Russ is a 31 year old rapper, singer/songwriter, producer from Secaucus, New Jersey who dropped off a total of 11 mixtapes on SoundCloud until signing to Columbia Records a couple years later & made his full-length debut in 2017 off There’s Really a Wolf. Quickly becoming one of hip hop’s most polarizing figures in recent memory in the process by being a “fake activist” against drugs & then there’s his infamous 2016 interview with DJ Vlad the culture vulture where he literally said “we need to blame producers for all the wack music today”. His 2018 follow-up ZOO kinda caught my interest due to “The Flute Song”, but the end result of it being taken over by this annoyingly bitter demeanor. Shake the Snowglobe was slightly better & his debut EP CHOMP ended up being his best work so far although it’s because the features & producers carried. Funny enough, the same thing happened on the sequel & more recently the Chomp 2.5 EP this past spring, but is preluding the final installment of the trilogy with a 4th album.
“See You Soon” sets the tone for what’s to come with a half-baked, dreamy R&B ballad promising the woman he loves that he’s gonna see her sooner than later whereas “Smooth” works in a glistening boom bap beat talking about being connected to the truth even though bars like “We in Paris like we spoke French” is kinda cringe. “Fraud” shoots for a more stripped-back sound confessing that he’s lost just before “No More” keeps the acoustics in tact hideously singing about not wanting to cry anymore.
Moving on from there, “Empty” continues to delve further with the wimpy melodic performances over a self-produced guitar lead & hi-hats telling us that’s exactly how he feels inside leading into “I Love You Boy” swaps out the hi-hats for kicks & snares encouraging to run before they kill you referencing former UFC Women’s Flyweight Champion Valentina Shevchenko. “Enough” goes for a more sample-based sound feeling recharged & assured that he’s enough, but then “Adventure” starts off with more stripped back guitars talking about he’s not lost & the boom bap switch-up during the last minute or so was an unexpected surprise.
“Oasis” tackles the idea of being in his own refuge over a cloudy instrumental while “Fatima” whips up another trite pop rap ballad with decently bluesy beat. The song “Distracted” incorporates more synthesizers melodically refusing to let anything distract him while the penultimate track “Tunnel Vision” talking about priding oneself over a summers instrumental. “The Wind” though happens to be a 5-minute, hazily-produced closer consisting of him discussing needing his ultimate focus.
I stand by what I said in my CHOMP 2.5 review that that he’s trying to improve himself both artistically & personally, continuing to hope for that down the road. However, I came away from Santiago liking it less than the EP he dropped few months ago. I appreciate how he represents his mental, spiritual, physical & emotional journey to his treasure on here by getting more in depth as to exactly what his treasure is on top of his production showing some improvement. That being said: His songwriting is still mediocre at best & the vocal performances at times (particular his singing) fall flat in my opinion.
Score: 1.5/5
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