In 2026, LaRussell is reaping what he sowed: Eight years and countless albums into his career, the Vallejo, California, rapper recently opened the Super Bowl LX Tailgate Concert and inked a record deal with Roc Nation. Still, he’s known to rep the Bay at every opportunity, from the shows he’s thrown for years in his childhood backyard to his bouncy, exuberant post-hyphy sound. That’s especially true on Something’s in the Water, which begins with a Pledge of Allegiance to the United Bay of America: “One nation under hyphy, indivisible, with liberty and slaps for all.” It’s a full-length collaboration with Lil Jon, whose production work on hits like E-40’s “Tell Me When to Go” bridged the gap between crunk and hyphy two decades before. Here the duo take it back to the Bay circa 2006, when T-shirts were XXXL and the streets rang with the refrain of “Yadadamean?” Lead single “I’m from the Bay” distills the project’s essence, as LaRussell declares proudly: “I’m from the Bay/I rep it hard/I’m known worldwide, but I blew up from my backyard.”