Egor Kreed (Егор Крид) is a Russian rap and hip hop artist. Until 2014, he was known as “KReeD” and has also gone by just “Kreed” in the past as well. Egor Kreed knew he wanted to be a musician from the age of 11, when he first heard 50 Cent’s song “Candy Shop”. Born […]

Kasta (Каста) is a Russian rap group originally from Rostov-on-Don, whose core members are the MCs Vladi (Влади), Shym (Шым), Khamil (Хамиль), and Snake (Змей). Exposure to New York’s Wu-Tang Clan in the early nineties prompted them to purchase as many American rap cassettes as they could get their hands on, and to study English […]

Centr (Центр) is a Moscow rap group originally formed in 2004 by MCs Guf (Гуф) and Princip (Принцип), and later joined by Slim (Слим), Little Bird (Птаха), and others. The group’s debut album, Gift (Подарок) was self produced and recorded. Only thirteen copies were made – and were given as New Year’s gifts to friends. […]

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 […]

VIA Gra (ВИА Гра; also called Nu Virgos) is a Ukrainian, Russian-singing pop group founded by businessman Dmitry Kostyuk in 2000 in Kyiv. The name of the band is usually assumed to refer to the drug Viagra, with the “Via” hidden in the Russian acronym for “vocal-instrumental ensemble,” which is found in many band names. […]

Propaganda (Пропаганда) is a Russian band that’s been releasing hits consistently since 2001. They have been highly successful with their brand of dance pop, with songs like “With Chalk” (“Мелом”), “Who” (“Кто”), and “No One” (“Никто”) leading Russian charts as soon as they appeared. The group was founded in 2001 by producer Sergey Izotov. Its […]