Russian hip hop

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Russian hip hop refers to hip hop music recorded in Russia or in the Russian language in former Soviet states such as Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan.^[1][2][3] Hits by Russian rappers are included in the soundtracks of some PC-games^[4] and have formed part of several popular internet memes.

Many Russian rap artists have achieved commercial success, including Detsl, Bad Balance, Centr, Kasta, Oxxxymiron and Belarusian artist Seryoga.

Especially at the end of the 2010s and the beginning of the 2020s, rap has become a very political form of music in Russia. In this respect, rap could be compared to rock in the 1980s, which gave voice to young people critical of the Soviet system, expressed, for example, by Viktor Tsoi's Khochu peremen ("I want changes").

The increased politicization was most impressively demonstrated at the end of 2018, when a string of concerts were canceled. Among them was a performance by rapper Khaski (real name Dmitry Kuznetsov) in Krasnodar at the end of November. After the local prosecutor's office banned him from performing at Club Bounce on the grounds that the music contained extremist ideas, drug glorification and a call to suicide, the rapper stood on the roof of a car and began singing to his fans in the street until the police took him away for "hooliganism" (chuliganstvo) leading to him initially being sentenced to several days in prison. As a result, many famous rappers gave a solidarity concert for him in Moscow.^[5]