Over the past four years, Russian rap has changed a lot: popular musicians ha...

Over the past four years, Russian rap has changed dramatically: popular musicians have started rapping about ties to the security services and “veterans of the special military operation.” What is happening?

Russian rap traditionally, with rare exceptions, kept its distance from politics, but something changed in 2022. Popular artists began rapping about ties to the security services, tossing out lines about liberals and NATO, and writing songs about “veterans of the special military operation.”

Some use the imagery of war to become more popular, while others openly support the Kremlin. We explain how the war changed Russian rap and why it is sometimes hard to tell who is a Z-rapper and who is not.

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“I Have Z-Flow.” How Russian rappers started rapping about the special military operation, the security services, and “Oreshnik” — Meduza

Russian rap traditionally, with rare exceptions, kept its distance from politics, but something changed in 2022. Popular artists began rapping about ties to the security services, throwing out lines like “What about the liberals? We fucked NATO,” and writing songs about “veterans…”