“Savage,” the brand new single from Los Angeles artist Ross Victory and Bronx-born singer and performer MARQUE, is already making noise within the hip hop neighborhood. This West Coast hip hop and queer rap collaboration pairs Ross Victory’s raunchy rap persona with MARQUE’s melodic Puerto Rican Bronx hearth, making a high-energy, club-ready observe that blends West Coast bounce with East Coast angle. “Savage” stands out as a brand new hip hop launch that facilities queer males, impartial artists, and bi-coastal collaboration whereas nonetheless capturing the uncooked spirit of hip hop storytelling.
MARQUE, identified for choreographing for artists like Ylona Garcia, Ina Bravo, and Tony Sunshine, and performing alongside Alaska Thunderfuck (RuPaul’s Drag Race) and Ty Dolla $ign, brings his commanding stage presence into the sales space. With influences starting from Aaliyah to Blink-182, the ONQUE star’s supply on “Savage” provides each melody and menace, bridging his pop, R&B, and dance with Ross’ daring lyrics.
This link-up wasn’t trade manufactured — it was community-grown. The 2 impartial artists crossed paths in 2024 on the LGBT Heart in Los Angeles. Ross was a panelist for the BiYou occasion sponsored by bisexual social membership AmBi Los Angeles, whereas MARQUE was lighting up the stage as a featured performer.
When Ross started mapping out “Savage”, he knew the observe wanted an lively function — an artist who might meet his uncooked supply but additionally stand confidently on their very own.
“As artists, we specific ourselves in a different way,” Ross says. “However on the core is authenticity and a love for songwriting and radio. Musicality is what made this collab a no brainer and why now we have that sonic chemistry. We’re each in our consolation zones.”
Ross wastes no time setting the scene from the primary bar: “Once you see my face you recognize I got here to take all of it / f** ’em like a savage…”* The supply is playful however daring, assured however calculated — the mark of somebody who is aware of how one can get a response and reside rent-free in your head.
MARQUE flips the vitality with out shedding the sting: “Huge huge feeler, booty killa, stroke sport A1, intercourse drug vendor.” His verse is brash and melodic, offering a pointy lyrical and sonic distinction to Ross’s assault, earlier than detouring right into a hook that makes you hit rewind: “I really feel like I’ve been right here earlier than, going out and in like a revolving door.”
The result’s a bass-heavy, West Coast bounce reduce constructed for each the streets and the membership. Ross spits unfiltered bars, channeling a fearlessness via his rap persona Aloutte Hayes, who says what Ross is considering however received’t say out loud. MARQUE’s verse then slides in with an intoxicating mixture of R&B smoothness and aggressive cadence. It’s a back-and-forth that performs like a verbal chess match — stress, launch, and 0 hesitation.
“When Ross despatched me the beat, I knew precisely the place to take it,” MARQUE says. “I needed my verse to really feel such as you’re caught in between — it’s that area the place you may’t draw back, and also you don’t need to.”
Past the file, “Savage” is a celebration of intersectional collaboration in hip hop, connecting East and West coasts, elevating LGBTQ artists, and exhibiting what is feasible when identification, expertise, and imaginative and prescient usually are not gatekept. As Black and Latino queer males, Ross Victory and MARQUE are pushing the tradition ahead by taking over area on their very own phrases and inspiring their listeners and different impartial artists to do be courageous and attain for his or her model of freedom and pleasure.
Produced by Observe Execs and recorded at Good Vibez Studios and Glasshaus in Los Angeles, “Savage” is now obtainable on Spotify and Apple Music.
