San Diego-based rapper Ruslan is a hip-hop artist known for his positive, spiritually minded productions. Born Ruslan Karaoglanov to Armenian parents in Baku, Azerbaijan, Ruslan was a child when he immigrated with his family to the United States in 1991 to escape religious persecution after an ethnic conflict broke out in the wake of tensions between the dissolving Soviet Union and the Azerbaijan government.

Settling in San Diego, Ruslan became interested in hip-hop around age eight, and by his teens he was performing his own raps on-stage. In 2010 he released Right Out Loud (The Prequel EP), followed in 2013 by his full-length debut, Carry On, on Kings Dream. Around the same time, he formed the collective Dream Junkies with fellow rappers Beleaf and John Givez. The group's debut album, 2016's Good Religion, registered on Billboard's R&B, rap, independent, and Heatseekers charts.

Also in 2016, Ruslan released his album, Americana, which featured appearances from Givez and Beleaf, as well as Joey Jewish, Abiv, and Sarah Juers. In 2017 he released the first installment of his Indie Jones mixtape series which garnered attention on YouTube from the likes of Gary Vaynerchuk and Chas

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