Russ: “There’s Really A Wolf”

By Paige

Russ, a new well-known American hip-hop recording artist, singer-songwriter, and record producer, comes from Atlanta where he’s been striving to succeed in the music business. Russ peeked into the music industry when his first song “What They Want” hit no. 33 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs late last year. There’s Really A Wolf  was Russ’ very first album, with a major label, which was released on May 5, 2017. His entire album as a whole reached no. 4 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Charts and no. 7 on the all-genre Billboard 200 tally. Russ wrote, produced, engineered, mixed and mastered this all by himself; he doesn’t have a single song in this album that features another artist. Russ is known as the ‘10-year, 11-album, 87-song overnight success’.

The album’s first song “I’m Here”, lets everybody know if you’ve ever doubted him, take a second look. Following that is his second song “The Stakeout”, where he raps about ‘wanting to make enough money to put his family on his payroll without worrying about the cost’. Russ is primarily rap-based but his fourth song in the album “Cherry Hill”, included a more soulful cut with high hitting notes, being a huge hit. Fans went wild when hearing “Losin Control” which lead him and his new best song to be no. 13 on the charts. There’s Really A Wolf was certified a gold plaque by the Recording Industry Association of America and sold 49,000 equivalent units, a huge deal for an artist still on the mainstream come up. The solo studio album sold 23,745 copies and collected 34 million streams in the first week.

There’s Really A Wolf compares to the rest of his songs/albums in very similar ways because before Russ even had Soundcloud he released 87 songs and dropped 11 albums all by himself. He wrote, engineered and produced every single one of his songs. He’s 100% original with all his songs and that’s why he has attracted so many fans.

Russ feels as though people don’t want to be helped or saved; they decide on their own free will to take their lives every single day. Russ has recently tweeted expressing how much your own pride can destroy you and that’s what keeps him going and to strive to be better. He wants people to listen to his work and forget about all their destructive thoughts; he wants his music to be a safe place. So, for anyone who feels music heavily and uses it as a weight lifter, Russ is the guy to listen to.