Hailing from Brooklyn, New York, Delivery Boys are an alternative Hip Hop collective known for their high-energy sound, infectious bounce, and rebellious DIY ethos.
Emerging out of the mid-2010s New York underground scene, the group originally bonded as close childhood friends, taking their moniker from their early days working delivery jobs around the city. Rather than adhering strictly to traditional East Coast boom-bap, their music blends punk-infused energy, trap percussion, and sharp melodic hooks.
The group consists of four core members: LOSTBOY BK, Max Gertler, Goldwood, and YGB.
The Hip Hop Museum caught up with Delivery Boys to talk about connecting with Paul Wall, their infectious, high-energy personas, the importance of old-school Hip Hop in their sound, and more.
Adam Aziz: Your TikToks rapping over classic Hip Hop beats blew up, but you’re too young to be considered ‘old heads.’ How did you first get into that era of music?
Goldwood: Just growing up in New York City, you’re exposed to it a lot. No matter what you do or where you go, you’re going to hear it.
I’ve got older siblings that really put me on from an early age. I know I had at least some part in showing LOSTBOY some of the stuff that I was rocking with back in the day, but that stuff never dies in the city, no matter how old the music gets. Like, it’s timeless, so it sticks around and you hear it everywhere, and you appreciate it because it’s part of the history, it’s part of the culture.
Hip Hop started in New York, so it feeds into everything that happens to this day culturally, musically, fashion-wise, everything.
YGB: My dad is a Dancehall DJ, and he grew up in Brooklyn. Some of my oldest memories of listening to music are of my dad putting on Slick Rick in the car on long rides when my sister and my mom fell asleep. ‘Cause he would play like the quote-unquote “bad sh*t” when everybody else was sleeping, so I could hear people curse and sh*t like that. He used to put on Bad Boy records. He used to put on Biggie.
The first CD I ever had was a Bad Boy compilation, and it had the song “Flava in Ya Ear” on it. And that’s why I was like super excited to do the “Flava in Ya Ear” flip on TikTok, because like that was one of the first Hip Hop songs I ever really, really enjoyed.
AA: Watching your videos, groups like Leaders of the New School and Wu-Tang Clan immediately come to mind for their energy and distinct individual styles. Did you model yourselves after any specific collectives, or where does that inspiration come from?
Goldwood: It’s funny because when things started popping off, we were compared to like every possible group. We get compared to Beastie Boys, Odd Future, and Wu-Tang.
When we first started it, we weren’t trying to really like model anything, but we were really into Pro Era, A$AP Mob, Odd Future, stuff like that.
In terms of the authenticity and the wide array of swag that we have as a group, that just came to be because that’s just the way we are. Like we’ve been friends forever, been a group for a long time, and we always knew that something that set us apart was that we each have our own flavor, and we each have our own style. Like, I don’t know about you, but a group where everyone does the same thing and sounds the same and looks the same and acts the same, isn’t that exciting.
Like even back in the day, like The Beatles, right? Like they each had their own swag. It was like the quiet one, the pretty one, whatever, whatever. We’re not exactly like that, but we don’t try to box ourselves or each other in. Like we’re very free in terms of the recording and the swag and everything. We all have similar interests, so it all works.
AA: Looking at your early press photos, your visual style and presentation have clearly evolved over the years. How important is image and aesthetic when building a following today, and how do you view that side of the game?
Max Gertler: As we’ve gotten older, our style has been more ourselves and what we actually like, and less actually trying to appeal to what we think other people are going to like. And I think that has actually been translating a lot better than like, “Oh, like you got to be wearing this brand, and like this and that.” We’re just like trying to wear stuff that we f*ck with.
Goldwood: The group’s been around for a long time, and we’ve gone through so many iterations stylistically and musically. We’ve tried so many different things, especially when we were younger and had a little less direction. It all fell into place when we realized that, at the core of everything we were trying to do, it was just like classic Hip Hop. The people we look up to, the city we grew up in, our friends, the people we were around, like just that classic New York swag: baggy pants, Timberlands, Air Force 1s, whatever it is. That fell into line because through trying everything, that just always felt like home.
AA: Hip Hop often feels like it’s missing the fun it once had. Are you consciously trying to bring that element back to the culture?
Max Gertler: It’s honestly second nature, but I will say the difference between being in a group versus being solo is like, if I’m making a song by myself, I’m probably more inclined to do some sad sh*t, whereas like, you know, like there’s not like four guys who are all sad at the same time.
I think the group dynamic definitely helps. We were friends before we started rapping together, and like if we ever stop rapping when we’re 200 years old, we’ll still be friends.
YGB: I also think that that part of the fun that comes across on camera also leads right to the authenticity of it and just us being ourselves, because we know, like, what you’re supposed to look like as a rapper, but we can kind of like know that we’re really good at rapping, so if we’re going to have to make these TikToks and if we’re going to have to put out like a bunch of videos online, we might as well just be ourselves in them.
Goldwood: I feel so grateful that the thing that’s working the most is just being freely ourselves. If we didn’t know the camera was on, and there was some secret camera in the studio while we were working, it would probably look exactly like the videos we put out.
AA: How did you guys link up with Paul Wall?
LOSTBOY BK: He found us on TikTok, and he was like, “Dang, y’all really appeal to what I love about Hip Hop.” And that’s the thing that blew my mind the most, and still blowing my mind is like, people who you would never think are fans of the type of music that we make tap in with us. Like Bobby Flay hit us up and was like, “I love what y’all are doing.” G Perico, an LA legend who makes LA music, current music, hit us up and was like, “I love what y’all are doing.”
It goes to show that at the core of all this was the ’90s boom bap that came before a lot of stuff, and then the genre grew. I think that’s the reason why Paul Wall really messed with us, cuz that sh*t is his roots; it’s everybody’s roots.
AA: Why do you think it’s important Hip Hop has its own Museum?
Goldwood: Hip Hop is one of the most important, if not the most important, artistic and cultural movements of all time. You can go to Brazil. You can go to France. You can go to Japan and see people who love Hip Hop and wish they were from New York. It came from a unique place, and it bled into everything. You see Hip Hop in everything. Obviously there should be a Museum. It’s the most important art form of all time.
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