Few popular MCs balance sensitivity and swagger quite as well as Atlanta-bred rapper/producer Russell Vitale, better known as Russ. That’s true musically too, with his ability to craft both memorable melodies and deep, rattling beats. Early breakout singles like 2015’s “Pull the Trigger” and “What They Want” paired his lilting, cucumber-cool delivery with more ominous trap touches, with that year’s even bigger commercial smash “Losin Control” seeing him sing with a confiding warble. Russ’ talent for vibrant, low-key hooks and fruitful flirtations with R&B was confirmed with such chart-busting ballads as 2016’s “Ain’t Nobody Takin My Baby” and 2018’s “Missin You Crazy.” He and his collaborators know their way around a savvy sample too, revisiting Jagged Edge’s slow-burning “He Can’t Love U” for 2018’s “Serious” and Trillville’s “Some Cut” for 2019’s dreamy BIA teamup “BEST ON EARTH.” Russ has steadily matured in his lyrical content from brash attacks on would-be rivals to more serene self-reflection, as heard on his 2022 Ed Sheeran collab “Are You Entertained” (produced by Fred again..) and especially 2023’s “I Love You Boy,” a supportive letter to himself as a child.