CDOT & Brendan Rush Slice Deep With “Switchblade”

Some artists drop songs for clout. Others bleed into the mic. CDOT and Brendan Rush are firmly in the second category. Their new track, “Switchblade,” doesn’t sugarcoat the sting of betrayal; it rips it wide open.

The song is a raw hip-hop confession about what happens when the person you trusted most flips on you. It’s about the instant when loyalty vanishes, like the snap of a blade. But instead of wallowing, CDOT and Brendan flip the script: heartbreak isn’t the endgame, it’s jet fuel for the grind.

“Switchblade” drags you through the collapse of something real and forces you to sit with the discomfort of betrayal. Yet the track doesn’t get stuck in the pain. It builds into resilience, showing how even the deepest wounds can become proof of strength. It’s the kind of record that cuts deep but leaves you walking taller on the other side.

CDOT brings a surprising backstory to the mix. Before rap, he was a child actor you might’ve unknowingly grown up with on shows like Paw Patrol, Arthur, and Chucky. Now, he’s carving out his lane as a hip-hop and R&B artist, describing himself as a “melodic therapist for the dreamchasers who feel too much but say too little.” His music resonates with overthinkers, the quiet strugglers, the people who need a soundtrack when their inner world feels like too much to carry.

Brendan Rush has his own legend-in-the-making energy. His career took off after a risky, grassroots move: slapping a QR code flyer onto a DoorDash delivery bag. That stunt pulled in over 700,000 streams, landed him on Spotify editorial playlists, and got him attention from outlets like Lyrical Lemonade and HipHopDX. He turned a side hustle into a spotlight, and he hasn’t stopped building momentum since.

Together, CDOT and Brendan are more than a feature pairing. They’re shaping a movement around authenticity and hustle. Their collaboration speaks to an audience that’s tired of gimmicks and just wants the real.

As the artists themselves put it, “We want our listeners to know they’re never facing their struggles alone. ‘Switchblade’ captures the feeling of fighting through life when it seems like everything is working against you, and our EP 2 of 2 takes that emotion even further.”

At its core, “Switchblade” is more than just another drop. It’s a battle cry for anyone who’s been burned and had to rebuild. CDOT and Brendan Rush prove that pain, when flipped, becomes power.

"Switchblade" hits heavy on betrayal—what was the turning point that pushed you to turn that pain into a record instead of letting it eat you alive?

CDOT: I had always thought of music as a form of therapy. Speaking about my feelings in conversation isn't something I'm very good at, but when it comes to putting lyrics into a song, it's an entirely different story. I really needed to express myself with everything I was dealing with. And the only way I could personally achieve that satisfaction was to write about it and turn my pain into art. 

RUSH: We chose to channel pain into this record because the emotions we experienced are the same ones felt by many people around the world. I started making music when I was seven years old because I wanted to inspire others — to be someone's outlet, a reminder that they're not alone. We're all in this together, and if my music can help even one person get through a difficult situation, then my mission is complete.

You both bring totally different stories to the table—CDOT with your acting background, Brendan with your viral DoorDash moment. How do those experiences shape the way you create music together?

CDOT: Even coming from different backgrounds. We still bring such a similar presence to our music together because of the things we've gone through. These are things that many other people have experienced, and Rush and I both have this shared ability to tie all those things into a bow and create congruent art for the world to heal with. 

RUSH: Cdot and I share the exact same end goal, and when we met, there was an instant connection. Our relationship has always been natural, never forced. Before working with him, I rarely ever collaborated with other artists; I usually stuck to making music on my own. But with Cdot, the process is effortless. We bounce ideas off each other easily, and always bring a similar energy to every record. Even when a track isn't what I'd usually make, or vice versa, we manage to match each other's vibe. 2 of 2 is just the beginning, one of many projects we plan to share with the world.

Your EP 2 of 2 digs into resilience, heartbreak, and hope. What track on the project feels the most personal, and why?

CDOT: The track that feels most personal to me off the EP would have to be Switchblade. The topic of having your back turned on you by the person you care about most and being caught entirely off guard describes my exact situation, and it just hits my soul. It's almost as if everything you thought you and this person would be together turned out not to be a shared interest. And that, that hurts.

RUSH: For me, it's definitely "Pourin' Up."  It shows a different side of me as an artist. Usually, I lean toward sad, melodic trap songs with heavy 808s, but this one carried a unique energy. Fun fact, while we were making the track, my laptop crashed and we lost the entire session. My fiancée Giovannina, Cdot, and I rushed to Walmart for an external hard drive, praying we could recover it. Unfortunately, nothing was saved. When my computer finally restarted about 30 minutes later, we rebuilt the entire song from scratch in half an hour. I knew it was special, and I wasn't going to let it go.

Brendan, that DoorDash stunt blew up in a way nobody could've predicted. Do you think artists have to be this scrappy and innovative today to break through the noise?

RUSH: I believe artists today need to be both innovative and scrappy to create a viral moment and truly break through. For me, the craziest part is that I never expected someone to post a picture of the flyer I attached to their DoorDash order on Twitter, let alone for that tweet to blow up the way it did. At the time, DoorDash was my daily grind.

I was putting in 8 to 10 hours a day to cover basic living expenses, and my previous manager was doing the same in another state. Still, I also saw it as an opportunity to promote myself. Then, out of nowhere, everything changed. That one post led to over 700,000 streams, calls from Universal, Warner, and UnitedMasters all in a single day, and even direct reactions from Spotify, Lyrical Lemonade, and DoorDash themselves. Afterward, I saw other people try to replicate the same idea, but it never landed with the same impact. That's because you can't manufacture authenticity, you can't fake hunger. At the end of the day, it's about showing people how badly you want this.

At its core, your music is about connection, helping people feel less alone in the struggle. What do you want a listener sitting in their room at 3 a.m., headphones on, to feel after pressing play?

CDOT: After pressing play at 3 a.m., I genuinely want a listener to know that no matter how alone they feel, other people are going through these things and becoming better at the end of it. There is light at the end of the tunnel, and that's what I want a listener to take away from our music. People go through some painful times, and I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy, but after that pain comes prosperity. You can't let it knock you down - keep pushing. 

RUSH: If someone is listening to my music at 3 a.m., I want them to feel understood, to know that if my lyrics resonate with them, I've been there too. Everything in life is temporary. Growing up, I was bullied, overweight until junior year, and picked on constantly. Music was my escape.

When I lost weight, suddenly everyone wanted to be my friend, but the pain of rejection, like not making the basketball team in middle school, became fuel for my fire. Eminem was my biggest influence during those times; he's the reason I started making music. Without him, there would be no me. Now, my dream is to be that same inspiration for someone else, to help them build a dream from nothing. Not all superheroes wear capes, remember that.