The year 2025 has been big for LaRussell. He dropped collaborations with Snoop Dogg, Wiz Khalifa, Montell Jordan and Lil Jon, played a critically acclaimed set on Outside Lands’ biggest stage and, just last weekend—for the first time in decades—brought E-40 to play LaRussell’s and the OG hyphy torchbearer’s hometown, Vallejo.
On Sunday, Sept. 21, LaRussell headlines the largest bill in Music in the Park’s 35 seasons: seven live acts and a DJ. The headlining San Jose performance showcases the deep connections within Bay Area culture. Speaking with LaRussell, one is immediately inspired by his mission to unite people through music. Of his work with young artists, he shares, “Man, it’s changed my life.”
“There weren’t many adults in my life that really saw my perspective,” he explains, “or views weren’t valued. I was not asked about how I felt and what I was experiencing. With the youth that’s around us, they’re really cultivated. So to see all them flourish and shine, it’s really dope.”
LaRussell put out the word some time ago that he wanted to stage high-energy hip hop events where everyone is welcome. Music in the Park on a Sunday afternoon was a natural fit. “It’s my first time actually performing in San Jose,” LaRussell says. “They’ve been asking me for a [San Jose] show for years, and I haven’t been able to find a venue to accommodate what I wanted to do,” he says.
The South Bay and East Bay talent lineup includes 1990s underground hip hop pioneers Souls of Mischief, NPR Tiny Desk winner Ruby Ibarra, San Jose native rapper Kung Fu Vampire and Misa James, who recently was handpicked by LaRussell at an open mic he hosted with KQED.
“So, to do my first time in San Jose in this fashion is just ideal and perfect. We outside. We in a park. I get to run around and play football and just be immersed in the people. And I think that’s the best way for people to experience what I bring.
“Even when I was younger, when I was a kid, my dad used to wake me up every Sunday to go to the flea market out there. And we spend hours there just kind of getting material and moving around. So San Jose got a place in my heart.”
The excitement the upcoming show has generated is, in part, due to LaRussell’s mission as a transformative entrepreneur who brings a DIY model of artist empowerment to the music business.
“I really see music changing. I’ve literally watched the change of people going from streaming back to direct-to-consumer, back to in-real-life experiences.”
LaRussell says he has built infrastructure and platforms for artists to go direct. “I’ve seen some of the biggest artists in the world doing it now, and I get messages and calls from artists, like, how is this possible? How do you do this?
“For me, it’s much larger than hip hop. I’ve innovated and changed the way music and music business looks and works today. If you look online of any artist that’s like upcoming, their social media strategy mimics and mirrors what I’ve done for years. You know, we’ve set a blueprint for what this is and how to build your own, independent base and build something sustainable.”
LaRussell stays community-focused with backyard concerts and “pay what you want” pricing for some shows and album pre-orders.
He doesn’t have a manager or agent, and does deals himself. “As I’ve grown, I’ve just like, gotten better and better at it. And I know what I want best. You know, someone trying to speak on my behalf can’t speak the way I speak. They can’t talk to it the way I talk to them. They don’t see it the way I see it. So there’s no point in me having a middle man because it’s going to dilute my vision anyway,” he says. “I’m the best spokesperson for La Russell.”
LaRussell references heroes from the Black Liberation movement such as Huey P. Newton in his lyrics. “I feel, like, I’m a pivotal piece to the revolution that began. And, I’m in a state where my ancestors may not even have envisioned or seen possible.”
“When you come to my shows and you see the demographic and who’s there, from 1 to 100 Black, white, Indian, Mexican, every, every fucking race. It looks like a ‘We Are the World’ commercial at my shows. The people who were fighting before me couldn’t even see this, this side of it. You know, they were fighting for something that most didn’t live to see come to fruition. It’s very important for me to stand in my truth and who I am.”
LaRussell is pleased to play Music in the Park’s first hip hop show, 14 years after the seies was shut down for two years by city officials who believed the then-unticketed concerts attracted what they called an “undesirable element,” a euphemism for pot-smoking teenagers who wore sports team jerseys.
“San Jose? The reason I wasn’t able to do shows out there is because the venues that I did go to weren’t keen on bringing a hip hop show into the space.”
A Vallejan playing Plaza de César Chávez is also historic. It’s where California was founded and the state capitol sat for 16 months. That is, until Californio warlord Don Mariano Vallejo enticed hard-drinking legislators with a failed donation of 150 acres and $300,000 to build more comfortable digs—in Vallejo—than the edured at San Jose’s cramped, leaky and poorly lit Adobe Hotel, which stood at the Plaza. That slippery slope led to today’s state capitol in Sacramento, after brief detours in Vallejo and Benicia.
“I’ve been able to shift the narrative and the feeling around what hip hop is and what it’s supposed to be like. I’ve taken it back to the core and to the root. Hip hop is unification.”
LaRussell has relationships with many of the artists on the Sept. 21 bill, but won’t speculate if there will be any mainstage surprises. “It’s beautiful to see us all in one place together. You know, when magical people come together, magical things happen. So who knows what will occur.”
“I’m excited. Like I said, this is my first time in. San Jose’s the only place in the bay that I haven’t got to do a show in. But every time I pull up there, I just walk around and people are excited and the energy is there. So I can only imagine what this show is going to be like. It’s going to be a great homecoming.”
Mr. Ato Walker, local comedy impresario, co-conducted the interview and contributed to this piece.
Metro editor Dan Pulcrano leads the Metro-affiliated team that produces Music in the Park.
Music in the Park’s final show of the season begins at 4pm on Sept. 21, with a bill that includes LaRussell, Souls of Mischief, Ruby Ibarra and Kung Fu Vampire. For tickets, visit CalTix.com.
