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Russ Explains Why His Career Is ‘Pandemic-Proof’ In A Year That Stifled Many Independent Artists’ Income

The outspoken advocate for independent artistry gave the blueprint for his successful 2020. …

Throughout 2020, the coronavirus pandemic and the collective responses to it had a profound effect on the music industry — especially independent artists, who often rely more on live shows than record sales for the majority of their income. However, one independent rapper said that his career flourished this year, boasting that it is “pandemic-proof” and that he has been getting his checks in the mail like clockwork despite the economic slowdown.

Russ, who released two projects this year and has been a vocal advocate for independent artistry, told Tidal’s B. Dot in a new interview, “I’m fortunate because I’ve set up my career to be pandemic proof.” He explained that rather than planning for a global breakdown of the live entertainment industry, he instead ensured that he owned the legal rights to all of his output, which guaranteed a bigger slice of the profit for himself. “It’s pandemic proof via mailbox money, you know, and via ownership and owning my masters and things like that,” he elaborated. “TuneCore checks didn’t stop. If anything, I’ve made more money on TuneCore this year than I did last year because I was able to record more, which means I was able to put out more, and I went fully independent.”

His output this year included the full-length project Shake The Snow Globe and its deluxe version, as well as the Chomp EP featuring Ab-Soul, Black Thought, Busta Rhymes, and more. His independent success allowed him to also give away $20,000 to his Twitter followers to boost their spirits during the summer lockdown.

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Celebrity

recent leak of Kanye West and Jay-Z’s “Living So Italian” brings back the legendary Watch the Throne mystery.

One of the most longed unreleased tracks from the album era is Watch the Throne, and 15 years after Kanye West and Jay-Z dropped it, it has reappeared online. Another fleeting peek of a long untouchable song: a new nine-second clip of “Living So Italian” is rumored to have leaked.

Beyond the officially released material, Watch The Throne is also long linked to unreleased songs that have become highly sought-after among fans. “Living So Italian” is one of those songs that has had bits and pieces emerge online over the years, but never the full song.

Even in that short clip, the snippet adds another piece to the long-running mystery around the track. The production has a lavish European feel, which suits the song’s title and the material associated with West during the Watch The Throne era.

Read More : DJ Khaled’s Top 5 Rappers List Causes Controversy After Leaving Out Drake

The possibility of hearing Jay-Z alongside West on the full production has also added to the track’s appeal. The two artists have since fallen out, and a collaboration between them is unlikely. Their official collaboration “Jail” has been described as possibly their last, adding another layer of suspense to older material from their collaborative period.

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The new snippet also raises a bigger question of what unreleased material from the Watch The Throne era could still be out there. “Living So Italian” is one of many unreleased songs from that period, and many of those recordings may never be heard.

But for now, fans have another nine seconds to wait instead of the whole track. Yet the emergence of a new snippet after years of leaks and rumors shows that the Watch The Throne vault still has material that can garner attention long after the album’s original release.

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Celebrity

DJ Khaled’s Top 5 Rappers List Causes Controversy After Leaving Out Drake

DJ Khaled sparked conversation amongst hip hop fans when he excluded Drake from a recent list of his favorite rappers. Given the pair’s increasingly weakened relationship, it was bound to be a talking point.

Khaled was in view of fans over the weekend, and they asked him on camera to name his top five rappers. Khaled didn’t name Drake, who would have been his first choice in the past , instead he named Jay-Z, The Notorious B.I.G., Tupac, Nas, Kendrick Lamar, and Rick Ross.
The list actually had six artists, not five, but Drake’s absence was the main talking point.

The situation gets more interesting because Khaled and Drake reportedly haven’t been on the best of terms in recent years. Khaled was once going to have two Drake features on an album that was supposed to drop a couple of years ago. But comments made during the Drake and Kendrick Lamar beef contributed to the icy relationship between Khaled and Drake.

Drake later made a pointed comment suggesting he won’t appear on Khaled’s upcoming album. Khaled has not publicly responded, and two years later the project still hasn’t materialized.

But there is an alternative explanation. Khaled may have just been listing six artists he thinks are some of his favorite rappers. The moment itself doesn’t confirm that anything on the list was meant as a message to Drake. But reactions on social media suggest many fans are reading more into the omission. Given Khaled’s previous connection to Drake and the long history of his delayed album, the rapper’s absence has understandably become a major topic of discussion.

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It’s unclear if Khaled and Drake will ever get past their differences. Drake’s relationships with the artists from the 2024 battle also remain a topic of conversation, with Future allegedly the only artist from that feud he seems to be on good terms with again. For Khaled, the bigger question might be when his long-delayed album will finally drop. For now, his surprise top-rappers list has given fans another reason to think about their relationship with Drake.

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