American rapper and singer, Russell James Vitale, better known by his stage name Russ unreleased new song “Real” reportedly leaked online.
Russ began writing raps in his notebook at the age of 7. At 14, he began making beats, producing for his friend Bugus who had dreams of making it as a rapper. In high school, Russ made the decision to also pursue a career as a rapper himself.
His first hit singles came from his twelfth studio album, There’s Really a Wolf, and were: “What They Want”, “Losin Control” and “Best on Earth”, peaking respectively at number 83, 63, and 46 on the US Billboard Hot 100.
Russ’ thirteenth album, Zoo, was released on September 7, 2018, and peaked at number 4 on the US Billboard 200. His fourteenth studio album, Shake the Snow Globe, was released on January 31, 2020, again peaking at number 4 on the US Billboard 200. Outside of his solo music, he is part of Diemon, a music collective from Atlanta.
On June 30, 2020, Russ announced that he completed his deal with Columbia Records and is now an independent artist. On November 17, 2020, he released an EP titled Chomp. It features guest appearances from Black Thought, Busta Rhymes, Benny the Butcher and Ab-Soul, among others.
On November 18, 2021, Russ announced a new EP, Chomp 2, as the sequel to last year’s Chomp. The project was released on December 8, 2021 under Russ My Way Inc.
- Between 2011 and 2014, Russ released 11 mixtapes. These received minimal attention, and Russ decided to wait to release his debut album until he had enough of an audience. What followed was 96 consecutive weekly singles released to his SoundCloud page. Two notables among the slew of singles were “What They Want” and “Losin Control,” both of which ended up being certified 2x Platinum by the RIAA.
On May 5, 2017, Russ released his debut album There’s Really A Wolf, which spawned 7 singles with Gold certification or higher and was certified Platinum within a year of its release. A year later, his sophomore project ZOO came to be on September 7, 2018, this time opting to enlist external producers and featured artists. Then, at the end of January 2020, he dropped his long-awaited SHAKE THE SNOW GLOBE album, where he talks about love, haters and his wealth.
Nearly every song by Russ is produced, mixed, mastered, engineered, written, and recorded by Russ himself and he renowned his title of being an independent artist. In 2020, he signed away from Columbia Records to fully become independent and declared in an Instagram post his milestone.
Quotable Lyrics:
- Want a little more than just sex
- Hold me still just thought I’d keep it
- Yeah, we take a shot of 1942
- That’s not intoxicating as a single drop of you
- I’m on top of you, too sentimental
- I’m a gentleman but I know when to not be gentle
- I support you, let me lift up your dress
- You like doggy I’m behind you girl 100%
