there’s a point because guerrilla marketing is literally more beneficial nine times out of ten.”
Despite the songs he has in his locker, perfection is something he strives for while remaining his most authentic self online, with plans to get into the studio in August and finish his next album, which we’ll see land in October. So far, he has two songs confirmed on the tracklist, but doesn’t actually know if any of the singles from this year will find their way onto his seventh album. He does know, however, that it’ll be all “party bangers” and then he’ll lock in for two to three months next year and focus on creating a whole album of “proper singing” songs, that will follow on from the success of 2024’s meant to be.
Photo: Isla Kerr for The Indie Scene
Alex never gets his hopes up when it comes to working with other musicians, as he tells us, “Every time I reach out [to collaborate], they just ghost.” A lot of fellow musicians don’t see him as a serious musician, thanks in part to his image and lyrics that will shock your mother (I speak from experience), so perhaps 2026 will be the year that he proves them wrong. “I think it’s because I don’t take myself seriously,” he states, however obvious. “I’m lackadaisical, but it works.”
There are levels to the bbno$ machine. Behind the unorthodox character, there’s a millennial (he’s aware, don’t worry) that listens to jazz and alternative rock, who works out to the sounds of Laufey and beabadoobee, and tells us that his favourite band is men i trust.
He keeps his family close; if he has three or more days off, he’s straight back home to say “what’s up?” to his mum and dad. He tells us, “My dad is an accountant at heart, so he helped with my accounting early on and then passed it on. He oversees everything, which is really nice. But a lot of the time, it’s kind of frustrating because he makes things go slower, but it’s still all love.”
What he does, he does well, and Alex will only see his fanbase increase, as well as the loyal ones stick around, as he continues his unmatched work ethic leading up to 2026. He tells us, “The people who are fans of me will be fans of me for a very long time, because I speak to them, and it’s not the average Joe that you see on the street. They’ve been waiting for this spokesperson, weirdo like me.”
For Alexander – aka bbno$ – 2025 has been the year to push himself. And it’s paid off.
Read the interview in our first print issue, out now, and available to order here.
All photos by Isla Kerr.
