Slay Squad

Slay Squad is a collective from Rialto, California — a small city along the historic Route 66 in San Bernardino County, 90 kilometers east of Los Angeles. The group came together as teenagers around shared interests in hip-hop, metal, skating, and photography, and consists of vocalist Brahim Gousse, vocalist Keilo Kei, guitarist Gordo, bassist Stick, drummer Tim Ryan, and DJ Cheeze. They call their sound “ghetto metal” — a self-coined genre label that says more than any critic could. Slay Squad has built themselves up from nothing with an uncompromising DIY ethic reminiscent of Odd Future and Wu-Tang Clan: they write, produce, film, direct, and edit everything themselves, with Gousse as visual mastermind through his production company Gousse Nest. From early releases like Souls for the Feast (2016), they have worked their way through singles like “Mongo” (2020), “Seishin” (2021), “Beam” (2022), “Tote” (2023), and “Fye Fye Fye” (2024) — each one an escalation. They have toured with Nascar Aloe, opened the Chaos & Carnage tour alongside Dying Fetus and Suicide Silence, and played Welcome to Rockville. In January 2026 they got what may be their biggest breakthrough: a feature on A$AP Rocky’s critically acclaimed comeback album Don’t Be Dumb, where the track “STFU” was singled out by reviewers as one of the album’s most explosive moments. They are confirmed for Copenhell, Rock im Park, and a string of European festivals in 2026. Musically, Slay Squad is a violent meeting point between deathcore, trap, hardcore punk, and skate punk. Their influences range from Suicide Silence to Young Thug to Tha Eastsidaz — and it is precisely this breadth that makes them unique. Brahim Gousse’s guttural screams collide with Keilo Kei’s rap verses, while Gordo’s guitars alternate between brutal breakdowns and 808-driven grooves. The song “Beam” was written after Brahim’s father was shot and killed — an event that underscores that the music is not a stylistic exercise but springs from real experience. “Seishin” — Japanese for “spirit” — is about self-confidence and inner strength as melanated people, as the band themselves explain it. It is political, personal, and physical all at once. Live, Slay Squad is chaos in the most constructive sense of the word. Their concerts have earned an almost cult-like reputation in Southern California’s hardcore scene, where the boundary between stage and audience is not just blurred but abolished. The mosh pit is not an addition to the show — it is the show. Copenhell describes them as “a violent collision of hip-hop, hardcore and industrial chaos,” and it is hard to put it better. This is a band that does not ask for permission, and in 2026 is in the process of making “ghetto metal” a concept the rest of the world will have to reckon with.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​