“Killing 2 Birds with 22 Stones” by $UICIDEBOY$ & Travis Barker (ft. James “Munky” Shaffer)

The main topic the $uicideBoy$ deal with in this track, as the title implies, is death. And the “2 birds” may actually be a reference to the Boy$ themselves. However, where the “22 stones” comes in is unclear. Of course the title was actually derived from the popular expression ‘killing two birds with one stone’, as in using one resource to achieve two goals. However, the way the artists here have flipped the saying gives it almost the opposite meaning. But perhaps the sentiment they are trying to put forth through this song is that of overkill.

And birds do play a role in the chorus and indeed throughout the track. For instance, “doves” seem to represent a symbol of peace and “crows” and “vultures” death. And in that regard, the rappers are ready to “shoot” the doves “one by one” while welcoming the latter two since this track basically features the $uicideBoy$ fantasizing about their own deaths.

Lil Oozing steps in

 And in relation to the above, Ruby da Cherry (under the alias Lil Oozing) dishes out some advice. He advises those responsible for his funeral to bury him ‘10 feet’ deeper so that if he is resurrected, he will be unable to escape the earth. That is his way of saying he is a menace who should remain buried, an idea he alludes to again at the conclusion of the verse.

$crim steps in

Meanwhile $crim (using the name Northside Shawty) brings up the aforementioned vultures. He does so by expressing his desire to be left “in the sunlight” when he dies so that these scavengers can feed on “what’s left of” him. And it can be concluded from his verse that not only is he unafraid of death but actually looks forward to embracing it.

What is “Killing 2 Birds with 22 Stones” really all about?

Overall this is a pretty-wild track dealing with some rather-dark subject matter, but it does not read like Ruby and $crim want to commit suicide or anything along those lines. Rather one may even be able to argue that this track is meant to be humorous. However, when all is said and done, the artists have dealt with some serious, controversial topics, including idolatry (in the intro), church and also death.

Facts about “Killing 2 Birds with 22 Stones”

• G*59 records released this track as part of Live Fast Die Whenever. The aforementioned project is a collaborative EP between the $uicideBoy$ and Travis Barker of Blink-182 fame. It came out on 24 May 2019.
• Of the six tracks presented on the EP, James “Munky” Shaffer, guitarist for the nu metal group Korn, is featured on three, including this one.