Лигалайз – от «вне политики» до эмиграции / Ligalize – from staying out of politics to emigration

[This material in created and distributed by a foreign agent Yury Dud..] ..who buys his plane tickets on Aviasales. Ligalize. Oh! Ligalize! Hello! Who's there? 'Peace' is now an extremist word. Conscience. Soul. These are silly rudiments. I've lived through this already. I don't have another life to do it again. [Vilnius Lithuania] Andrey, you are one of the veterans of Russian rap music. Over twenty years ago you released a song called 'A hope for tomorrow'. Claiming that there is no politics i

n Russia. Two decades later you made a couple of big political statements with your songs.. You made a statement against Russian aggression in Ukraine.. You were forced to leave Russia because of your views. We would like to talk to you about your path from being uninterested in politics to making political statements. Okay. I expected you to lead our conversation in this direction. I would like to find this out, too. [Ligalize Andrey Menshchikov 46 years old A rapper Born in Moscow] You publish

ed your music video Mir Vashemu Domu (Peace To Your Home) after you left Russia. I did. It's quite a straightforward statement on what is happening in Russia right now. [Peace! Peace! Peace! An extremist word.] [Bombs are hitting my friends' homes Iron feathers are sowing discord] [They are drawing their evil Z in the sky] [Our neighborhood must call this a shame You are looters and thieves, no Zorros] I've got a few questions about this music video. You did this together with Pavel Muntian. I d

id the song and he did the music video. We're a duo. Pavel Muntian is the man behind Mr.Freeman character. The video was made with AI. All the monster faces were created by AI, weren't they? They were. Who tuned this AI? Pavel Muntian and his big team tuned it. This is a very modern technology. My previous music video was a Bosch-themed video. It was always generated from his pictures with the help of AI Midjourney. This is a modern technology. It might become overused later. Guys did this video

and I approved it. You were planning to make this video without breaking the law. Pavel Chikov consulted you on the song. You were hoping this would break any laws, weren't you? It did came out and it didn't break any laws. If you listen to the record on Russian streaming platforms..The record is censored everywhere but on YouTube. This is a huge record, full of explicit language. Full of virtual violence. This is the only song about peace and friendship and it was censored to death. Half of th

e text is cut. I reached out to Pavel Chikov on his professional advice. I asked him about erasing some lyrics from the song. A few hours later he replied that the whole song was full of extremist lyrics. I asked him to erase all the illegal lyrics. He sent me all the words that he erased. Peace..War..Peace is the most extremist word now. I told him this might sound cool. It's a footprint of our time. North Korean version of the song. You can listen to it everywhere. So on Yandex.Music this song

is censored. It is. *** To Your Home. It's a performance, isn't it? It is. I listened to the song on YouTube and there is no censorship there. Right. YouTube is an export platform and all the others are local, right? Kind of. This is terrible. This is the reality. Everything in Russia is terrible now. What about iTunes? It is censored. Spotify? I protected my distributor from any problems. Are you signed on a Russian label? I am. I want to thank them for their courage. They supported me a lot.

All the other labels considered me toxic. When I told them about my anti-war views.. They would reject me. My label was brave enough to sign me. What would tell the people who would say that this song and the video are too straightforward? How can you not be straightforward about basic truths? We were taught these when we were toddlers. I can't think of a metaphor for 'Don't kill you neighbor' 'You can't invade other countries. War is bad' 'War is bad'. Who needs a metaphor here? Just say it as

it is. This sucks. 'You are criminals who have invaded another country and are now killing their people every day' And they are doing this on our behalf. [Ads for those who are looking for a job abroad] There are few European cities which IT specialists like to choose for relocation. These are Berlin, Amsterdam, London, Lisboa, and Barcelona. There is a whole new innovative block in Barcelona which was built to attract new specialists. 22@ is located in the eastern part of the city in Poblenou d

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your kid doesn't need to be schooled at home, you can still buy a course on a specific subject, including programming. Click at the link in the description and book a free consultation to learn more. Don't forget to use promo code Юрий to get a discount up to 45%. Let's go! [Back to Lithuania] We're in Uzupio districts, which means Across The River. This used to be a bad neighborhood and later it was given to artists. Artists have turned this place into an arts district. There's a lot of worksh

ops and galleries here, together with bars and restaurants. There's is even a local constitution. The text is located on one of the streets. They have founded this parody republic with a constitution. Everyone has a right to love and take care of a cat. Everyone has a right to take care of a dog until one of you dies. A dog has a right to be a dog. A cat does not have to love it's owner. It has to come to the rescue when needed. Wild people! What do you mean? We came here recently..You are more

experienced than me. I left the GULAG recently. So how do you feel about this place? Are you surprised? I feel like this is a right thing to do. I enjoy it. Why can't everyone live this way? This way? Not being violent. Not dominating anyone. Not conquering anyone. Not doing anything bad that is happening in a Soviet country. Are you traumatized..? I've realized that my dream has failed. I believed in our country. I believed that we were progressing. It turned out that we were stuck in this GULA

G. We are back in the USSR. It feels like you are so traumatized that you are overreacting to European funny stuff like Uzupio republic. You are too aggressive towards Russia. You calling it a GULAG. I'm not aggressive, I'm upset. This is a reality. I'm reading a lot of books about the formation of the Third Reich.. Russia reminds me of Germany from 1939. It's an evil country. I'm glad that the population doesn't support it. Russians are indifferent, they prefer to stay at home. I'm glad they ar

e. Unfortunately, you can do anything to these indifferent people. You can tell them to kill their relatives a hundred kilometers away. They would be okay with that. Don't they support the war? I think that the percentage of the supporters is pretty low. These people are crazy. The rest of the people are waiting for something. When the Soviet Union collapsed, everything changed really quickly. I think everything would be similar this time. People are used to changes. This is why they are not rea

cting to anything. They are waiting for this to end. They don't want to get involved. I was scared when they banned my show. This was in Vladivostok and Nakhodka in Spring of 2022. I flew to Vladivostok and the show got cancelled. Someone called the venue and the show got cancelled. We drove to Nakhodka expecting to play the next show. The venue manager said the show was on. I went to bed and when I woke up I found out that FSB called the owner of the venue and told him to cancel the show. Later

we managed to play some shows. We weren't announcing the shows. I wasn't posting any posters. I would only announce the show on the day of the show. This was a Russian roulette. Some shows got cancelled and others didn't. I made my first political statements a few years ago. Three years before the war started. You released Zastoy 2.0 (Stagnation 2.0) music video. I did. I had some other statements before that, too. Zastoy 2.0 was a big statement. I wasn't afraid to speak out. On the first day o

f the war I posted No To War. I was vocal about it. I would talk about it on my shows. I would use the hashtag on my Instagram. And then I realized that some people were told that I was their enemy. I stopped speaking out. I was frightened. I was scared for my family, for my closed ones. I shut up. In Nakhodka I realized I needed to shut up. I needed to stay quiet until I left. I was in danger. After you left you posted 'Farewell! Unwashed, indigent Russia' I did. Bye, unwashed. Don't you think

that it's too much? I said I was sorry. I felt this way. I love Russia. I'm a real patriot. I wish all the best to Russia. I wish freedom and progress. This is my home. I wanted to live there. I'm upset. It's not a Russophobia. I am very sorry for Russia. I wish it all the best. Don't you feel like you disrespected thousands..or tens of thousands.. who agree with you and me. They don't support the war and Putin. They don't have an opportunity to leave. This is a quite from Lermontov. 'Farewell!

Unwashed, indigent Russia The land of slaves, the state of lords' This poem came to my mind and I posted it. This is a quote. You used it to represent your opinion. I found this poem very fitting. I have a right to feel this pain about my country. Shall we compete who feels more pain? I think I might win this. Don't you feel like you're making Putin's defeat a bit harder? Many people cannot leave Russia. I know there are hundreds of thousand of them. Maybe even millions. These people were not lu

cky enough to have written Budushchie Mamy (Future Moms) and to have toured with this song. They were not lucky enough to have fought Ptakha for a big wage. I'm not even mentioning my YouTube revenues. These people are not that lucky. However, these people are usually more decent than me and you. I absolutely agree. You're punching these people in the face. I'm not. I cannot express all of my feelings in one sentence. Farewell! Unwashed, indigent Russia and then add a paragraph in small font 'Th

is doesn't apply to everyone' I was emotional, I was upset. I'm so confused now. I'm disappointed. I feel defeated. I feel like we all lost. We wanted to live in a free and progressive Russia. Now Russia is a Medieval country. You stayed in Russia for sixteen months of this war. I did. You didn't support the war. How could you stay there for so long? Why did you leave now? First of all, I had my obligations. There are people working for me. We tour a lot. Even when our shows got cancelled we wer

e still playing some gigs. I couldn't fire my team. Secondly, my ex-wife is unemployed. I've got to feed her and our son. It was hard for me to find the courage and leave. This feels like accepting defeat. Leaving your home..Why should I leave? These intruders..This regime, this government.. They seized my country. The whole country is held hostage. People who appreciate freedom can no longer stay in the country. I had to finish working on my record. I promised myself and Serega to finish it. I

was going to leave in the end of May. Then I got a call from my director who booked some shows in June. I played three private shows in the end of June. These shows let me make some money before I left. Are you talking about shows for private audience? Yes. I also played a small public show in Lipetsk. In a tiny venue. I had three shows scheduled. They asked me to play these shows. I had my release plans figured out with my label. I had to finish working on the record. I played three shows and g

ot another show booked. And a couple more. I realized I was staying in Russia. I went to Saint Petersburg to shoot a music video. I told them I was going to leave in late June. We were figuring out the shooting schedule. My manager told me that the location wasn't available for my dates. We could only rent it at June 30. I had to stay for another week. I agreed to stay. On June 30 I was going to release my album and a music video. I felt like I wouldn't get arrested on the same day. A week befor

e the release I played these three shows. Pavel Muntian sent me the draft of the music video. They sent me the first minute or so. I watched it after a show, closed Telegram, opened Aviasales and bought the tickets for June 25. They asked me if I wanted a refundable ticket. I said no. I forced myself to leave. You're still stressed about leaving Russia, aren't you? I'm very stressed. This war has been very tough for me. I fear these changes. This isn't easy for me. This feels like a rebirth. I'v

e got to say some things are pretty weird here. I agree. There are three commandments: Don't win, Don't defend, Don't give up. I cannot agree with that. Don't win: I get it, I get this meaning. Don't give up, surely. Don't defend..I don't quite get it. This is advanced buddhism philosophy. It is. I'm not ready to accept it yet. You've got to be really enlightened to accept it. I love reading these writings on the walls. 'Thanks that I'm alive' it's a good phrase for a therapy ads. There's anothe

r great phrase here. [Mom, I love cocaine Mom, I love Satan] This is a quote from Anacondaz. Guys, we're with you. We love you and we care about you. You're cool. I would like to talk to you about the song 'A hope for tomorrow' 'There is no politics in Russia'. Who wrote the lyrics? I wrote a half and Vlad Valov wrote another half. I wrote my verse, the chorus. This whole anti-political plot was created by Vlad.. and the producer, Alexander Tolmatsky. Later I found out this song was ordered by a

political party. This party was Yabloko. It was. Did you know that? I knew something..I got a call from Vlad. He told me we we offered to make a great music video. I had just come back from New York where I recorded an album. I was the coolest guy in the world. I had my first tattoos. I was the coolest guy. I was offered to make this song. In New York I saw these street rappers. This was the real freedom. I learnt from them. Vlad told me we could make a song about politics. Ice-T and Ice Cube s

tyle song. I asked him if I would get censored. He said I could sing whatever I wanted. No censorship was my condition. I take the responsibility for my verse. I was a crazy twenty year old guy. I was a bit drunk.. How did you feel when you found out that this song was sponsored by a political party? I was quite calm. As far as nobody censored me or forced to say anything I didn't want to say. They added this Ya Svoboden sample to the chorus. I said I was okay with it. I wasn't educated enough b

ack then. I would like to vote But the candidates want to kill me and make me poor.. 'They are making thousands and looking at us from a TV screen' 'I don't believe any of them I'm sick of them all' I wrote this verse and I was told that I had to believe someone. I thought that this sounded lame. They wanted me to mention this at least one time. And we wouldn't change anything in the song. So when I repeated this verse I sang.. 'Looking at us from a TV screen with depraved music' Vlad wrote this

. Depraved music.. 'But I will find someone who would give me a hope for tomorrow' We had to sing this together. I refused to do it alone. We chanted this as a crowd. The main question: why the hell did Yavlisnky need this? This was an anti-vote propaganda before the elections. Why would they call people not to vote? I have no idea. I guess, they just needed to spend their money. Tolmatsky sold them this idea. Yavlinsky wanted to hang out with the young kids. He wanted to look modern. And the yo

ung kids would be involved in politics. I was fourteen years old in 2000. I found out that this song was sponsored by Yabloko when I was preparing for this interview. I didn't know this for all this years. I might be really stupid.. This is why I agreed to do it. There was no censorship.. No order. There was a show.. Yes.. Yavlisnky came to the show.. Tequilajazzz and Tarakany realized they were being used and protested against it. They didn't know this show was political. The Soldier's Mothers

Committee was also there.. Yavlinsky was there..And there was a lot of artists. Tequilajazzz and Tarakany claimed that they were lied to. They didn't know this was a political show. What do you remember from this show? I came on to the stage and saw Yavlinsky. I said I wasn't taking part in any political games. I raised my middle finger and said that this was my statement. I was a twenty year old idiot but I was being honest. Twenty years later..Don't you feel like you played a role in making ou

r society more indifferent and tolerant to humiliations? Your had your contribution. Well..I'm a barometer and a mirror. I feel like I reflected the overall mood. I don't like that they made this song apolitical. I think about it differently now. When I was twenty I couldn't have a plan to lead our country to a liberal future. I reflected the mood of the society after the nineties. I'm not blaming you. I'm trying to analyze this situation. I'm not the same guy I was back then. Intuitively I said

everything right. I said that the deputies were paralyzed and could not do anything. I said that the politics was a dump. It doesn't mean that I really meant this. It's a song. I tried to absorb this mood from the society.. You're a messenger. I am a messenger. If an artist doesn't speak out against the war, he doesn't explain to his audience that Putin is insolent.. that Russia is an aggressor..When I hear this claim I start to think that the role of artists is a little overrated here. I see t

hat nobody in the world can handle Putin. However, I remember being a kid watching MTV. I came home from school, I was thirteen or fourteen.. Your band looked so fancy. You were one of the most popular dudes in the country. You told me that elections sucked. You said that politics sucked. You said that we could not be watching TV shows with Kiselev and Shenderovich if we wanted to be cool. I believed you. I agree.. It had an impact on me. I would always watch Kiselev's show before that. I was on

e of the guys who was influenced by this propaganda. I feel like this was a part of something evil. This wasn't the original message of the song. This song reflected what I thought back then. It turned out that there were Hitlers in our politics. I was right about all of this. 'I see them fighting on TV like street hooligans' 'They are building homes, driving cars' Replace homes with mansions and vineyards.. This song is still relevant. Even the Hitler part. 'I know there are new Hitlers among t

hem' I'm proud that I wrote this. I predicted this. This song was used in a trend which led to something very evil. People were taught to be indifferent. They were told they could not change anything. They were told that the authorities knew better and would decide everything. This is terrible. Now I realize that politics is everywhere. Everything in our life is politics. You go outside and there is politics around you. You grew up in Ostankino, Moscow. I did. Pretty close to the Ostankino Tower

. The next block from it. When you were a kid you would calculate if the tower would fall on your home if it was falling. I did. And it would. It would. If it was falling flat like a tree, which is not possible. Your grandmother worked on the radio. She was the editor-in-chief of the kids shows. In the Soviet Union. [Anna Menshchikova was the head of children broadcasting for over thirty years, from 1953 to 1986] What did she do? She was responsible for the ideology in education of the kids. Pio

nerskaya Zorka (Pioneer's Dawn), Club Znamenitykh Capitanov (Famous Captains Club), International, Communism, Kindness. She believed in all of it. She didn't have any mansions. She wasn't a cynic. She was a true idealist. She had the Order of Lenin. She was a tiny woman and a statue. People would follow her and believe her. She believed in everything good that was in Soviet ideology. Equality, peace, internationalism.. In fact, she was responsible for propaganda. She was. Propaganda on kids show

s. It was the propaganda of some important truths that I learnt. Cipollino.. Did you get the chance to talk to her about what was going on behind these slogans? About the horrors of the Soviet Union. She passed away in 1999. I don't think you cared about this stuff back then.. I think it was a big shock for her.. During Perestroyka the Soviet archives were being revealed.. It turned out that the Soviet Union was a grinder for its people. How did she feel about that? I was too young to understand

this as I do know.. Maybe your parents told you.. She was mad at new authorities. I think she hated Yeltsin. She was too old woman to keep up with these changes. She didn't like these. Everything was ruined. She was a true Soviet woman from Stalin's movies. Volga-Volga, Jolly Fellows..A believer in communism. She was delusional for all her life. She believed in Lenin and all this facade of the Soviet Union. She didn't notice the bad stuff. I don't know if she ignored it.. Some of the communist

ideas made sense. In reality these ideas were turned into something opposite. She served the original positive slogans. On my first day in school she met me after classes and gave me a huge stack of vinyl records.. These were the small 45 RPM records. She gave me all the episodes of RadioNyanya signed by the authors. It was a huge stack. Wow. I would learn to do scratch sound on these records. RRRRadio NNNNyanya live now. What do you think about the claim that you were a rich kid? I wasn't. We w

ere a poor family. My grandmother got two two-bedroom apartments. She never had a car. We had a small country house that my grandfather built of plywood and newspapers. Well, she had a housekeeper. Wow.. Yes. Aunt Lida. She's a family member for me. She passed away a year ago. I love her. She was a woman from a village. She was like a grandmother to me. She started working for your family in the Soviet times.. Yes. She raised five generations in our family. Did she live with you? She lived with

us. She was coming from a city in the north of Russia.. Khanty-Mansistsk. Khanty-Mansiysk. No, she would say Khanty-Mansistsk. She would also say Azerbaijansk. We loved her and we laughed at this. She was a saint woman. She dedicated her life to raising generations of our family. She didn't have her own kids. She had some disabilities.. She would limp. She took care of us for all her life. We're in the suburbs of Vilnius. First of all, we want to show that Vilnius is diverse. It's not only an ol

d European city but also a city with Soviet past. It's not only a city of artists.. It is also a regular city. These homes are so familiar for us. However, there are European houses with Lithuanian flags right across the road. The main reason we are here because Chernobyl was filmed here. It's a great show. Such a metaphor. There is a disaster and the authorities are trying to hide it. They're saying that this is good for the economy. It's an opportunity to grow and support local production. I

see this metaphor. They lied in 1986 and they are lying now. They are. This was a terrible disaster which could had been avoided. They didn't do anything to prevent it. We're in the frame from the show. The swing, the flowerbed..This is where the soldiers were walking. They were shooting Pripyat scenes here in Vilnius. The film magic. This is a frame with a woman on a bench. A bench under the birch. Under a birch.. This is such a nice show. The most authentic show about the Soviet life. It's so

real. I recognized the watch that we had. And the wallpaper. It was as real as it gets. Lots of details. It was very realistic. Almost zero mistakes. The only mistake was the plastic windows in these houses. The director of the show is a musician. He is. We would listen to his songs. He was almost a rapper. We were dancing to his songs. You were a teenager back then, weren't you? I was. It was the early era of hip-hop. We started hanging out at the night clubs. They were playing some rap songs.

This pop artist was also considered a rapper. Do you know any musicians who managed to succeed in some other sphere? Marky Mark. Mark Wahlberg. People called me Marky Mark when I was a kid. His first record was called Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch. He used to be a rapper and he became and actor. He did. He is an outstanding actor. When we were walking around Vilnius I found out you were close to Nikita Kukushkin. We are still close. As close as ever. Or even closer than ever. I had a wife Simon

a. Her mother was the best friend of Nikita's mother. We lived in their flat in Moscow because I didn't have my own flat. You lived in Nikita's flat? I did. We lived together with him and his mother. We rented a room for 50 dollars. We helped them. I walked him to school when he was a kid. And you also had a son Jacques Anthony. He lived in Vologda with his grandmother. And you two rented a flat at Nikita's flat. We did. And you were Nikita's babysitter. I wasn't. I tried to enter VGIK Acting Sc

hool. We tried to help Aunt Toma. She's a wonderful person. I'm so happy for her. She raised Nikita. He's a great person and a great actor. She was a lonely woman who dedicated her life to him. She would take him to galleries and plays.. She would show him everything. I was worried he would be spoilt by her love. He's not spoilt. I'm so happy for his success. You can watch Gordeeva's interview with Kukushkin to find out about his relationship with his mother and her disease. She's a wonderful wo

man. She didn't recognize me when I came to visit her recently. I told her I lived in their flat. I hope she's in a good place now. She's a weird person. I can call her saint. My nanny was saint and Aunt Toma is saint, too. You've talked about working with Detsl many times. I don't want to ask you about it. I refuse talking about him. I get a lot of calls from the reporters and I tell them I wouldn't talk about Detsl. Roman Super made a movie about Detsl. It's a great movie. You took part in thi

s movie. Please feel free to watch this documentary. This movie doesn't tell the story of his life but it's an interesting work of art. I will leave the link below. I wouldn't ask you about Pepsi.Pager.MTV song that you wrote.. It looked like you were super rich and super popular. Was this true? Well, nowadays I wouldn't say so. Back then, in the late nineties, we were rich. How would you spend your money? Did you buy a car? Or a flat? I never bought any cars. I have already told you that I was

a fool when it came to contracts. I only cared about my art. I learnt this from my grandmother. I wrote a lot of songs. Detsl was good at managing stuff. Was there any.. I received my wage as a session musician. One hundred dollars per show. My bandmates would all get a hundred. The rest of the two thousand wage would be divided between Tolmatsky and Valov. Wow. Yes. And then you moved to Czech Republic because you were tired. I did. How did Tolmatsky react to this? I didn't tell anyone..And thi

s worked. It was a good PR move. I went missing. I didn't tell anyone. They asked some criminals to look for me. They were also worried if I was in trouble. They were panicking. Eventually it all settled down. I completed my contract. I did even more than I had to. I released a certain amount of records.. I wrote songs for my band and for Bad Balance, and for Detsl. We toured the country a few times. I worked really hard for two years. I did everything I had to do. I felt like I didn't let them

down. I didn't see any future with them. What are your memories of Tolmatsky? A couple of years ago you said that he still had this criminal vibe. He's a guy from the nineties. He's a hustler. He's sharp. He succeeds anywhere he wants. He only cares about the money. I'm not like him. I wanted to learn this from him. I wanted to learn how to operate in the world of money. Did you manage to learn this? A little bit. I also learnt that some things are not for me. I found myself by trying and failin

g. You said he would threaten people during the negotiations even nowadays. Well, I don't think he does it anymore. Even our president does this. What do you expect from Tolmatsky? He's the real deal. Our president is similar to him. Our Prime Minister, too. Lavrov, too. These are hooligans. We're a country of cops and hooligans. Tolmatsky succeeded and produced many projects here. I respect him for that. Respect? Of course, I do. He's a great professional. This means you might also respect Puti

n. He's so tricky! He's built a mansion! He's stayed at power for a long time! He's done some mean things. He destroyed all the good deeds with these murders. Tolmatsky never killed anybody. Tolmatsky supports Russia in this war. Are you surprised? I don't want to comment on that. This is his choice. He's a friend of mine. I don't like losing friends. Is he still your friend? He is. He is a friend. I'm grateful to him. He's been a fatherly figure for me. We've been honest to each other. He never

tried to hide his personality. Everyone makes a choice now. We cannot judge anyone. We will all be responsible for our choices. Can you talk to him now? It's hard. We cannot talk about the Thing. This elephant in the room. We tried to talk..Oscar Kuchera is a friend of his. You had the chance to witness his excuses. All the excuses that he made..This is self-defense. They have something to lose and they are trying to protect it. How can we judge them? He's got kids. He wants them to be rich. He

lives in the world of money. I have kids, too. You do.. We all have kids. We have this silly conscience.. This soul..All these silly rudiments. He doesn't have these. He's very functional. You've got to be like him to make some money in Russia. He's a part of this system. He faced the collapse of the Soviet Union. He probably went to prison for selling stuff. He was one of the rebels. He's a grown man. He's seen a lot of stuff in his life. I cannot convince him, I'm too young. I feel like we d

iscussed this topic without talking about it. He's supporting the war because he has to. I'm different. When we were walking around Vilnius we heard Black Eyed Peas playing in some yard. You've met Fergie, haven't you? I've met the whole band. We're not friends.. I've talked to them. How did this happen? My friends brought them to Russia. They played a show in Moscow. They brought the band to Infinity, where I had my studio and my rehearsals space. Rehearsals space in Infinity! It's true. There

was a night club and my studio in the same building. They were also shooting the show there. And there was a restaurant where I would meet people. It was the headquarters. You brought back the 2000s in a couple of sentences. The show Club..Infinity..Black Eyed Peas with Fergie in Moscow. They came to Infinity. I remember that Fergie was asked if she listened to any Russian bands and she showed your CD. There's a picture of Fergie with the CD. Was that a promotion? We were sitting in Infinity bef

ore this event. I sat with them and we had a friendly conversation. I gave them my record and said that it turned gold on that day. They were happy for me. They are very nice and friendly. Fergie is nice. I liked talking to will.i.am because he's a great producer. He gave me his phone number. He told me to call him. I said that I'd just listened to an album that he had produced. I said that I dreamt of having him produce a song of mine. He said he would do it. I gave him my silver clamshell phon

e.. I still have his numberg there. Are you disappointed Fergie didn't give me her number? I'm not. The word numberg brought me back to the 2000s even more. With this view you can bring back the Medieval times.. We're different. Tarakany call their song Ya Smotru Na Nikh (I'm looking at them) a hit that feeds them. This is the biggest hit of the band and it brings people to the shows. They kept playing the shows mostly because of this song. I didn't know that. Can we say that Budushchie Mamy (Fu

ture Moms) is your breadwinner? Absolutely. *Future moms showing off their bodies Guys, don't be scared to hug them from behind* *Let's rock this club Let everyone know how we relax* Do you remember how you wrote the song? I was making a record. Then I left.. I lived in Prague in exile like Pushkin. I recorded a few underground records there. Then I came back to Tolmatsky and signed the contracts. I would my own record with my own name on it. We would share the revenues. I told him we were alway

s honest with each other. I offered him to make this happen. Eminem and 50 Cent were on their peak. I told him I would be similar to them. I would create my own team. This was my offer. I said that this time I would decide. He agreed. We shook hands. He said that in a year we would be proud of ourselves. And this happened. What do you think about the claims that the song is a rip-off of 50 Cent? This song sounded trendy back then. If you listen to a trap hit today it would sound like Metro Boomi

n or Lil Pump. These would be much more similar than I was similar to 50 Cent. I was really impressed by his success. I was impressed by the success of their production. They had these heavy sounding gangster drums.. Dr.Dre produced these drums. They wrote pop songs which became mainstream. I worked with sound producers who knew nothing about rap music. We're talking about producers who write the music. Yes. Sound producers. I wanted to have more music on XL record. I wanted to make it appropria

te for radio and TV. It had to be a commercial product. I needed to explain to my producers what I needed. I showed them the records produced by Scott Storch. He produced 50 Cent, Beyonce and many others. In 2006-2007 he would make four or five songs of the Top-10 list. Future Moms was a rip-off of his production. Well..It was still my song. I wrote the melody.. I wrote the complex lyrics. The overall genre is reminiscent of 50 Cent. We chose this trendy style..This was the mainstream sound in t

he US charts. I needed to have the same sound as them. An we did it. It would have been too similar..I'm fine with that. It's a footprint of an era. Sound du jour. Weren't you worried about copying a song? You took someone else's song. I didn't copy it. This is a very original song. I wrote it to another music initially. It was more funky. And then we chose another version, more commercial. We wanted to play in the night clubs. We chose the American sound. We had no time to work on the arrangeme

nt. Andrey Lebedev is a great sound producer, later he wrote Columbia Pictures.. These were the twin songs.. By Banderos. We copied the sound. It was the mainstream sound. The song is original, though. It has an original meaning. It's done very well. There's a lot of hooks in the song. 'Let everyone now how we rest' I have this flair..Pepsi, pager, MTV. I can write a line which becomes a hook. 'Real hip-hop right into your head and you're dead' 'You wanted a party you are getting one' This song

is still very popular. I'm reposting some girls dancing to it every day. This song is relevant for so long. You won't believe how it works. It's magic. Everyone knows this song. It can make anyone dance, even the dead. You can play it over and over again. This is crazy. You can hear it in punk clubs. Do you know what Sheregesh it? It's a ski resort in Siberia. There's a bunker full of punks with mohawks. They love listening to Future Moms as much as they love Tarakany and Rage Against the Machin

e. It's a very interesting combo. This song is the epitome of the calm years. It was released before the war in Georgia and the 2008 crisis. Yes. Our wealth was on a peak. This period is often described as wealthy but not quite productive in terms of culture. Would you agree with that? You know, I think this was a very important period for us. We felt rich and glamorous. We felt free, successful, beautiful. Suddenly we started wearing these R'n'B glowing clothes. We changed from the sweatpants t

o something else. I feel like this was very important for all Russians and me personally. For a short period of time I felt like this was all possible. That this was all real. I had contracts, night clubs, Bentleys.. Chains..And so on. Were you driving a Bentley? This wasn't a Bentley.. I know what you're talking about. This was a Chrysler that looked like Bentley. I guess, the model was called 300C. Right. With a huge front. Yes. Denis Boyarinov did an interview with me and he called this car a

Bentley and I didn't correct him. A dark-blue Bentley.. I read this interview. He depicted you as a very confident guy. He wrote that you were driving a Bentley..Did you read the interview before it was published? He was sure it was a Bentley. You didn't correct him on purpose. Well, I can't remember exactly. I think I wanted to look cool and decided not to correct him. You liked having a cooler car in the text. I did. My bad. This felt so natural. You memorized this. It was a nice metaphor and

I didn't want to ruin it. What do you think about the claim that people in the 2000s traded their freedom for ham? I agree. We were no prophets. We have to compare it to what was happening before. The economic growth brought us joy. I didn't feel like the screws were tightened. Everyone who was talking about it looked like an alarmist to me. We couldn't tell what was coming. Our lives were getting better. We were making money. This was the beginning of the music industry. I felt like we were li

ving a Dolce Vita. We needed this after the nineties. This was a healing period for us. Nowadays I see this differently. I realize that we were wasting the oil money. I made money because of the oil revenues. I didn't make a lot of money. I saw some big money. What do you mean? I am not a businessman. I cannot invest. I am not a wealthy person. I'm wasting all of my money fast. Is it true that you like having tattoos after releasing records? Well, it's much easier. I'm leaving my projects on my

body. I release a new record and I have a new tattoo. The Young King, The Return of DOB.. This is Ali. I have Alive on my chest, Legal Business on my belly.. The Slaves of Light..P-13. Anger.. You have a CV on your body. I do. You also have a tattoo of the band Trubetskoy. This is the only project I didn't take part in. We had a collaboration. After the song Gagarin. No, this was before the song. I'm a big fan of Lyapis. This was a big discovery for me. I was following them on tour for a few yea

rs. I wouldn't miss their shows. I would follow them around Moscow. I would always say hello and thank them. I would sing all the songs. For some reason, their songs mean a lot to me. Why didn't you have a Lyapis tattoo? Trubetskoy is a name of the band that was formed after Lyapis broke up. Mikhalok would say that this was.. They were a cover band.. He said they wouldn't be in the top-3 of the cover bands competition. I don't want to offend the fans of this band. I had the tattoo before they br

oke up. I had it when Lyapis was a thing and I was a fan. This was a big part of my life. Do you know about their renaissance? I do. He changed so much. These were two different bands. He rose like a phoenix. It hardly ever happens in music. It matched my mood on my way out from a depression. I believed in them. I believed in the victory of the good. I told Noize I was a fan of Lyapis. I said their new songs were so good. I enjoyed these a lot. He told me that Sergey was a little strange person

. He said he would invite me to their show. I went to Stadium Live to this punk show. I went to the cash desk with my hood on. There were punks around me. This was my first rock show. I knew I could get beaten up for being a rapper. I was asked what was my name. I said Ligalize. What name? Ligalize! And the whole crowd looked at me. I found out that they were all peaceful and united by their friendship. Sergey loves talking about friendship. He loves talking about the friendship of good guys. I

liked this atmosphere. Sergey was singing I Believe in Jesus Christ.. I Believe in Jesus Christ I believe in Gautama Buddha I believe in Mohamed, I believe in Krishna, I believe in Garuda. I believe in kindness, I believe in love and I will always believe. The whole arena..Eight thousand people were singing this song. Were they all singing? They were all singing along. I believe in Jesus Christ, I believe in kindness. I looked at them and I had goosebumps all over my body. I realized that our jo

b was to create moments like this. You've been famous for such a long time.. I found some words that are no longer used. We have already talked about that when you mentioned numberg. Isn't this a new trend? Isn't this something new? This was called Olbanian language. Olbanian? I didn't know that. I thought this word was around later. I read your interview on Zvuki.ru, which used to be a popular media in the 2000s.. Oh..I didn't reply to them..I need to reply to Sonya.. Hi, Sonya. [Sonya Sokolov

a - editor-in-chief of Zvuki.ru] I'm sorry, I will reply to you later. This is so cute. I love it. They were talking about the comments to your song and used the word twaddle instead of hate. The reporter said there was a lot of twaddle. You agreed with him. This happened a few cultural periods ago. You're noticing all the subtle things. We can study subcultures, fashion, language from your career. Unfortunately, we cannot study politics from your career because it hasn't really changed in twent

y years. It's great. What a conclusion. Your first political statement was the music video to Zastoy 2.0. *It's time for me to become a Russophobe By saying that not everything is nice in our country* *The only path that people are choosing Is Obeying their boss to come closer to the throne* This was my first statement. Before that I had a song about Ukraine..This song was deep in the record.. Not everyone got to this song. My records are pretty lengthy. There were songs about propaganda on the

Young King. These lines were buried in the songs. I tried to stay neutral. I was raised on artists with enormous amount of listeners. I knew I had to be appropriate for every listener. I couldn't be too sharp. So I became too generic. I simplified my lyrics.. And your views. And my views. These had to be less.. Transparent. Less transparent. I had a song about propaganda. Don't Believe the Hype. Later I started writing more songs about politics. I watched a lot of stuff and read a lot. Boris Nem

tsov was murdered. I would learn a lot of stuff I never cared about. Chechnya, Beslan, Politkovskaya. *Who, if not him? There will be flood Shut up and obey the king This is all you get Isolated from the world Silence in golden* *The faded world is spinning between the poles Imaginary enemy and artificial fear* *They don't want us to think The system is cemented by dumb people* Why did you release this song? I felt this way. I felt the tragedy. I am the messenger. Did you feel like we were going

downhill? I did. I saw it. There are many predictions in this song. These were obvious for me. I was an optimist when I released Zastoy 2.0. Now we live in GULAG 2.0. I wrote a line 'I used to be an optimist, now we're in GULAG 2.0' *More blood, more Salisbury, more Syria, more Donbas, more Crimea, more evil* *They would not stand us, we would become isolated with our messiah* This is a precise prediction. It is. People are wondering why Putin isn't afraid of sanctions. He loves these. He enjoy

s building a wall around Russia and being a savior behind the wall. The policy of fortification. I've predicted a lot of stuff in the song. *I believe that stepping on a rake is our tradition* It's true. We keep walking around in circles. Who decided to make ballet dancers fight the police: you or the director Pavel Bardin? Culture against the police. Whose idea was that? This was Pavel's idea. I trusted him. I sent him the draft of the song. I knew he would like it. He said he would do it. He w

anted to do something our kids wouldn't be embarrassed by. This was our goal. And we did it. Can you remind me who won? Ballerinas or the police? The police won. They shot the girl. One of the girls was running in front of everyone. She was running towards the line. They shot her in the head. She fell down and died. What is the meaning of this scene? Did you have no hope? The police would always win against the ballerinas. This, in fact, would be a big loss for them. A moral loss. It would lead

to a loss of the whole country. Many people were surprised that you made this music video. They were. I heard an opinion that Ligalize is so good at marketing..The guy who wrote Pepsi, pager, MTV.. He decided to get some hype. All this stuff.. You saw that Oxxxymiron and Noize MC were very popular in Russia. These artists aren't afraid to sing about politics. They are selling out arenas all over the country. You looked at them and decided to get some hype. Have you heard this opinion? Of course,

I have. They are saying this all the time. How did you react? How can I react? Let them have an opinion. Were you offended? A little..I got a lot of appreciation from the people who liked the song. I was back in shape. I had a long break between my records. A ten year break. My new records weren't that good. I forgot how to write songs to learn it once again. I released two albums which were a bit immature. There were a couple of hits there. Gagarin and Don't Believe the Hype. When I recorded t

he third album I had been sober for six or seven years. I'd been conscious about my body and my mind. I tuned my receiver and wrote my War and Peace. There were many verses in the song. I threw away a lot of ideas. In the end I got five minutes of text. I am responsible for the structure of the song and for every line of the song. Were you in trouble after releasing it? I was. I was about to play at a boxing event in Samara. I was supposed to play after the main event. The performance got cance

lled. My manager asked them what happened and they told him 'You know what happened.' They let me have the advance payment. I said okay. I think that Stepantsov wrote that I tried to copy Face. This is how he saw it. He only remembered Future Moms. I released eight albums before Future Moms and a lot of albums after the song. I had many songs with a deep meaning. I would reflect a lot in my songs. I don't blame these people. They felt this way. There is a saying 'mean people only see mean motive

s' This sounds like a quite from Jason Statham. This explains a lot. Jay-z once said 'Have you ever seen a rich hater?' 'Have you ever seen a successful hater?' Full stop. Headshot. You gave an interview to Novaya Gazeta where you talked about your feelings. It's a cry of a person who doesn't support the war and lives in Russia. Who could you stay in Russia for so long? I'm not trying to say that everyone's got to leave. No. These people don't have to leave. I know that people are in different c

ircumstances. I support everyone who doesn't support the war and doesn't support Putin. Some people can't leave. I didn't want to leave. I was looking for excuses to stay. I would tell people that I was confused. And then I thought that millions of people were in the same situation as me. They didn't agree with Putin and they couldn't leave. I had to represent these people. I had to speak for them. It turned out that we weren't allowed to speak about it. I had no other choice. What would you do

every day? I can't imagine.. I can't imagine being in Russia now. When I read your interview I tried to imagine not being able to say what I think.. How did you wake up every morning? Do you know what helped me? It's quite simple. I had a plan. I was making a record which would be a statement. This is an escape for me. It's very specific.. There is one song on it.. There is a song where we sound like the kings of hip-hop..And then we're making a political statement against the war. This is my c

raft. When you don't know what to do, do what you're good at. Improve at your craft. Do your job. If you can't talk, make chairs. These are the chairs that we made. My job is to write sticky bits with hypnotizing heavy bits. This is what we love. We kept doing it because we love it. We can't stay out of this context. This is what we think. You said that you realized you could no longer speak out. When all the new censorship laws were introduced you said you sealed your mouth. What did you feel?

I had a plan. The escape plan. I was digging my way out. Were you looking at Oxxxymiron, Noize, Kasta? They left and spoke out about the war. Were you following them? I was jealous they could speak out. It felt awkward that I could not do it. I felt like I was rotting. Ligalize, the guy who tells the truth, was rotting. People were asking me about my opinion. I wasn't replying. I was digging my tunnel. I was getting ready to leave this patch. Dmitry Bykov calls it a womb that we must leave. We'

ve stayed in the womb for too long. You're a baby. It's time to get born in the free world. It's time to leave the womb. I was born a week ago. I can feel it. People who stayed in Russia told me they found excuses to stay. True. Even if you don't support the war and realize that Russia is wrong, this war is a terrible crime.. You build a wall of excuses that changes your perception. Excuses for what? It's not so obvious..They other side is also guilty.. Putin is not really wrong.. Something like

this. Psychological traps. You get trapped and you can't escape. Did you feel the same way? I did. I was rotting. I noticed that I could adapt to it. Why not? I could sing Future Moms forever. I could shut up. I was advised to support Putin. I would make a lot of money if I did. Who advised you? President's office called my promoters and told them to cancel the shows. The promoters asked them what was wrong and how could they fix it. They were told I needed to change my views. This is what they

told us. Do you know what made them think of me as an enemy? It was my publication about the show in Kyiv in 2019. I guess, this was my best show ever. An open air show, four thousand in attendance..Beautiful people.. We were singing our songs in Russian. I made this publication. 'Here's my show in Kyiv two years ago. All of these people were singing along in Russian.' 'We were singing My Moscow, Born in the USSR and all the other songs.' 'I didn't see any nazis there. I only felt love and supp

ort.' I was amazed every time I came to Kyiv. It kept me from finding any excuses of this war. I was there. I have friends there. Did you post this after the war began? I did. And they showed you this post to prove.. I wrote 'Don't believe the propaganda. Here's my show in Kyiv. I didn't see any nazis there' I didn't say there were no nazis there. There are nazis everywhere. I don't think we've seen anywhere more nazis than in Russia. Zhizn (Life) was one of your hits off XL record. Is it true t

hat the song is based on a sample from It's A Wonderful Life? It is. By the band Black. Did you pay for this sample? I texted the authors of the song. I found the wife of the author. I tried to contact Universal then I found out that the rights were transferred back to the authors after 25 years. I texted the wife of the author. She asked for the translation of my song. It took me about six months. She was a very polite woman and she allowed us to use the sample. How much did this cost you? Zero

. They are getting a half of the streaming revenues. I'm not sure this really happens.. They should be getting their share. They are getting royalties. They are. This is a very popular song. A famous song. I got lucky. I felt like this would cost you a fortune. Or you stole it.. I managed to get the permission. Wow. This happens sometimes. Just like I managed to get will.i.am's number. People help you. They do. Hip-hop is a friendly industry. In 2021 Jubilee wanted to use a quote from Future Mo

ms on his song. Your label asked him for 200 thousand roubles. They did. I wasn't involved in this.. This is quite a lot. This is a lot. Well, it's not a lot. Considering streaming revenues.. Jubilee is no Basta or Miyagi. He should have asked us a bit earlier. They were teasing the song already when they contacted us. This wasn't a nice move from them. They didn't ask us before using the text. I had just sign to a new management company. Anacondaz and Zatochka are signed there as well. This com

pany is called Invisible Management. They were doing their job protecting my copyrights. Jubilee should have paid more respect and written an email in advance. This is not how it's done. You're more experienced than him. Didn't you want to help? Wasn't this a better move for your reputation had you allowed him to use the sample? You looked like a slob who asked for 200 thousand. I have a right to do it. These guys didn't go bankrupt after it. They changed the lyrics and released the song. The so

ng isn't really that good. I could have talked to them..I was busy presenting my new record. I got a call and I said I didn't like this idea. It happened in a rush but I don't see nothing wrong in it. It comes to respect. L'One used my chorus and I was fine with it. What song was that? *She's waiting for me and I will come back* He said this was his favorite song. While you were in Russia preparing to leave you had a MMA fight with Ptakha. Why did you accept this weird offer? These freak MMA fig

hts are popular now. People watch these a lot. There's a lot of money in this industry. Sasha Peresvet, one of MMA managers contacted me and offered a fight. He said I would make enough money to shoot a music video. I told him I would do it. I love martial arts. You did karate. I did. For about eight years. I went to the world championship in 1990 when there was a coup in our country. Was this a junior championship? It was. I like martial arts. My shows were cancelled and needed to make some mon

ey. This was a great opportunity. Some promotion wanted to sign me for three fights in six months. They would pay me 5 million roubles. They promised to sign me. They asked me to do a press-conference that day. I said I wouldn't do it before signing the contract. They said they would sign it pretty soon. I went to the press-conference and they didn't sign the contract. They lied. Then we went to other promotions.. Sasha was responsible for this process. He was trying to make a fight in other pro

motions. I love fighting. I was so confused back then. Preparing for a fight made me focus on my opponent. I wasn't distracted. This boosted my health and my discipline. I exited my comfort zone. This was a big challenge. Let's do it! I'm not scared. It was hard for me to find an opponent. Really hard. Everyone refused. There were rumors I was as good as Bruce Lee or Jackie Chan. Everyone refused to fight me. Those who didn't accepted the fight were too cringey. And then Ptakha's fight got cance

lled. I was offered to fight Ptakha. I wasn't sure. His fight got cancelled and I was offered to step in one a month's notice. I'd been looking for a fight for about a year. I didn't want to accept this offer. It turned out this would be a boxing match. I never did any boxing. Karate is all about the kicks. I needed to give up the kicks. I offered him to have a kickboxing match but he refused. He said I would kick him to death. They invited me to a press-conference and I called him out. I called

him out and he chose the rules. He was preparing for a boxing match. He's quite good at boxing. He was good enough to defeat you. He was. He won this match. What did you feel about your defeat? I was fine. It made me stronger. I had a month to learn how to box. This is impossible. I'm five years older than him. I never did any boxing. I had a month to prepare and he had about two years. I'm not making excuses..Or am I? I did well in this fight. Weren't you upset to lose to someone who supports

the war? I tried not to think about it. I would have lost all of my friends if I did. I tried not to talk about it. I tried to feel sorry for people who were brainwashed. How much were you paid for the fight? I'm not sure if I can talk about it. You said you were offered five million for three fights. Were you paid more this time? Well..Per fight..Something like this. You said you could buy a flat close to Moscow from your wage. You read the interview, didn't you? I did. Well, I could. I made se

ven figures. My shows were cancelled. Do you remember about the pandemic? I couldn't play shows for over a year. I spent all of my savings back then. I wanted to go on tour with my new record. I spent a lot of money to make Zastoy 2.0 video. It cost me 2 million roubles. I was spending my savings for over a year. There were zero shows. And then the war began. I got banned from playing. So I was fighting for my life. For the opportunity to leave. For the opportunity to support my family. This mot

ivated me a lot. I could have refused to fight and survived. I accepted it because I love fighting. I was a very talented fighter. I had a future in fighting. All of my mates became champions. They own fighting gyms now. They are teaching young kids. This was a future for me. I was better than them. But I chose to be a musician. I started fighting with words, not fists. This was a Gestalt therapy for me. I wanted to fight again. To feel this energy from the crowd and from the ring. This is so co

ol. Adrenaline.. Is it true that you were mostly playing in night clubs? We were. Let's explain the difference. You can play a gig when you're selling tickets to the show. This is how Basta, Noize, Oxxxymiron play their shows. You can also play in a night club when you get hired to play a short set.. I play full sets. A ninety minutes set. You are playing in front of random people in a night club. Some people are coming to see me and some people to have fun in the night club. How much did your s

how cost in Russia? About two hundred thousand roubles. Were you jealous your colleagues were playing big venues? I wanted to play these venues, too. I was jealous but I was also happy I'd played these venues before. I know about the flip side of this coin. It's easy to get and easy to lose. It's easy to sell out a venue when you're a thing. It's hard to entertain a crowd which hardly remembers you. 'And old guy!' And I rock the crowd. I'm a hard worker. There are pop artists on MTV and there ar

e noname artists who've been playing restaurant for decades. These are masters of their craft. In the last five or six years I've mastered my craft. I can make the dead dance. Do you know how long can you live on your savings? It's hard. I've got to believe in myself. I've managed to survive until today. My life has been weird. I'm unpretentious. I'm willing to work. I will work. I will survive. Look. How long can you live here without a job? Not for a long time. Six months? I took as much as I

could. That's it. Ten thousand Euro? This is what I thought, too. My friends, ten thousand dollars, not euro. They took a thousand euro away from me. I almost missed my flight. This is how my motherland was saying goodbye. They took a thousand euro away from me. Were you scared you would stay in Russia? I was. I was scared. I deleted all the apps on my phone. I was scared I wouldn't be allowed to enter Lithuania. Because I'm coming from the aggressor country. I was scared they wouldn't let me le

ave Russia. That there was some criminal case. I was very scared. It was all fine. I was laughing at myself. It didn't cost me much.. I managed to do it. This was hard. I was flying to Turkey first. In Turkey my credit cards weren't working. I couldn't buy any water. I was sitting there for six or seven hours. I couldn't rent a trolley for my huge bag. I couldn't buy any water or food. You had a lot of cash, didn't you? These were 500 euro notes. I didn't have smaller notes. Nobody would change

500 euro. I drank tap water in the restroom. I didn't pay much. I was scared, though. This felt like an exodus. I keep thinking that bragging that I'm fine while there are so many tragedies happening right now is wrong. It's happening in Lviv. Ten people are reported dead. They didn't wake up in the morning. Civil people are not waking up in their beds. Kids..Husbands, wives.. Parents.. We're still trying to be alright. I need to say this every time. My joy seems so fake. I'm looking so weak com

pared to Navalny and Yashin. They were not cowards. Royzman, too. I call this schizophrenia. We're pretending everything's fine when it's so bad. It's never been so bad for our country. For our people. For our future. We're not there anymore. We've left the womb. Talk for yourself. Okay. We have the whole world and they don't have it. I said I feel defeated. Everything failed. My faith in a free country failed. It's not my failure. It's a failed state. I will survive. There's a whole world in fr

ont of me. They are going to be bad. Don't you believe in a good outcome? Of course, I don't. Russia loses. Putin is gone. Nothing good here. There would be a turmoil. This is how history works. This turmoil is already happening. Different armies. Prisoners in tanks heading to Moscow. They showed us they were afraid of nobody. They showed who the real boss was. And then they left. I'm talking about the coup. They said that they were the only army capably of fighting for us, idiots. 'Do you see w

ho's the boss? Daddy will come back home later.' Putin looked so weak. His army doesn't exist. What will you do when you run out of money? I won't run out of money. I will be working. Are you going on tour? I will try. I don't care. I will be washing the dishes. I will be sweeping the floor when I have to. I will find a job. Other guys are touring and I would probably be touring, too. There's a plenty of countries. Are you okay with washing the dishes? I am. When will you come back to Russia? Wh

en Navalny and Yashin are able to be elected. Not them but someone like them. Let's wish this to them. Do you assume never coming back to Russia? I do. In year 17 many emigrants thought they would come back soon. In 1917? Yes. Russia can turn into a North Korea. It can turn into Stalin's USSR. It might also turn into a Wild West with all those fights we had in the nineties. It's got to happen faster than a hundred years ago. The history is accelerating now. This cycle is quite obvious now. We're

fucked. Everyone sees it. The authorities are making it worse until they collapse. Then there's a turmoil. Everyone's fighting, trying to survive. Then there's some growth. For a couple of years we're growing and then we lose everything again. This is how I see it. Going round in circles. I've lived through this already. I don't have another life to do it again. I can't sit and wait. I will move on. There's the whole world in front of me. Why would I stay there? And the final one: what is power

? Finding yourself is power. Finding your place in this world. This is how I feel. Have you found yourself? I have. Definitely. I have. I'm happy I've made it. I'm thankful I've made it. I appreciate it the most. I'm a rapper.