What is flame in rap. From "Antihype" to YungRussia: Dictionary of new Russian rap. Flow as a musical term
IN last years the musical tastes of young people have undergone a new round of changes - rap has taken the place of piercing rock ballads and incendiary dance electronics. Along with the new culture, new words also penetrated the masses - terms used among performers and their devoted listeners. However, those music lovers who first discovered rap are unlikely to understand the meaning of the words flow, battle, diss, beef, and similar slang words. Of course, descriptions of such terms are easy to find on specialized sites - the Russian-speaking sector of hip-hop is widely represented on the Internet. However, if most of the terms have specific definitions, then it is quite difficult to explain what a flow is in a nutshell.
Origin of the word "flow"
The word "flow" came to Russia from in English- the founder of rap culture. Flow is translated as "flow", "flow" - at first glance, this concept has nothing to do with hip-hop. However, in this case, there is a metaphorical transfer. Rap artists and their listeners equate rhythmic and multifaceted recitative to the even and noisy flow of water. Thus, for a hip-hop lover, flow is a rather important indicator of the quality of a track.
Flow as composition evaluation
Among the discussions of rappers and their work, one can often find the term in question as a review of an album or track. What is flow in this context - a positive or negative characteristic? Based on the translation of the word from English and a beautiful metaphor, a positive response. Flow is the recognition of the entire work of the rapper or his individual compositions as "kachny" or "swinging", that is, affecting listeners to such an extent that they involuntarily begin to shake their heads to the beat of the track being performed.
Flow as a musical term
Together with all of the above, it is worth noting that the term flow is not purely emotional - for hip-hop artists, it has a very specific meaning. Flow is the correct speed of reading, an impeccable technique for writing and reproducing text under the “pumping” beat. Nevertheless, you should not think that quality in this case depends on speed. A fast, but inconsistent reading will not excite the viewer in the same way as a slow, but clearly falling into rhythm. Thus, flow is not only an assessment of quality, but also a skill of the performer.
Flow in Russian rap
The ability to create really "rocking" tracks for a long time bypassed Russian-speaking performers. Quite often compositions were read out under not especially allocated bits by quiet, almost unemotional voices. Probably, this state of affairs was due to the Russian mentality - gray and bleak everyday life with their dank weather and heavy skies did not encourage Russian rappers to show emotions. Listeners found something of their own in a quiet and melancholy performance, but hip-hop culture in Russia still remained isolated. With the appearance on the Russian stage of such rap figures as Hyde, Oxxxymiron, Horus (Lupercal) and other supporters of the prevailing technique of reading and the quality of text drawing, something appeared in the domestic hip-hop sector that fits all definitions of the word "flow". Even those who have not previously listened to and did not understand such music often highly appreciate these performers, paying attention to the fact that their tracks, unlike the compositions of many of their "colleagues", really "rock".
At the same time, fans of the "old" style of performance do not recognize such changes - in their opinion, in this form, Russian-language rap loses its soul, becoming only a technically filigree, but empty text. Rapper Ptah, whose compositions are mostly calm and melancholic, spoke extremely negatively about the tracks of the aforementioned Oxxxymiron, accusing him of excessive craving for pathos poetry and complex technique, which, as it seems to him, is why the work of Miron and similar rappers ceases to be "male". The conflict between the two rappers has not yet been settled - it is unlikely that two opponents will shake hands when they meet. Despite this, the new style of rhyming and performance is gaining momentum and attracting more and more listeners, which is undoubtedly a good indicator. This only confirms that the same “flow” that could previously only be heard from overseas and some European performers still penetrated Russian-language rap.
Voca-Beat Vocal School tells you about the musical genre Rap.
Vocal training at the Voca-Beat vocal school will help you discover the world of music from a new perspective, and most importantly, find yourself in it.
Rap (English rap, rapping) is rhythmic text or poetry that is read to music, usually with a heavy beat. A person who raps is a rapper, or MC.
Rap is considered one of the most important components of hip-hop; many people consider the terms "rap" and "hip-hop" to be synonymous. However, rap is used in a wide variety of genres of music, such as drum and bass, rock music (rapcore, nu metal, alternative rock, alternative rap). Also, rap is often an element of pop and R-n-B compositions.
When rap was still in its infancy in the African and Hispanic milieu of the Bronx, New York, in the first half of the 1970s, it was party music.
It was created by disc jockeys (DJs, DJs), and often their work was reduced to repeating the musical loss of someone else's dance composition. Over time, local DJs began to sell cassettes of party programs that skillfully combined rhythms and bass lines taken from various songs, and over them MCs rapped. At that time (1974 - 1978) there were no studios and official releases of rap songs: this was an amateur occupation.
The first rap record is the single "Rapper's Delight" performed by "The Sugarhill Gang", released in the USA in 1979. It was thanks to this 11-minute track that the American general public learned about such a phenomenon as hip-hop. This composition made a splash in the American popular music market, but most people believed that this genre would not develop further.
However, by the mid-1980s hip-hop has changed: it has ceased to focus solely on parties, rappers in their texts began to raise serious topics.
Rap by the end of the 1980s reached a high level of popularity, it can be compared with the level of popularity of rock, country and pop music. MC Hammer, Kris Kross and others have become the epitome of this popularity. They addressed their music to a wide audience, and this set the stage for even more development of hip-hop.
The rivalry between rappers from the West and East coasts of the United States, which unfolded in the mid-1990s, is widely known. It ended with the deaths of Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G., representatives of both sides. This outcome of the confrontation caused a wide resonance in the media, and therefore rap gained even more popularity: throughout 1997, rappers occupied the top lines of the US charts. In the same period, there was an intensive commercialization of hip-hop. This is often associated with the name of the rapper Puff Daddy, who promoted the glamorous lifestyle. At the end of the 20th century, the white rapper Eminem gained fame, who tried to revive the charge of provocation and social protest in hip-hop music.
In 2004, for the first time in history, the Grammy Award in the most prestigious "supergenre" nomination - "for the best album" - was awarded to rap artists - the duo OutKast.
Rap appeared in Russia in 1984, when disc jockey Alexander Astrov, together with the Rush Hour group, recorded a 25-minute program in Kuibyshev, which soon spread throughout the country.
Hip-hop in Russia gained wide popularity in the second half of the 1980s, when the breakdancing craze began. The first Russian-speaking group, "Bad Balance", appeared in the 1989s. This group is rightfully considered legendary. The industry of Russian hip-hop was formed only in the late 1990s, at the same time many groups of this genre appeared.
Many of the Russian rappers compared the life of African Americans in the ghetto with the hard times in Russia, most often with the 90s. Russian and American rap are somewhat similar, but Russian hip-hop has a different history, more lyrical digressions. In today's Russia, hip-hop is widespread among the youth and continues to develop.
Sources:
www.rapcity.com.ua
Wikipedia
Hip-hop(XX) - Fashion subculture, a lifestyle originating in the African-American neighborhoods of America, combining Hip Hop music.
Hip-hop music is quite diverse, it can be simple, but at the same time interesting and melodic. Its basis is the beat - the rhythm of the song. Usually, every second measure is accented (backbeat): clap snare, and percussion (such as whistles and chains) can also be used for backbeat. An important element is the bass drum (not to be confused with the bass) - kickdrum. The party of musical instruments in hip-hop music is quite diverse. It can also consist of melodies of keyboards, brass and numerous computer sounds (bass, effects).
Rap(rap) is a rhythmic recitative set to music with a broken rhythm. Rap artist calledrapper(not to be confused with rapper), or the more general term MC.Rap is one of the main elements of the style of hip-hop music; often used as a synonym for hip-hop. However, rap is used not only in hip-hop music, but also in other genres. Many drum and bass artists use rap. In rock music, it is found in such genres as rapcore, nu metal, alternative rock, alternative rap and some others, for example, new directions of hardcore music. Pop musicians and contemporary RnB artists also often use rap in their compositions.
The word "rap"
The word "rap" comes from English rap- knock, blow (a hint at the rhythm of rap). to rap also means "to speak", "to speak".
Later, erroneous backronym theories arose, according to which the word rap is supposedly an abbreviation. Transcripts such as "Rhythmand Poetry" (Rhythm and poetry), "Rhytmic African Poetry" (Rhythmic African poetry), or "Radical American Poetry" (Radical American poetry), etc. were called. rap in English it is not written in capital letters, and has the same root words - rapping, rapper, etc. Most of these erroneous theories exist in non-English speaking countries.
Story
Rap in it modern form appeared in the 1970s among African Americans in the Bronx, where it was "exported" by visiting Jamaican DJs. In particular, DJ Kool Herc is called the founder of rap. Initially, they read rap not for commercial purposes, but for pleasure, and at first they did it mainly by DJs. These were uncomplicated rhyming couplets addressed to the audience.
The spread of rap was greatly facilitated by Negro amateur radio, which played music that was fashionable among blacks, and quickly picked up a new style. The words "rap" and "rappers" were firmly entrenched in style thanks to The Sugarhill Gang track "Rapper's Delight" (1979). One of the first people to be called a "rapper" was radio personality Jack Gibson, nicknamed Jack the Rapper. He organized one of the first rap conventions.
The performance of rhyming chants right on the streets to this day remains a tradition of black neighborhoods. In addition, so-called. “battles” are verbal fights in which two rappers quarreled while maintaining rhyme and rhythm. Battles can be not only swearing, it can be the supply of a rhymed text on a specific topic
The term "hip hop" to describe the genre appeared in the 80s. Its introduction is attributed to Afrika Bambaataa and Grandmaster Flash. The hip hop genre and culture reached its peak in the 1990s. Also, "hip-hop" had a serious influence on R'n'B music.
DJ(disc jockey - disc jockey, DJ) - a person who plays musical works recorded on sound media for an audience.
Double Time(double time) is a rap, about twice as fast as the beat.
flow(flow, presentation) - the ability to decorate your text with a competent emotional tone.
R&B(rhythm and blues, rhythm and blues, rhythm and blues, R'n "B) is a genre of popular music, originally performed by African American musicians, integrating combinations of blues, jazz and gospel. The term was coined in 1949 by the charters of the American magazine "Billboard" instead of the disparaging expression "racial music" (race music), common before.
respect(respect) - good location to a person, respect for his creativity.
Skillz(skills, abilities) - a generally applicable term, it can be applied to absolutely everything that colors the rapper's skill
Spelling(writing) - the way in which the text rhymes, conveying its content. The expression "fashion spel" implies the use in the text of a modern play on words and consonances, which can really be found from all genres only in rap.
style(style) - a set of techniques used by the MS, in a unique combination. Having his own style, the rapper begins to be recognizable, no matter how he reads, and no matter how he puts his voice. All MCs have the right to call their style whatever they want.
Acapella- The text recorded on the microphone, separately from the minus.
Album(album) - the term came to us from the days of vinyl records, when one track was placed on one record, and they were put together, as it were, into albums (record albums). Accordingly, an album is a collection of songs by one artist into one collection.
underground(underground) - this is music "not for everyone", if translated from English as "underground". Performers of this direction usually do not recognize any kind of commerce in any manifestation, and basically record songs on cheap equipment, and also refuse to release albums and remain only in a narrow circle "for their own". There are performers who, on the contrary, see the main task in creating this music “not like everything around”, but they are not at all embarrassed to make money on this music.
Battle(battle, battle, battle) - a competition between rap artists, usually accompanied by humiliation of the enemy. A battle track is often nothing more than a diss on an opponent.
Bit- measure in music, used in the expression English. beat per minute, bpm - beats per minute. The larger the value, the faster the tempo of the music.
beatbox(Beatboxing) is the art of creating beats, rhythms and melodies using the human mouth.
Beatmaker - a person who creates beats in specialized programs such as Cubase, FL Studio and others. A good level of beat making is using live instruments and not using samples.
beef(beef - meat, figuratively a complaint, discontent) - enmity between representatives of hip-hop culture. Beefs, their features and unspoken rules of conduct are an important part of hip-hop culture. The most famous beefs are between rappers, but such conflicts are also possible between other representatives of hip-hop culture: DJs, b-boys or graffiti artists. In practice, a beef can be seen when one rapper, in order to deliberately humiliate another, writes a song about him in which he expresses his opinion.
Brakedance(b-boying, break) - a kind of street dance for a break is characterized by plasticity and flexibility.
Backing vocalist- a person who helps the performer on stage. As a rule, he pronounces the second part of the line, so that the performer has the opportunity to take a breath at this time.
Becky- an additionally recorded audio track, where the performer usually pronounces only the second part of the line or highlights rhymes and phrases.
G sharpshooter- a specialist who writes texts for money.
Graffiti- in the original meaning - rock paintings that ancient people painted on the walls of their dwellings; in the modern sense - inscriptions or drawings applied with paint, ink or scratched on walls, as well as fences and other vertical surfaces. Nowadays, it is the art style of hip-hop culture.
Gansta- style of reading, characterized by an abundance of non-standard and a certain aggression; in Russia it is poorly developed, which is why it is considered the lot of super advanced alternatives;
diss(disrespect, disrespect) is a direction in hip-hop (more specifically, in rap). The essence of diss is disrespect in the text of one rapper (or group) to another rapper (s). In such tracks, obscene speech is practiced, swearing towards the enemy, sometimes threats. Often disses come in pairs, that is, "diss - reciprocal diss", or in chains of disses. Often disses are ignored. Disses are used in beefs.
Cover(cover) - a new version of the track, recorded (re-read) by another artist.
mouth guard is a slang term for the word acapella.
clap(English clap) - a single sound, similar to cotton.
label(label) - Abroad, a label is a record company that has the rights to release and distribute artists' albums. In Russia, a rap group is called a label. Often this group is primarily united by the studio.
Mike- microphone.
Mastering- the final stage of work on the song, which is designed to make a well-mixed mix louder, brighter, cleaner, more transparent and put it on a par with popular commercial tracks in terms of volume. Also at this stage, you can correct minor errors made during mixing.
Minus(Backing track) - a recording of a piece of music that lacks one or more parts, usually vocals or a solo instrument. At the moment, any music that is considered rap is called minus.
MS(MC, Master of Ceremonies) - in reggae culture and hip-hop - an artist, accompanied by electronic dance music, pronouncing words from the stage - pre-composed or improvised, usually in the form of rap - to provoke the audience, as well as introduce a DJ. In Russian-speaking Rap, under MC, it is customary to consider the master of the word who participates in the battle, considering his text as a minus.
Noname(Noname) - insufficiently popular or unknown performer who does not have a "name".
Newschool(Newschol, New School) - "new Russian rap" - all Russian Rap from 1998 to this day.
Old school(Oldschool, Old School) - old rap, classic Russian Rap. Old school is considered to be the entire Russian Rap until 1998.
Innings- emotions invested in the reading, intonations placed, the way of pronouncing words, the use of vocals, dashes, accelerations and other specific rap techniques.
Release- the premiere of an album, track, video or collection.
Remix(Remix) - a new arrangement of an already released track.
rapcore- a subgenre of rock music, characterized by the use of rap as vocals. Rapcore combines the instrumental and vocal properties of styles such as punk, alternative rock, and hip-hop.
Mixing- the stage of work on a song, during which the recorded audio tracks are combined into one audio file.
swag(swag) is an expression of coolness and individuality.
Single(single) - from English word"one". Single track with remixes, radio versions, instrumental, a cappella, etc.
snare(snare, eng. snare) - the sound of the lead drum, clear and short.
Staff(stuff) - in the environment of benchmarks, this word means like new works, discs, tracks, compositions.
Reading- the process of rappers performing their texts.
Sample- a relatively small fragment of a melody (music), taken as the basis for creating a minus. Beats are applied to the samples.
Text(with an emphasis on A), - the rapper's thoughts are called, looped into rhymes and laid on a certain rhythmic basis - a beat.
Technique - rhythm control. There is also a small branch: "technicality" - the degree of skill to control the rhythm.
Track(Track) is a synonym for the word "song" in rap.
True(true, true, true) - the opposite of fake. "True rapper" is a rapper who reads the truth, whose words do not differ from deeds.
fit(ft. or feat) - means that this is a joint track of two or more performers.
Flava(flave) - party, company, group or label.
Freestyle(from English freestyle - free style) - a style of reading, when the master of the word says a text not written in advance, but what comes to his mind literally in the course of the reading.
Fake(fakers, fake) - liars, performers from whose tracks there are a lot of lies, and reality diverges from the lyrics.
hasl- any kind of earnings associated with rap or breaking the law (selling drugs, etc.).
haters(hate - hatred) - people who hate something, or everything and everything. In Russian Rap, they denote people whose work is permeated with hatred for any performer.
Due to the growing interest in battle rap and the entire hip-hop industry in general, we present you with a detailed conceptual apparatus (rap dictionary) for Rap so that you can understand what MCs are talking about in their battles.
Autotune– A program for processing and correcting the voice, used to correct the singer's singing from notes. In rap, it has become a household name and identifies all voice correction programs.
underground(underground - underground, underground) - a number of artistic trends in contemporary art(in music, literature, cinema, fine arts, etc.), opposing themselves to mass culture, the mainstream.
Acapella- The text recorded on the microphone, separately from the minus.
Battle- Competition between rap artists is usually accompanied by humiliation of the opponent. A battle track is often nothing more than a diss on an opponent. Battles are divided into online battles (take place on the Internet) and live battles (everything takes place live).
Beat (Beat)- Drum-bass part minus. Previously, they read to a percussion part created by beat-boxing or tapping objects. Initially, this word was used as a beat in rap music. At the moment, any music that is rapped to is called a beat.
beatbox- A beat created solely with the help of the mouth, without the use of musical instruments.
Beatmaker- A person who creates beats in specialized programs such as Cubase, FL Studio and others. A good level of beat making is using live instruments and not using samples.
beef(Beef) - A feud between rap artists, hangouts or labels, accompanied by diss and frequent live showdowns.
bootleg(bootleg) - a pirated compilation of tracks, which the artist may never even know about.
Becky- An additionally recorded audio track, where the performer usually pronounces only the second part of the line or highlights rhymes and phrases.
Backing vocalist- A person who helps the performer on stage. As a rule, he pronounces the second part of the line, so that the performer has the opportunity to take a breath at this time.
Versus() - One of the two most popular live battles in Russia. Based in St. Petersburg.
ghostwriter- A specialist who writes texts for money.
Double time- Reading twice as fast as the rhythm of the music. Outstanding representatives of this style are Ceza, Tech N9ne, FIKE, Dom1no and other artists.
double rhymes(Double-rhyme) - The end of the line has two words at once, on which the rhyme will be selected in the next line, also in two words. That is, if the first line ends with “brain and heart”, then it will be necessary to choose a consonance for the word “brain” and a separate consonance for the word “heart”. For example - “poster on the door” (brain - poster, heart - door).
diss(diss, disrespect) - A track aimed at another artist or someone or something with the intent to "lower him". In such tracks, obscene speech is practiced, abuse towards the opponent and his relatives, threats, jokes below the belt, and so on. Dises are often used in beefs.
EP (EP)- A small album, usually up to 7 songs.
sound engineer- Specialist who mixes and masters tracks.
indabattle(Utkonos) - Battle taking place on the portal indarnb.ru. The second largest battle in Russia. It bears the slang name "Utkonos", because the father of the main organizer of the battle (Snake), is the owner of the Utkonos chain of stores.
instrumental- Synonym for the general meaning of the word bit
Cover(cover) - A new version track recorded (re-read) by another artist.
mouth guard- Slang name for the word "acapella".
square rhymes- Rhymes in the text are added at the end of the line, and rhyming words have the same endings. An example of "hand-flour", "mountain-time". It is believed that this is the easiest way to rhyme.
Concert Director– A specialist responsible for organizing the performer's concerts.
crunk(Crunk) is a style of southern rap music, with repetitive phrases and fast dance rhythms.
live(live) - Audio or video recording from the performer's concert. As a rule, the mark live is put in the title of the track, so that it would be clear that this is not a studio version, but a recording from a concert.
label(label) - 1) Abroad, a label is a record company that has the rights to release and distribute artists' albums. 2) In Russia, a rap group is called a label. Often this group is primarily united by the studio.
Mike– Microphone
Mastering- the final stage of work on the song, which is designed to make a well-mixed mix louder, brighter, clearer, more transparent and put it on the same level with popular commercial tracks in terms of volume. Also at this stage, you can correct minor errors made during mixing.
Mix(mix) - several pieces of music (tracks) arranged in a continuous sequence. As a rule, mixes are compiled by DJs for various purposes (for example, for inclusion on the radio in thematic programs). Usually mixes consist of tracks that are similar in genre, mood and other features. On average, the duration of the mix ranges from 25 to 74 minutes.
Mixtape(Mixtape) - 1) In foreign rap, this word means a release made from remixes or mixed tracks. 2) In Russian rap, a mixtape is a collection of tracks recorded on backing tracks, illegally taken from other people's tracks. As a rule, mixtapes in Russia violate the copyrights of performers. A mixtape is also called a collection of tracks recorded for minus, laid out by beatmakers for general use.
Minus- A synonym for the general meaning of the word bit.
Independent battle- A battle taking place on the site hip-hop.ru, which is organized not by the forum administration, but by the forum members themselves.
Noname(Noname) - Not popular enough or unknown artist who does not have a "name". A relatively objective indicator in this aspect can be the number of audio in vk and the number of concerts, as well as the number of visitors who came to the concert.
HP (New Rap) - The largest news rap public vk.
Newschool– New style of hip-hop, hallmarks which are the use of fast flow, dashes and various plugins and effects, such as melodyne and autotune.
Old school(Oldschool) - An early style of hip hop, also referred to as the old school. Prominent representatives of this style are 2Pac, Wu-TangClan and Onyx. Often this is a measured flow without the use of many effects and fast flows.
Official battle - Battle, held on the site hip-hop.ru, organized by the administration of the forum. The biggest battle in Russia.
Punch, punchline(Punch) - This is a concise phrase / line designed to hook an opponent. It can be both a vivid metaphor and a joke below the belt. “The presence of an opponent is optional. It's like a punch line to a joke. Just a catchy phrase or line"
Parts– The written part of one artist per joint track.
Jumps, acceleration- The fundamental part of fast flow. Increase the speed of reading text.
PR– Distribution of the artist's creativity or any information and offer of services.
Innings- Emotions embedded in the reading, placed intonations, the way of pronouncing words, the use of vocals, dashes, accelerations and other specific rap techniques.
Producer– A specialist who is fully engaged in the promotion of the artist, dealing with all legal and financial issues. Often, the name of the performer (nickname) is registered by the producers to themselves, and when the performer changes the producer, he is forced to change the nickname as well, since all rights to the old nickname will belong to the old producer. For this reason, Loc-Dog was forced to change his nickname to Loc Dog.
promo(promo) - release to get acquainted with the work of a particular artist.
Release- Premiere of an album, track, video or collection
Remix(Remix) - A new arrangement of an already released track.
rapcore- a subgenre of rock music, characterized by the use of rap as vocals. Rapcore combines the instrumental and vocal properties of styles such as punk, alternative rock, and hip-hop.
Mixing- the stage of work on a song, during which the recorded audio tracks (instruments, main vocals, takes, etc.) are combined into one audio file using various devices and techniques, such as equalization, compression, volume manipulation, placement in space, adding sound effects. Note: vocal correction, synchronization of duplicates and backings - this is not a mixing process, this is a previous one
Note the installation phase.
swag(swag) - An expression of coolness and personality.
skils(Skills) - Submission and various types of construction of rhymes.
SlovoSpb() - One of the two most popular live battles in Russia. Based in Krasnodar.
Compound rhymes- The end of the line in the next line rhymes with several words at once. Example: "Apocalypse - In the meantime, get well"
Storytelling- a track that tells a story, while sequentially describing the events, actions and deeds of real or fictional characters.
Sample– A relatively small fragment of a melody (music), taken as the basis for creating a minus. Beats are applied to the samples.
take- recorded fragment, attempt. Usage example: I recorded it all in one take, i.e. with one try.
Track(Track) - A synonym for the word "song" in rap.
Triplets is the musical scale. In rap, it is now customary to call a reading with broken chips, like a tanguist, accelerations, etc.
True(True) - A performer who reads the truth, that is, what he really thinks, does and what happened in his life.
Platypus- Slang name for Indabattla.
fast flow(FastFlow) - A serving style based on dashes and accelerations.
fit(ft. or feat) - Means that this is a joint track of two or more artists
Flava(flave) - Hangout, company, group or label.
flow(Flow) - Speed of execution.
Freestyle(Freestyle) - Improvisation in rap. Reading the text composed by the performer on the go.
fake(Fake) - Performers whose lyrics are based on lies. Their characteristic feature is not the ability to "responsible for the words."
Hype- enthusiastic rumors, often deliberately inflated for marketing purposes.
hasl- Any kind of income related to rap or breaking the law (selling drugs, etc.)
hater- A listener who condemns any creativity and has an acute dislike for it.
Homey(Homie) - A friend or loved one.
H.x.ru(persimmon) - One of the most popular forums dedicated to hip-hop culture, hip-hop.ru.
For an unprepared listener, immersion in the world of new Russian rap can be painful: lines like “BAPE on the body, skate under your feet, your shoty wants me” and “I start in low flex, rummage around, who is here on the financial side” can cause culture shock. In order to more freely navigate who, how and what has been reading in Russia for the last couple of years, we have compiled a short dictionary.
A
ATL
One of the most prominent representatives of the new Russian hip-hop, who once described his music as "future-chanson". The rapper from Novocheboksarsk does not change his winning formula: year after year, ATL releases records filled with peppy rave rhythms and lyrics about pagan rituals.
"Antihype"
The association, which is headed by Slava CPSU, aka Purulent. "Antihype" declares itself as a "new cultural paradigm", but, like any other statements of Glory, it must be taken with the lion's share of irony: in fact, the St. Petersburg rapper provocateur and his friends (namely Zamay, SD and Booker) are sarcastic they play with the conjuncture (read "hype"), writing down lines like "If it weren't for Rubchinsky, I wouldn't *** (had sex)".
Autotune
“I lied to you, girlfriend, I can’t sing. / She asked me to coo in her ear, but in real life there is no autotune ”(Dopeclvb feat. Thomas Mraz & Basic Boy, “Honey, it seems I don’t want to rap anymore”).
The voice processing and correction program is one of the main attributes of the new school, which was first widely used in the West. One of the first artists to popularize autotune is Kanye West with his album 808s & Heartbreak. Later, the program began to be actively used by rappers from Atlanta - for example, Future and Young Thug, and with some delay, the trend reached local artists like LSP.
B
Battles
Fights, during which rappers try to humiliate each other as much as possible, have moved into the mainstream over the past few years, becoming one of the main entertainments of Russians - even the Just Russia party tried to appropriate the battle culture for its political campaign, releasing a video with an animated rapper Oksimironov ". The recent battle of Oksimiron and Purulent (the events were waiting for about a year) is gaining millions of views in a matter of hours, in addition to the popular Versus and SlovaSPB, new projects appear (albeit also in St. Petersburg): for example, the battle "Tear on bits".
Byte
“You started griming like Sonya Cannon. / But you are not a bayter - a repeater-chunk! (from the battle between Sonya Marmeladova and Edik Kingsta at 140 BPM).
Borrowing style, flow, lines or any other element of someone else's music. One of the main insults in hip-hop, where among the main values is originality and loyalty to one's words.
Block
“I’m flying to the block, I accepted the post, the night watch, the control area. / I look like a night wolf, sauce pours from the onion” (Yanix, “When the Lights Go Out”).
Block is a district, a place of power.
beef
"What is a beef? Beef is a war in which everyone is against everyone. / Beef is when only the arrogant will succeed” (Oxxxymiron, “What is a beef?” feat. Schokk).
Open feud between rappers. It can end not only with a leisurely exchange of disses, but also physical violence.
badybag
"You're Action Bronson's homunculus / Brother, that's the bodybag of the evening" (from Walkie vs. Edik Kingsta at 140 BPM).
From the English body bag - literally "body bag", or rather, an unambiguous victory for the MC in the battle.
Big Russian Boss
A comedian rapper hiding under a robe and fake beard who hosts a YouTube show of the same name. In 2016, he gave a lecture at the Faculty of Economics of Moscow State University on creating a successful brand in the media space.
IN
Versus
The most popular battle in the country, each major release of which gains tens of millions of views and instantly spreads across the Web in the form of memes. The fight between Oksimiron and Johnnyboy was watched 39 million times, but it is worth considering that most recently the most long-awaited duel, if not the entire history of Versus, then at least a year, was posted on the Web - Oxxxymiron against Purulent. Performances are traditionally recorded in the St. Petersburg bar "1703", and they are led by the creator of the project, Alexander "Restaurateur" Timartsev.
Video bloggers
“Are you alive or dead, do you pay taxes, / If you are bad at rap, as if a video blogger, / If you are a mind - captive tight and miserable - your future / A beggar corpse by the road” (The Chemodan, “What is left for us”).
The transition of hip-hop to the mainstream is facilitated, among other things, by millionaire bloggers, whose audience turned out to be interested in covers of popular rap hits and even frankly amateurish performances on Versus. The main characters are Larin, Eldar Dzhakharov and Khovansky, who appropriated the main sentiment of the indignant rappers: “How ... [tired of] these hypocritical scum that, in pursuit of hype, climb to us, into rap.”
VK rap
An unofficial tag that refers to the lo-fi records of young rappers from the bowels of VKontakte. Three years ago, VK-rap could be called creativity, for example, Pharaoh.
G
"Gasholder"
The label and eponymous Moscow club of Vasily Vakulenko (aka Basta, Noggano or Nintendo) is the patriarch of the Russian hip-hop scene. Despite seeming conservatism (military-patriotic songs and ultimatum statements in the spirit of “Decl is a shaggy schmuck”), Basta contributed to the popularization of new names like Scryptonite and T-fest (one of the most prominent signatories of the Gas Holder) and did not refuse Pharaoh, who turned to him on you with a request to record a verse for the track "Hero".
Purulent
Vyacheslav Karelin, aka Purulent, aka Sonya Marmeladova, aka Slava CPSU, aka Buter Brodsky, aka Valentin Dyadka, is a 27-year-old rapper from Khabarovsk, the winner of a recent battle with Oksimiron. Hundreds of releases that Slava recorded are logically divided by his pseudonyms: for example, Sonya Marmeladova records biting grime, Slava KPSS compares herself to Ramzan Kadyrov (by the way, Vyacheslav issued an apology in front of the Chechen people, however, because of other lines), and Buter Brodsky reads about "a large cone like a Russian donut", which is "too tasty for the socialists."
ghostwriting
“I am an independent artist - ST, One Hundred of One. / Bitch, I wrote lyrics for your ghostwriters” (from the battle between Oxxxymiron and ST on Versus).
Anonymous composition of a verse or entire text to order for another artist. In Western hip-hop, Drake is most often accused of using the services of ghostwriters, in Russian - rapper ST. At the same time, ghostwriting is an important source of income for many artists.
"Mushrooms"
A Ukrainian group that has become popular in a record time: exactly a year has passed from the debut banger "Intro" to the virus that captured Russia "Ice is melting". The latest hit has almost nothing to do with rap, but "House on wheels, part 1" is still one of the most interesting hip-hop albums in the post-Soviet space.
Gosha Rubchinsky
“I'm like Gosha Rubchinsky - the most fashionable trend. / Gosha Rubchinsky is my best friend” (Face, “Gosha Rubchinsky”).
“I'm not double time, I'm high white. What time is it now? - Grime Time" (Obladaet, "0 TO 100 Drake Remix").
Speed reading, in which the text is read twice as fast as a bit. Due to the high speed, double time in hip hop is sometimes mistaken for grime, although grime is a completely separate and independent genre based on British electronic music, and double time is a type of flow, that is, a manner of reading.
Dead Dynasty
Founded in 2013, an association of rappers, producers and designers, headed by Gleb Golubin, aka Pharaoh. Now its members release resonant mixtapes, gather big concerts all over Russia and even record soundtracks for presentations Yves Saint Laurent.
diss
“Those who diss us on the Internet came in exactly five minutes ago” (Pharaoh & Boulevard Depo, “5 minutes ago”).
From the English diss, disrespect - a track in which the rapper expresses hatred for his opponent. Typically, such attacks provoke a mutual exchange of insults, which can drag on indefinitely. Often diss is recorded solely to attract the attention of a more famous artist and his fan base and therefore remain unanswered.
deb
“I wanted to come up with a deb, but Leva did it *** [fuck] Levu!” (Acid Drop King, "I'm a Problem" feat. Pharaoh).
From the English dab, a dance popularized by Atlanta rappers such as Migos. A few years later, the trend reached Russia and clips of rapper L'One in particular, and in 2017, the debali was already on Channel One.
Dopeclvb
Ufa association of musicians, which currently includes rappers i61, Basic Boy and Glebasta Spal. Previously, the team included artist Thomas Mraz, who has now left for the Booking Machine (concert agency of Oksimiron). Members of Dopeclvb record, among other things, upbeat rap about "noughties parties until the morning" and ironic songs like "Honey, I don't seem to want to rap anymore."
AND
Jacques-Anthony
W
"Sunset 99.1"
A young Moscow association whose members call their music "audiopunk" and themselves "cyber bastards". The texts often mention power banks, instagrams, telegrams and other topics of concern to the ear of a modern teenager.
AND
Yeezy
"Yeezy Boost on my feet, I'm so popular / I came to your sister and ended up in your mom" (Face, "Yeezy Boost").
One of the favorite sneakers of Russian rappers, designed by Kanye West. To buy the original, you have to
Imperial
Track by Porchy, London beatmaker and close friend of Oksimiron. "Imperial" is notable for being one of the few times rappers diss each other on the same track. According to one version, Porchy offered Oleg LSP to record a verse for a new track, after which Oleg sent an actual diss to Oksimiron and his Booking Machine agency. Porchy told Oksimiron himself about this, after which he added his accusatory verse to the track. As a result, the conflict was discussed on the Web for a long time, and the two rappers finally quarreled.
TO
cloud rap
“You wanted to do cloud, but I did exactly five minutes ago” (Pharaoh & Boulevard Depo, “5 minutes ago”).
A sub-genre of hip-hop with slow beats and unhurried flows, especially popular on VKontakte a few years ago. The main reference points for Russian cloud rappers were the American Bones and the Swede Yung Lean.
Kizaru
rapper with beautiful story. According to the artist, in 2014 he fled to Barcelona from St. Petersburg, where he was going to be tried for the sale of prohibited substances. Already in 2015, Kizaru flexed on the Mediterranean coast in a snow-white Thrasher hoodie - this is what the video for the track “Nikto ne nuzhen” looked like, which collected 5 million views on YouTube. Later, the rapper told how Interpol employees calculated him by IP, after which he spent four months in a local prison.
Collab
“They all want a collab, get by / Do you want my flow? Buy it on iTunes” (Obladaet, “Zloi Negr Freestyle”).
Collaboration, joint creativity.
Kuznetsky most
“As bequeathed to Saint Laurent / Kuznetsky Most, and the eternal French / From there fashion to us, and authors, and muses” (“Kuznetsky Squad”, “Squad”).
A place of power for young hypebeasts who gather near the KM20 store, which sells Off White, Gosha Rubchinsky and other relics of fashionistas. "Kuznetsky" is periodically mentioned in the texts of rappers of the new school, and more recently, their own rap group has formed on the street - " Kuznetsk squad ».
L
LSP
Belarusian rap group that captured the summer of 2015 with the track " Madness". In April of this year, LSP released the successful album "Tragic City", but already in July one of the band members, Roma Englishman, died, after which Oleg LSP announced that he would continue the project, and the planned tour in support of the new release would still take place .
M
Miyagi & Endgame
A rap duet from Ossetia, unexpected for the genre. Miyagi and Endgame became famous literally in a year: now hip-hop with an admixture of dancehall and lines like “The sky is in diamonds - summer has flown. You are my baby - the daughter of the carnival "finally entrenched in the tops of Russian iTunes and discos repertoires.
H
Low flex
“I start in low flex, you rummage around, who is here in finance? / I collect these pesos, and these sexy ones are with me” (Basic Boy & Glebasta Spal, “Low Flex”).
In a rough translation, “flex” means “show off”, and low flex is a dance that can be observed, for example, in the video “Champagne squirt” by Pharaoh and Boulevard Depot or in amateur video from the expanses of Russia, where at the same time you can see the reaction of the older generation.
"Good for a woman"
A joint track of three rappers - Mozee Montana, Masha Khima and Emelevskaya, which plays on the realities of misogynistic hip-hop culture.
ABOUT
Oxxxymiron
Oksimiron, aka Miron Fedorov, is a graduate of Oxford University, one of the key players in Russian rap, who “turned the game around” with the release of Gorgorod - in just a couple of months, the tracks from the dystopian album full of transparent allusions reached Channel One, and in November of this year Oksimiron collects the 35,000th "Olympic".
Obladaet
A young rapper from Irkutsk, the epitome of hypebeast - most of Obladaet's tracks can be summed up with his own line: "You ask what's new - and I'm in everything new."
P
Pasha Technician
A member of the Kunteynir group, one of the main trolls of Russian rap, hiding under the mask of a gorilla. The Technician calls his music "shit rap", and he battles according to his own rules - literally no pants. The rapper is often attributed to the "right sector", but he himself denies any ideology, explaining that he is just an "artist".
Punchline
“Being is a punchline, and nothing else. / Two criteria for cognition - rhymes, punches "(Glory to the CPSU \ Zamay \ Vandalsky, "Being is Punchline").
Intonational stress on a key line of text, usually aimed at insulting an opponent. The result of the recent battle between Oksimiron and Purulent showed that punchline is still the main criterion for victory.
R
rap game
Metaphysical designation of the rap scene. "Flip the [rap] game" - raise the bar, set new standards in hip-hop. Gradually, the expression, which was often resorted to in conversations about the release of Oksimiron's Gorgorod, acquired an ironic connotation - for example, Dmitry Malikov called his last performance, and they begin to talk about the next revolution in the game after the release of frankly passing releases.
WITH
Scriptonite
A rapper from Pavlodar, the author of the album "House with Normal Phenomena", which two years ago, along with "Gorgorod", marked a sharp rise in Russian-speaking hip-hop. This year, the signer of "Gazgolder" and member of the group Jillzay released a new album "Holiday on 36 Street".
Syrup
"Bombay, tussin, bacardi - I don't even know what's in my sprite. / This bitch doesn't know what's in her sprite either” (LSP, Madness feat. Oxxxymiron).
A purple-colored drink, the main ingredients of which are codeine and promethazine, which are part of the cough syrup. Lean, or purple drank, gained particular popularity in the southern states of the United States, and later Russian rappers began to sing about the pain-relieving effect of the drink, despite the fact that drugs with codeine and its analogues have not been freely available on the territory of the Russian Federation for a long time.
T
Trap hut
“Right on the floor it already carries staff / This is not a hangout, a scourge, this is a trap hut” (Yanix, “Trap hut” feat. ATL).
A place for the production and/or consumption of drugs. In the US, trap houses usually mean drug dens in rickety houses, but Russian rappers can call trap houses and ordinary apartment, where the scale inscription passes.
F
pharaoh
Gleb Golubin is one of the most popular Russian rappers at the moment, whose career was recently blessed by Sergey Shnurov. Now the author of “5 Minutes Ago”, “Champagne Squirt in the Face” and “Wildly, for example” collects large venues across the country, does not communicate with the press and promises to release a rock album, trying on the image of Kurt Cobain.
face
A young rapper, whose popularity phenomenon is quite difficult to explain: Face obviously copies Western trends (in particular, the ridiculous adlib “eschkere”), while releasing the track “I Drop the West”, calls himself “the best rapper in the last thousand years”, and the video on his song, where a non-existent Gucci store in St. Petersburg rhymes with the word “burger” for three minutes, gains a million views in a week.
Freshman
“The Russian ghetto does not pay for rags, they pay for a glass and a crust of bread / Black Ghetto, Kodak and Savage, but Goshenka cannot become a freshman” (Zamay, CD, Slava KPSS, Booker, Gosha Rubchinsky).
A promising newcomer to the rap game. Since 2007, the American edition of XXL has compiled a list of freshmen: in 2011, among others, Kendrick Lamar entered it, in 2014 - Chance the Rapper, in 2016 - Kodak Black and 21 Savage.
Flip
“I remember how I explained that I was tired of freestyle, what schemes and flips are” (from the battle of Oksimiron and Purulent on “Versus vs. SLOVO SPb”.
A quick reaction to the text of the opponent, invented during the battle.
X
Husky
Dmitry Kuznetsov is a rapper from Ulan-Ude, whose originality was seriously noticed after the Black-Black video. A year later, Husky releases the album “Favorite Songs of (Imaginary) People” and performs with him at various festivals - from the Afisha Picnic to the first rap festival on the territory of the DPR.
Hype
“Off White and VLONE / Stonak, Prim and Vetma / Nightmare for the hypebeast - Palace without tri-ferg” (Obladaet, “Themarket”).
Hype is a neologism denoting public hysteria around some event, trend or thing. Hypebeast is a fashionista who hunts for luxury streetwear like Palace, OFF White or Yeezy.
W
Shut out
“4 guys on the block are flexing, the last deuce will designate the town / Shut out to the guys from the crestall, shut out to all their bros” (KRESTALL / Courier, “Oh, hell” feat. Glebasta Spal & Basic Boy).
From English shout out - say hello.
Shoti
"BAPE on the body, skate under the legs, / Your shoty wants me" (Morty Mort & Pharaoh, "Bape").
From English shawty - girl.
E
Edlibs
From the Latin Ad libitum, "at will" - random cries or words that dilute the main text. Examples: the legendary Pharaoh's sker-sker, Mozee Montana's 'things-things'.
I
Yaroslavl
“I smoke Mary J. Blige, sweat and blood is the price for my hype / Boy, cutlet from Yaroslavl says I don’t play” (Yanix, “Hypeem”).
Banknote of a thousand rubles.
Yanix
Moscow rapper who adapted American club trap. Janix is often accused of almost verbatim copying the style of rappers like T.I. and Tyga - apparently due to the excessive use of anglicisms, auto-tuning and straightforward lines like "I'll put chain on chain on chain."
Yung Russia
A now defunct coalition founded by Ufa-based rapper Boulevard Depo. YungRussia included the Dead Dynasty, Dopeclvb, Sabbat Cult and Litalima associations, and geographically Young Russia lived up to its name. One and a half to two years later - having managed to travel around the country with tours up and down several times and becoming heroes Boiler Room documentary, - the union ceased to exist, stating: "We did not turn the game over, but stupidly clicked it, and now it stands on edge."
