 What's up everybody once again is Brandon man Sean in today. We're going over the rise of rust so many people have asked for this video I'm not even gonna call out anyone in particular. So thanks for asking I want to start off by saying that this is not a rust exposed video So if that's what you're looking for yeah, you might want to go ahead and go just for a little context Let's start off with my personal experience with rust cuz I think it makes sense in the terms of his rise Those of you guys who have followed and watched like every video I have you know that I did first meet rust and see rust back in 2014 Russ had a performance at one of my homeboys Well two of my homeboys event called bliss Elijah and your Brill and I think black was actually there that night Russ got up there. He had a guitar long hair I think he had like this yellow jersey on and I thought this dude was just dope He's blowing my mind. I even my homeboy Brandon who was like so pro future a lot of times He'll be like and to anybody else, especially you talk about getting up there and having a guitar We're just talking some real stories and stuff He even had Brandon and Bob in his head like yo this dude is dope after the show I said, what's up the rest told him that I thought he was dope got his information because I thought I might be doing an interview With them for a project I was working on at the time in that conversation when he was telling me about himself and I was asking like Yo, how long have you been around town and all that kind of stuff? He was like, yeah, he's based in Atlanta But he mentioned that he was doing a show or something in Paris and it kind of glossed over my head at the time But I was thinking Paris like huh, but whatever I went on home Then I checked this information out just like I would check all these other artists out But it was different because a lot of the artists I would check out especially at the time They wouldn't have much up Russ had a lot of content and it was on YouTube That was where I looked at all his stuff Everything was on YouTube and there were a lot of videos like real music videos to all the stuff I'm like, who is this dude? So I've been a fan of his music since then I'm guessing that this was pre SoundCloud Russ said that he had about 800 to a thousand fans before he even got on SoundCloud And he also said in one of his songs I think it was talk up that he did a sold out tour in Belgium before he was even on SoundCloud Which reminds me I don't know exactly how he did it for complete sure because I haven't spoken to Russ But I did go through an example of with him just being on YouTube and how he probably did in my newsletter about two weeks ago So those of you guys who haven't checked that email check it out those you guys who aren't following a newsletter I guess you don't have it but follow my newsletter because those are the specific types of tactics and stuff I go through in my newsletter and of course once Russ was on SoundCloud A lot of people know that he was releasing a song a week for a long period of time I think he said at least 80 weeks Alright now that we got through that part because that's the part that everybody pretty much knows for the most part Let's fill in some blanks Russ is also on the record talking about the fact that he was a producer first He wasn't even rapping at first and he was producing for some homies Then he became a rapper as well and he had some homies working with him from the very beginning His homeboys are pretty much at the same level He was it's not like they were super plugged in or anything But as an artist especially an artist that's working by themselves It is a godsend to have at least one other person working with you in taking it seriously And then going back to the short conversation I had with Russ when I talked to him that night I thought it was crazy that he mentioned Paris I could have sworn he also mentioned something about an Asian and mentioned history with Eminem Those are the two things that I remembered that were kind of like interesting to me But I didn't really care about all that stuff I just thought he was dope fast forward to 2015 Russ signs with CAA Pretty much the dopest talent agency in the world and he thanks Cara Lewis I was like oh snap I think that's that name that he mentioned And I don't know the extent of their relationship at the time But if you guys do not know who Cara Lewis is Cara Lewis is a motherfucking goat Certified goat super successful one of the top women in music as far as my just general opinion is concerned But she's also legitimately being certified one of the top 14 most powerful women in the music industry Or maybe it was just hip hop by Billboard I mean she's been in the game for a long time I think she was like an agent for like new edition and shit like that I mean bruh consider the fact that Rock Kim was basically like Jay-Z in his time And a lot of older rappers including Jay-Z talk about how Rock Kim was the man And Rock Kim and Eric B actually shouted Cara Lewis out in Paid and Fool Which is basically their most classic song of all time But she's also given significant credit when it comes to people like Jay-Z People like Tupac people like Eminem like I already said like you gotta do your research If you don't know Cara Lewis, especially if you're like a woman in the music industry Cara Lewis is It's dope as a matter of fact I saw article one time to actually call Cara Lewis the most feared woman in music and by the way Cara Lewis left CAA and CAA is so boss when it comes to talent agency If you go to their actual home page in comparison to the other big talent agencies All they got is the cities that they're in they don't say anything else because you know who the fuck this is That's basically what they're saying. They don't need to give you an about page or anything like that because whoever needs to know about them They'll find out and then the next year after signing to CAA the most powerful talent agency If not in the world definitely in the US Russ partnered with Columbia Records and it's very important that you say partner because if you say sign It really undermines what Russ accomplished. It's not the same thing that most artists get anyway My point in this certain segment is not to discredit anything that Russ has done It's just the fact that everybody has a team of some sort even without Cara Like just to have his homeboys like I said to help move the ball forward one inch is super useful in my mind One of the most important parts of Russ's story is the fact that he did things independently and differently not alone because can't nobody do that There's too many other things to handle when it comes to making deals graphic design all those types of things So hopefully one day Russ can have a real interview where he's not asked these super general questions because he has such a unique story But no one ever goes into the details asking him stuff about how he met Cara Lewis How he made certain things happen with these tours and all that kind of stuff But for now, I guess we'll just have to wait and this video was actually a little bit longer But I decided to split it into two parts. So the second part will be dropping soon. That's it. You know what to do Hit that subscribe But