99 Rus is an up-and-coming rapper from Toronto, Canada, but is currently based in New York City. He rose to fame after he released a series of videos that went viral on TikTok, where he now has over a hundred thousand followers. His take on Eminem’s “Rap God” and Busta Rhyme’s “Look at Me Now” became phenomenal all over social media. With his fame spreading, 99 Rus is on his way to a promising career in the music industry.
99 Rus was exposed to the music of artists from varying genres like Chad Kroeger, The Weeknd, and even Alanis Morissette. He developed a liking for almost all kinds of music, but when he listened to Drake, he decided to pursue rapping. Drake’s first album called “Thank Me Later” is what 99 Rus considers as his first solid exposure to the world of rap and hip-hop.
Since listening to rap music, 99 Rus never looked back. He started paying attention to other rappers reigning supreme during the late 2000s and early 2010s, like Jay-Z, Kendrick Lamar, and Eminem. All these artists inspired 99 Rus to start writing his own material and share them online. Some of his early works included short rap samples like “No Joke,” “It’s Done,” and “Hey There.”
From 2011 to 2013, 99 Rus was regularly uploading content on YouTube, although he was not yet receiving a lot of attention. Despite this lack of recognition and appreciation from the masses, he continued writing music. However, he limited his uploads since he wanted to keep most of his latest material when he became famous. By 2014, most of his content on YouTube was his cover versions of many artists’ hit songs.
99 Rus was still writing songs from 2015 to 2018 in the hopes of finally getting that break that he had been longing for. When the social media app TikTok became popular in late 2018, he decided to take his talents and content there. He shared most of his videos from YouTube to TikTok, including his covers of some of Eminem’s classic songs like “Without Me” and “Shake That”.
99 Rus’ early fame on TikTok gave him a glimmer of hope in his music career after years of waiting patiently. By 2019, he already had over 30,000 followers on the site, while his videos had garnered hundreds of thousands of likes. 99 Rus released his cover version of Chris Brown’s 2011 track “Look at Me Now.” His fame soared even higher as this video reached over 2 million views in just three days.
A few weeks later, 99 Rus followed the trending video with another cover, this time of Eminem’s “Rap God”. This video reached a million views in just a few days as well. With this emerging popularity, 99 Rus is already planning to release some of his original songs on YouTube and TikTok.
Many producers from major recording labels have already reached out to 99 Rus for a possible commercial release of his works. Currently, he has not disclosed any plans of going mainstream and wants to surprise his fans instead. 99 Rus proves that patience pays off as long as a person doesn’t give up and remains passionate about the craft they choose.
