Rustie

Rustie smashed genres together into buzzy, buoyant tracks that helped shape a new era of electronic music in the 2010s. Born Russell Whyte in Glasgow in 1983, Rustie started making music as a teenager, inspired by hip-hop and video game soundtracks. Early efforts like his 2007 EP, Jagz the Smack, connected the rhythms of U.S. trap and U.K. grime with effervescent synth melodies. He landed on Warp Records, where he grew bolder with his 2011 debut album, Glass Swords, which added prog-rock flair, lightspeed electronic tempos, and mutated vocal samples to songs such as “Ultra Thizz” and “Surph.” Rustie branched out into working with rappers such as Danny Brown, whom he invited into his world on 2014’s Green Language, where the music maker doubled down on his dizzying sonic mix. While he’s been mostly quiet since 2015’s EVENIFUDONTBELIEVE, Rustie’s influence remains strong among a burgeoning generation of producers such as those in the PC Music collective eager to smash down stylistic borders.