The Genesis of an Internet Monster: Who Created “Rush E”?

If you have spent any time on YouTube, TikTok, or gaming spaces over the past few years, there is a near-zero chance you haven’t heard the chaotic, breakneck notes of “Rush E.” It is a piece of music that feels less like a traditional composition and more like a digital boss battle—a wall of sound featuring impossible finger-crossings, keyboard smashes, and a relentless, driving rhythm that has captured the imagination of millions.

But behind the viral meme, the impossible piano covers, and the countless Roblox and Minecraft parodies lies a very real question: Who actually created “Rush E”?

The Masterminds: Sheet Music Boss

“Rush E” was created by Sheet Music Boss, a popular YouTube channel and music production duo consisting of Andrew Wrangell and Samuel Dickenson.

Based primarily around creating engaging piano MIDI animations, tutorials, and meme-inspired arrangements, Sheet Music Boss built a massive following by making classical and video game music accessible, fun, and visually striking. However, “Rush E” skyrocketed them from a successful niche channel into full-blown internet legends.

Andrew Wrangell: The Composer

While the channel is a collaborative effort, the specific notes on the page were written by Andrew Wrangell, who serves as the primary composer for Sheet Music Boss.

Wrangell didn’t just sit down to write a difficult song; he set out to engineer a viral cultural phenomenon. The track was conceptualized as a spiritual successor to earlier internet meme pieces, most notably “Rush B”—a nod to the classic Counter-Strike: Global Offensive meme where players aggressively shout instructions to “Rush B”. (That earlier track heavily utilized the musical note B in a driving Russian-folk style).

When it came time to create “Rush E,” Wrangell leaned into another massive internet joke of the era: the deep-fried, heavily distorted “E” meme (featuring Markiplier’s face photoshopped onto Lord Farquaad). Wrangell built the song around the musical note E, weaving the meme’s spirit directly into the composition’s DNA.

Anatomy of a Viral Sensation

Released in mid-2018, “Rush E” was intentionally designed to look and sound completely absurd.

1. The Visual Gimmick: Sheet Music Boss is famous for its falling-note MIDI visualization videos. In “Rush E,” the notes quickly devolve from a complex, humanly playable piano piece into an absolute avalanche of vertical bars that flood the screen, covering every single key.
2. The “Unplayable” Element: Toward the climax of the piece, the music demands things no human pianist can physically do—such as playing dozens of notes simultaneously or requiring a pianist to press a key with their nose. This transformed the song into a badge of honor for internet creators.
3. The Challenge Culture: Pianists and content creators across the globe immediately took up the gauntlet. People began posting videos of themselves “successfully” playing “Rush E” using elaborate setups, extra fingers, toys, computer algorithms, or comedic visual effects.

From Niche MIDI to Global Pop Culture

What started as a clever inside joke among internet piano enthusiasts snowballed into a mainstream colossus. “Rush E” transcended YouTube, spawning countless remixes, dance trends, rhythm game levels (like in osu!), and even massive animations by major creators like Mark Rober.

For Andrew Wrangell and Samuel Dickenson, “Rush E” proved that classical composition techniques, when combined with internet culture and clever digital marketing, could command the attention of an entire generation.