Russ Shares His Business Advice For Rap Peers Like Big Sean And Wale

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Over the past few years, more rappers than ever have shared their discontent with the modern label system. Most recently, Big Sean pointed out that Kanye apparently still owes him quite a bit from his GOOD Music days, Meek Mill demanded more transparency in the music industry, and Wale explained why he left Roc Nation early in his career. Through all those revelations, one artist has remained steadfast in his belief in his independent hustle — and outspoken in sharing his advice for industry peers.

Russ, who is currently doing promotion for his newly released mixtape Chomp 2, stopped by The Breakfast Club and explained how he financed the new project by taking out a bank loan rather than signing with a label. Using Wale’s 2019 single “On Chill” as an example, he explained how he would go about opening a line of credit to support the track. “Let’s say it’s $250,000… Guess what you can go do. Go get a line of credit… I don’t wanna play with my own money. Even though an advance, they give you a million dollars and spend money at radio, that still ends up being your money. If I get a line of credit from the bank… it’s about time value of money.”

“So with Chomp 2,” he continued. “I have millions of dollars in the bank, I could fund it myself. Why? … Everything on Chomp 2, I’m using the line of credit. I could pay $1,000 for the rest of my life. If the issue is upfront cash… A bank will give y’all millions of dollars.”

Of course, some folks on Twitter pointed out that not everybody has this particular set of options, but Russ was adamant his point was in pursuing alternative funding and maintaining ownership of publishing rights and his music career. Check out some of the reactions to Russ’ advice and his responses below.