Hip hop is a broad category of urban music that generally features rap singing, sampled beats, and sometimes other elements such as turntables and beatboxing. Hip hop and rap first caught on in the USSR just before it fell in the early 1990s. By the 2000s, the genre was well established and developing in multiple directions, from underground gangsta to commercially-produced pop hip hop. Today, many of Eurasia’s rap and hip and hop icons are considered cutting-edge globally. The genre is heavily influenced by strong local poetic and bardic traditions as well as generally influenced by Caribbean music, which has been popular in Russia since the before the fall of the USSR.
Languages: Search for hip hop or rap music performed in Russian, Ukrainian, Polish, or Belarusian, or in Baltic, Turkic, or Other languages.
Bayastan Botokanov (Баястан Ботоканов; he also sometimes goes by the moniker Ortoasiabayastan, Ортоазиябаястан) is a Kyrgyz rapper. He’s young—born in 1993—but not new to Bishkek rap. While there isn’t a ton of information floating around about him yet, he’s definitely someone to watch out for on the Bishkek music scene. Many of his songs are […]