Scottish high-school dropouts conned their way into $60,000 record deal by pretending to be an L.A. rap duo
A Scottish rap duo masqueraded as two musicians from LA and managed to sign a record deal with Sony
Two Scottish rappers masqueraded as musicians from California and got 'their own back' on the industry.
After facing difficulties being taken seriously in the London rapping industry as a result of their Scottish accents, Gavin Bain and Billy Boyd decided to adopt American identities - going by Silibil and Brains McLoud a.k.a. Silibil N'Brains.
The pair met at Dundee College, however, they ended up leaving to focus on their rap dreams.
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They heard about Polydor Records searching for the next Eminem in London and so headed down to try out in 2001.
Gavin told The Courier: "We ended up winning about 80 battles to get us to the front of the queue and in to the venue.
“We were so high on the confidence beating so many people, we thought we would just walk through."
However, when they got in front of the label, they 'rapped for 20 seconds' before the label 'just started laughing'.
Billy told VICE they decided they 'either had to give up or do something crazy'.
So, Gavin 'came up with this character' and recorded one of the duo's songs in an American accent and 'convinced' Billy to do the same.
Without his rap partner knowing, Gavin then entered the song into a competition and it won.
He continued: "I got an email from a major label, ANR at Sony, to meet us in London and so finally convinced Bill that we would go down on the Friday and be these American characters, get the record deal and head back to Scotland. It was so naïve, we didn’t think it through at all."
The meeting 'didn't go great', but they got a gig out of it and after that, developed more of a back story and characters for themselves.
Instead of being a rap duo from Dundee, Scotland, the pair were now a double act from San Jacinto, California and ended up receiving so much more attention, they were able to move to London.
Their backstory was 'manic', including 'being taught how to rap by Eminem' and having 'travelled around America'.
And after Island Records showed interest in the duo, they ended up getting taken on by manager Jonathan Shalit.
Telling the music manager and chairman of InterTalent Rights Group they needed money or would have to return to the US, Gavin boldly claimed: "Well, we don't get out of bed for less than £70,000 ($89,000).
Despite Gavin's 'false confidence' and how he would've taken $12k - with Billy going 'mental' - Shalit agreed and the pair received around $44k each.
Oh, and in 2004 then they got signed by Sony UK too.
In BBC Storyville documentary The Great Hip Hop Hoax, the pair revealed: "Two singles and an album essentially. So I think that was like £50,000 ($63,000) and when the album was ready, £100,000 ($120,000)."
The duo went from strength to strength for around a total of two years before they came off stage after opening for Eminem and D12 at Brixton Academy to find their lawyer waiting for them - he'd found them out.
Silibil N'Brains was over - however, Gavin does still write and produce music and the pair did briefly reunite in 2013 for album Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.
UNILAD has contacted Sony for comment.
Poppy Bilderbeck