MTV Russia is just like MTV everywhere else - except that it plays some Russian stuff too. They also have a program called "Русская 10-тка" (Russian 10) devoted to the best Russian-language pop currently on the market. Once a month, SRAS provides a snapshot of what's at the top five of that chart, with YouTube videos and additional commentary taken from the Russian Popular Music page of our Library.
1. «Синими, желтыми, красными» - Иван Дорн
Ivan Dorn was born in Chelyabinsk, Russia, but his family later moved to Ukraine where his father worked at the site of former Chernobyl power plant. Until recently, Ivan was known primarily as a Ukrainian singer and TV host, but now his star is rising in Russia as well. He started singing at the age of six and very successfully coupled his love for music and singing with yachting, tennis, professional ballroom dance competitions, chess, and soccer. From 2007 to 2010 Ivan joined Anya Dobrydneva in a duet called “Para Normalnykh,” a play on the word “paranormal” (in Russian: “паранормальный”) that actually means “a pair of normal people.” In 2010, he started his solo career and in May 2012 came out with his debut solo album Co’N’Dorn (written with English letters). The name of the album appears to be “Dorn and Co” written in colloquial slang and backwards, probably referring to the fact that many of his songs were written in partnership with other artists and wanting to give those partners top billing.
2. «Young Hearts» - DJ Smash
Real name Andrei Shirman, DJ Smash spent his childhood years in the recording studio watching his father, who was a professional musician. He claims to have gotten his stage name from opening a Russian-English dictionary and picking random words until he found something he liked. By remixing retro 80s hits with a techno-house flavor, DJ Smash has created his own style of dance music he calls "retrohouse."
3. «Мама» - IOWA
I.O.W.A. (Idiots Out Wandering About) - This group from Belarus wandered into the musical world in 2009. After series of very successful concerts in Saint-Petersburg, they decided to move their band to Russia (Saint-Petersburg) and since then have continued gaining popularity with their concerts and music videos and a unique style that mixes jazz, pop, and R&B.
4. «RockStar» - Тимати
Timati is of Jewish and Tatar descent and was born in Moscow. He is a well-known Russian rapper who has also began gaining recent popularity in the west thanks to collaborations with such artists as Snoop Dogg, Xzibit, and Busta Rhymes on his latest album, "The Boss." He raps in both English and Russian and is also the CEO of his own record label, Black Star, Inc. - This video may not be appropriate for all audiences.
5. «Вселенная бесконечна»- Noise MC
Rapper Noize MC (real name Ivan Alekseev) and his caustic lyrics often make the rapper a source of controversy. After taunting police at a concert in July 2010 and signing “Kuri Bambuk,” a song about police brutality, he was sentenced to 10 days in jail for disorderly conduct. One of his most famous songs, “Mercedes-S666” is based on a traffic accident involving Lukoil Vice-President Anatoly Barkov; the accident killed the two passengers of the other vehicle while Barkov denied that he or his driver were at fault.
