Basta (Баста) the stage name of Vasilli Bakulenko (Василий Михайлович Вакуленко), is one of Russia’s most iconic rappers. Originally from Rostov-on-Don, Vasilli studied music in high school and, under the influence of rappers like Wu-Tang Clan, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, and Busta Rhymes, formed his own rap group at the age of fifteen. Basta later collaborated […]

Detsl (Децл) is the stage name of Kirill Tolmatskii (Кирилл Александрович Толмацкий), who is known as something like the Russian Vanilla Ice. He is a former member of Bad B. Alliance (Bad B. Альянс). Detsl came into the spotlight from his first public performance at Moscow’s Adidas StreetBall Challenge, after which he was featured prominently in […]

Mnogotochie (Многоточие) is one of Russia’s most well-known and intelligent rap groups, and are prominent of example of “gangster rap” and political hip-hop in Russia. Their history is somewhat confusing as the group has been fluid in its membership and has used or been associated with several names. The original group existed from 1998 until […]

Bad Balance (also known as “Bad B”) is considered the first Russian hip-hop group, something like the Russian answer to Public Enemy. Starting out in 1980s Leningrad as a student breakdance group, Bad Balance—at that time consisting of Vlad Valov (who goes by ШЕFF / SheFF) and Sergey Krutikov (who goes by Михей / Mikhey)—the […]

Zhenya Milkovskiy (Женя Мильковский) is a Russian-speaking Ukrainian musician who sings, plays the piano and guitar, and writes his own music. Most recently, he is the leader of the band Nerves (Нервы), which blends many elements of R&B, pop, and rap with generally very soft lyrics and vocals. Milkovskiy’s musical education started early, when he […]