Hip-Hop Artist Russ Announces Two India Shows in October

Even as the world navigates touring during a pandemic, moves are being made, and India has already seen the likes of DJ-producers KSHMR and Alan Walker make an appearance. Now, the first of the big international artists for the latter part of 2022 – usually peak season for outdoor shows and music festivals – has already been announced.

Prolific self-made hip-hop artist Russ aka Russell Vitale will make his way to India for the first time as part of his world tour, stopping by in Mumbai on October 28th, and in Delhi-NCR on October 29th. Announced earlier this month as part of The Journey Is Everything World Tour – which spans North America, Europe, Asia, Australia, South America and even Africa in 2023 – Russ’s India stops are being promoted by relatively new company Avrik Live.

Although it’s unclear how many tickets were released, pre-sale (general access and VIP) tickets are shown as sold out for the New Delhi show, while pre-sale (general access, VIP) and early-bird VIP tickets are sold out for the Mumbai show. Currently, Delhi early-bird VIP tickets (₹3,499) and general access (₹2,499) are available, and Russ’s Mumbai stop has early-bird general access (₹2,499) and phase 1 VIP (₹3,999) tickets on sale.

Russ – who broke out on the charts between 2015 and 2017 for his album There’s Really a Wolf, which comprises songs like “What They Want,” “Cherry Hill” and “Losin Control” – is also part of the music collective DIEMON. The journey of DIEMON started as a collective, it then went on to become an imprint of Columbia Records in 2017, and is now a separate record label run by Russ as well as Atlanta rapper-producer Bugus Thompson, who will also perform in India.

Among the most resolute names in hip-hop in the last decade due to his indie approach, Russ gained attention and acclaim for releasing 11 albums in a span of three years. He then notched up collaborations with the likes of Snoop Dogg, Rick Ross and singer-songwriter Mahalia for his 2018 album Zoo. While SoundCloud popularity was a key factor in Russ’s transformative rise to the top, his music continues to work across platforms as the rapper adapts to trends. The recent single “Handsomer” was hugely popular on TikTok, which led to Russ announcing an open-verse challenge on the short-video platform. Rolling Stone reported that the trend has generated over 100,000 videos and helped shine the spotlight on artists like Ktlyn, who went on to release a remix on DIEMON. He said  in the interview, “There’s nothing you can do as a major label artist that you can’t do independently.”

Get tickets for Russ w/Bugus: The Journey Is Everything World Tour shows in Mumbai and Delhi NCR.