Russia's Homeboys Find a Rhythm

A heavy bass line made the asphalt shudder last week, and the audience wore their caps backwards and their jeans big. The rappers nursed their microphones like bona fide homeboys.But if you were trying to get away from the inner-city American neighborhoods that spawned rap music, you couldn't get much farther than Luzhniki Stadium. Maybe it's the accent. Maybe it's the "L.A. '49ers" sweatshirts. For whatever reason, there's still some question as to whether Russia is funky.Pyotr Martyanov wants to change all that. Under the spray-painted roof of the Center for Hip-Hop Culture, Martyanov has gathered together 15 of Moscow's rising rap groups, most of its breakdancers, many of its skate rats and two wayward graffiti artists. Through this critical mass of hip-hop sensibility, he hopes to promote not only the groups themselves, but a way of life.He's not alone. Sir-J, a rapper from the new group D.O.B., puts it this way: "We have rap roots. A lot of people think that here in Russia we're all playing balalaikas," he said. "We have to kill that stereotype." Sir-J, a 20-year-old geology student, has been deep in the hip-hop scene -- with its streetwise music and urban style -- since he was 12, and even lived in the Bronx for several years. "It's not just the way we dress," said Sir-J, who was wearing an oversized flannel shirt, baggy pants and high-tops. "It's the way I talk, it's the way I think. Hip-hop is a religion for me. I live it."By and large, though, rap has not taken off in Russia. Last week marked the presentation of the Young Russia's Defiant Decadence, the country's first rap compilation. The Hip-Hop Center, which was founded in March, has yet to find permanent headquarters, since the location they have in mind still requires a government security clearance.A few groups are gaining ground. On July 23, Gorky Park will be rented out to a Hip-Hop Festival. The St. Petersburg group Bad Balance -- abroad last week to record their first album -- has toured in Germany and Holland, and will appear at an MTV-sponsored rap festival in Florida. Within Russia's borders, though, rap has another mission."The problem with our nation is that people can't dance," explains Alexei Pavlov, of the rap group MD & C Pavlov. "They can't feel the groove. They are all squeezed up." Just watch Russians clapping at a concert, he said. "We like the rhythm and everything, but we are white."That's another difference. America's most successful rap groups -- Public Enemy, Ice-T and Snoop Doggy Dogg, for instance -- are indivisible from the issues of race and class that they evoke. A forceful anti-establishment message is combined with the violent language of gang warfare, and groups such as 2-Live Crew outraged many Americans with their crude sexual lyrics.Partly because '80s rock saturated the Russian market for intensely political music, local rap groups generally steer clear of heavy themes, and those groups that rap in English, like MD & C Pavlov, use lyrics more for sound quality than content. "They latch onto the cult of rap, not the politics," said Alexei Pervushin, producer for the singer Jimmy G. "Often when they find out what a song is really about, they're disappointed," he added. "Every man here is fed up to his ears in politics."Vitaly Animov, 18, lounged on the curb after the hip-hop crowd had dispersed. Fingering the mammoth Volkswagen symbol around his neck, Animov explained that he is a committed fan of Public Enemy -- although he understands few, if any, of the lyrics. "Not too many people know about the political aspect," said Animov. "I like the rhythm."