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Russian Factory Workers Use Hip-Hop to Change President Trump’s Mind On Sanctions

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Once upon a time, the United States had a president that did not embarrass us.

In fact, he was kind of a charmer and worked hard to keep the peace in the country and around the world… don’t believe us, he received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009. That presidents name was Barack Obama. During his administration, he placed a series of sanctions on Russia for numerous transgressions. On December 29, 2016, President Obama signed an order that expanded sanctions against Russia for its interference in the 2016 United States elections. Additional sanctions were placed in 2018, by the new president and other countries, to blacklist Russia over their annexation of Crimea and them backing the separatists rebels in Ukraine.

Apparently, according to Newsweek these sanctions are crippling their economy.

Well, factory workers at the GAZ Group plant did a cover of Coolio’s “Gangsta Paradise” to express how upset they are over these sanctions, appearing to beseech the new president’s mercy- because the sanctions are going to cost them their jobs. GAZ is an automotive factory, and some how between manufacturing parts for the cars, they found time to produce this video.

One worker, Ilya Bondarenko, uploaded the video to his YouTube channel.

“I understand that this is all politics, and I do not want to get into it,” Bondarenko wrote. “We all just want to work quietly.”

He added: “We hope that they will hear us and will calmly work in their own factory. Americans say that sanctions are not directed against ordinary people. But it is not so! I want as many people as possible to see our video.”

It is amazing to see how they see that Hip-Hop is their only hope to get their message to the American policy makers.

One worker raps: “I was doing my job, putting engines together. All was basically cool till I heard from my neighbor. That this trouble has come from where no one could guess in the form of some sanctions from the goddamn U.S.

“I have kids to upkeep and a young wife to maintain. I pay a mortgage and stuff, I MUST bring home pay. We are hundreds of thousands like that, now what?

“After sanctions we all will end up overboard. We make motors for transport, there’s no drive without us. We give life to the car, and the truck and the bus. We are hundreds of thousands like that, now what? Automotive industry will lose all support?”

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How Rap Music Became More A Threat To Russia Than Donald Trump

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According to multiple polls, Russia is facing one of its biggest dilemmas. Rap music is stealing the minds of their youth. Remember when Chuck D said that “Rap was the CNN of the Streets,” that is exactly what Russia was afraid of. According to the New York Times, armed with an awareness that Hip-Hop always brings, a population that would have normally leaned towards supporting Mr. Putin and his regime has become more critical of their policies.

The Kremlin is definitely flipping out. In 2018, dozens of rap concerts were cancelled out of fear of the messages that the Russian rappers are spitting in their rhymes. In fact, when rapper Husky tried to do a pop-up concert for fans on the top of hie car (hoping to entertain those who bought tickets to a canceled show) he was arrested by the police.

This is a crisis for the Kremlin.

According to the New York Times, at the end of last year, President Putin ordered his administration to develop progamming that would allow the state to be able to regulate pop music- instituting grant monies to help fund the music being made and opening state ran studios for artists to record in. They will also have vowed to filter undesirable content on the internet. They are still working on that.

But like all the systems, Hip-Hop rages against the machine and makes it mark… even if it goes underground and spreads like wildfire.

“The impact of hip-hop has been massive,” said the battle rapper Oxxxymiron states. “Through music, visual art, movies, dance, clothing styles and more, key values of Hip-Hop have spread through contemporary Russian culture.”

And just in case you think that Russian rappers can’t hang, consider Oxxxymiron and his battle against notable American battle rapper, Dizaster. On the King of The Dot stage in California in 2017 to battle. Within 24-hours, their battle made history becoming the most viewed rap battle in U.S. rap-battle history. What does that look like? A whopping 7 million enthusiasts tuned in to their YouTube channel to see the epic contest. Not only did a lot of people tune in, most believe that the Russian rapper won the battle, rhyming in English which is his third language. To date, the battle has over 12 million views. Even though battle rap is huge in Russia, this medium of emceeing is the largest in the world. The country has the largest battle rap league in history with over 4.4 million subscribers to their YouTube channel and over 591,712,186 views

 

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Today in Hip Hop History: Scarface Drops His Compilation LP ‘Balls and My Word’ 16 Years Ago

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Since beginning his solo career in 1990 while still serving as a core member of the Geto Boys, rap legend Scarface has always been tied to the 1983 classic crime film of the same name. While always embodying a certain kingpin status in the rap game, similar to the way Tony Montana had things on lock in his fictitious 1980s Miami setting, the rapper knew how to separate his real life from the one Oliver Stone created for Al Pacino. That all changed with the album cover and opening sample on Balls and My Word, Scarface’s second compilation LP released by Rap-A-Lot Records 16 years ago today.


Rap-A-Lot Records


Released just six months after his first Greatest Hits album in 2002, Balls and My Word sounded more like a “greatest hits you’ve never heard” record. Unreleased cuts from past projects are pieced together for this project, including the title track which was pulled from Geto Boys’ obscure 1988 debut album Making Trouble. Even though some of the tracks here are borrowed from Face’s prior discography — standout cut “Make Your Peace” shares some similarities to “Heaven” off his 2002 Def Jam South debut The Fix — the raps, production and overall content are right on the money and are seamlessly structured to where you can’t immediately tell that these aren’t new.



The album didn’t come without it’s controversies though. As mentioned before, Scarface was rolling with Def Jam by the time this record dropped, and actually had nothing to do with it altogether. Balls and My Word was primarily handled by Rap-A-Lot CEO J. Prince while Scarface was serving as head of opps at Def Jam South, and as a result the project didn’t really get the shine it could’ve gotten if the guy on the cover was actually promoting it. However, the LP did manage to reach top 20 on the Billboard 200 and included features from vets like Devin the Dude and Bun B. The latter artist appears on the album’s most controversial cut “Bitch Nigga,” which features Houston rapper Z-Ro throwing what many reported at the time to be shots at 2002’s biggest MC at the time, 50 Cent.



Ultimately, while it wasn’t a successful cash grab for Prince and Rap-A-Lot, neither did it birth a hit single as catchy as “My Block” or classic as the Kanye-produced track “Guess Who’s Back” featuring Jay-Z and Beanie Sigel, Balls and My Word had some great moments strictly because it’s filled with rare Face records. What more could you ask for as a hardcore Hip-Hop fan?



Give Balls and My Word by Scarface a full spin above as we celebrate it on the 16th anniversary of its release, and let us know your favorite cuts by hitting us on Facebook and Twitter!

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Today in Hip Hop History: M.O.P. Drops Their Debut Album ‘To the Death’ 25 Years Ago

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April 5 is an interesting day in Hip-Hop music. Rarely is a rap record released on this day — we did the research, but feel free to prove us wrong! — but there was one influential LP that jumpstarted the careers of two Brownsville natives and competely shook the game up in 1994. Yes, we’re talking about the Mash Out Posse, who you may know better as M.O.P., and today we show them love as their debut album To The Death turns 25.


Select Street Records


Released on April 5, 1994, To The Death was yet another milestone in the domination that New York had on the rap game, with Lil’ Fame and Billy Danze both representing Brooklyn with the ruggedness and street appeal that shaped the attitude, look and overall sound of Hip-Hop at this time. The album itself was a precursor for rappers like Nas (Illmatic), Outkast (Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik), Da Brat (Funkdafied) and The Notorious B.I.G. (Ready to Die) amongst others that also debuted in 1994, with M.O.P. coming out swinging with three singles and a modest peak at #68 on the US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.



The album was produced entirely by legendary East Coast rap producer and fellow Brownsville native DR Period, aside from the closing track “Guns N Roses” which was handled by Silver D and executive producer creds going to silent M.O.P. member Laze E Laze. The musical themes highlight the climate of life in hoods throughout America in the ’90s — gang violence, “fake ass gangstas,” staying fresh and just surviving the “rugged neva smoove” streets of New York City.



Of all the singles released off this shining debut, the highlight would of course be the anthem cut “How About Some Hardcore.” It was the most successful performance on the charts and amongst the hardest of Hip-Hop fans, peaking in the Top 40 on the US Hot Rap Songs chart at #36. For those that liked it raw, M.O.P. provided that effortlessly on this record with impressive lyricism, dope production and a tenacity to make it big that we’d see the duo accomplish even greater on the DJ Premier-produced follow up album and the 2001 smash hit “Ante Up (Remix).” And to think: all of this originated from a chance standout appearance on the soundtrack to House Party 3!



Happy 25th anniversary to M.O.P.’s debut album To The Death! Tell us your favorite tracks over on Facebook and Twitter after reading the original album review featured in The Source Magazine Issue No. 56 (May 1994) below:

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