You'll probably recall the strong anti-Russ sentiment that arose his equally contemptuous stance against the glorification of barbiturate drug use in hip-hop. The outspoken rapper/singer-songwriter paid the cost of alienating some of his younger rapper peers such as Lil Pump, Smokepurrp, and Comethazine (ironically) who in turn, collectively did everything in their power to tarnish his credibility as a speaker. Over time, cooler heads seemingly prevailed, the issue of substance abuse pushed aside, until yesterday of course, when Russ re-opened those talks during an episode of Pull Up Season hosted by Joe Budden.
"Basically, what's happened is you've allowed 13-year-old White kids to tell the world what hip-hop culture is. That's the problem," Russ tells Joe Budden during the interview segment. "I'm done biting my tongue with the shit. There are people like the Lil Pumps, the Smokepurpps and just the people who are using the fact that hip-hop is the coolest thing to be doing right now. They're using that as a marketing tool to be buffoons."
After calling out Pump and Smokepurpp in the early going, Russ spoke of racial positioning and self-ownership in hip-hop - after which, Joe Budden, with all the bedside manner he could muster, tempted his guest with the notion of a second "F*ck Russ" movement co-opted by Wifisfunreal, himself a spitting image of the SoundCloud rappers Russ has sworn to protect (us from).
"[Wifisfuneral] is one of these rappers, I've never met...I don't know you and you're talking shit," Russ answered. "It's kinda one of those things where like you're joining in on, 'Oh wait, we're all making fun of Russ. Cool, here's my joke too.' You don't realize there are consequences to that."
Wifi's response to the remarks: momentarily changing his Twitter handle to read "RUSS." Not to mention, Wifi dropped a short video in which he mocks Budden's "Pump It Up." If ever James Corden were in need of a sabbatical, Wifisfuneral could fill the role as surrogate host of Carpool Karaoke. Russ' self-righteousness is well-intended, yet poorly-executed - Wifi's counteroffensive completely justifiable.