As many know, the 1990s in terms of Russian Hip-Hop history was incredibly busy, as it was the first wave of Russian Hip-Hop not only to exist domestically but internationally as well. The first ten years after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 radically transformed Russian culture forever, and much of the change can be linked to the rise of this American genre. In this post ( in connection with my dissertation) I am going to look at another transformative album from the first-half of the 1990s entitled "Stop Killing Dolphins" by the group Дубовый Гаайъ (Oaken Grove), a relatively short-lived but culturally impactful group that helped push the genre of Hip-Hop in Russia further with their influence of rock, as well as neither catering to the tastes of Hip-Hop fans nor Soviet rock fans. Thus, this album is considered by some like critic Ivan Beletsky as one of the main albums that defined the Russian Hip-Hop 90s!
Basic Information
"Stop Killing Dolphins", released in 1994 first on cassette and later in 1996 on CD, was the debut album of "Oaken Grove" who, by this point in their career having been founded in the late 1980s was undergoing radical change as many of the group's members were participating in other projects and creating their careers outside the group. In 1992 Dolphin (another prominent rapper of the 90s and 2000s) would join forces with Alien Pat. Holman and the 'Stop Killing Dolphins' project would begin. Rivaling the more jovial, bombastic, and excited style of Malshishnik (Bachelor Party, another popular group at the time), this album solidified the group as more introspective, dark, and somber (references to drugs and suicide) perhaps contributing to their quick decline in popularity and three-year break in 1994 to 1997.
Regardless, when the cassette was released on one side you had Oaken Grove while on the other you had Bachelor Party. Thus, in the fight for cultural domination one group obviously came out on top, although it must be argued that it wasn't the quality of the music nor the themes but instead the time the group existed. Look at 'New School' Hip-Hop and philosophical doom-and-gloom is everywhere. Thus, this group was but another victim of epoch. In 1994 Oaken Grove would stop their group work together for three years, coming back together in 1997, although quickly disintegrating in the early 2000s due to death, while the main producer and string Holman would go onto join the rock group ОНИ.
Interesting Parts
Symbolism of the Name
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