Russ has levied some pretty serious allegations against Billboard and Luminate — the companies responsible for overseeing the Billboard charts — accusing them of cheating him out of thousands of sales of his new album Santiago.
The Atlanta rapper made the claims on Twitter on Monday (August 28) after it was reported that his latest project had debuted at No. 12 on the Billboard 200, opening with 42,000 album-equivalent units in its first week.
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While that figure would be a respectable tally for any independent artist, Russ felt it was a little low — especially considering he was initially projected to crack the top 10 with over 50,000 units — and accused Billboard and Luminate of robbing him of 10,000 sales in their calculations.
“Billboard & Luminate took away ANOTHER 4,000 of my REAL sales over the weekend making that 10,000 sales total they took away from me while allowing major labels to fake their streams and sales and do monopolistic merch bundles (only major labels are allowed to do merch bundles because the only approved vendor is a major label vendor),” he wrote.
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“These numbers and charts are made up. The impact however is not. Shoutout to the fans.”
The Chomp MC also reshared two outspoken tweets from his manager, Milan Ackerman, who accused major labels of “inflating” their artists’ numbers with fake streams and the companies in charge of failing to properly verify streaming and sales data, implying there’s a conspiracy at play.
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“I don’t think y’all realize how nuts this is…Billboard charts are inflated by fake data which is being verified by only one company, Luminate,” Russ wrote in his quote-tweet.
“Both Billboard & Luminate are owned by the same company [facepalm emoji] Anyway imma sit back and watch Milan expose the whole shit [popcorn emojis] [crying face emojis].”
Russ previously vented his frustration with the music industry over the weekend, claiming on Twitter that the powers that be are trying to “diminish [his] impact” and that “the game is rigged.”
“I just wanna say first and foremost thank you to all my fans who have given my music and message a real chance over the years, especially SANTIAGO,” he began. “This was my most personal precious important music to date and to see y’all receive it so well has been incredible.
“However, I will not sit by and be quiet while the industry tries to diminish the impact of myself because by doing that they are diminishing the impact of independence and I owe it to y’all and to the movement to speak up on the unjust arbitrary ‘rules’ they have in place.
“This game is rigged and it is full of cheaters. I’m sure someone will pop out and try to deflect and gaslight me by accusing me of cheating because that aligns with the immoral standards this industry has but everyone knows the truth. Preciate all of you!!! They can never take away the music, the message, or the impact I have in REAL LIFE. Love y’all.”
Russ’ 16th studio album, Santiago arrived on August 18 via his independent label Diemon. While some of his recent releases have been star-studded affairs loaded with legendary lyricists, this project was noticeably more stripped-down with just a few guest spots from Rexx Life Raj and singers Bibi Bourelly and Justin Nozuka.
Controversy arose even before its release as Russ seemingly accused Travis Scott of copying him with the rollout for his own new album Utopia.
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After it was reported that La Flame was planning to unveil his eagerly anticipated LP during a performance at the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt and was selling CDs of the album on his website for $12, Russ threw some subliminal shade on Twitter by writing: “Trendsetter…pyramids, $12 vinyl..we see it [wine glasses toasting emoji].”
The 30-year-old previously performed at the ancient site in October 2022, becoming the “first solo rapper” to do so, and similarly pipped Travis to the post by already selling vinyl copies of Santiago for $12.
Santiago can be streamed in full below:
