Russ (rapper)
American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, author, and actor
Russell James Vitale (born September 26, 1992), known mononymously as Russ, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, author, and actor. Along with his solo career, he is a member of the Atlanta-based hip hop collective Diemon.
After eleven self-released albums, Vitale partnered with Columbia Records to release his twelfth studio album and major label debut, There's Really a Wolf (2017). A critical and commercial success, the album received platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and spawned his first Billboard Hot 100 entries: "What They Want" and "Losin Control." His thirteenth and fourteenth albums, Zoo (2018) and Shake the Snow Globe (2020), both peaked at number four on the Billboard 200; the latter spawned the top 50-single, "Best on Earth" (featuring Bia).
Outside of recording, Vitale published his first book, It's All In Your Head, in 2019. In 2024, he made his acting debut in the thriller film, Trap.
Early life
Russell James Vitale was born on September 26, 1992, in Secaucus, New Jersey. Vitale was born into an American family with Sicilian ancestry, which included him and three other siblings. He lived in North Carolina and Kentucky in his childhood due to his father having to constantly relocate due to his career, before his family found a permanent home during his late teenage years in Atlanta, Georgia. Vitale was taught to play guitar by his father, and over the years gradually learned how to play several instruments.
The public source identifies “Russ (rapper)” as american rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, author, and actor. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Russ, rapper and American.
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The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q26706877. VIAF identifies the subject as 9004162669550155500006. The Library of Congress control number is no2017098746. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1992, 2017, 2018 and 2020.
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This entry incorporates text from “Russ (rapper)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.