Analytic Dreamz: Notorious Mass Effect - "RUSS - WILD"

Episode Date: June 28, 2025

Linktree: ⁠https://linktr.ee/Analytic⁠Become A Patron Of The Notorious Mass Effect Podcast For Additional Bonus Audio And Visual Content For All Things Nme! Join Our Patreon Here: ⁠https://ow.ly/oPsc50VBOuH⁠ Welcome to Notorious Mass Effect, hosted by Analytic Dreamz, your source for music’s biggest releases. In this segment, we explore Russ’s W!LD, released June 27, 2025, a transformative rap album blending introspection and grit. With 35 million career units sold, Russ’s DIY approach shines, backed by TuneCore’s six-figure weekly payouts. W!LD saw a streaming surge, sold-out vinyls, and a 30% Shazam spike from TV syncs. Its symbolic artwork and viral fan engagement cement Russ’s indie dominance. Join Analytic Dreamz to unpack this chart-contending masterpiece! Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

My album is out now and I'm just amp man for real, period. I made it with these two guys Jake and Kiri and this was the first song that got made for the album. It was the song that sparked the idea for the whole album. This album really embodies the phase of life. Amen. It's the in-between, the chaos and clarity, the healing and hurting. I used to make music to conquer the world outside of me. Then I did, exclamation point.

This one was about understanding the world inside of me, pause. You guys. See, that's the problem. And that shift changed everything for me. It's given me newfound, fulfilling purpose. So to everyone who's grown with me and changed with me. with me. Thank you. Whether you've been here since the beginning or just tuned in now, your support has given me the space and luxury to make sense of myself. I've spent a lot of time

chasing answers and I think this album is just me learning to be okay having questions. Thank you for letting me be human and I hope everyone lest the album be a part of their lives for years to come. But then you know what I'm saying? I was like, damn, look at the state of hip hop. Like, what's going on?

Now, ladies and gentlemen, we are getting into one of my favorite musicians in the music industry. And just period, one of my favorite musicians as far as the evolution and the sounds of his music correlating with the evolution of his life because of course I've always said that my favorite rapper back well my favorite rapper was big Sean right and y'all you already know this story

big Sean is my favorite rapper I was in high school he went missing for a little period of time and then Drake became my favorite rapper and then the rest was history but I will always put a lot more respect on the introspective rappers who evolve with the lyrics that you can also see in their life as far as the reflection of the lyrics to real world actions as Russ has had a lot of controversy in the past more notably in 2017 when he tweeted about drug culture and he was a hundred percent on the mark but because of that time a lot of people were feeling like like he was being insensitive. And so it sparked the whole F. Russ movement, even though he was condemning drug use. Ain't that butter, you know what I'm saying? So anyways, of course, and then, you know,

his notorious interview on everyday struggle, as far as him and Nadeska having one of the most surprising back and forth I've ever had as far as it being just blatant beef between two people I really respect and their respective industries who you think would get along, the interview happens and let's just say they did not get along so russ has came out to say that of course back then he was a little abrasive especially the way that he felt like he got into the industry i mean i remember the whole uh produced rap um mix and mastered i mean he made the microphone materials made the studio made the walls i think he he uh had a degree in construction or something

like that basically that man Russ was talking about he did any and everything by himself and nobody helped him get to the point where he was at which is why he always said he came across his bitter which ended up in that back and forth with nadeska on the everyday struggle interview so nowadays he's a lot he's a lot different you know isn't it a fantastic experience on seeing how money can make somebody realize that hey You don't have to be bitter in society. Sometimes your time is your time and everybody has a certain time capsule on when they become successful or what they deem success is. So anyways, with that being said, I listen to the entire album that's out now titled Wild. I said I'll come back to give an overview of my review of the album.

And of course, I've listened to the entire album multiple times. So when it comes to that, I do want to give my personal review. I don't really do album reviews at all, but I mean, I give reviews like here and there when I'm covering tracks and you give, if you listen to enough reviews of me from the music industry, you get a synopsis on how I feel about the music being put out in 2025. But to give a real album review of wild, an album that I've already listened to a bunch of times, I would tell you, this is definitely one of the more introspective hip-hop albums I've heard. in a while in a while and it's very interesting how the continuation I don't know if that's the right word the sequencing of the album is perfect I like the way they starts off the album I like the way he goes into the middle part of the album to the end I feel like it's definitely a real therapeutic journey that he's taking us on and he's showcasing a

lot of life's unpredictability in how to overcome it as far as obstacles as far as mental health as far as growth there's a lot of things in this album that people been clamoring for as far as other artists to embody and embrace as far as aging up their music to match their actual age right Russ is 32 years old. I'm just going to say that he could have had five to six more years of just rapping about God knows what. But he chose at 32 to make a 444 type of album as far as an introspective, really diving deep into mental health and putting the importance on self-reflection and looking. looking backwards, but also moving forward as far as understanding that what is in the past had to happen for you to be your present self.

So when you hear all of that, you're probably thinking to yourself, well, I ain't coming for a therapy session. Safe to say, there's also bangers on this album as far as specifically some of my favorites is crazy. I love pent up in a penthouse. Pause. You guys. See, that's the problem. i like uh what was the other one i like some of the singing ones i really like west west is definitely more of a therapeutic type track um lonely road i like i like this whole album but i'm just giving y'all

just my favorites uh trying one of the minor critiques is two tracks off of here go up i feel like the chorus could have been a little better but that's just me near picking getting to it i don't know who in the world told russ to let this man rap on this album if you was only going to have one feature on your album maybe i'm missing the sentimental moment of d j lucas lucas rap i think it was dj lucas i don't know who's rapping on this but whoever has the sole verse offer this album i'm not going to say you did a horrible job right because you was definitely putting words together you was flowing correctly over the beat i'm just going to say rest you should have just had the whole album book to yourself Because if this was your sole feature, you would have thought he was going to come out on some

lyrical, miracle, spiritual type of wave. And all actuality, it just made me realize that Russ needs to come back to this album. Because how in the world is the sole feature, the one that I hated the most as far as the verse. So if that was going to be your only feature on the album, I think you could have just went completely solo. And I don't think that's the biggest critique for Russ. but for the person, hopefully they don't think I have any animosity towards them. I just didn't like your verse.

I just thought it was the worst verse off of the album. So with that being said, I do like the album. The album is phenomenal. I'm not going to get into a deep dive on every single track. Because it really is a lyrically dense album because he's getting into a lot of themes that people deal with on an everyday basis. But to break it down, I would need a lot more time. then I want to give the actual album to let you know that it's out, right?

So basically, this is not one of those albums where you can listen to it once and then get the entire message. You know how people would be like, Kendry is rapping on a way that's, in a way that's like Aristotle type of art or whatever? I don't know what they'd be saying. You know, they'd be talking about Beethoven type art. This is essentially that for lyricists. Russ is putting on a masterclass on how to get across therapeutic type of messages and mental health mantras throughout sonically pleasing sounds throughout an entire album.

I really like it. It's phenomenal. Russ is independent, so music labels are going to try any and everything to try to make this not seem like as big as it is. Russ is settling out arenas. I think he sold out stadiums before. He was definitely one of the first people to see. sell out Egypt, I believe, because he definitely made sure to let people know that with video proof, because of course, Russ is actually walking the walk and not just talking. So, yeah,

music labels, if you don't know, small subsidiaries and independence combined for 6% of the entire music market share currently as far as the music industry. UMG has 62%, Warner has 16%, Sony has 16%, and then others have a whopping six percent. which is a small subsidiary as independent artist so when I talk about Russ just know he's way bigger than you think and it's because of label games and smoke and mirrors to make him not seem as big but he's definitely bigger than some of the artists that you may see on the charts and the reason for that is because he's fully independent has his own label demon where he is co-founded by uh boogis which he's talked about a lot and you know he's faced a lot of backlash because of that because

major labels don't like when an artist of Russ's stature selling our arena at the stadium shows you there's an independent route to do it. Major labels want you to believe the only way to get to a certain height is to go through them and for Russ to do this completely independent at this point in time with his album Wild and his singles leading up to Wilde, whether it was crazy, whether it was pent up in a penthouse, just showcases how he's really one of the more, not only, is he one of the more introspective artists in the rap game, but he may be one of the greatest rappers of all time. Had to get some silence for that, because some people may think I'm joking.

I think Russ is shaping up to be one of the greatest rappers of all time. The same thing a lot of people be attributing into Jay-Z as far as manifestation and the way his bars lived up to his real life, Russ and captivates that. And of course on the business side, I feel like Jay-Z is like in a league of his own. But Russ, lyrically, I think, is up there with some of the greatest rappers to ever do it. So that's probably the biggest compliment I can give somebody. So I really just want you all to know that I really respect Russ in the way he makes music and the way he puts messages across in a sonically pleasing way.

Because some people get preaching to the point where now the music is hard to listen to because the replayability is not the greatest because sonically is not pleasing because you're just preaching you're giving a medicine without the candy. Russ does a great balancing act on giving us both without overwhelming us with either or. So my final thoughts on this album is fantastic. He's about to go on tour with Big Sean. Let me pull it up right here. So Big Sean and Russ is going on tour, which is insane, ain't it? I mean, it's almost like it's shaped. up to be the perfect uh performance for me to go to it's almost like you know what i'm saying if the PR team reached out i may be there now you know what i mean just just you know click my link

tree you know you know what it find anyways uh with that being said Russ Big Sean is going on tour and starting July 8th as you can see right here and then it's going into an August 10th so as you can can see the dates analytic dreams video on spotify to see the video along with the audio uh they're going to be a lot of different places as you already know i've already said big sean's one of my favorite artists i definitely said russ is one of the greatest rappers of all time in my opinion and uh that's definitely a hot take because people hate russ so um it's not just no like you already know i've been a russ fan for a minute so uh for me to say that i've been following him for a minute so it's not like i'm just i'm obviously you know especially with the perception

around him is definitely a hot take so but it's one i believe in so and if you listen to this album you understand why i said that so with that being said click my link to my bio let me know one of my social medias what do you think about russ's latest album wild and of course if you've listened to wild what is your favorite message and track off of the album