With a name like 2DeadBoyz, the connection to Outkast, whose 1996 single “2 Dope Boyz (in a Cadillac)” is a staple in the Southern hip-hop icons’ catalog, isn’t lost. The duo—comprised of Flatbush Zombies rappers Zombie Juice and Meechy Darko—was heavily influenced by André 3000 and Big Boi, something they freely discussed backstage at Red Rocks Amphitheatre as part of the historic venue’s annual Halloween show on October 31.
“We definitely love Outkast,” Meechy confirms. “We’re very inspired. The name was inspired by that. We really want to make a song on that [‘2 Dope Boyz’], but you see how the music industry goes and the business, it’s very hard to clear samples. And sometimes when you rap on legendary songs like that, you piss people off. And then they also ask you for 95% of the song.
“We were just talking about how we need another song for the project, and that might be what actually we end up doing together. Don’t be surprised if it’s a freestyle. Shout out to the Dungeon Family, man. Big inspirations in my life and where we are right now.”
Meechy, dressed in a black leather jacket, and Juice, rocking a Tupac Shakur costume, had just performed their new Chuck Strangers-produced single, “Chef Kisses,” for the first time in front of the spirited sold-out crowd. Their unbridled energy onstage coupled with their meticulous rhyming styles were effortlessly captivating, while the Halloween theme of the show encapsulated both the Flatbush Zombies and 2DeadBoyz’s dark aesthetics.
Despite 2DeadBoyz’s well established macabre motif, their views on death drastically differ. Meechy doesn’t want to live past his 80s, but Juice wants the key to unlock immortality.
“Let me tell you why immortality is the stupidest thing ever,” Meechy blurts out. “Think of your hardest month you’ve ever had in your life and the worst you’ve ever felt. Being immortal, you’re going to feel that month a hundred thousand times. I don’t want to see forever. I love y’all, but nah [laughs].”
Juice quickly counters, “It’s something special about being immortal. You can live for centuries, guys. Centuries.”
With that established, the subject turns to psychedelics and their use of LSD, which Meechy says caused him to experience “ego death” as a teen.
“Growing up, I was very strict,” Meechy says. “I was like a military type kid. He [Juice] would tell you I was weird. I was like, ‘Let me just do my research on this shit.’ I went to the library and read a book on all the drugs before I even thought about trying anything and then I made up my mind. Him and Issa from the Underachievers convinced me to try shrooms and LSD for the first time.”
It changed his life. “It made me way more conscious and more self-aware,” he remembers. “I thought I was self-aware back then, but I was honestly a little bit more egotistical and a little bit more ‘main character syndrome,’ and it kind of took me out of that. Maybe too much to be honest. We’re both only children, too, so I noticed some type of weird ego that we have underlying in there. Psychedelics definitely helped get me out of that.”
At this point, the show’s headliner Denzel Curry interrupts the interview—but in the best way possible. The camaraderie between the three rappers, who’ve collaborated on songs like Flatbush Zombies’ “The Glory” and Meechy’s “Lost Souls,” which also featured Busta Rhymes, was comforting, like long lost friends seeing each other for the first time in years. What ensues is a comedic back-and-forth about why Denzel missed 2DeadBoyz’s set, a quick conversation about the venue’s altitude of 5,280 feet, and the advice Method Man gave Meechy when performing with very little oxygen (it’s “drink water,” by the way).
Once Curry leaves, the topic returns to psychedelics, with Juice explaining how he feels they made him a better person.
“I realized I was very immature and ignorant, and I needed to smarten up a little bit and take care of my mind,” he says. Meechy jumps in, “I don’t know if it made me a better person, but it made me a closer person and it made me form a better bond with the people I was around that mattered to me the most at that point in my life.
“It’s like money. What’s in you is already in you, so if you’re an asshole and you get rich, you’re just gonna be a bigger asshole. I think with drugs like LSD and shit like that, it brings out those sides of you. It made my connection with my friends a lot stronger, and we got to really explore music. That was really our main thing.”
Meechy, who was raised in Brooklyn’s Flatbush neighborhood, explains there wasn’t a lot of space to take LSD and walk around without being consumed by the urban jungle.
“We were in apartments, we were in staircases, listening to music and sharing weird information and knowledge with each other,” he adds. “Ego death happened to me again in life without psychedelics, just from life kicking your ass. The ego will die when life really kicks your ass, so you don’t really need a tab or pill to do that. I wish I knew that before. You’re a superhero even without that shit.”
But Flatbush Zombies and 2DeadBoyz were birthed through those experiences and put them on the path to where they are today. Flatbush Zombies, which also includes childhood friend and longtime producer Erick the Architect, released two successful studio albums—3001: A Laced Odyssey (2016) and Vacation in Hell (2018)—and followed up with the Escape From New York EP as Beast Coast (combined of members of Pro Era and the Underachievers) in 2019, among other projects.
Their output as a trio has slowed significantly, sparking rumors of a breakup or even bad blood between the members, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, they sound wildly optimistic about the trio’s future. They are all exploring their individual creativity before they eventually regroup.
“2DeadBoyz is something me and Juice always called each other,” Meechy says. “We just made it official. I think us two together have our own realm. I like to think of things as multiverses. Me and him have our own connective tissue.”
Meechy and Juice plan on releasing their debut album sometime in early 2026, although they aren’t ruling out the possibility of another Flatbush Zombies album.
“I’m going to see Erick in Japan a few weeks from now,” Meechy says. “We’ve been in a group together for 15, 16 years, and we all have different soundscapes, different things we want to tackle musically. It’s hard to do that on an album every single time with a bunch of people.
“I think we’ve done more than anybody can even imagine. Maybe that’s why we’re chillin’ right now. We can take a little break and then figure out what we want to talk about as a group together, when the time is right and if the world really needs it.”
