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 […]

Eva Pol’na (Ева Леонидовна Польна) is a Russian singer and songwriter from St. Petersburg. Pol’na started singing and dancing when she was young, but did not start to focus on music until later. She got a degree in library science and information management and afterward attended art school in St. Petersburg. Her music career started […]

Vladimir Presnyakov (Владимир Пресняков) is a Russian singer from Yekaterinburg. He was exposed to music from a young age, since both of his parents were in the music industry. Presnyakov started playing around with the piano, guitar, and drums as a child, and started writing his own music when he was 11. He began singing […]

Tatyana Bulanova (Татьяна Буланова) is a Russian singer from St. Petersburg. Growing up, Bulanova studied the piano in music school, and also began to play the guitar in her teens. For college, she originally enrolled in the library sciences department of the Leningrad Institute of Culture, but she soon moved to the vocal music department. […]

Shahzoda (Шахзода; real name Zilola Bahodirovna Musayeva, as it is spelled in Uzbek) is an Uzbek singer and actress. Shahzoda grew up in Fergana, in the Uzbek SSR. She was interested in music from her childhood, but has no musical education—she studied management at the International State University of Kyiv, but left the university to […]