Russian hip hop

Russian hip hop is hip hop music produced in Russia and/or in the Russian language.

Russian rap is quite similar to old school rap in North America. The artist is concentrated on rapping, not as much as on the rhythm or the beat. Because of the limited resources of the artists the beats are often produced using music programs like Cubase as opposed to having a DJ spin records. Bootleg versions of these programs can be purchased from black market street vendors for only a few dollars. The first more or less known pioneers of russian rap was a group called Malchishnik(Мальчи́шник), but the recognition of the rap genre came with the rise of a Moscow team Bad B., with their classical album "Naletchiki Bad B." hitting the streets way back in 1994.

Only a few russian rap artists have reached the commercial success: Dezl(Децл), Bad Balance/Bad.B(Плохо́й Ба́ланс/Бад Би), Kasta(Ка́ста) and the byelorussian artist Serega(Сере́га), who combined the original rap with the native russian satiric song genre(chastooshka) which some critics consider a new branch in the rap genre: rap-chastooshka. Although many rap fans believe he doesn't belong to the russian rap scene, the musician won the nominee for best russian rap in 2005 on the RMA(Russian Music Awards).