“A ‘no flex zone’ is an area where a lot of people can be themselves, live their life, get their money,” explains Swae in his high-pitched clipped voice. Poolside, the smell of marijuana floats across the water as the boys explain their philosophy. “I want to disappear and be on an island somewhere where no one knows me and I’m rich as hell and I don’t have to do shit for the rest of my life,” Jimmy muses. “I want to have a street named Swae Lee, it doesn’t need to be a busy street,” Swae grins. They harbor lofty goals: Swae says he would have loved to work with Elvis or Bob Marley, but that Madonna is still on his wishlist. Record sales doesn’t seem to be affecting their earning power: The duo are set to play stadiums this summer, supporting Cash King Nicki Minaj’s tour and are already grossing some $25,000 per solo show according to PollStar Pro. 1 on the R&B/Hip-Hop chart but has moved a modest 200,000 copies. “And just keep dropping them,” Jimmy finishes. To overcome it, they have a plan: “Drop the album. Now they face the challenge of being more than their catchy hooks. In person, they are as energetic as their roving melodic verses, constantly completing each others’ sentences. 'No Flex Zone' boasts over 89 million YouTube views, which pales in comparison to 'No Type''s 166 million. Instead, under Mike Will, Rae Sremmurd (which spells Ear Drummers backwards), cooked up platinum hits that became dancefloor anthems-and viral successes. The duo clarify that they never peddled narcotics, but “the path our family was on, it would have been so simple.” “We were either supposed to be in school or selling drugs,” continues Jimmy. “My first job was, like, McDonalds,” Swae remembers, peering through his twists.

It was a brave move, considering they had already upped sticks to Atlanta once before but had to return to Tupelo when they weren’t successful. Olive Garden, Jimmy at a Toyota factory – and drove East in 2013. The brothers left their jobs in Tupelo, MS – Swae had been working at an The duo met an acquaintance tangentially related to Ear Drummers and started trading beats, eventually receiving a call imploring them to move to Atlanta. “We’ve been doing it since we were kids – we would make the song and put together a cool little video and put it on YouTube and promote it,” says Jimmy in the gravelly voice of a smoker.

Rae sremmurd this could be us live