HADES (Hungry Artists Don't Ever Stop)

If you watched True Detective, you probably remember a subplot about cultish schools taking advantage of “troubled” kids. It was far from the weirdest thing in the show, but for most of you it likely seemed as fictional as everything else going on around it. But as Austin emcee, producer and label head HADES can tell you, there actually is a vast network of creepy cultish programs taking advantage of adolescents and their parents– he should know, he was forcibly entered into one for 17 months and still suffers PTSD as a result.

HADES and his collaborator Lily Speerbrecker spoke up about their experiences in one of these programs way back on HADES’ debut album I Hate It Here with the track “The Long Con,” but last week one of the largest of these programs, the Midwest Academy, was investigated for large scale sexual abuse of minors and a few days ago it began to shut down operations and lay off workers. Despite this, MWA continues to claim innocence and even launched a crowd funding campaign to counter the investigation, which in turn provoked survivors like HADES to launch a counter-petition. This is also why HADES has decided to revisit “The Long Con” in advance of his similarly themed new album You Can’t Spell Confidence Without Con and self-direct a video for the track, detailing the brainwashing methods of the Midwest Academy and encouraging others to get involved in shutting down other such programs around the country. The video includes info on anti-MWA petitions as well as Speerbrecker’s Safe Teen Schools organization, which is dedicated to breaking the code of silence these programs instill. We are premiering this track in the hopes of helping HADES spread the information on these detestable programs. - OVRLD

Novel idea – artists killing themselves on their first single. What else would you expect from a group called Suicide Notes?

Starring scratch DJ Lroy and producer/rapper Hades, the pair debuts with a video for “Kurt Cobain,” directed by Ben Schneider. The clip finds the latter attempting to murder the former and make it look like a suicide, then offing himself in various ways. That’s interspersed with footage of their alter egos shooting an infomercial pimping firearms and used flip-phones with plenty of babes on set.


Lroy and the girls, on set
Suicide Notes formed last year when the longtime collaborators, frustrated with other musical endeavors, moved in together and started making beats. The project’s focused on the turntable skills of Lroy, who also takes a creative left turn by debuting as a rapper.

“This is a fresh start for Lroy. He’s like a Despot who’s never had an album out,” reveals Hades. “He’s more talented than me, and I’ve been putting out albums my entire life. This is him putting his balls out.”

The group’s name comes from the minor scale on a keyboard.

“Suicide is seven letters and there are seven letters in a key,” explains Hades. “We both predominantly produce sad music in A-sharp minor, so I have my keyboard taped up and it says ‘S-U-I-C-I-D-E’ on those notes. Most of our album is going to be in that key.”

That thread of self-destruction extends throughout their debut EP, slated for release on Hades’ Black Market Pluto label in the fall. Along with “Kurt Cobain,” the free download will also feature a song about another celebrity that took his own life, “Hunter S. Thompson.”

“We’re not celebrating suicide or condoning it,” says Lroy. “We’re celebrating the human condition of being up against adversity and wanting to kill your old self to come into some new shit. If we list anyone’s name as a track, we revere them.”

Hades says the single’s named “Kurt Cobain” because it’s reminiscent of hip-hop that was popular when Nirvana topped the rock charts. In the spirit of Cobain, the tune’s both pop and anti-pop. Verses are rapped from the perspective of each MC’s alter ego – Hades as Frankie Donatello and Lroy as Boo G. Ratchet.

“Frankie Donatello is a very sleazy, conniving, greasy hustler,” explains Hades. “He wears cheap suits and a fake Rolex. He lives with his mama and he takes women home to her house. He’s got grease stains on his wife-beater.”

“Boo G. likes clothes,” Lroy assesses of his fictional counterpart. “He likes to be fresh all the time. He thinks he’s a ladies man, but he’s just a sex addict. He’s a hustler too, and just really arrogant.

“But in a truthful way!”

Can’t get enough? Dig some bonus footage of Frankie Donatello slangin’ cell phones. - Austin Chronicle

Suicide Notes is a fictional Hip-Hop group from Austin, TX. DJ/Producer LROY (Legitimate Rhythms Own You) & Producer/Emcee HADES (Hungry Artists Don't Ever Stop) got together one day at dark times in each others lives. Feeling like they'd almost accomplished all they wanted out of life, it became a running joke to end it all or leave soon from natural causes.

When reflecting on the music catalog that would be left behind, it became clear that there was more to say. Something that could sum it all up.

Boo G. Ratchet & Frankie Donatello came after the failed suicide attempts to help LROY & HADES leave a proper suicide note behind in the form of an album. Boo G. Ratchet is a wannabe aristocrat and barely functioning sex addict & Frankie Donatello is a sleazy, desperate low-rent con artist who lives with his mamma.

Suicide Notes's debut album drops on December 1st on Black Market Pluto. - DopeCauseWeSaid