3. Eminem
Marshall Bruce Mathers III, better known as stage name Eminem and alter ego Slim Shady - rapper, music producer, composer and actor. In addition to his solo career, Marshall is also a member of the group D12 and the hip-hop duo Bad Meets Evil.
Eminem is one of the best-selling music artists in the world, as well as the best-selling artist of the 2000s. He has been named one of the greatest musicians of all time by many magazines, including Rolling Stone, which ranked Eminem number 83 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists. The same magazine proclaimed him the King of Hip-Hop.
2. Jay Z
Shawn Corey Carter, better known as Jay-Z, is an American rapper with a net worth of over $500 million as of 2012. He has 13 albums at the top of the Billboard 200. This is a record for any solo artist and second most in history after The Beatles, who had 19 albums at number one in the US. Multiple Grammy Award winner.
Back in 1999, Jay-Z rapped in a song in Mariah Carey's "Heartbreaker" video, which topped the Billboard Hot 100. In 2003, Jay-Z returned to the top of the US pop charts with the track "Crazy in Love", recorded with him friend and now wife of Beyoncé. He is the founder and co-owner of Roc-A-Fella Records, as well as the former CEO of Def Jam Recordings, co-owner of the 40/40 Club, creator of the Rocawear clothing line and co-owner of the NBA's Brooklyn Nets.
1. Notorious B.I.G.
Christopher George Lator Wallace (May 21, 1972, Brooklyn, New York - March 9, 1997, Los Angeles, California) was an American rapper who performed under the aliases Biggie Smalls, Frank White and, most famously, The Notorious B.I.G. He was the leader of East Coast hip-hop.
On September 13, 1994, Biggie's debut album, Ready To Die, was released and was a stunning success. The first single, "One More Chance", went platinum within weeks, and by the end of the year the album was certified triple platinum. At last count, the album sold four million copies.
The rapper's second album, Life After Death, released in 1997, won several awards, including Billboard's R'n'B Album of the Year and two ASCAP Awards. The album was released posthumously, a few weeks after Biggie's tragic death. Life After Death debuted at number one in its first weeks of release, breaking all records, and remained on the charts for many months with singles such as "Mo Money, Mo Problems" and "Sky's The Limit".
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The hip-hop business is growing so rapidly that you don’t always have time to remember the names rising stars. The West is exploding with new faces such as Lil B, Gucci Mane and Chance The Rapper. Russian stars new school, in turn, like to announce another “game changer,” but is this really so? In the foreign press lately The term soundcloud-rap has caught on. The new tag was needed to designate a wave of young American rap artists who have not yet hit the radar of old media and are generally not very well known to a wide audience, but are already leading the charts of SoundCloud, which is more geared to the search for new music. Russian hip-hop today is also actively developing. With the change in the meaning of hip-hop on the music market, with the acquisition of significant influence by hip-hop, the type of performers has also changed, some of whom will eventually become new classics. We have compiled our list of young but famous rappers of our generation.
1. LSP - Oleg Savchenko (28 years old/Vitebsk, Belarus)
A Belarusian rap group that captured the summer of 2015 with the track “Madness” and the incredibly successful album “Tragic City”. LSP fell in love with the listener not only with its atypical presentation for Russian hip-hop music, electronic beats and sound, but also with excellent storytelling skills about difficult life circumstances. LSP is a romantic intellectual who constantly vacillates between cynicism and vulnerability. Last summer, one of the group members, Roma the Englishman, died, after which Oleg LSP announced that he would continue to work with the group and dedicated the video for the song “Body” to Roma, which amazed all listeners with its sincerity and message.
Albums:
- “YOP” (2014)
- “The Gallows” (2014)
- « Magic city"(2015)
- “Tragic city” (2017)
2. Scriptonite - Adil Zhalelov (27 years old/Leninsky village/Pavlodar, Kazakhstan)
Adil Zhalelov, who fell ill with hip-hop in his early childhood, already at the age of 11 began writing poems, texts, and at 15 already beats that were used by Klava Gidroponka during her participation in the “Battle for Respect.” A little later, these beats began to sell out, but the tracks, of which a lot were written, were not posted anywhere. In 2014, a locally famous Kazakh rapper posted on the network the video VBVVCTND (stands for “Choice without options - all you gave us”), which was filmed for six months, and received an unimaginable resonance. 2 major labels immediately offered Skryptonite a contract, but the choice fell on TO “Gazgolder”.
Scryptonite’s full-fledged debut took place in 2015, after the release of the album “House with Normal Phenomena,” which was unanimously named by critics and music lovers as the best Russian-language record of 2015. The main feature of all tracks is not only the originality of the music, but also the predisposition to repeated listening, and each time new details are discovered in the music, complementing or completely changing the overall picture. The latest double album “Ouroboros” once again proved that Skryptonite is one of the brightest and most influential figures in Russian hip-hop, an artist whose tracks have been heard from every speaker throughout Russia and the CIS countries for the last couple of years.
Albums:
- “House with Normal Phenomena” (2015)
- “Holiday on 36 Street” (2017)
- “Ouroboros” (2017)
3. ATL - Sergey Kruppov (29 years old / Novocheboksarsk, Russia)
An intriguing and talented artist from Novocheboksarsk, ex-member of the Aztecs group, which broke up in 2012 after the release of the album “Music will be above us,” writing tracks under the name ATL. His pseudonym has two interpretations at once - the first letters of the city of Atlanta and an allusion to the Aztec god of water Atlu. The musician's creative inspiration was Eminem. After the “white rapper”’s tape fell into his hands, he decided to move in the same direction and become famous at any cost.
The rapper gained widespread popularity when he defeated a serious opponent, Andy Cartwright, in the Versus battle. His style most of all gravitates towards trip-hop (a mixture of experimental hop, jazz, soul, rock), although the performer himself prefers not to force himself into the framework of one stylistic direction. ATL loves to use complex metaphors and allusions in his songs, the leitmotif of his works is anxiety, the end of utopia, the threat of war and complete surrender of peace on earth.
Albums:
- “Cyclone Center” (2014)
- “Limbo” (2017)
4. Max Korzh - Maxim Korzh (29 years old / Luninets, Belarus)
Max Korzh is a young promising performer from Belarus. In one of the courtyards Belarusian city Luninets Max Korzh started making music in the mid-2000s. But all this was more like school fun, until the time came to enroll: the whole company moved to Minsk - and Max Korzh felt the spirit of the big city.
Shortly before joining the army, he recorded the song “Heaven will help us,” which, one might say, brought real fame to the musicians. The studio recording cost him $300, which he borrowed from his mother. Then Max posted his debut composition on the Internet and went to fulfill his military duty. “Heaven will help us” received a lot of likes, the composition was played on the air by some local radio stations, and was widely distributed on VKontakte - at the moment it exists there in the amount of almost 100 thousand copies. The guy found out about this when he returned home and received a powerful incentive to further creativity. The songs he wrote quickly became popular. The singer has already released several albums. He is known not only in Belarus, Korzh performs in Russia, Ukraine and European countries. Max is the winner of several music awards.
Albums:
- « Animal world"(2012)
- “Home” (2014)
- “The little one has grown up. Part 1” (2016)
5. Oxxxymiron - Miron Fedorov (33 years old / St. Petersburg, Russia)
Oksimiron (Oxxxymiron) is a well-known and revered rapper in Russia and abroad, who emigrated to Germany at a young age. He became famous for his extraordinary polysyllabic rhymes, rather witty metaphors and high vocabulary. He is considered an innovator of the grime genre in Russia. Miron “appeared” on the radar of the general public around 2008 - at this time he began posting his demo recordings on the Internet. By this time, he had taken the pseudonym Oxxxymiron, which was a reference, firstly, to his real name, secondly, to the literary term “oxymoron”, and the triple “x” referred to the generous use of obscene language in his tracks. Oxy’s debut video, “I’m a Hater,” caused a lot of noise in Russian rap.
Miron creates mainly battle rap, but some tracks, for example “ Last call", proved that his lyrics are also great. Released suddenly, without any promotions, singles or videos, the album “Gorgorod” broke more than one record; it is one of the most recognizable hip-hop releases of recent years. It was after Gorgorod that they began to talk about “turning the game around.”
Albums:
- “The Eternal Jew” (2011)
- “miXXXtape II” (2013)
- “Gorgorod” (2015)
6. T-fest - Kirill Nezboretsky (21 years old / Chernivtsi, Ukraine)
As it turned out, Ukraine is the main exporter of not only young pop stars, but also rap artists. Kirill is a young popular Russian rapper who has already achieved so much. Kirill began his activity with covers of famous artists, and he began rapping back in 2009. He released one mixtape in his hometown, after which he wrote several more albums over the course of several years. And only in 2017 he released his first official release, the album “0372”. Its name is the telephone code of Chernivtsi.
Later, Schokk drew attention to the guy, taking him under his patronage. Melodic and musical tracks about difficult childhood years, discussions about girls, money and blunts, in particular, the video “One thing I knew” interested the rapper Skryptonite, who represents the interests of the Gazgolder label. But then Kirill didn’t know about it, he was going to Moscow to perform at the concert of his friend Schokk, and already in early March T-Fest and Scryptonite will present a joint video “Lambada”. A little later it becomes known that “Gazgolder” signed T-Fest to their label. It is worth noting that Kirill performs together with his brother Maxim Nezboretsky (MacRae). In October 2017, Kirill presented his second studio solo album, called T-Fest - “Youth ‘97”, which blew up the Russian charts.
Albums:
- “0372” (2017)
- “Youth’97” (2017)
7. Pharaoh - Gleb Golubin (22 years old / Moscow, Russia)
Former member of the group Grindhouse, now the leader of the Dead Dynasty team - PHARAOH - rapper from Moscow. From the age of 6 to 13, Gleb worked hard at football and dreamed of a professional career as an athlete. He played for the football clubs Lokomotiv, CSKA and Dynamo, but eventually left football on the orders of his parents, who considered the footballer’s career unpromising. For the first time, people started talking about the rapper Pharaoh at the end of 2014, thanks to the video for the song “Nothing Has Changed” and the subsequent mixtape “Wadget”. In a short time, the composition of “Dead Dynasty”, which was created by the rapper from Ufa BOULEVARD DEPO and headed by Gleb, was replenished with a number of talented and promising beatmakers of all sorts and stripes, some of whom worked with representatives of the Western rap scene.
In his tracks, Pharaoh uses terminology, the understanding of which comes only with time, with long and thoughtful listening. His original natural metaphors and the sound of his voice have made hundreds of people fall in love with him. The voice often sounds like part of the beat, making most of the tracks feel like a DJ set. Within a week, his video “Wildly, for example” collected 5 million views on YouTube, and at the same time almost 150 thousand views on Genius.
Albums:
- “PHLORA” (2014)
- “Dolor” (2015)
- “Pink Phloyd” (2017)
8. Jah Khalib - Bakhtiyar Mamedov (24 years old / Almaty, Kazakhstan)
Jah Khalib is not only a talented Kazakh singer, but also a beatmaker and hip-hop producer. He became interested in rap in early childhood at the age of six under the influence of his older brother. He brought him records of black rappers and Bakhtiyar was very interested in them. These were released by the famous American record label “Def Jam Recordings” - “DMX”, “Onyx”, “Swizz Beatz”. And my mother, who played the piano professionally, instilled a love for jazz and symphonic music. This significantly influenced the formation of his musical tastes in the future. Unlike many rap artists, Bakhtiyar has a musical education: a music school in the saxophone class and the Kazakh National Conservatory named after Kurmangazy. Due to the fact that he had to face problems as a child national character, from the age of thirteen he worked in a studio, mixing vocals, and at sixteen he worked in six studios at the same time, tried to study, wrote his own music and posted it on the Internet. This was necessary for the family to have money.
His first widespread popularity was brought to him by the songs “All we love is sex, drugs”, “Your sleepy eyes”, “Burning to the ground”, “Let’s fly far”, posted on the Internet, which became the main hits of 2013. At the end of 2015, according to “The Flow”, Bakhtiyar Mamedov’s album “Khalibing of the Soul” was included in the list of thirty-three best albums of the year (took the thirtieth place), in 2017 his album “If anything, I am Bach” became the most popular album of the year among Apple Music users, and the new video “Medina” gained 5 million views in 2 days. “I will never compete under the flag of another country. I will not perform under the flag of “Gazgolder” or “Black Star”. I don't need it. As for labels, one label is enough for me - this is my Kazakhstan,” says Jah Khalib.
Albums:
- “Khalibaniya of the soul” (2015)
- “Everything We Love” (2016)
- “If anything, I am Bach” (2016)
- "E.G.O" (2018)
Markul’s journey to London was the longest: until the 7th grade he lived in Khabarovsk. When Mark was a twelve-year-old teenager, the family decided to move to the capital of the United Kingdom. The guy studied at a local educational institution, which was not famous for its prestige and good reputation, and at the same time worked as a loader and at a construction site. Under the influence of a dysfunctional environment, Markul dabbled in soft drugs, got his first tattoo at the age of 13, and later became interested in rap.
At the age of 13, Markul started trying to write, accidentally found out on some forum that a rap scene was beginning to form in London, and ended up in Green Park, forming the group “Tribe”, which included two more Russian-speaking guys - Den Bro and Chiff . "Tribe" existed for a couple of years, and then everyone gradually went free. Markul released a solo video and disappeared for two years. And only in 2014 he posted a new work, “Dry Out of Water,” in which the artist talked about the risky ways of making money that he had to cross paths with in London, the video became a hit in Russian rap. On November 10, 2016, a video was published for our hero’s track with POSSESSES. This collaboration has become one of the most successful in the Russian hip-hop segment. In September, the premiere of Mark and Oxxxymiron’s single with an impressive cyberpunk adaptation called “FATA MORGANA” premiered, which still tops the music charts.
10. 104 and Truwer - Yuri Drobitko and Sayan Zhimbaev (25 years old, 23 years old / Pavlodar, Kazakhstan)
Yuche is a hip-hop artist from Kazakhstan, formerly known as Yurik Thursday. former member collective Jillzay, a permanent collaborator of Scryptonite, and now an artist of his new label Zorski. Back in 2008, 104 started trying to write beats, and only 2 years later he started rapping. In 2016, the group Jillzay released the album “718 Jungle,” a street and powerful album that shot like lightning and made the band members famous. And before all this, 104 lived in China and studied languages, but, as he himself claims, he got tired of all this and he returned to hometown Pavlodar, study music. In 2017, he, together with his friend and label member Zorski Truwer, released the album “Safari”, which immediately took first place on Apple Music! By the end of the year, Yura pleased his fans with two tracks “Money and Power” and “Queen”.
Sayan Zhimbaev is a young and talented artist of the Scryptonite Zorski music label. Sayan was born and raised in Pavlodar, at the age of six he began training in Kyokushinkai karate, becoming the champion of Kazakhstan several times. In 2013, he suffered a serious chest injury, thereby putting an end to his sports career. In parallel with sports, Sayan was interested in music, in particular rap, listening to 50 Cent. He fruitfully began to engage in hip choir after a chance acquaintance with Scriptonite, who, a couple of years after this acquaintance, offered to work together. Thus began a new chapter in life called “Jillzay”, which blew up all sorts of charts. In 2017, he, together with his friend and member of the Zorski 104 label, released the album “Safari”, which immediately took first place in Apple Music! And already in April 2018 their first solo concert will take place in Moscow.
11. Feduk - Fedor Insarov (26 years old / Moscow, Russia)
Fyodor Insarov, aka Feduk, is a popular Russian musician whose compositions invariably become hits among fans of music of this genre. Fedor’s style in music is quite versatile, not confined to one genre. From early childhood, Fedor was lucky enough to travel distant countries-When the boy was five years old, the Insarov family moved to China, and at the age of 11, Fedor ended up in Hungary, where he lived for another four years. There, fate brought him together with rapper Rodnique, with whom they later began recording joint tracks. Along with 2012, Feduk received an offer that would later bring him significant fame - he was called to record an OST (soundtrack) and a video for the movie “Okolofutbola”.
Over the next years, Fedor released new albums, but in the summer of 2017 he presented his most successful work to date - the album “F&Q”. The album received an unusual sound, because it was produced by the famous electronic engineer Qoss. Many tracks from “F&Q” broke into trends. Later, Feduk shot a video for the track “WATER COLOR”. The peak of the young artist’s popularity was the track “Pink Wine,” recorded together with Novosibirsk rapper Eldzhey. It became a real musical event of 2017, took pride of place in the top ten of Russian iTunes and collected a huge number of views on YouTube.
Albums:
- “Ghetto Space” (2014)
- “Our Island” (2015)
- “Free” (2016)
- “F&Q” (2017)
12. Husky - Dmitry Kuznetsov (25 years old / Ulan-Ude, Russia)
Quickly conquered musical Olympus rapper, Husky is considered a typical hero of modern times. He started writing rap at the age of 15 under the influence of “Caste” and “Ellipsis”. He also says that he has always been attracted to black women. musical culture. Husky's images and metaphors are complex; he spent many sleepless nights fiddling with them, but he presents them to us as if we had known them for just as long and intimately. He first gained fame in 2011 thanks to the music video for the song “Seventh of October”. The video was published on YouTube. The composition had a highly social overtone and was dedicated to the birthday of Vladimir Putin.
Over the course of several years, the rapper has been gaining increased interest in himself both from colleagues and from ordinary listeners and netizens. In particular, Dmitry received positive reviews from such rappers as: ATL, Oxxxymiron, Karandash. In 2016, Dmitry released a video for the song “Black-Black”. Next came the video clips “Panelka”, “Bullet-Fool” and “Ai”. And on April 1, 2017, Husky’s first full-length studio album was released - "(Imaginary) People's Favorite Songs", which reached the top five on iTunes.
Albums:
- “Sbch life” (2013)
- “Favorite songs of (imaginary) people” (2017)
13. Eldzhey - Alexey Uzenyuk (23 years old / Novosibirsk, Russia)
Eljay is a young rap artist from Novosibirsk, who this year blew up the charts with his tracks. By the way, Alexey’s appearance and image are etched in the memory just as much as the lyrics of his songs. Creative path Eldzheya began in 2009. Eljay records his first tracks and posts them on VKontakte. In 2013, Alexey began working with rapper Malaya. The duo released the album “Gundezh”, in which Alexey shared with listeners his beliefs about the world order.
Afterwards he released several more albums, but the turning point in Eljay’s work can be noted in September 2016, when he released joint track with Kravets “Disconnect”, which instantly “shoots”, takes first place in all charts and becomes a hit at all parties. After this, Eljay’s career took off rapidly, he released the album “ Sayonara Boy", which for a long time held the first positions in iTunes and PlayMusic. In 2017, Eljay released another solo album, “Sayonara Boy ろ”. With the output of which it is formed own style, namely appearance, tattoos, and of course the recognizable white eyes. The peak of popularity is August 2017, because it was then that the joint composition with Feduk, “Pink Wine,” and the solo track “Torn Jeans” were released, which, without any doubt, became the main hit of the summer of 2017.
Albums:
- “Bosses are smoking” (2014)
- “Cannon” (EP) (2015)
- “Catacombs” (2016)
- "Sayonara Boy" (2016)
- "Sayonara Boyろ" (2017)
14. Face – Ivan Dremin (20 years old / Ufa, Russia)
Face is a rap artist whose work, full of parodic humor and references to youth Internet culture, is classified as “meme-rap.” The original version of the current pseudonym was “PunkFace”, but my brother dissuaded me from removing the first part of it and leaving only “Face”. The artist explains that he is the face of youth.
The young artist burst into the game in 2015, releasing the mini-album “Cursed Seal.” Ivan himself does not consider this work to be indicative, because the compositions from the release were not very serious, and if I describe the entire EP in a few words, then these are some “thoughts of a teenager.” However, the song “Gosha Rubchinsky”, which brought Ivan a lot of hype, was released on this release.
In 2016, the performer released an EP "VLONE" and EP "PlayBoy" , and already on these releases the compositions sounded modern and stylish, and the themes of the lyrics were wildly relevant, so these works can be called high-quality. But in the same year, Face released the unusual track “Payback” and the EP “Mayhem,” where the themes of all the works sharply contradicted the previous ones, and the sound became completely different. In April, Face released the album “Hate Love” and went on a tour of 23 cities. Face is an extremely controversial figure, but he knows how to catch trends, thanks to this he gathers huge halls all over Russia. His tracks are full of obscene language, so not every listener may like it. However, Face does not believe that there is anything bad in his tracks. On the contrary, he is convinced that there are serious social themes there; they are simply not seen or understood yet.
Albums:
- “Hate Love” (2017)
- “No Love” (2017)
15. Obladaet - Nazar Votyakov (26 years old / Irkutsk, Russia)
Young grime rapper Obladaet was born and raised in the Siberian city of Irkutsk. As a teenager, Nazar left his hometown and moved to live in St. Petersburg, where his development as a rapper began. Nazar went to the masses after he won the Grime Music Group grime battle, where he showed only good results throughout the entire battle. Undeterred, on the wave of hype, he releases a remix of Drake’s track “0 to 100,” which only reinforced the hype from the won battle. But, of course, you shouldn’t perceive him only as a grime artist, because he is quite versatile. Participant of the first Russian-language Grime Clash, where his opponent was Redo. Nazar also participated in the “Beats & Vibes” rap contest, from which, unfortunately, he was eliminated.
At the moment, OBLADAET is one of the strongest, most productive and promising “new school” rappers. With enviable frequency, he releases compositions, videos and goes on city tours with concerts.
Albums:
- “Home run” (2016)
- “Double tap” (2016)
- “Files” (2017)
- “Friends & Family” (2017)
16. Yanix - Yanis Badurov (24 years old / Krasnogorsk, Russia)
Yanix is a rap artist, about whom, as well as about many other rappers, it can be said that the musician achieved everything on his own. Yanix has been creatively active since 2010. In his work he always strives for the southern sound, even before such a direction aroused interest and found its audience. In 2011, Yanix’s first release, “Finish Him,” was released. The mixtape, which is a collection of tracks recorded to Western instrumentals, did not bear any fruit and went unnoticed. The next segment of Yanix’s biography can be called a small creative crisis. In 2013, he appeared on 4EU3’s mixtape, after which he presented his own record called “Ghetto Streets Show”.
2014 was a turning point for the artist - it was then that the artist presented the release “Ghetto Street Show II”, in which such rappers as Decl (Le Truk), ATL, Obe 1 Kanobe, Hiro and others appeared. Two years later, in 2016, Janis’s next album was released - “ Gianni." The songs from this record “Don't tell them”, “Night Life” (a duet with the Belarusian performer LSP) and “Chain” were loved most by fans of rap music.
- “Street Show 2” (2014)
- “Block star” (2015)
- “Gianni” (2016)
- “Bla bla land” (2017)
- “Till Trap Do Us Part” (2018)
17. Jacques Anthony - Jacques-Anthony Menshikov (25 years old / Vologda, Russia)
Jacques-Anthony (formerly Dxn Bnlvdn) is a rap artist who is an artist on the Reigun Records label. His first release was the 2014 mixtape “Molly Cyrus,” which was officially re-released in 2015. However, wide fame came to the artist a little later - after the release of a video called “Old Testament”, which blew up all Russian rap, and the composition itself was included in the release “Live and Do”. On the wave of fame, the performer releases the mixtape “#NONAME” (2015). In the fall of the same year, his debut album “Breathless” was released. In 2016, Jacques released Dorian Gray, and almost immediately announced its sequel, which the performer is still busy writing to this day.
In 2017, the singer released several new songs, one of them, “Our District,” became the soundtrack to Fyodor Bondarchuk’s fantasy film “Attraction.” This is a real breakthrough. The famous director liked the song, so he decided to make it the soundtrack. Even more people learned about Jacques Anthony. The singer did not stop there; he continues to work on music and create new songs. He travels around Russia and neighboring countries on tour.
- “Breathless” (2015)
- “Dorian Gray.” Volume 1" (2016)
- “DoroGo” (2017)
18.Garry Topor - Garry Alexandrov (29 years old / St. Petersburg, Russia)
Harry Topor is a rap artist and battle MC distinguished by his dark, compelling underground rap. The rap artist positions himself in his work as “Angry Rap,” combining aggression and humor at the same time. In a relatively short period of his biography, the rap artist managed to work with performers from Russia, Ukraine, Belgium, Turkey, Germany, France, Canada and Israel. Now he is recording at the Berlin Records studio, like many other famous St. Petersburg rappers.
Harry Topor takes a position in life that despises alcohol, cigarettes and drugs, this is reflected in many of his tracks. Most likely this is because of what he saw as a child on Piterskaya Street « Dybenko." However, he found company with people like Tony Routh, with whom he remains to this day. To date, Igor has 5 releases behind him. This « Postulates of rage » , « My enemy » , « Echoes of War » , « Echo of war. Reissue » , « Autopsy will show » and in 2013 « Anatomical Theater » , and also « Guatemala Coffee Trip » . At the same time, Harry Ax is a very strong battle MC, which he proved at Versus Battle. Four rivals and three Ax victories!
- “Anatomical Theater” (2012)
- “Our people” (2013)
- “Wasp Country” (2015)
- "Makintosh Bootleg" (2010)
- “The Man with an Iron Glove” (2017)
19. Dirty Molly - Kirill Bledny (20 years old / Zmiev, Kharkov, Ukraine)
Kirill Bledny, better known as the lead singer of the band “Vulgar Molly”, is a musician of Ukrainian origin, who gained great popularity after the release of the album “Vulgar Molly” - “8 Ways to Quit Jerkoff”. In a short period of time, the no-name band Vulgar Molly became very popular, releasing just one album, something not every musician can achieve. The group begins touring, concert tours, both in Ukraine and Russia.
A year after the release of the first album, the group released its second studio album on January 30, entitled “SAD GIRL WITH EYES LIKE A DOG.” The album includes 6 compositions, which are significantly different in sound from the first record, but the themes of the tracks, close to modern youth, remained unchanged.
- “8 ways to stop jerking off” (2017)
- “Sad girl with eyes like a dog” (2018)
20. Bumble Beezy - Anton Vatlin (23 years old / Pavlodar, Kazakhstan)
Bumble Beezy is one of the most technical and incredibly productive performers of the new school. Flow, rhythm, technique and presentation - Bumblebee’s work has all this in abundance. At the beginning of 2014, Anthony released his debut album - Wasabi. The album turns out to be of high quality, but due to the fact that Busy was not yet known to anyone at that time, there were few people who listened to Wasabi. But it so happened that Big Russian Boss and Young PH appreciated one of the tracks “No Hook” by Bumble Beezy, as a result of which the rappers’ joint track “Black Snow” was released in the fall of 2014.
In 2016, Bumble Busy's new album, Wasabi 2, was released, which really took off. Thanks to the release of Wassabi 2, Busy’s flow even tagged Oksimiron on his Twitter.
After many months of anticipation, in the spring of 2017, Bumble Beezy finally presented the album to the public, called “BeezyNOVA: Main Effect”. The album included 10 tracks, and the only guest on the release was Steam. Later, the artist presents his new release “BeezyNOVA: Side Effects” and is a full-fledged addition to the “BeezyNOVA: Main Effect” released less than a month ago. In October 2017, a record called “Wasabi III” was released, which aims to be the best release in the entire trilogy.
- “Wasabi” (2013)
- “Wasabi-2” (2016)
- “BeezyNOVA: Main Effects” (2017)
- “BeezyNOVA: Side Effects” (2017)
- “Wasabi-III” (2017)
Reading time: 12 min.
Russian rap, as a cultural phenomenon, arose in the late nineties. Many bands and solo artists emerged at that time, but only a few were able to stay without losing their style and popularity. The best underground Russian rappers - that's what we want to tell you about today.
Slaves of the Lamp
Having recorded just one album, the group forever entered the history of Russian rap and, most likely, will remain there for a long time. The founder of the group, Alexey Perminov, under the pseudonym Grundig, did not live long, but left behind vivid memories and many creative ideas. He wrote poetry since childhood, and every year his texts became more and more harsh, reflecting the reality that surrounded him. This resulted in a passion for rap, and with his friend they recorded the debut album “Doesn’t It Hurt?”, which became a classic of Russian rap and set the standards for a long time, both in readings and in the themes used in the texts. Unfortunately, the group did not last long - Alexey’s addiction to drugs became a disease and subsequently destroyed him. After the poet’s death, a collection of his poems, “My Decadence,” was published. The book begins with an epigraph written by Alexei himself:
“Loud dirt. The filth is in abundance.
My decadence - Red Cross"
Largest Prime Number
SPBCh is a creative formation, which includes journalist Kirill Ivanov and a duet of electronic musicians: Ilya Baramia and Alexander Zaitsev - “ Christmas toys" Initially, the songs were a mixture of ambient and reading strange, painful, children's poems by Kirill. A characteristic feature is the absence of a beat and any drums; this role is played by the melody, and the recitative was supposed to tear up the “fabric” of the music. According to Ivanov himself, music should be detached and to hear it you need to strain as if it were playing somewhere far away... The name itself can be considered dynamic, because a prime number is a number that is divisible by one and itself, and there is no limit to such a number . However, mathematicians have formulated how to show this number visually “232582657−1”. The lyrics of the song are distinguished by their originality: the images and intonations seem to be familiar from childhood, it is very remarkable that several generations at once have these associations. This is how the cradles of a new generation can sound, you just need to listen to the hypnotic rhythms and extraordinary lyrics.
Purulent
The real name of the performer is Vyacheslav Alekseevich Mashnov. In addition to Gnoyny, he has many more pseudonyms, which he uses from time to time, depending on the direction in which the track is released: Glory to the CPSU, Valentin Dyadka, Sonya Marmeladova and many others. Today, he is considered the best battle rapper in Russia. His last battle with Oxxxymiron gained enormous resonance; this verbal duel became the best in the entire history of Russian battles. Slava himself speaks of his work this way: “narrowly subcultural rap with a bunch of internal jokes.” He was noticeably influenced by anarchism and punk culture, echoes of which can be heard in Gnoyny’s current texts. Also, according to him, he was influenced by such groups as “4 Positions Bruno”, “Lenina Packet” and the leader of the “Auction” group - Leonid Fedorov. Gnoyny is the most productive rapper in Russia - in just a couple of years, he has released a huge number of albums, surpassing meters this direction.
Caste
The group originated in Rostov-on-Don, back in 1997, when rap in Russia was just emerging as a cultural phenomenon. Today the composition of the team is as follows: Zmey, Vladi, Shym and Khamil. The first performances were on an amateur basis, took place in a friendly atmosphere, but after a couple of years they took up this craft seriously: wide pants and exclamations of “Yo” were already perceived as a cliche, and it was necessary to do something monolithic and more progressive. Without copying foreign performers, Casta developed her own style, showing that rap can be original and sincere. They released their first collection of songs, “Three-Dimensional Rhymes,” in 1999, using their own money. Since then, success has followed the group: album after album, adding listeners to them, Casta took first place in the music charts, they are invited to television, they shoot video clip after video clip. Today this is the most famous group Russia, which has a huge army of fans.
The tragedy of a lifetime
The tragedy of a lifetime is the creative union of Vetla Udalykh and Nikita Raskolnikov. The group was founded more than ten years ago, back in 2006, then the lineup included Tonych Goglev and Vetl Udalykh. Later, Sasha Gorbaty joined the group and arranged the compositions. The group’s first disc, “Unconscious,” was released in 2009, more than half of the minuses were written by Gorbaty, the rest was written by Vetl. After the first album, Tonych leaves the formation and begins solo career, in a completely different direction. February 2010 was marked by the arrival of Nikita Raskolnikov to the group. The group not only writes songs, but also shoots high-quality videos - Lymph nodes, 2012; General Reason, 2013; Raskolnikov feat. Popek - Holy Father, 2014; Slim, Raskolnikov - Not about summer, 2014. The group is very productive; since 2009, 13 albums have already been released, not counting the solo compositions of the performers. The group focuses its lyrics on promoting sports and fighting drugs.
Kunteynir
The Moscow team, formed in 2003, consisting of three people - Pasha Technik, Blev MS and Maxim Sinitsyn - is the only black person who reads Russian rap. In 2008, Pasha Technician (real name Ivlev) went to jail for selling LSD - doba; according to reports, he was turned in by a fan who experienced an overdose from the brand. After leaving prison, Paul decided to regain his former glory and increase it. The first moment when people started talking about him again was his performance against rapper Broll at Versus Battle in 2014. In 2016, Pasha competed against Nikolai Dolzhansky in a rap battle. On the covers, as in the texts, a symbiosis of avant-garde art and sports is used; the team speaks sarcastically about rap, hinting that self-irony is the initial idea of this trend. Members of the group can often be seen in the fan sector, they often attend football matches. They have many feats: TVZh, Price of Laughter, Market relations featured in tracks with Kunteynir.
Lenin Package
The composition of the team is Babangida, Vanya Ivan, Double V, Ivan Smekh. They are also sometimes joined by Guru Mikhailovich (Vail Skam), who works on the arrangements. In 2008, the debut EP, “Signs of the Unconscious,” was released with the participation of the SpaceCave team, famous beatmakers. The civic position of the team is almost always reflected in the lyrics; they try to instill in the listener a craving for beauty and show them the true aesthetic spaces of the word. Refusal of consumerism, stupidity and failure of capitalism, obscenity of bourgeois and base values are the leitmotifs of the formation’s creativity. Everyone will find something of their own in Lenin Package: be it wise advice, or kind word, or a joke that you can laugh at heartily. The manner of performance is a rough, masculine recitative, which, like a hammer, breaks the limits of perception; in simple words the guys convey a lot. Lenin Package worked with many underground musicians: RZHB, Troupe Troupov, Buchenwald Flava, Resistance Rows and many others.
Night movers
Moscow duet, represented by Evgeny Alekhin and Michal Enotov (Stanislav Mikhailov), formed in January 2007. The debut album was recorded in the same year, in February, under the title “Dance and Think”. 2008 - the second album is released - “2 times more pain, 2 times more love.” 2009 - new album - “Oh, Man”. In 2010, “Criticism of the Pure Heart” was released, the latest album in the group’s discography. In 2011, the group went on an indefinite leave to focus on other projects of the musicians. The band hits existential lyrics right in the face, making the listener a shell for their thoughts, which after a few listens begins to think independently.
Troupe of Corpses
The Troupov Troupe is a Samara group consisting of two people: Dmitry Zaduzhny (Drim) and Probel. The texts are replete with criticism of political foundations, the inaction of the people and direct instructions for action. The Last Fm website assigned several genres to the group: abstract hip-hop, underground hip-hop, Russian hip-hop, underground rap. They have many matches with other underground bands: Lenina package, SpaceCave, Alcohol after sports, KUNTEYNIR and many others. The team has many other names: Republic of Coma, Three Microbes, 77 July, Renaissance, Autonomous Movement of the Inanimate, Epoha Woz; Each of the performers is also pursuing a solo career. Very little is known about the musicians, there is almost no information and photographs on the Internet, but you can find many songs written by the Troupe of Troupes. The beats are made by Drim, just like the beatmaker, he has his own project - aboohashim. In the early period of creativity, the influence of the very first underground group in Russia - Slaves of the Lamp - is clearly audible.
Mutant Kohvlam
Mutant Kohvlam is a Magnitogorsk team consisting of four people: Mikhail Shorokh, Alexey Rezanov, “Brother Two” and Yang Li. Freddy sometimes appears in the tracks - the distorted voice of Rustle. Style is defined as abstract hip hop, the texts contain references to various performers, films and generally accepted cultural phenomena. The discography is quite impressive: 2008 - Narkoza’Ostra; 2009 - Patent Tkhlen; 2010 - Blastyr; 2011 - Leizwiecht ’93; 2012 - Apocalypops; 2013 - Painkiller; 2014 - Bukhovnost. The guys, during the entire existence of the group, gave only a few concerts, and also for fans from all over the CIS, they held an online concert - “Broadcasting from hard-to-reach places.” The video invitations filmed for concerts are distinguished by their originality, they can easily be assigned the arthouse category. Known for their feats, with such performers as: Pikul, Tragedy of Life, Theater of Sound, Litvin. Brother Two is also a painter; his paintings can be found on various resources. The group itself states: “Mutants don’t sell CDs. Mutants don't exist at all. This is a myth."
Rap music is distinguished by its diversity. Presenting the 10 best rappers becomes direct evidence that each representative musical world deserves fame and is ready to distinguish himself with special creativity and regularly delight his fans with impeccable music. So, who are already called the greatest rappers of the 21st century?
From the very beginning, the artist has been conducting his musical activities under the pseudonym The Notorious B.I.G.
The first album became the basis successful development artist in the music world. It is the collection ReadytoDie allowed us to show potential and lay the foundation for further advancement to fame and recognition. From the very beginning, one could have guessed how rapid and surprising the rapper’s development would be, and what a stunning success it would be.
Unfortunately, music career did not develop as long as we would like. Already in 1997, the rapper was killed during a street shooting. 2 weeks after the tragic event, the music album Life After Death was presented. Ten million copies sold earned it a diamond certificate.
Jay Z
Jay Z has been very active in the music world for a couple of decades. During this time, 13 albums managed to be in the leading places in the ratings compiled with the help of Billboard.
The rapper first announced himself at the end of the 20th century and immediately entered the TOP of artists. Many listeners are fascinated by the manner of performance, which is based only on impromptu, thanks to which it is always possible to surprise admirers.
Jay Z is successful not only in music, but also in business. Despite this fact, rap-related activities still remain a priority.
In Rolling Stone magazine, Eminem is ranked 83rd among the 100 greatest artists in the world. This position indicates amazing glory. Moreover, Eminem has successfully sold more than one hundred million copies of albums in various countries around the world.
Eminem is successfully engaged not only in rap music, but also in other types of active activities:
- Development of the radio station.
- Music label management.
- Filming.
Eminem's activities contribute to successful progress in the right direction and achieving special heights.
Rakim
Rakim's musical creativity reflects the ideology that he has been passionate about since childhood. The rapper has internalized a disdain for white people, which is why he is a racist. Despite this circumstance, many appreciated the work of the artist, who is different from many rap artists.
The lyrics of Rakim's songs are related to Islamism and are of a religious nature. Moreover, the artist is confident that thanks to the help of Allah, he was able to avoid fights and theft, which could have led to serious consequences.
In his work, Rakim moves away from improvisational performance. At the same time, the rapper has a unique style, which is based on jazz notes, slowness and smoothness, and rhymes. Rakim delights his fans with compositions that have a hypnotic effect.
Rakim presented seven records, four of them written together with Eic B. Many albums were included in the TOP 500 of the best.
Nas
Nas has successfully found a surprising number of admirers, all of whom are willing to attest to the artist's special potential. In addition, his music album Illmatic is the greatest in musical history hip-hop, with total sales exceeding twenty-five million copies. Such a successful career began to develop thanks to Columbia Records.
Nas had been in conflict for a long time with Jay Z, who claimed that Nas's work was fake and did not deserve any attention. However, in 2005, the feud between the two reputable artists was ended. After this, Nas began collaborating with the music label Def Jam Records, which is owned by Jay Z.
Andre is actively involved in creative life. He represents the famous rap group OutKast, which has existed since the early 1990s. In addition, Andre is an actor, a representative of his personal clothing line, and a music producer.
The greatest popularity was achieved thanks to the composition Ms. Jackson, included on the million-selling Stankonia compilation.
Snoop Dogg is one of the greatest rappers of the 21st century. The musician reached the best heights thanks to his friend Dr. Dre. The main difference is the calm performance of the songs, characterized by lyrical notes.
In 1993, Snoop Dogg's first solo album, or more precisely DoggyStyle, premiered. This album is a true rap classic.
2Pac
2Pac became famous throughout the world thanks to his unique creativity. He was a West Coast guy. Unfortunately, 2Pac's life ended tragically. The artist lived only 25 years. According to rumors, the murder was ordered by Notorious B.I.G, who represented East Coast rap. Despite this fact, 2Pac entered not only the TOP 100, but also the TOP 10 best singers and rap artists.
During his lifetime, the rapper sold 75 million albums that continue to amaze people.
Curtis Jackson is a prominent figure in the rap world. Moreover, 50 cent became famous as a writer, actor, and producer.
Curtis was born in South Jamaica and grew up poor. At the age of 12, Curtis began selling cocaine, but the sale of drugs was suspended for the sake of his musical activities. The heyday of popularity came in 2002. After this, Curtis found his permanent admirers.
The artist was interested in musical activities from early childhood, and at the age of 9 he was already a representative of the famous Cash Money label. Later Lil Wayne created his own Young Money label. Such stages of development contributed to the achievement of the set goal and the discovery amazing opportunities For further development in the world of rap.
The first music collection is called Tha Block Is Hot. It was certified platinum. The next two albums, released under the names Lights Out and 500 Degreez, went gold. Thanks to the sixth album, Tha Carter III, it was possible to strengthen its position in the arena and sell a million copies of the collection in just a week of sales. It is important to note that Tha Carter III was recognized as the best at the 51st Grammy Awards.
Every famous rapper has significant achievements, thanks to which he opens up excellent facets of the music world. The presented rappers are only the basis of immense rap, which can be incendiary and melodic. Modern trends in music allow us to expect that the TOP artists will change over time, but the best representatives have already made their names in history.
The world-famous publication Billboard, which regularly publishes ratings of the richest and most successful people, has compiled a list of the best rappers in the world in the entire history of hip-hop.
The top “rappers in the world,” according to the publication, look like this:
The list of "rappers of the world" would be completely impossible without this guy. Christopher George Luthor Wallace, better known as The Notorious B.I.G., Biggie or Biggie Smalls, was born in Brooklyn, New York. His first album, Ready to Die, was included in the list of the most iconic: it was with it that the dominance of hip-hop culture in New York began, and the city itself eventually began to be called the mecca and birthplace of hip-hop.
The artist was the leader of the East Coast, who confronted the West Coast in the person of its leader Tupac Shakur. In 1997, The Notorious B.I.G. was killed with a firearm in a street shooting. 16 days after his death, the world saw the artist’s second album, Life After Death, which subsequently received a diamond certificate, indicating that the circulation sold more than 10 million copies.
Jay Z
Shawn Corey Carter is one of the most successful representatives of the “rappers in the world” rating. His 13 records topped the same Billboard ratings. If it weren't for the even more stunning success of The Beatles, Jay Z would have broken the absolute record for the number of albums that have achieved leading positions on the chart.
The artist began his career in the distant 1990s, at that time he performed with The Notorious B.I.G. It is noteworthy that Jay Z's style of performance is based on pure impromptu. He appeared in memorable duets with Mariah Carey and his current wife Beyoncé. At the moment, in addition to music, the artist is involved in business - he is a co-owner of several clubs and produces his own clothing line.
Marshall Bruce Mathers is an artist without whom any top rapper would be impossible. This is one of the most popular and best-selling artists in the world, including Rolling Stone magazine giving him an honorable 83rd place in the list of the 100 greatest artists in the world. The same publication awarded Eminem the title of King of Hip-Hop, and for good reason: the artist has sold more than 100 million copies of his releases worldwide.
In addition to music, Eminem is also involved in other active activities. He has his own radio station, owns a music label, acts in films and became the first rapper in the world to win an Oscar for the best track for a film (“Eight Mile” - approx. edit.).
Rakim
William Michael Griffin Jr. in his work reflects the ideology that he was passionate about from an early age. He belonged to the Nation of Islam, whose main activity was racist attitudes towards white people and the state as a whole. The lyrics of Rakim’s songs in one way or another refer to the themes of the Islamic religion, and Allah, according to the artist himself, saved him from rash actions - fights and theft.
In his work, Rakim moves away from the improvisational technique that was popular in the 1980s. His signature style, numerous rhymes and their innovative use made him one of the first performers whose compositions sounded smooth and slow. While his colleagues on stage were full of energy, the voice of this artist, one of the top rappers, sounded jazzy, almost hypnotic. Rakim has released 7 albums (4 of which with Eric B). His album Paid in Full was included in Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest albums.
Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones is considered the most successful and outstanding artist in the hip-hop genre, the world community even awarded his album Illmatic the title of the greatest in history. The artist's releases have sold more than 25 million copies around the world. Nas owes the start of his successful career to Columbia Records, by signing a contract with which he had the opportunity to participate in the soundtrack to Oliver Stone's film Zebrahead. The artist’s talent was noticed and highly appreciated by the public, after which the star’s successful ascent began and his presence in the rankings of the best rappers in the world.
It is noteworthy that Nas had a long-standing conflict with another world-famous star, Jay Z, who claimed that Nasir’s work was fake. However, in 2005, the celebrities called a truce, and Nas signed a multimillion-dollar contract with Def Jam Records, managed by the same Jay Z.
Andre Lawrence Benjamin actively manifests himself in various creative roles: he performs as part of the popular rapper group OutKast, which he founded in 1991, plays in films, is a music producer and designer of his own line of clothing - Benjamin Bixby.
Music critics spoke warmly about the band’s work, but it was the Ms. track that brought the guys real popularity and the love of millions of people. Jackson from the album Stankonia.
The only woman, who was honored to be represented in this ranking of the best rappers.
Lauryn Noel Hill performs in the neo-soul genre and her work is a stunning success. This was confirmed by the fact that by the age of 25, the girl had won the prestigious Grammy Award 8 times.
The artist began her career as part of popular group The Fugees, which subsequently disbanded and the members moved on to solo projects. Lauryn's debut album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, brought the performer positive reviews from critics. In their opinion, the artist’s style of performance softened the boundaries between such musical genres as soul, reggae and hip-hop.
It was thanks to this album that Lauryn Hill was nominated for 10 categories for the first time in the history of the Grammy Awards and won in five of them.
Denis Coles is known as a member of the popular group Wu-Tang Clan. The stunning success of the group gave the green light to all its members, who began to release solo projects with varying degrees of popularity.
Ironman was the name of the first solo album of the artist Ghostface Killah. The album received critical acclaim and was followed by equally successful releases by Supreme Clientele and Fishscale. In 2006, the performer was awarded the title of best MC of all time by MTV and was included in the top rappers of the prestigious Billboard publication.
Kendrick Lamar Duckworth is a successful hip-hop artist whose collaborations with such famous performers as Busta Rhymes, Snoop Dogg, Lil Wayne were highly appreciated by both the public and critics. The latter, by the way, call him the new King of the West Coast, which fully justifies his presence in the list of “rappers of the world.”
The most successful record was the third album, entitled To Pimp a Butterfly. The release was such a success that it was in first place in the list of the best albums of 2015 by such world publications as The New York Times and Rolling Stone. In addition, the artist managed to receive 7 Grammy statuettes throughout his career.
Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. is considered one of the best-selling hip-hop artists. The artist began to get involved in music from early childhood and already at the age of 9 became a member of the Cash Money label. Later, Lil Wayne, in collaboration with other artists, created his own label, Young Money.
The artist’s first album, Tha Block Is Hot, received platinum status, and the next two (Lights Out and 500 Degreez) went gold. The artist's sixth album, Tha Carter III, strengthened his position in the music arena and brought even greater success in the form of 1 million copies sold in the first week of sales. The same album won best at the 51st Grammy Awards.
This is how the creators of the Billboard rating see the top rappers of all time. Interestingly, the list was criticized by hip-hop fans. For example, they were outraged by the fact that there was no place in it for the most iconic representative of the genre - Tupac Shakur.