LaRussell has revealed that Russ was the first person to offer him a real record deal, and credited his fellow rap peer for jumpstarting his incredible independent run while also giving him his flowers.
In a recent Instagram post, the Vallejo-bred MC interviewed himself for his platform The Good Compenny, and spoke about how instrumental Russ was in the early stages of his career. Though the video is brief, matter of factly, less than a minute long, it packs a major amount of context and high level music industry knowlege in a short amount of time. In short, LaRussell explains why the deal, which was formated with a six-figure advance, made the most sense due to the terms he and Russ aggred to for the one-of-a-kind contract.
“RUSS GAVE ME MY FIRST RECORD DEAL,” LaRussell said. “Shoutout to @russ for being a real one. He gave me a deal very early and capital to build while remaining completely independent!”
In the video, LaRussell explains that while the deal offered him $200,000 total, with a $100,000 advance, it was only a one album deal which he was allowed to produce independently up until the release of the project. This advantage was major for him and something he admits he used to leverage framework he already had in place while reaping the benefits of the deal.
“I was able to build a catalog of 30+ albums that I own completely while in the deal,” he said. “He didn’t give me no handouts and I still had to grind my ass off to get here but he respected and valued what I was building and remained supportive.”
LaRussell concluded, “There’s not many white men in this industry that I trust. RUSS IS AN EXCEPTION.”
Russ quickly caught wind of LaRussell’s shoutout and obliged by letting him know in the comments section of the post that they were on the same page.
“Last sentence ultra real was a no brainer to help out,” Russ wrote. “Gave money and got out the way and let you do you.”
It’s likely that the amicable terms of his deal with Russ influenced LaRussell to turn down his deal with Def Jam last year. Either that, or it could’ve influenced his decision to do a deal with Live Nation, per his announcement last November.
Check out the full story from LaRussell above.
