Silibil N’ Brains In The Great Hip Hop Hoax (Not Exactly What You'd Call "The Black Experience" In Business)

 Frank Zappa always said, in the new scheme of things, this was destined to happen - repeatedly:

Silibil N’ Brains were going to be the biggest rap duo since Outkast. They were two kids from California who could spit with an angsty nu-metal flow. Think The Offspring meets Busted - all middle fingers, messy rooms and cargo shorts. After touring the world, they were spotted tearing it up in an East London den and signed to Sony with a £75,000 retainer and all the studio time they needed. They were a priority signing, meaning the label thought their first album was destined for No.1. 

The only problem was that Silibil N’ Brains weren’t who they said they were. Billy Boyd and Gavin Bain had never been to California. They were two lads from Dundee on benefits, in debt and determined to hang the music industry by its own pretence.    

They were bitter from an early brush with fame when, after a 12 hour Megabus down to London for a label audition, they were laughed away as “the rapping Proclaimers.” So, they went home, found a small town on the West Coast and decided to tell the world that they met at a rap-battle in San Francisco. They concocted lies, bought clothes, perfected accents, and became Silibil N’ Brains. They kept up the accents and embroidered the lies for two years. Sony fawned over them; they partied with Madonna, went on Popworld and had AAA passes at the Brits. The more they played up their give-a-fuck jackass personas, the more the executives lapped it up, splashed their cash, and invested their money on two people who were, essentially, duping the recording industry.    

Their acting and commitment was, at times, astonishing. From the moment they woke up, they had to remain in character. To their manager, to their friends, even the people they dated. One part of their elaborate lie is that they were friends with D12 from back in the day. But when they ended up supporting the group at a show in Brixton, they thought they were going to be rumbled. Boyd had to walk over to Proof, give him a hug, and ask how he was doing. Luckily, Proof was to polite to say anything, and gave him a hug back.   

Eventually, the drugs, booze and all the lying caught up with them,...

 But the record companies never did. 

 The so-called experts at discovering talent,...