Songfacts®:

• This braggadocio team-up between Russ and Ed Sheeran opens with a snippet from the 2000 blockbuster movie Gladiator. After Maximus (Russell Crowe) defeats several enemies in a gladiator pit, the crowd don't applaud him, so he exclaims to them.
  
  Are you not entertained?
  Are you not entertained?
  
  Jay-Z used the same quote as the introduction to his 2003 The Black Album track "What More Can I Say," and Common references it on his 2008 Universal Mind Control song "Gladiator."
• Following the Gladiator clip, Ed Sheeran croons the chorus where he boasts about his continued success even after taking a break. The English pop star still keeps everybody entertained.
• Russ addresses his detractors on the first verse. Though people take shots, he handles it because of the money he's made. Russ' answer to his doubters is that he's bought his parents a beach property and employs his homies on staff.
• During the second verse, Sheeran details how the song came together. He was dining at the upscale New York City Italian restaurant, Carbone, when Russ walked up and introduced himself to the carrot-haired star. The Atlanta-based rapper assumed Sheeran didn't know who he was, but they got on well and decided to collaborate.
• "Are You Entertained" features production from Sheeran's go-to producer Fred Again.
• A few days after Russ introduced himself to Sheeran, the English singer sent him the rough idea for "Are You Entertained." Russ emailed Sheeran back the same day with the completed song, which he loved.
  
  The Atlanta rapper said they should do a video, so Sheeran hit up his close friend and collaborator Jamal Edwards to plan it. Over the next couple of months, Edwards sent him locations, ideas, and cameos, but the day before Russ flew out, Edwards died from cardiac arrest after taking recreational drugs. Edwards' mother Brenda and his sister Tanisha asked that they still make the video to make "Jamal's vision come to life." Accordingly, the final cut, directed by Jake Nava, serves as a tribute to Edwards.
• This marks the first time Russ and Ed Sheeran have officially worked together, but Russ did sample Ed Sheeran's 2013 song "I See Fire" for his 2014 Pink Elephant track "We Should All Burn Together."