Born in New Jersey, but taking his multiple talents with no industry connects originally to Atlanta and throughout the country, Russ Vitale is a singer, rapper, songwriter and producer on the rise. Vitale began to explore his talents early at the age of seven when he started writing rhymes and carried on to beat-making at the age of 14. When he was 18, he stepped into the studio to record the first song of the start of his prosperous career.
Under his original label, DIEMON, Russ has released eight mixtapes, backtracking to 2011, with his first studio project, ‘Velvet.’ Years later, the Sound Cloud rapper had the opportunity to be a part of the 2016 BET Hip-Hop Awards cypher. The 24-year-old independent artist, a part of the rap group ‘Diemon Crew,’ scored over 70 million plays through his SoundCloud in 2016. He signed with Columbia records and not too shortly after released his first single, ‘What They Want,” which reflects on Vitale’s remaining focused and humble toward naysayers and critics within his craft and the industry.
Vitale’s persona is all about, ‘keeping it real,’ and continuous practice as he revealed in a recent interview with ‘VladTV.’ He spoke about how he doesn’t appreciate artists that ‘stunt,’ or are unable to sell out shows on their own without including other ‘popping,’ artists. Vitale said a lot of truth behind the music industry ruined certain aspects of it for him. He takes pride in being able to make moves alone such as selling at shows with more than 2500 people overseas with no debut album, openers or partner acts. Vitale said the music that artists put out should carry authenticity to the life they’re really living.
“I won’t get lost because I’m grounded,” said Vitale in his Power 106 Los Angeles interview with J Cruz in August of 2016. “My mom is my best friend, my little sister is my best friend, my homie from when I was 12 is my best friend and I don’t find my identity in this [music], it’s just what I do.”
Listen to the complete Power 106 FM interview and Russ go in on Pusha T’s ‘Drug Dealers Anonymous,’ beat below at 10:30:
Check out Russ’ latest tracks on his SoundCloud account below and keep up with him and upcoming shows on Twitter @russidemon and Instagram @russ.
