What’s Poppin yall; Bones is one of if not the most successful rapper when it comes to being independent and in the underground scene. Many would say he’s the King of Hades of the underground and they wouldn’t be wrong; he’s been in the scene for about a decade, with a huge fan base, and touring to sold-out audiences in both the states and in Europe, just what made him so successful? Before we get into it please click that like but also subscribe and hit the notification bell so you never miss a video. Also, follow me on Instagram, it's on the screen I do first reaction mini album reviews and other content that is too short to make it to the YouTube channel. Elmo O’Connor who went under the name Th@ Kid back in the day; was living in a rural town in Michigan after his parents moved there from California when he was just 7 years old.
The furthest back I could find music that he released was in 2010 when he was just 16 years old and he would connect with rappers Chris Travis, Xavier Wulf, and Eddy Bakey online. He dropped out of high school and moved across the country back to California to live with his older brother Elliot who is now the manager of Shallowater boyz. This is where things would really start to pick up quickly both for Bones and all of those rappers who would come to copy his style. He switched the name to Bones in 2012 and he would record his music videos with his brother Elliot on a big 90s video camera on Hi8 tapes, the kind we used to have as kids. He would then edit them by plugging the camera into the TV and pushing the rewind and fast forward buttons as well as twisting the cables to manipulate the effects. This style would be copied by everyone both in the underground scene and mainstream post-2013 but this got him so many fans because of such a unique approach to music videos that nobody else in rap was doing; and being unique is a common motif in his career. He was the first and founder of what people would describe as cloud rap, emo rap, experimental rap, with the spacey and sad instrumentals, all of those styles we’ve seen people like Lil Peep and XXXtentacion take inspiration from, just two of the biggest artists, there are too many to name right now. People in that area that also took some inspiration from this were rappers like Spooky Black and Yung Lean; a lot of Bones production at this time was taken from overseas producers who he had never even met but just chatted with on skype and they had a much more broad range of instrumentals than American producers who would just follow what was hot over here, and many listeners were tired of hearing the same tired style of mainstream music, so finding his music was like a goldmine, literally, there was so much music. 
He has released over 50 albums or mixtapes; consistency is one thing he has never stopped and that is something I have so much respect for because everyone wants everything so quickly. Most of your favorite rappers don’t even have 10 mixtapes and everyone just wants to blow up off of their first tape or first couple of songs. He never tried to rush the process; and for some of you on this video who may not have listened to him might be wondering; if he’s got 50 projects what the hell do I even start with. I’m gonna list just a couple of them and one or two of my favorite tracks from each and you can start from there then expand. The first I would say you should start with is Garbage; this album perfectly demonstrates the various different styles Bones can take on and got him a lot of attention at the time it was released. My standout tracks are Butterfly, LayMeInTheRiver, and Corduroy.
After that you should listen to the PaidProgramming project; Blink187, Heavy Fog, and Severe Weather Warning are my favorites, the production on this whole entire thing is like a trip. And the third to get you started would be Rotten; with the songs HDMI, SadlyThat'sJustTheWayThingsAre, and LavenderScrub. Bones would get his first official mainstream look in 2015 when ASAP Rocky samples his song Dirt on his At Long Last ASAP Album for the song Canal St. while featuring him as well that put many people onto him. Rocky wasn’t the first rapper to take influence from him but he was the first to not only give him credit but put him on a track with him and when they performed on Jimmy Kimmel’s Live stage, Bones would come out in his signature clothing style; with a black hoodie and hiding his face with his hands, but also refusing to change the words to his part of the song. But then he would remove the hoodie and come in for the next part screaming and full of energy. This is what I believe is another instrumental factor to his success and it's how anti-industry he is. He’s never been signed even after labels have been coming for years trying to get him on a deal; he almost has none of his music on iTunes or Apple music, it’s only been the past couple of years he has been on Spotify, his music releases were usually just a Soundcloud link and a Mediafire link for those interested in downloading. He’s the legitimate rebel to the industry and all its standards; not some Chance the Rapper who is being funded and backed up by huge corporations and his fans love this.
People always want to champion someone that has a cause and believes in it, especially when it goes against the mainstream thought of you have to sign or you’ll be broke. He has his own transnational collective called team sesh with a whole list of members that I’ll put on screen; the only one’s I’m really familiar with is Curtis Heron, Drew the Architect, and Drip-133, I’ve only been looking into Grief recently since one of my subs messaged me about him on twitter. It’s almost insane how lowkey he is but at the same time how powerful his fanbase is. For those interested in the money; it’s clear I don’t know how much they make but it's safe to say that Bones makes a significant amount. He isn’t sharing his money with anyone but his elder brother who is his manager and I think he even takes care of booking the shows and all of that. I don’t think he has a booking agent, so profits go directly to him and his merch sells out incredibly quick. He’s had a boot and two sneakers, and tours multiple times a year, in all likelihood if you factor in how much debt most mainstream rappers are in, Bones is far richer than them. Since 2015 Bones has only gotten bigger; while still keeping that same mystique about him he’s always had.
Frequently tweeting one or two-word tweets, titling all his songs by capitalizing the first letter of every word with no spaces in between, and refusing to ever do an interview. His social media presence is the living embodiment of his music; everything you want to know about him can be found there, and in a world where every rapper is extroverted and wants to be talked about, Bones is almost entirely a recluse or a hermit. Coming out only to go on tour or interact with the fans. But much of his success is due to all this, his consistency, his work ethic, and the crazy amount of music he releases and is unlike anyone else. But lemme know what yall think in the comments; how did you first find out about bones? For me it was on twitter someone retweeted one of his music video clips in late 2013. Like and subscribe and hit that notification bell if you enjoyed, thank you for watching peace!
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