Because of Tik-Tok, Instagram, and other social-media platform’s international appeal, Western audiences have been inadvertently introduced to a wide variety of unique styles and sounds. Everyone from the Italian rock band Måneskin [Beggin], South-Asian/Canadian rapper Tesher [Jalei Baby], and Nigerian singer Korede Bello [Do like That], to the 1970s Germanic disco group Boney M. [Rasputin], and even a virtual K-POP group named K/DA [Pop/Stars] have (re)launched into the public eye as a result of the digital communitie’s speedy adoption of their music. So much so that three Russian tracks, one from earlier this year [Моя голова винтом - Kostromin], one from last year [Ice - Morgenshtern] and the other from 2018 [Судно - Молчат Дома] have escaped its borders and become immensely popular around the globe.
But as the West continues to gulp down international musical styles in the truck loads, you have to ask yourself, “What’s the musical where and how?” In this brief article, the origins and contemporary face of Russian Hip-Hop [and indeed where Morgenshtern fits into it all] will be explained. The Russian Hip-Hop sphere is nothing like the West, more specifically the United States. Everything, in some way, is politically motivated, and many of Russia’s artists have very strong views on where they stand, their beliefs filtering into their musical voice. Beginning in the late-Soviet with the 60s proto-rock scene, ushered along by Gorbachev’s failed Perestroika 80s and the Soviet Union’s dissolution in 1991, Russian Hip-Hop has now been infused simultaneously with commericialist [Western] theatrics, and devious [Russian] political protest.
Russian Hip-Hop’s journey began in the 1940s/50s with the emergence of the “subversive” spontaneity of jazz during Cold War standstill. Jazz ambassadors like Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong, were sent in the hope that cultural diplomacy could heal the tautness of the time, instilling a sense of wonder in the entrained Soviet citizens of the time. Flash to Khruschev’s Thaw of the 1960s and the birth of the “Beatlemania” movement, the beginning of Russian rock [indeed Hip-Hop] had begun. Despite the fact that the bands and musical aesthetics of this era were just lower-quality replications of Western styles, it nevertheless gave them the motivation to craft their own voice. In the 1970s, the Soviet government had awoken to the dangers of this new artform, and so youth-led bands [Amateur] were now fighting with state-sanctioned bands [VIA bands] for sociocultural currency. However, the tenacious youth knew better than to be passive, and so Soviet punk and hard-rock emerged, along with socially-conscious musicians willing to challenge Soviet oppression. The 1980s is where Hip-Hop truly began, as while Western pop and disco music saturated dancehalls, punk and New-wave were saturating minds, leading to governmental “purges” against it. But as a result of Gorbachev’s Perestroika, break-dancing entered Russia, creating conditions perfect for Hip-Hop.
In 1984, the first ever “rap” track was created [Totalitarian Rap - Alisa] and a broadening of access to Western media ensued, marking the radical shift in late-Soviet consciousness from loud serfs to provoked revolutionists. The 1990s was a decade of great change in Russia and Hip-Hop took full advantage through the creation of rap groups [Bad Balance, Bachelor Party], festivals [Peak-91], radio stations, and publicized publications. Rap was now thought of as not just an expressionary genre of social anxieties, but a full-time career which could make the smart player a lot of money. While the Russian language was used now, because of radio, the WWW, and the post-Soviet adoption of capitalism, Russian Hip-Hop would never again be just a youth-directed, counterculturalist symbol. In the early 2000s, the consensus was that Russian Hip-Hop had become irrevocably commercialized [Detsl/Pepsi/MTV], but it was also now an intrinsic part of the post-Soviet Russian identity. Subgenres of rap had emerged [Gangster, R’n’B, Conscious], and increased digitalization furthered access to Hip-Hop like never before.
But in the mid-late 2000s, Russia was quickly falling into national disorder [Putin’s power grab, Kursk disaster, intercountry conflicts, Great Recession], and in-response Hip-Hop took on its final form. In the wake of Medvedev’s appointment in 2009, and Putin’s reappointment in 2012, the usage of political themes has only expanded, and the channels by which these quasi-politicians exert their influence on Russian culture is as diverse as the styles in effect today. According to Russian Musicologist Ilya Kukulin, the controversial genre has become “valourized” in post-2010s Russia and has become the “playground of revanche for those who feel disadvantaged.” But Russian Rappers have split in attitudes towards the usage of sociopolitics in their music. While some may ignore politics and sociocultural issues all-together, only covertly hint at problems and beliefs, poetically encode them in their works, or even patronize the State and its leaders, it can be said that nothing escapes the hand of politics. “Mainstream” rappers like Morgenshtern, Timati and his Black Star label, like those in the “contemporary underground” like Pharaoh and Noize MC, are all products of the Russian fight for survival, where living is and will be hard unless you find the right balance of “success, risk, and aggression.”
There are many different aesthetic styles of rap in Russia, all with their own unique blend of instrumentals, politics, and linguistic edge. Rappers like White Punk, Scriptonite, and Cakeboy use the broad “cloud-rap” style, utilizing more lyrical rhythms and slower, Trip-Hop tempos to invoke everything from pensive and somber outlooks to hedonistic pleasure. Here, Mnogozaal and his doomeresque, vapor-wave commentaries align. Some rappers like Oxxxymiron, 25/17, and Гонзо focus on rhythmic, textual delivery, and instrumental, G-Funk soundscapes to support their message. Others like BollywoodFM and Husky heavily reference their Russian culture and express their philosophical worldviews through eclectic, compositional aesthetics, always using a full range of vocal effects to do so. Then you have JEEMBO, Boulevard Depo, KILL ME, OBLADAET, and the mainstream crowd whose heavily-produced, cleanly rap-qua-electronic trap tracks lack textual or philosophical depth, but have become incredibly popular among conventional audiences, both Russian and Slavic alike.
Bottom-line is if you have a sound you like, there’s probably a rapper out there for you! So go take a look on this list of the top 100 Russian rappers and take your pick! To know the Russians of today, you have to listen like one!
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