Husky's Hoshkhonog (2020) Analysis Pt. 1

As part of my Masters dissertation's goal to argue for the 'musical Russianness' [a la Nationalist discourses] of Russian Hip-Hop, an hommage to what Marina Frolova-Walker and Richard Tarushkin have done for Russian classical music, I will be analyzing the rapper Husky's 2020 album Hoshkhonog in order to try and defend my idea that such an aesthetic concept exists in Russian Hip-Hop today. Even from a basic level, the album uses the Rite of Spring and an Indian scale, along with having a very strong overarching format to its construction, these three components hypothetically connected to at least three different periods in Russian classical music's development. Nevertheless, this blog post is a quick showcase of what I have so far, and what I hope to achieve as a result of my investigation.

Overarching Form via Tempic Relations

The first task I am setting out for myself is deciding on how the album is structured, and the best way to do this is by looking at the track's tempos. What was uncovered through this process is quite startling, as it shows that the tempic formula of the album was created with a purpose in mind, and not simply based on the aesthetic of the singular track. Such findings could be extrapolated into theories of song-cycle(ism), symphonism, and other intention-based theories of musical construction, but the fundamental part is that this visualization helps suggest that rap analysis cannot just be socioculturally or linguistically led. The track (and its album in some cases) is at its core a musical object, and it (the artist included) has much to teach us. Take a notice at the subdivision peaks also, as the tracks they correspond to could explain them. Nevertheless, they are expertly placed, and I am not convinced that was by accident.

Classical Corollaries and Illusions

In the 12 track titled "King of Words," a fantastic occurrence arose and one that serves as a beacon for my hypothesis that connections between Hip-Hop and classical music in the Russian context may not be as far-fetched as it may initially seem. Husky uses a direct quotation from Stravinsky's neo-classical work The Rite of Spring, particularly the piccolo chromatic bursts found in the last movement entitled "“Sacrifical Dance." However, that's not all because he also uses a parody of the first movement, "The Augers of Spring," and the rhythmic texture as laid out by the strings. The part from the last movement is below, and in the musical texture it becomes very obvious why such an allusion exists, as it directly correlates to the text of the track. Further, after the peak of musical energy in the track (which happens numerous times) there is a woman screaming, another direct allusion to the sacrifice that is at the heart of The Rite of Spring. This is all fascinating, as it shows Husky's knowledge of Russian classical music, and his ability to blend them into his hip-hop vocabulary.

The Rite of Spring (pg. 135 on IMSLP: unknown edition)

As I have shown with the previous preliminary noticings, this album holds some fascinating launching points for the hypothesis that the classical and hip-hop traditions of music in Russia are not necessarily antithetical to each other, and actually sit closer to each other than some may realize. With Husky's manipulation of the Stravinsky quotation, along with his sense of musical texture abstraction which shows itself in the track's usage of the string rhythmic pattern, albeit in a warped way, it could be extrapolated that 'musical Russianness' in Russian Hip-Hop is by-and-large the same tenants of its classical variation, just with different embodiments. I cannot say for sure, and may would argue that 'musical Russianness' doesn't actually exist. Nevertheless, my quest to "legitimize" and position Russian Hip-Hop as a viable genre for a music-theory based practice has now begun!