Dundee, Scotland residents Gavin Bain and Billy Boyd had aspirations to become the next big thing in Rap; but regardless of their ability to rhyme, they were told at a London audition that their accents were too thick.
In an attempt to be taken seriously, Bain and Boyd adopted new identities, reports NPR.org. Bain assumed the identity of “Brains McLoud,” while Boyd became “Silibil.” WIth the new identities came a new backstory: the duo explained that they were from a small town in California, got kicked out of school and went broke in the UK, where they were working on becoming the group Silibil ‘N Brains. Basing their personas on comedians Jim Carrey and Chris Tucker (with corresponding American accents), things began going their way.
“These lyrics were just the same when we did them again in American accents,” explained Bain to Weekend All Things Considered. “There was nothing different, and all of a sudden, people were saying, ‘Oh, wow. They’re just as good as Eminem.’ But in the Scottish accent, they’re saying, ‘Oh, no. They don’t have any talent.’ “
Eventually, Bain and Boyd signed a $350,000 record deal with Sony UK, and recorded three albums on the label. Songs like “Losers” poked fun at those who fell for their massive deception.
“We kind of liked to put little hints about what we were actually doing,” said Bain, “because we knew as soon as the record came out, we were going to come clean and that would make sense. It was a very naive plan.”
The lies began to have a real impact when the two young men claimed to be friends of Eminem and D12. When their manager told them they’d be joining the group on tour, the duo did their best to play it off, says Bain.
“We walked over and we started throwing high-fives and cuddling them and acting like we were the best of friends. And they just went along with it,” he says. “To everyone else, it just really looked real.”
While Bain and Boyd were able to get by with that line, an appearance on TRL lead to fans and friends revealing on message boards that the two were from Scotland. And while they worked to shut the websites down, the lies were beginning to pile up. “We were so in love with these characters,” he says. “We couldn’t get out of the character. It was complete insanity.”
The duo eventually split up, recalls Bain. Boyd wanted to remain in the group and marry his girlfriend in Scotland, while Bain didn’t want to endanger the group. The argument lead to the group’s demise, and the loss of their label deal.
“I always said when I was younger, if I hadn’t been happy with music by the time I was 25, then I would kill myself,” said Bain, who lived on in his alternate persona for two more years, before nearly overdosing. “And that date had really crept up.”
After living through his American persona for some time, Bain came out with a new band, Hopeless Heroic, in 2007 – claiming it was the first time he had been sober on stage.
“That was the aim of it,” he says. “That was the message, to get people off their asses and doing what they want to do and never give up.”
ummm…yeah…so…no one cares…only in hip hop can these 2 idiots get a 350,000 dollar deal and MC’s like Ras kass saigon etc struggle to get their music out…smh
Ras kass is a wackass and Saigon is ok
Rasskass is fuckin ill, what are you talking about?
LIL WAYNE GOT A DEEP OL BOOTY HOLE,YA HEARD ME PLAYBOI.
Im glad Boosie is in jail, on less wack rapper on the streets. I also hope that Lil Wayne dies…..seriously.
Never compromise your cultural identity for nothing! If ur Scottish, fucking rep that man-skirt to tha fullest and watch braveheart 20 times!!
lol
lolol some of yall are just crazy..lol
Music industry is a bitch !
true
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I think it’s cool when mcs have secret identities and alias’, it just gives a chance for the music to be the main focus. I mean if lady gaga didn’t have all the bells and whistles, you really think anyone would give a shit about her music?
That was smart
cant hate on that they milked sony for the cheese.never heard the music and dont know if i want to but they did pull a fast one.
I’m from Glasgow but i’ve never heard anything about this lot and the fact they’ve actually done 3 albums!! You want to hear some really good Scottish freestyling with the full on Scottish accent then check out this : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugDKTjHYLqs – Respek BA v Stig. Scotland v England and guess who wins? Yep! Scotland again! If you can follow the accent then you will love this!
American or Scottish there shit is tough to listen 2
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fuck these scottish fucks. Scotland shouldnt even be considered a country, no single sporting achievment EVER.
We’ve won the Gold for the womens curling at the winter olympics. Colin McRae was one of the rally driving greats and had his own series of computer games untill his untimely death.
Probably tons more sporting greats that i can’t be jeered to find so instead I’ll tell you that Scotland invented Cycling, Golf, Shot Putt, hammer throwing, curling and shinty.
We’ve also invented ATM cash machines, Adhesive postage stamps, Anaesthetics, antiseptics, Artificial Diamonds, Pneumatic Tyres, the Decimal Point, Fax Machines, Halloween, hypodermic syringes, The Kelvin scale of temperature, Microwave Ovens, Penicillin, Radar Defense System, Thermos flasks, Refrigerators, Quinine – a treatment for malaria, Sulphuric Acid, The telephone, the US Navy – Founded by John Paul Jones, a Scotsman. Read about his exploits in any US history book, Colour photography, EKG (electrocardiography), Beta-blockers, Insulin, Tarmac, Ultrasound scanners, fingerprinting, the cloud chamber, The MRI-body scanner, The first ever cloned animal and a whole load more! Not bad for the northern part of a rock with less than 5.5 million of us….London alone has a population over 7 million!!!
What has America given us? Fast food, morbid obesity and a shocking amount of atmospheric pollution. Did you know the Diesel engine was originally invented by a German to run on peanut oil? But the good old US of A struck oil shortly after and thought “Why run our cars for peanuts when it’s cheaper and easier to dig up dinosaurs to burn and release pollution into the atmosphere from billions of years ago?”
So don’t knock my bit of rock you c*ck…..Why do I even care about what an Eminem fan has to say?…..Go play with a gun in public to make yourself look “kool” and get arrested.
Sporting Achievement? Really? Scotland is home to Rangers Football Club, the worlds most successful football team as well as others like Celtic and Aberdeen who have both been dominant in bug euro contests.
Plus take a look at any GB Olympic team and you will see a lot of Scots such as Sir Chris Hoy.
More examples? Oaky
Andy Murray, Ranked at his peak at 2nd in Tennis
Rugby, Scotland has won the 6 nations a goo few times
F1, Force India’s top driver is Scottish
Dennis Law, Footballer, won the Ballon’dor
And many others in sports in not into but their achievements are still valid.
Compared to the USA, 300 Million, Scotland’s 5 Million have a way higher Sporting success rate.
They have some nerve doing what they can to succeed in a music industry, guys all they did was put on an accent. People trying to expose that they were from Scotland are the ones that were wrong, so what they use an accent to succeed, why try to tear them down, guys to be honest no rap will sound good in a scottish accent, it just wont.