The Symphony of the Internet: Who Created “Rush E” and How It Became a Global Phenomenon
If you have spent any time on YouTube, TikTok, or gaming spaces over the last few years, chances are you have heard the chaotic, breakneck notes of “Rush E.” It is a piece of music that feels entirely unplayable by human hands, characterized by cascading walls of notes, a bouncing meme-inspired rhythm, and an inevitable climax centered squarely around the letter “E.”
Despite sounding like a piece of internet folklore that materialized out of thin air, “Rush E” has very real human masterminds behind it.
The Creators: Sheet Music Boss
“Rush E” was created by Sheet Music Boss, an independent YouTube duo and music production channel specializing in engaging, meme-inspired, and video game-adjacent piano MIDI compositions. The masterminds behind the project are Andrew Wrangell (who primarily handles the composition and arrangements) and Samuel Dickenson.
Formed as a creative outlet to make classical and video game piano music accessible and fun, the duo gained early traction by translating popular video game tracks (like Tetris, The Legend of Zelda, and Kirby) into clever, meme-culture formats.
The Inspiration: Memes and the Legacy of “Rush B”
To understand who created “Rush E” and why, you have to look at its predecessor: “Rush B.”
Sheet Music Boss previously released “Rush B,” a piano piece heavily inspired by the gaming stereotype of Russian Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) players yelling at their teammates to “Rush B” in chat. That track leaned heavily on the musical note B and incorporated frantic Russian folk-style elements.
Following the success of “Rush B,” internet culture was deep in the era of absurd, “deep-fried” meme humor—specifically the famous distorted image combining Markiplier and Lord Farquaad paired with the letter “E.” Capitalizing on this viral wave, Wrangell and Dickenson decided to write a spiritual successor that escalated the joke to an entirely new, physically impossible level.
Anatomy of an Impossibly Viral Track
Released on YouTube, “Rush E” was structured not just as a piece of music, but as a visual spectacle. The MIDI visualization video showed cascading notes falling at speeds that would require a pianist to have roughly 50 fingers.
Key aspects of its design include:
- The “E” Motif: The core section of the song literally spells out the letter “E” on the piano roll, forcing a wall of dense chords that mimic the internet meme.
- Satirical Difficulty: It parodies “impossible piano tutorials” (like Thalikos or Black MIDI videos), intentionally writing a song that a human could never realistically play without a mechanical orchestrator or editing magic.
- The Meme Loop: Content creators across TikTok and YouTube began accepting the “Rush E challenge,” attempting to play parts of it, orchestrating it for school bands, or animating bizarre scenarios around it.
The Cultural Afterlife
What started as a cheeky nod to an internet shitpost exploded into a full-blown cultural touchstone. Pianists around the world began attempting (and miraculously managing, through clever arrangements or multiple players) to perform it live. It has inspired orchestral covers, marimba versions, and endless reaction videos, cementing Sheet Music Boss as pioneers of modern internet-native classical music.
Ultimately, “Rush E” proves that when internet culture collides with genuine musical talent, the result can echo across millions of screens worldwide—turning a silly meme about the letter “E” into one of the most famous modern piano compositions of the digital age.
Rush E by Sheet Music Boss
This video is the original, wildly popular MIDI visualization released by Sheet Music Boss that kick-started the global “Rush E” phenomenon.
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