The Northern Boys
OriginSutton Coldfield, England
Genres
Years active2022–present
LabelsSindhuworld
Members
WebsiteOfficial Northern Boys Twitter

The Northern Boys are a British hip hop group from Sutton Coldfield in England. The trio is composed of rappers Norman Pain and Patrick Karneigh Jr., along with a dancer known only as Kevin. Since their 2022 formation, The Northern Boys' music has achieved popularity across social media platforms, including TikTok. As of January 2024, the group has released six songs/singles: "Party Time", "Nobody Likes Me", "Give It to Me", "Sexy Train", "F the World" and "Robot Man".

Biography

The Northern Boys was formed by the London-based music collective Sindhuworld in 2022.[1][2] Both Karneigh and Pain supposedly met while working as teachers at Bishop Vesey's Grammar School. Prior to the Northern Boys, both had solo music careers, having releasing solo content via Sindhuworld and making guest appearances on Pete & Bas tracks as part of the Snooker Team collective.[1] Kevin, the third member of the group, does not appear on vocals but is featured in the band's music videos as a dancer.[1][2] The Northern Boys originate from Sutton Coldfield in the West Midlands.[2] They have described their compositional technique as "bang[ing] out ideas in drunken stupors," resulting in a distinctive stream-of-consciousness lyrical style.[2]

Music

On September 15, 2022, The Northern Boys released the music video for their debut single "Party Time" (titled onscreen as "Northern Boy") on YouTube.[3] The music video, filmed locally in Sutton Park, quickly achieved more than 400 thousand views on YouTube and two million on TikTok within a week.[1] The song's highly vulgar lyrics were rapped over the instrumental to Estelle's song "American Boy."[3][2] Kevin had suggested that they choose a dance beat for the song rather than a more typical rap track so that he could dance to it.[1]

Reception of the song was largely positive. Entertainment.ie described the song as "one of the darkest yet funniest songs we've heard in a long time" and praised the music video as a "work of art."[4] Vulture called "Party Time" a "certified banger" with "disarmingly frank, funny lyrics about sex, drugs, partying, and the crippling mental-health issues stemming from repressed white English masculinity."[3]

The Northern Boys' next song, "Nobody Likes Me," sampled from "Acceptable in the 80s" by Calvin Harris and was released in October 2022.[5] Them magazine reported favorably on its TikTok popularity from LGBTQ+ users, who appreciated a line from the song's lyrics describing a sexual encounter with a trans man.[6] GRM Daily, which praised The Northern Boys as "some of rap's unlikeliest heroes," said that the song "slaps."[5] The song was later pulled from streaming services due to the unauthorised sample of Harris' song; however, the song remains on the group's YouTube channel.

The Northern Boys released three new singles in 2023, starting with "Give It to Me". This one made a more in-depth exploration of LGBTQ+ themes in its music video (released on March 23, 2023), and it was described by GRM Daily as "fun, cheeky, and will have you bopping along."[7] The music video for their song "Sexy Train" was filmed at Euston railway station and was released on YouTube on July 6, 2023.[8] This was followed four months later by "F the World", which saw the Northern Boys explore an "anarchistic and punk-influenced sound" and included footage of their live performances in the song's music video.[9] "F the World" received some attention in the rock music community, and Ultimate Guitar listed it at number thirteen on their "20 Best Songs of 2023" list, writing, "With a stream-of-consciousness lyrical style and a provocative attitude, the trio made waves online, exploring controversial topics in their songs and even taking on a punk edge on 'F the World.'"[10]

A review at The White Pube highlighted the distinctly English themes of anger and embarrassment in the band's work – "I can’t think of anything more deeply English to represent us [at Eurovision]...I want art that admits there’s a badness growing over us plebs like the mould in the beige houses we rent from jobless kings and queens" – and described the band's depiction of class, gender and race as a key part of their appeal.[11]

Discography

Singles

  • "Party Time" (2022)
  • "Nobody Likes Me" (2022)
  • "Give It to Me" (2023)
  • "Sexy Train" (2023)
  • "F the World" (2023)
  • "Robot Man" (2024)

Other appearances

  • Pete & Bas – "Window Frame Cypher" (2020)
  • Pete & Bas – "Window Frame Cypher Pt. II" (2022)

References

Notes

  1. ↑ Known mononymously in promotional material; no last name publicly given.

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Klee, Miles (September 24, 2022). "The Northern Boys, Rapping Retired U.K. Teachers, Break Down Their Filthy Viral Hit 'Party Time'". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on September 24, 2022. Retrieved April 9, 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Haidari, Niloufar (October 12, 2022). "Hanging Out With the Northern Boys, the UK's Finest Retiree Rap Act". Vice. Archived from the original on October 12, 2022. Retrieved April 9, 2023.
  3. 1 2 3 Alter, Rebecca (September 22, 2022). "It's Time for Northern Boy Autumn". Vulture. Archived from the original on September 22, 2022. Retrieved April 9, 2023.
  4. ↑ Murphy, Lauren (September 27, 2022). "This NSFW rap music video by retired teachers might be the funniest thing you've ever seen". Entertainment.ie. Archived from the original on September 27, 2022. Retrieved April 9, 2023.
  5. 1 2 "Pete & Bas affiliates The Northern Boys drop off new banger "Nobody Likes Me"". GRM Daily. October 28, 2022. Archived from the original on October 28, 2022. Retrieved April 9, 2023.
  6. ↑ Factoria, James (November 10, 2022). "Transmascs on TikTok Are Loving This Song that Finally Objectifies Them". Them. Archived from the original on December 8, 2022. Retrieved April 9, 2023.
  7. ↑ Yaregal, Bizu (March 23, 2023). "Watch the Northern Boys return with "Give It To Me"". GRM Daily. Archived from the original on March 23, 2023. Retrieved April 9, 2023.
  8. ↑ "The Northern Boys Board the "Sexy Train" in Latest Visuals". GRM Daily. July 7, 2023. Archived from the original on July 8, 2023. Retrieved July 7, 2023.
  9. ↑ "The Northern Boys say "F The World" on latest release"". November 6, 2023. Archived from the original on November 8, 2023. Retrieved November 11, 2023.
  10. ↑ "UG Awards: 20 Best Songs of 2023". Ultimate Guitar. December 21, 2023. Retrieved December 21, 2023.
  11. ↑ "The Northern Boys". The White Pube. April 23, 2023. Archived from the original on April 24, 2023. Retrieved April 26, 2023.
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