Perhaps the most controversial figures to come out of TikTok are two twin brothers calling themselves "The Island Boys."
With numerous tattoos, distinct hairstyles, diamond teeth, and songs about being an "island boy," 20-year-olds Franky and Alex Venegas quickly went viral as "Kodiyakredd" and "Flyysoulja," respectively.
Today, they have a combined TikTok following of over 8.6 million and have feuded with social media's original controversial brothers, Jake and Logan Paul, TikTok star Bryce Hall, and even caught the attention of Kevin Hart and Snoop Dogg, who mocked them on their comedy special "2021 and Done."
Most recently, the brothers made headlines after a childhood friend was arrested in connection with a murder, following a police raid on their home. (The brothers are not implicated in the case, according to local news outlet WPBF 25.)
So who are the Island Boys? In an interview on the "No Jumper" podcast with Adam Grandmaison, the brothers said they had been raised by a single mother after their father died.
According to Franky, they got in trouble with the law growing up, including "burglaries, robberies, stolen cars." The twins said they were in jail for a time as teenagers, which is when they began to consider a career in rap.
"When I was locked up I had a lot of people were trying to be rappers, so I'm like, fuck it, I'm gonna dive into the game," Alex said. "The only thing that's good for me is robbing, which is not good, or rapping."
Here's how they went from relatively unknown to two of the most recognizable — and controversial — faces of TikTok.
In October of last year, a short video of the Venegas brothers singing by a pool went viral. It was originally posted on October 12 to a TikTok account belonging to Franky where it has been viewed almost 20 million times. Two days later it was re-uploaded to Twitter with the caption "Florida ain't a real place," where it has received over 10 million views.
In the 1-minute-long video, the brothers can be heard rapping, "'Cause I'm an island boy, and I've been trying to make it / Oh, I'm an island boy / Ayy, Imma just island boy, I'm just island boy."
This led to them being dubbed "The Island Boys" by viewers. The surprisingly catchy tune and the pair's distinctive appearance helped turn the video into a meme, and the original sound has now been used in over 100,000 TikTok videos.
Another rendition of the song was posted to Alex's account on October 21 and has been viewed 55 million times.
According to LadBible, the virality of the song led to rapper Kodak Black offering to sign the duo to his record label. The brothers also released a full music video for the track on December 4 which has over 4 million views.
But their success was short-lived. On November 25, a clip appearing to show the brothers being booed and heckled while performing the song at a Miami club was posted on TikTok and quickly went viral, amassing 19.6 million views.
The caption read, "Some things are better left on TikTok."
