Ruthless – “Upper Echelon”

Recently Toronto rapper Ruthless delivered her new music video for her bossy song “Upper Echelon,” that features various elements of boom bap Hip-Hop combined with lots of 808’s and heartbreak. Fellas watch out, she may just boss up on you.

“Upper Echelon for me is a fun upbeat record, something bossy, something about getting money and I felt like I needed to give people something like that at this time,” Ruthless said. “L Streetz produced the record and Dana Rice directed the video, but overall the EP is self-titled because I feel like my personality is a little bit of everything and I feel like the EP is a little bit of everything. The first record is a bossy record with Upper Echelon. The second record has more a Latin sound, and I feel like the last record has a real Carribean background representative of Toronto, so I feel like it’s going to touch all over. Toronto is very multicultural and diverse so I feel like I will be well represented in my EP.

Donning an all pink latex top with a fur coat, Ruthless stunts on the plane and in the car while she’s accompanied by her boy toy. Rapping the lyrics with ease, Ruthless lives and breathes the “Upper Echelon” life despite growing up in the rough Toronto neighborhood of Rexdale.

“I grew up in the hood, so it was like typical hood shit but there was a strong sense of community and I always felt like I had that support around me,” Ruthless explained. “I think the last couple of years has been cool to see the city rise and for years we didn’t get that attention and respect but it’s finally coming around. It used to be a joke when you said you were a rapper from Toronto, but now we are getting the respect I think we deserve.”

With a diverse background that is Columbian and Jamaican, Ruthless closely identifies with her city’s music and feels she is a part of the diverse fabric of Toronto that has become interwoven with various cultures from across the globe. 

 “I feel like I’m just like every other girl in Toronto in the sense that I love my Soca, I love my Reggaeton, my Reggae, and I feel like that shows in my sound as far as the diverse set of sounds I feature in my music,” Ruthless explained. 

Going forward Ruthless plans to drop her self-titled EP along with more music videos as she prepares to ride out the COVID-19 pandemic with a series of visual and audio releases.