Hermès look.
“I’ve always viewed helping people as something that I just always knew I was put on this planet to do.”
Whenever Alexander Gumuchian is in Vancouver, he makes a pit stop at Pho Tan. The Vietnamese restaurant on Kingsway at Joyce is his favourite. There used to be a location in Kerrisdale, near where he grew up, but the restaurant relocated after a fire a few years ago. Gumuchian, known as bbno$ (pronounced “baby no money”), especially enjoys the soup. It’s a warm reminder of Vancouver, the city he loves. (He also has a song, with Vietnamese rappers Low G and Anh Phan: “Pho Real.”)
Even though he spends half his time in Los Angeles for work or on the road on tour, Gumuchian, 29, still considers Vancouver home. He used to own an apartment in Chinatown but found when he was back in town that he just wanted to spend time with his parents. Home-schooled until attending Magee for high school, he remains close to his Armenian father and Swiss Danish mother, and so now, when he can, Gumuchian stays with his family. It’s a nurturing source of love and comfort for the Juno Award-nominated artist whose music career has exploded to stratospheric heights over the last few years.
Aselectfew jacket and hat; Gucci shirt and Fendi trousers, both from Mine & Yours.
His journey to stardom was the DIY dream of aspiring teen musicians everywhere. After releasing music on SoundCloud starting in 2016 and establishing himself as a social media personality, bbno$ broke through in 2019 with “Lalala.” Featuring producer Y2K with Gumuchian rapping, in his charismatic baritone, cheeky lines over a narcotically groovy beat, to date it has numbered over one billion streams. His lyrics are intentionally outlandish and meant to make you smile: “Bitch, I’m him!” he quips on “It Boy,” before flowing into “Two hundred K got me jumpin’ on stage / All white Benz, see me whippin’ mayonnaise.” The music production, however, is no joke—original and playful, with imaginative beats that experiment with texture and instrumentation, including percussion and brass, all driven by irresistible melodies. He’s released a number of collaborative projects with his friend and fellow rapper Yung Gravy as Baby Gravy while amassing more hits such as “Edamame” and headlining shows across North America, Europe, and Australia. Describing his output as prolific is an understatement with eight studio albums and four EPs so far, as well as the release of half a dozen singles in 2024, including “Two,” and the launch of a clothing line, Funjob.
Louis Vuitton jacket and trousers, shoes stylist’s own.
Loewe shirt and Thom Browne trousers, both from Mine & Yours; Rick Owens shoes from Rader Vintage; watch, necklace, and glasses worn throughout bbno$’s own.
“Right now, it’s kind of go, go, go,” Gumuchian says. “Just make as much money as I can, have as much fun as I can. Do as much as I can right now and then, you know,” he grins, adjusting his signature gold wire-frame glasses, “ideally find a wife and settle down kind of thing.”
Today, he’s sitting on a black leather couch at The Warehouse Studio in Gastown. It’s a bright and crisp winter morning, and he’s dressed comfortably in a sweatshirt and loose pants. Friendly and warm in a way that invites you in, Gumuchian is generously open and self-reflective when he speaks. He mentions later how important it is to him to build real connections with people.
The iconic recording studio, owned by Bryan Adams, is in the Oppenheimer Building, a three-storey Victorian (the oldest brick building in the city) where everyone from Metallica and Linkin Park to the Tragically Hip and Michael Bublé has made music. It’s a landmark of Vancouver and its music history, which bbno$ is now part of. And it’s not just because the city is Gumuchian’s birthplace or that, with a kick-off video for the Whitecaps’ 50th anniversary season and appearances on the Jumbotron at Canucks games, his support of local sport teams has made him a fan favourite. It’s also the genuinely positive impact he’s making on Vancouver, a topic that lights up his face as soon as the subject comes up.
Aselectfew shirt and pants, Valentino belt from Mine & Yours.
Baby’s Bonanza at Malkin Bowl last spring was his idea—he wanted to do something uplifting for the city. As a benefit for the Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre, he recruited performers including Yung Gravy and Haviah Mighty, and raised more than $100,000 for the nonprofit. Afterward, he vowed that all proceeds of ticket sales to his hometown shows in the future would be donated to local charities. There was no big reason why, other than, he shrugs, “Why wouldn’t I do it?” His is an enormous platform and influence, which includes two million followers on Instagram—he intends to use it to do something meaningful. “I’ve always viewed helping people as something that I just always knew I was put on this planet to do,” he says. A second local festival is planned for later this year.
It’s a passion that informs a large part of who he is. A former competitive swimmer, Gumuchian studied kinesiology at the University of British Columbia with an eye on a future in health care. If he’s ended up far from that, there’s no denying the universal healing power of music. And it’s what shifted his own trajectory from athletics.
In 2014, after breaking his back, he began writing poetry, an emotional outlet for him as he navigated a swimming career-ending injury, as well as the end of a relationship. His physical recovery was difficult—it was wintertime; the afternoon darkness didn’t help—and he slid into depression. Still, he insists, his back was only part of the reason he put pen to paper. “The nature of who I am is a little different,” he admits. “I definitely have a different mind, I think, just by default. But relating to the opposite sex has always been difficult for me and, like, I’m just kind of a weirdo. And I was like, ‘What if I started writing poetry?’” He laughs, adding, “Maybe girls would like me more!”
Louis Vuitton jacket, shorts, and shoes; T-shirt and socks stylist’s own.
Dorian Who coat; Hermès jacket (worn underneath) and mules; socks stylist’s own.
The youngest of three siblings, he was more surprised than anyone when he showed a couple of his poems to girls and saw how impressed they were. His older brother, a successful photographer, was “the number one,” and his sister is a “genius, doing her psychology degree,” he explains. And even as a competitive athlete, Gumuchian always felt like he was moving at his own pace. “I don’t think I necessarily got addicted to the immediate validation,” he continues thoughtfully, “but it was just, maybe I have something I can do here. And I started doing it more often. Then met up with a couple of friends one night, and we made a song and I was like, ‘Oh, this is my calling.’”
Tellingly, he also recognized a gap in the local music landscape in terms of an internet scene. He noticed how other artists around the world were using SoundCloud and social media as a platform to share their music but didn’t see anyone really doing that closer to home. For him, it was the perfect way to build momentum with a wide reach. The visual aspect of his work, from music videos to Instagram posts, remains incredibly strong—humorous, colourful, and totally engaging.
“My music, I feel like, has really, honestly, genuinely helped more people than I could have ever helped as a doctor,” he tells me earnestly. “Obviously, linearly, it’s not the same—it’s more just like, hey, it’s an escape, rather than actually the science behind helping someone get over something.”
As even his more introspective tracks—indie guitar-driven breakup ballad “Meant to Be,” for example—feel like they still carry an underlying optimism, I ask him if that’s reflective of his perspective on life. He takes a moment before answering, pushing his hair back from his forehead. “Everyone has their insecurities,” he considers, “but I don’t know. I think maybe I am a half-full kind of guy. I do complain a lot. I have chronic pain and this and that. But even if I’m complaining, I’m just like, fuck it, let’s keep going.”
For Gumuchian, that means writing and allowing whatever comes out of him to come out. After releasing “Meant to Be,” he recalls how many people reached out to him because the song resonated. “My normal bbno$ music is really fun—it’s obviously blown-out-of-proportion ridiculousness. But at the same time, I’m still a real dude, and I have real-life struggles like everyone else. And heartbreak is not fun. It’s very humanizing.”
He’s working on a new project, Alexander, that promises to further highlight his versatility and depth as an artist. “It’s going to be 10 songs of just personal music. And I’ve never really done a project that is more sad-orientated, but I feel like I’m really good at making sad music. It’s almost adjacent to writing poetry because you don’t really have to say anything to mean anything, and it’s open to interpretation. I feel like I have a lot to say, but I have nothing to say at all.”
In the meantime, he is heading out on his It’s Pronounced Baby No Money 2025 world tour—his fastest-selling outing yet, with many dates sold out months in advance—to bring the bbno$ experience to audiences in-person. He’s approaching it as a way to thank those who have supported him all these years. “As long as they have fun, that’s all that matters. I try to put on a good show for my fans that make my life and career as cool as it is,” he says, adding, “I’m really happy. Things just keep on slowly stepping up. It’s very reassuring, and it’s like I’m doing something right, you know?”
His personal mandate to help others is part of the long-term plan. “I want to create a foundation here for less fortunate kids,” he says, leaning in. “Have music workshops and beds, too, if they’re necessary, and health crisis conversations and stuff like that.” Music has been such an important outlet for him—something that’s allowed him to become more emotionally present and confident—and he wants to share that with those who might benefit.
He also wants to be part of making the local music scene more inclusive and connected. It would be beneficial, he says, to have something like a “board of directors” meeting that includes every kind of genre and musician, or an annual party with an open invitation to every kind of artist, no matter “who, what, where, when, how.” It’s something he’s talked about with other local artists, and it’s something the city needs to invest in more, he maintains.
“We buy, like, one-million-dollar chandeliers. Why not just put it towards something actually important, you know what I mean? Like art and culture, and let it breathe a little bit more effectively here. But that’s just the way of the game. I can’t really change the municipality like that, right?”
Or can he?
“Run for mayor?” Gumuchian grins, his eyes lighting up again. “That would be hilarious.”
Aselectfew shirt; jacket, boxers, and boots stylist’s own.
Hermès look.
Read more from our Spring 2025 issue. Set Designer: Rader Turner. Grooming: Win Liu for Lizbell Agency. Assistant Stylist: Hana Pesut. Prop Assistant: Johnny Williams. Videographer: Amani Evans. Video Editor: Kasey Lum.
