Homixide Gang don’t have any influences, they only have original ideas. The hip-hop duo’s music — which is as indescribable as they intended it to be — is a concerted effort to make something “that’s never been done before.” Those Slipknot-style masks they wear in their promo visuals? They’re just for show. Neither Homixide Beno! nor Homixide Meechie, the gang’s members, have ever listened to the Iowa Nine. “We just saw a picture of Slipknot on Instagram one day and thought it was hard,” Beno! says.
Though they’ve never even heard “Psychosocial,” and don’t play in Drop G tuning or throw devil horns, Homixide Gang most definitely emanate horns-up attitude as they lean into the darkness, the aggression, the core contours of the heavy-metal genre — and emerge a truly confrontation act.
In late May, fresh off a run of sold-out tour dates in China, the Atlanta-based outfit released their latest mixtape, i5u5we5, via Playboi Carti’s ultra-exclusive and influential collective and label Opium (which is distributed by Interscope Records).
A display of sonic whiplash, crunched-up guitars and WWE references, the 14-track recording features Beno! and Meechie (with a key guest shot from Lil Yachty) trading cutthroat verses over a jacked-up blender of white-hot punk, industrial grind and heavy 808 rage beats. The mixtape — their sixth release in just three years — further proves that Homixide Gang may be one of underground rap’s most tasteful beat selectors.
They’ve only an ear for the most cauterizing, cutting-edge sound — a sound so new it may require a little bit of patience on the listener’s part. But the payoff is worth it. What you’re hearing is the sound of the future.
The musical touchstones are there, from trap and rage, Future to Chief Keef — but the gang has their own description for their sound: snotty.
“When we go into the studio, we just tell the producer to make it ‘snotty’ and they know exactly what we’re talking about,” says Meechie. In Homixide Gang’s world, “snotty” is supposed to transcend words — a catch-all term for punishing production, serrated beats, blown-out trap rhythms. “That’s just what it is,” adds Beno!, “our music is snotty.”
Speaking to them over Zoom, both members of the gang are ultra-polite, almost formal. Then again, they’re relatively new to the interview circuit, and seem slightly wary of the process. Despite their prolific output of music, Homixide Gang have a fairly mysterious cover. They maintain that here with laconic, often one-word responses. For instance, when I ask them about the title of i5u5we5 and the significance of the number 5, Beno! tells me: “It’s just us. Angel numbers.”
As to their background and biographical information, they’re taciturn there, too. They met at an inter-school basketball game; both of them had a mutual friend in a girl from the local area — “but we don’t talk about her,” Meechie says, as they both break into hysterical laughter. The pair soon formed a close friendship that was almost brotherly. They could intuit what the other was thinking and feeling through their facial expressions. Though they’d listen to hip-hop to an almost studious degree, music wasn’t yet in their vision.
“What were we doing in school? Playing sports,” says Meechie. “What were we doing after that?” They both laugh. “Selling drugs.”
They hustled throughout their late adolescence and continued doing so — until their lives changed abruptly, and dramatically, as soon as they hit the studio together. While Beno! had grown up in a family of rap-pers and musicians, the environment was entirely new to Meechie. Still, the near-telepathic bond they’d developed throughout high school had transferred itself seamlessly to their music.
They operated on the same wavelength sonically and spiritually. They recorded a track called “SSN,” a fuzzed-out yet hyperkinetic piece of music that soon made it to the ears of Playboi Carti, by then one of Atlanta’s most famous rappers. Upon hearing it, Carti signed Homixide Gang to Opium, one of the most influential cult labels in the world.
After that, Homixide Gang spent most weekends enduring intensive 24-hour studio sessions, ordering food straight to the booth, and only pausing to go to the bathroom. They released their debut mixtape, 2021’s Snotty World, a few months after signing to Opium, and have since enjoyed a rabid fan base intent on following their every move.
It’s only recently that they’ve really begun to understand their global impact. Last year, they traveled to Europe for the first time. This year, they hit China. Their crowds were rapt: adorning Slipknot pins and forming mosh pits that twisted like tornados. Fans waited for hours outside the venue, desperate to get their picture taken with the group. “I got my braces taken off recently,” Meechie says excitedly, “and I was a fat kid in high school.” He laughs. “So now I love taking photos.” The mask, it seems, might be slowly lifting.
For now, as they gear up for summer tours across the U.S. and Europe, they’re still as tight-lipped as ever. But before we go, the gang whispers amongst themselves. “Should we tell ’em?” asks Meechie. “Yeah,” says Beno!, “Homixide Lifestyle 2 coming soon!”