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 or downloaded from the internet. The first more or less known pioneers of Russian rap was a group called Malchishnik (Мальч?шник), but the recognition of the rap genre came with the rise of a Moscow team Bad B., with their album "Naletchiki Bad B." being released in 1994.
Only a few Russian rap artists have achieved commercial success: Detsl (Децл), Bad Balance/Bad.B (Плох?й Б?ланс/Бад Би), Kasta (К?ста) and the Belarusian artist Seryoga (Сер?га), who combined original rap with the native Russian satiric song genre chastushka which some critics consider a new branch in the rap genre: rap-chastushka. Although most of rap fans believe he does not belong to the Russian rap scene, the musician won the nomination for best Russian rap in 2005 on the RMA (Russian Music Awards). Numerous Russian hip-hop musicians hold full time jobs or are enrolled as full-time college students, making rap their part-time hobby.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_hip_hop
