Dear Level 1 Coach,
I heard a song yesterday for the first time. My girlfriend found this ‘new rapper’. He goes by Russ. Which isn’t a stage name. It’s his name. And he isn’t by any means ‘new’.
Please don’t skip his story… It’s important to the rest of this. From Wikipedia:
Russell James Vitale (born September 26, 1992), better known as Russ, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer.
In 2011, Russ, alongside friend and fellow rapper Bugus, appeared on MTV after Bugus' song "El Jefe" gained traction. After his short enrollment in Kennesaw State University, Russ co-founded his own collective and label, Diemon, with Bugus and others. In a 2012 article on Jenesis Magazine, Russ was described as an in-house producer for Diemon.
From December 2011 to August 2014, Russ released 11 albums and 87 singles consecutively; all free of charge. Despite this, his music had not gained the attention that he wanted, so he began to release a song every week on SoundCloud for almost three years. Two of these songs, "What They Want" and "Losin Control", eventually peaked at number 83 and number 62 on the US Billboard Hot 100, respectively.
After signing a partnership with Columbia Records, Russ released his twelfth studio album, There's Really a Wolf, on May 5, 2017; it debuted at number 7 on the US Billboard 200 and number four on the US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts. On April 18, 2018, the album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for combined sales and album-equivalent units of over 1,000,000 units in the United States. Prior to releasing his album, Russ announced on his Twitter account that he would be headlining his tour, The Wake Up Tour, from May 16 to August 5, 2017.
Russ released his thirteenth studio album, Zoo, on September 7, 2018, which peaked at number 4 on the Billboard 200. On November 12, 2019, Russ published his first book, It's All in Your Head. On January 31, 2020, he released his fourteenth studio album, Shake the Snow Globe, on Russ My Way Inc. and Columbia Records. It peaked at number 4 on the US Billboard 200.
On June 30, 2020, Russ announced that he completed his deal with Columbia Records and is now an independent artist.
What’s the point?
The better question is what sticks out to you?
Here’s what sticks out to me… A connection to something I just watched.
Share Your Gift, Go All In, Run Your Race
My brother interned with a guy from Grand Rapids Michigan when he was going to school for his Exercise Science degree. He would tell me about him and I became pretty interested in the guy. So I began to follow him on social. He’s got a story too. You’re going to need the next 15 minutes of your life free to watch this thing, but I promise it’s worth your time:
Hunter makes 3 points:
Go with God
Go All-In
Run Your Race
Russ, our Level 1 case study from above understands Hunter’s speech without even listening to it. He knew he had a gift, and that gift needed to be shared with the world, even if the world didn’t want to hear it for his first 11 albums.
He paid no mind, run your own race…
Easy to say, hard to do…
Don’t believe me, try this on…
If nobody cared about you or what you had to say for 5-10 years, would you keep going?
Stop. Think about that.
I think the answer for many is, “NO.”
This is your ‘challenge’ as a Level 1 Coach.
At Level 1, nobody gives a fuck what you have to say. And they won’t for a long time, until you get enough clout where… All of a sudden… They do care.
Russ speaks to this in verse 1 of his song, Me Too:
Yeah, you wished for it, me, I worked for it
Everyone passed on me like Kurt Warner
Search warrant needed, your career went missin'
This ain't overnight, this is year ten visions
Peers listen and they know that I'm up next
That's your girl? Why she do whatever Russ says?
Success is somethin' that I'm blessed with mentally (yeah)
I got plaques for my raps and my melodies
Can't forget about the beats too, I'm the best kept secret
Real shit or fake shit, pledge your allegiance
I was off for so long, now I'm on though
Bitch, I'm talkin', don't you interrupt this god flow
Thank you to anyone who ever slammed the door on me
Because of you, I did it myself, so it means more to me
Did so many free shows and now they can't afford the fee
No one gave a fuck and now the whole world's recordin' me, yeah
The 10-year overnight success. Can you do it in today's TikTok, microwaved, short-sighted culture?
Everyone says, “Be where your feet are.” But I don’t think that goes far enough.
Instead, “Belong where your feet are.” With your heart connected to it.
Running your own race means ‘getting there at your own pace.’
If you’re all in and headed in the right direction, you’ll get there on your time.
Don’t interrupt the compounding, keep going.
If your intention is to get the mail from the mailbox and you’re currently putting one foot in front of the other, don’t stop halfway and get rattled that you aren’t at the mailbox yet.
That wouldn’t make sense.
You’re walking the path to ‘your mailbox’ right now, you’ll get there when you’ve taken enough steps to cover the required ground.
If you have the longest view in the room, you can’t help but enjoy the walk to your mailbox.
On the flip side, if you kick too early like Hunter did and run the race to beat someone instead of to get there yourself, you might not make it at all.
Trying to get there faster than you can is misery.
Russ and Hunter had lessons to teach me in my first coaching job. They weren’t available to me then, but I hope you can use them now.
Check out the Level 1 Coach podcast for more:
Great stuff. Its either I say a lot. Or just. Great stuff.