There’s no doubt we’ve entered the digital age of hip-hop, which definitely has it’s high points, but also comes with some unfortunate effects. The hip-hop world has become so saturated, and originality has become much harder to come by. It’s a copycat world, and with endless catalogs of music from artists available at our fingertips, it’s easy to get lost in the sauce and really lose who you are as an artist.
Then again, this digital age has given artists an armory’s worth of weapons.
“You can be your own label now,” says Russ, a buzzing emcee/producer/engineer who has taken it upon himself to build a sustainable DIY system of making and releasing music that has definitely been working for him. It’s simple though: make undeniably good music, stay true to your originality as an artist and don’t let anyone rob you of that.
Russ is one-half of the indie label DIEMON, which he created with his childhood friend Bugus. They’ve built a cult fanbase to this point, and their stock rises with every release. They have no managers, no big PR company backing them, nothing—just good music, passion and some emails.
It’s no doubt impressive, especially considering he’s curated a following of 18,000 people on soundcloud, though he created it less than a year ago. Don’t call him an industry plant though, as it’s all organic on this side.
Before starting up his Soundcloud he had actually released 11 projects, though hasn’t dropped one in awhile. Once he realized he could drop single after single and have the same effect, he ditched the project approach and now drops new songs weekly. Not every artist out could match the same ethic, but Russ’ stream of creativity is seemingly endless. He doesn’t listen to anyone else, and never puts himself in a box sonically. “I go into the studio and try to make the craziest shit I can,” says Russ.
He uses a lot of live instrumentation in his music as well, which is where his talents as a guitarist, pianist and drummer come in. To him, it’s not about having a song sound this way or that way, it’s about piecing together sounds that may not typically go together, but mesh seamlessly nonetheless.
Russ truly makes every song a different experience from the last, which is why I’m very much looking forward to his upcoming album. It’ll be interesting to hear how he crafts a cohesive project instead of well-composed one-offs, and I fully expect it to be fuckin’ crazy sonically.
He’s been waiting for the perfect time to drop it, and with his popularity growing more and more every day, it’s looking like it’ll be coming sooner than later.
You’d think someone with as much buzz as he has would have some sort of label situation working behind the scenes, but nope—it’s been a grassroots campaign from the beginning, and seems to be the only way Russ is interested in moving. Though majors have definitely been knocking at his door, he’s more than content doing it all on his own. He only has his booking agent and DIEMON, and that’s clearly all he needs, or even wants.
When it comes down to it, I see Russ as the archetype artist that we all want to win. He’s versatile, delivering feel-good and quality music to his fans weekly (all for free) and doesn’t want or need a major label to reach different peaks of success.
Sonically, there’s just no comparing him to other artists in my eyes—he simply doesn’t sound like anyone else. He’s an individual with an individual sound, and frankly I’m mad excited to see where he goes from here.
Keep up with Russ on Twitter, and enjoy his latest track “I Can Tell” below!
Artwork by the always-amazing Kelvin Steez.
