Aussie teen rapper Skux profiting from Adelaide’s real life gangsta rap wars

Adelaide’s reignited youth gang wars appear to be playing out on YouTube and in the ARIA charts with teens boasting about gangs, cash, designer clothing and stabbing rivals in the neck.

Skux’s tracks say he is a member of the KBS and not afraid of ‘5’er’ rivals.

Adelaide’s youth gang wars appear to be playing out on YouTube and in the ARIA charts with the lyrics of teen rappers glorifying stabbing and shooting while they offer cash prizes on TikTok to teens who promote their music.

One rapper called Skux, a teenager who says he is from Kilburn but now lives in Sydney, sings that he is a member of youth gang KBS, also known as Killa Block Squad. He has said the lyrics should not be taken seriously.

Another rapper, who features on a YouTube channel that appears to be named after rival gang 051, posted a defiant music video just days after an alleged stabbing at Craigmore. There is no suggestion he was responsible.

In the Skux track Throw Away Bars, which made the ARIA Hip Hop top 10 chart last year, he says he is a KBS member, raps “don’t forget that” while adding he is dressed in “Louis V, with a blick tucked” – blick is often used as a slang term for a pistol.

He then says he will “cut ya’ throat” and “watch ya’ blood run slowly” while dancing with wads of cash, groups of girls and, at one stage, a limousine.

“We’re KBS, f..k them leg shots, we leavin’ ’em dead,” he says in the song’s final verse.

Skux’s ARIA-charting Throw Away Bars features him in limousines and with groups of girls. Image: YouTube.

Operation Meld gang wars between 051 and KBS and interstate gang BDK. The street gangs are often, but not always, young people of Sudanese heritage. Artwork: Steven Grice,

In another track, his co-rapper Trex Da Menace mentions KBS half a dozen times before Skux raps about “dipping” someone “30 times in the neck” and “leaving someone blue” – “dipping” is sometimes used as slang for “stabbing”.

Skux warns rivals “the 5ers” he is not afraid of them and he has to teach a “fat c... not to f... with the thugs”

In another Trex De Menace collaboration, Skux, who has 234,000 monthly listeners on Spotify, raps “We dip the c... He called out Mumma, we should have dipped him harder”.

In another track, Skux says “N... quiet down as soon as KBS in the building” and “KBS … get hard up on my gang” before saying “Yeah I’m needing to go stab more”.

Skux offers $500 or $1000 giveaways for Tiktokkers who want to make videos about him or his tracks. Image: TikTok.

Skux has 61k followers on TikTok and some of his music videos have close to a million views on YouTube. He recently ran promotions on social media offering prizes of up to $500 for the best video featuring him or his music.

A Tiktok search reveals a series of videos posted by young females lyp-syncing to his tracks.

Separately, Police Commissioner Grant Stevens confirmed this week that recent machete attacks in the northern suburbs of Kilburn and Eyre were being investigated by Operation Meld.

The taskforce was established in July 2022 to combat gang-related violence, particularly within parts of Adelaide’s Sudanese community.

In an interview with Channel 7 the sister of the victim of the Eyre attack said the conflict was because the 16-year-old boy was mistaken for his older brother who she alleged was a member of the 051. The sister claimed the boys who broke into the house were from the KBS.

A 13-year-old boy told The Advertiser the armed group that broke into a Kilburn home early on Sunday morning were members of KBS and were after his 16-year-old brother because he was friends with people from a rival gang.

In 2022, SA Police said the largest of the groups – 051 – had a core membership of between 20 and 30 youths.

A YouTube channel with the name 051 Records features artists including a rapper who was stabbed in Craigmore last year and taken to hospital with life-threatening wounds. He posted a defiant rap music video on social media days after the stabbing.

The rapper has posted songs with a disclaimer saying they are for “entertainment purposes” and that “lyrics should not be taken seriously”.

His songs include lyrics that rival rappers are “rapping about guns they don’t have” and that Skux has “never lived on the streets”.

Skux and his management label Biordi did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

Some of Skux’s music videos, but none mentioned in this story, come with a disclaimer that says “we do not promote gang violence” and that “any type of material used in the making of this video were for entertainment purposes only”.

Trex De Menace and 051 Records did not respond to requests for comment.

The Advertiser is not suggesting Skux, Trex De Menace or any artist featuring on 051 Records are responsible for any of the recent or past incidents involving the two gangs.

Originally published as Aussie teen rapper Skux profiting from Adelaide’s real life gangsta rap wars