Gilbert Russell Llantino, better known by his stage name RUSSELL (aka pryde) (formerly Pryde & D-Pryde) is a Canadian rapper and singer from Brampton, Ontario, and is based out of Toronto, Ontario.[1]

Contents 1 Early life 2 Music career 3 Discography 4 Guest appearances 5 References Early life

Llantino was born on October 13, 1993 in Mississauga, Ontario. He is of Filipino descent.[2] Three years after his birth, his father went to the Philippines to look for a job, and was not seen again.[3][4] This led his mother to move to the nearby city of Brampton, where the Llantino family lived in a neighborhood which Llantino describes as "low-income and underprivileged".[3][5] In many of his lyrics, Pryde cites the fact that him being of Asian descent gave him ridicule for his interest in his rap career,[6] and has frequently stressed the hardships of being an Asian rapper in the music industry.[3][5] Russell attended Notre Dame Secondary School in Brampton.

Music career

Llantino started releasing rap tracks online at the age of fourteen, and decided to pursue rapping as a professional hobby.[7][8] Many of his rap tracks are uploaded onto YouTube, many of which are accompanied with music videos. At the age of sixteen, Pryde was signed to underground record label Mars Music Group in July 2010,[9][10] in which he released his first mixtape through the label entitled MARS on June 3, 2011. MARS features Toronto based recording artist and record producer August Rigo, who also produced a track on the mixtape. In July 2011, Pryde was featured on RapCity, where he shot his music video.[11]

Starting on August 23, 2011, Pryde embarked on his first tour around Canada, where he performed along with rapper J. Cole. The tour first started at the Vogue Theatre in Vancouver, British Columbia, and subsequently at venues in Edmonton and Calgary in Alberta, and then Saskatoon, Saskatchewan; Winnipeg, Manitoba; Toronto and London, Ontario, and then finishing off on September 7, 2011, at a venue in Montreal, Quebec.[12] As of late December 2012, he is signed to record label, BMG. On July 9, 2013 Pryde released an EP under BMG entitled "Canal and Richvale".[13] The EP includes a collaboration with August Rigo in the song 'Ridin Thru LA". There is a CD version of the EP available in Canada and New York which features two bonus songs. 'Bottom Dollar" which is available on the "Flagship" mixtape, and "Rollin'", which is exclusive to the CD.

On October 13, 2014, Pryde announced his mixtape "Plan A" via his music video, "Bitches and Gold". It was originally set to be released on February 2, 2015, but in his video "Foolish Heart", it was announced to be released on March 2, 2015. The first single off Plan A was "Low Key", released on February 10, 2015. On March 2, 2015, Plan A was released via Datpiff with overall downloads of 10,000. Plan A was released independently. The tape recollects the many personal struggles and scrutiny Pryde has faced in the industry throughout his career thus far.

Pryde previously recorded his music at the Mars Music Studio on Canal Street in Chinatown, Manhattan, New York. He has since moved back to Toronto and now records his music and music videos there.[3][14]

Llantino's mother, Rosalie Llantino died from cancer on April 9, 2015, after suffering for more than three years. He went on to release "Rest Of My Life" on YouTube in her memory.

As of May 14, 2015, Llantino announced that he was changing his rap alias to Pryde instead of D-Pryde, saying that " felt D-Pryde wasn't hitting well and didn't sound easy to remember, nor did it sound as cool as thought it did 3 years ago. So with that being said, dropping the unreasonable and unnecessary D from name." On May 26, he released his first song as Pryde called "Day One" and at the end of the video, it was announced that his new EP would be released on June 3, 2015 called Richvale Summer.[15] Now he has a LP coming out called Russell. And also a mixtape before the LP, coming out after much pushback on the Russell LP. On March 25, 2016 Pryde released the mixtape, I Don't Belong Here.[16] Afer a commercial success on "I don't belong here", Pryde began gearing up to release his debut LP, Russell. On February 13 he released his project "Loverboy." In late December 2017, Llantino announced via social media, that he will be officially changing his rap alias to, "RUSSELL (aka pryde)." On May 28, 2018, under RUSSELL!, Russell finally released his much anticipated debut album, "Russell."

Discography Studio Albums Russell (2018) Mixtapes The Myspace Mixtape (2008) The Extra Stuff Mixtape (2009) No...Rly Now Mixtape (2009) Once Again (2011) Mars (2011) Flagship (2012) Plan A (2015) Richvale Summer (2015) I Don't Belong Here (2016) Extended Plays Canal & Richvale (2013) Are U There? (2016) Loverboy (2017) Richvale Summer 2: Summer of Loverboy (2017) I Love U, Don't Worry (2017) Carnival (2018) Guest appearances List of non-single guest appearances, with other performing artists, showing year released and album name Title Year Other artist(s) Album "Air Timpani" 2008 Wax Liquid Courage "Hustle" 2011 Drew Howard — "So Far So Good" Drew Howard, Maribelle Anes Season Three (Leap Year) "Bow Down" Boogz Boogetz Flyer Learning "Round Round" 2012 Boogz Boogetz C.O.O.L. (Creating Our Own Lane) "Full Time Thing" Chris Miles I Am Me "Zonin' Out (Remix)" 2013 Chris Miles Growing Pains "OD" 2015 Futuristic The Rise "Casa" Dalos Casa - Single "Uptempo" 2016 OCD: Moosh & Twist Uptempo - Single "La Vida Loca" Dalos Before & After "Handle Your Business (Remix)" 2017 Dav.I.D — "Barely Go Out (Remix)" Camilo — "Might Be (Remix)" RAJAN —