Russ has expressed his disapproval of Hip Hop’s celebration of substance abuse, describing it as “the glorification of self-destruction.”
Talking to Aria Nejati on his Apple Music show on Tuesday (December 3), the New Jersey native revisited his controversial post from 2017 where he shared a photo of himself rocking a shirt that read, “How much Xans and Lean do you have to do before you realize you’re a fucking loser.”
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Noting that he would deliver the message differently these days, Russ added that his sentiment remains the same.
“That shit needed to be said. Somebody within that space needed to call out the glorification of substance abuse – especially from a social media standpoint,” he said. “Just [how people are] trying make it look cool to people and not understanding the responsibility and even within the music, not understanding the impact and influence you have over kids. I’m not saying I’m the perfect role model, but I just think as an artist, you can either inspire people to self destruct or you can inspire people to self improve.
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“And I think a lot of the music coming out right is inspiring you to self destruct. It’s the glorification of self-destruction. […] People want to see the train wreck.”
The conversation begins around the 21-minute mark below.
One artist Russ does feel has been a great influence – including on himself – is Kid Cudi, and he recently gave the Cleveland native his flowers.
“Cudi mixtapes and first two albums really influenced so much shit,” he wrote on X over the summer.
“[A]nd because I was like 16/17 when they dropped, I can’t hear certain shit people hype up without bein like ‘yea this is just a bad impression of early Cudi[‘] so I’ll just go listen to the actual thing they’re tryna do.”
Later in the day, Cudi noticed the message and responded, “[A]ppreciate the love my G. Keep crushin shit out here Russ.”
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You can view the interaction between the pair here.
