Ufa rap: history, bright personalities and national characteristics. Unknown Ufa: rap, kumiss and carved frames in the concrete jungle

Just six months ago, Ufa rapper Ivan Dremin was unemployed, periodically performing in local clubs. Today, the 20-year-old guy boasts millions of views on YouTube, a busy touring schedule and hundreds of thousands of reposts of his work on social networks.

I learned about the existence of a local phenomenon called FACE from a school friend: she works as a chemistry teacher at a local lyceum:

During breaks, children are always listening to some kind of “face” on the phone: “I’m dropping the West,” “eschkere” - the schoolchildren simply chant excerpts from texts in unison,” the teacher laughed. - It turned out that the author of all this is our former student, Vanya.

On the alley of 2015 graduates there is a portrait of 11th grader Ivan Dremin with a laconic caption: “I will be a musician.” Well, I didn't deceive you. While his classmates were suffering through tests and exams, Vanya paved his way into big show business.

Ivan’s popularity quickly spread beyond the lyceum: now he is already giving an interview to “The Village”, joking with Garik Martirosyan at the “Comedy club” and planning the thirtieth concert of the autumn tour. Komsomolskaya Pravda found out how FACE became famous. Spoiler: fast.

“I WAS CONSIDERED A Geek AT SCHOOL”

Vanya grew up in a simple Ufa family; he studied at Ufa Lyceum No. 5, getting grades from three to two. Difficult character - those around him shook their heads, and the guy himself knew that his character was not sweet.

Since childhood, I wanted to be recognized and paid attention. At school they considered me a degenerate, they wanted to deprive my parents of parental rights, and they wanted to send me to an orphanage, put me in a children's colony, and assign me some kind of case. “I was a difficult teenager,” FACE admits in one of his tracks. - I swear that music and the people who were around saved me.

The rap artist repeatedly called the street his main teacher in interviews. All the main events in the life of FACE took place on Aurora in the Kirovsky district of the city: the first fight, the first love - classmate Lisa (the lion's share of the artist's songs is dedicated to her) and even the first and only job - at the age of 16 he got a job in a hotel opposite the house. The guy didn’t last long: Vanya worked only one day and decided that from now on he would devote all his time to music.

FACE TATTOOS AND FIRST SUCCESS

Until the fall of 2015, the guy wrote what is called “on the table,” but thanks to the video “Gosha Rubchinsky” he managed to get the first responses from the Internet community. Later, in an interview with the Fast Food Music website, the rapper explained that he wrote this song with one goal - to “hype.” At the same time, Vanya was upset that he did not receive any feedback from the designer:

I didn’t really appreciate that there was no feedback. I made a video with two million views and contributed to the popularity of the brand in this country. I'm not talking about getting some kind of gear, although in the West this is normal practice.

Ivan moved to Moscow in the spring of 2017. Further more. Vanya wrote the album “No love”, got several tattoos on his face and learned how to earn millions. His album received more than 27 thousand reposts within 24 hours, and about 160 thousand listeners “liked” the recordings with the album in the artist’s group. The video for the simple song “Burger,” filmed against the backdrop of the Moscow City towers, received 7 million views. By the way, in the song Vanya mentions that he was in a psychiatric clinic. This is true, but only partially: the young man underwent voluntary treatment several times, nothing more.

The official FACE community “VKontakte” has more than 650 thousand subscribers – and it’s not far from reaching a million. Numbers are numbers, but Vanya’s popularity is really growing exponentially. In September, all federal media wrote about a simple Ufa guy dressed in Gucci.

I'm dropping the West, I'm dropping the West.

I'm dropping the West, I'm dropping the West.

I'm dropping the West, oh, I'm dropping the West, eh.

The entire US industry is on my ***.

The structure of any of the artist’s songs is based on endless repetitions, flavored with obscene vocabulary. But it’s convenient: schoolchildren from 12 years old learn FACE lyrics in a matter of minutes - this is not Onegin’s letter to Tatyana to memorize. It is possible that his girlfriend played a certain role in the rapper’s popularity: in September it became known that Ivan was dating popular blogger Maryana Ro - girls from Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk have 5 million subscribers on YouTube, and more than 4 thousand on Instagram.

Primitive and clearly driven lines into the head, hackneyed topics among schoolchildren about mothers, alcohol, drugs and other things unattainable at their age,” Tatyana D. suggested in the comments. “And, of course, a pretty face, which little girls really like, stylish clothes, a large amount of money and show-off, constant promotion in the public pages of this artist. What else do teenagers need if not this?

OPINION

"FAST FOOD IN THE WORLD OF MUSIC »

What is the secret of FACE, we decided to find out from Ufa sound engineer and director of the ShowTime Records studio Ilya Shlenkin: some time ago it was he who made recordings for the artist.

FACE is a good commercial project, like “Mushrooms”, “Time and Glass” and many others. The product they make is fast food in the world of music, and this is not bad, since this product has its own audience, and a considerable one. Vanya’s tracks contain everything that teenagers under 18 shouldn’t say, do, or even think about. That is why his work is so popular among teenagers.

I, like my colleague Timur, treat him well as a person, we had to communicate a lot when he was on our recording, and there it became clear that everything he does is thought out and done for the sake of money.

My personal attitude towards this kind of music is negative. It seems to me that a musician, like any leader, is strong in the legacy he leaves behind. I wouldn’t want to live in a society where Buzova would be considered the best singer, Nagiyev the best actor, and tracks about “chick” and “Gucci store” would be heard from every corner.

In 2013, in the fall, the first issue of “Versus” was uploaded online, and then the craze for offline battles began. In Ufa, around the same time, the first offline “Rhymes battle” opened, organized by Yarik MKM, they held several meetings. Then in December 2013, we got confused, contacted the owners of the Slovo franchise, and bought it to launch a site in Ufa.

- Do many artists perform at battles now?

There are very few performing artists in our city. And in fact, we did this whole topic for them.

- Did the Ufa “Slovo” enjoy commercial success and popularity among viewers?

It was not a commercial success. We spent two seasons in Ufa, and paid for these two seasons completely out of our own pocket. The money that was raised from the sale of tickets at the entrance went to pay for the rent, the presenter, the cameraman, the team that did the editing - this is in the second season. In the first season, we did the editing ourselves, everything was completely hand-made; My friend and I have been doing this all season. The second season was more popular, and accordingly, a little more people came, but again the amounts were ridiculous. That is, all this was based on sheer enthusiasm; there was no such platform of ours where the few fans of battles could meet, hang out, and discuss something new. There was a small influx of new people who joined this topic, but not much. All this was done for a narrow layer of people.

- Why don’t we hear about you now?

Now you don’t hear about “Slovo Ufa”, because Ufa is such a unique city where they love the modern rap party in terms of music and concerts. We have bright representatives of the new wave of hip-hop, young guys from DOPECLVD, JEEMBO, who make very modern music. They have significantly more fans.

“Slovo Ufa” simply could not withstand the competition, and we were unable to launch the third season. As a platform, it did not become interesting for young fashionistas. We thought that we were too old for all this, there was no benefit, it took a lot of effort. We tried to recruit the guys so that they would work on “Slovo” besides us, and we would simply manage it, show what and how, and then completely give them the entire franchise. They were excited about it at first, but then changed their minds.

Reference

Rap battle- a competition between two performers in the genre of rap, hip-hop, the essence of which is to humiliate the opponent using a special rhyme.

Freestyle- from English free style.

Oksimiron(OXXXYMIRON, real name - Miron Fedorov) - Russian-speaking artist, freestyle, hip-hop and grime performer, executive director of the booking agency Booking Machine, graduate of Oxford University.

Purulent(Glory to the CPSU, Valentin Dyadka, Sonya Marmeladova, Buter Brodsky, real name - Vyacheslav Mashnov), - participant in all-Russian rap battles, hip-hop artist, distinguished by sharp and satirical performances.

“The girls rocked our minibus, not letting it move”

Roman Efimov (Spectrum), popular Ufa rap artist,repeated participant in Ufa rap festivals. Author of solo songs. One of the best freestylers in the city. MS. Tours throughout the republic and abroad.

- Tell us about the history of the development of rap in Ufa.

Perhaps it’s worth starting with the very peak of popularity of the concert rap industry in Ufa. Since 2008, the festivals “Double Impact”, “Heat” and many others began to take place. More people came to the clubs than they could accommodate. The trick was that all participants sold a certain number of tickets - this was a kind of rule of participation. Nowadays, not every concert of a rap star in Ufa will attract one and a half thousand people. Usually about 15 teams participated in the festival and the concert was crowned with a performance by the headliner; at different times there were Basta, Ak-47, Triad, ST. For many teams, participation in such events gave a powerful creative impulse for further development.

- Nowadays the battle format is popular on the SLOVO and Versus platforms. How was everything before?

At that time, the battle format was a little different. Nowadays there are a lot of Internet battles where you have to record a song on a given topic within a certain period of time. Previously, this was quoted at “gatherings” and in various parties. The progress of the Americans in this matter came to us later. But at each festival, freestyle was presented more as a competition for various prizes, rather than a separate phenomenon. The battle also resolved difficulties in identifying the winner.

- Were there any unofficial meetings?

At the Rodina cinema, at first there were meetings between the organizers of “Double Impact” and the performers to resolve financial issues: who sold how many tickets, distributed posters. But over time, other organizers began to use this location. Arriving there at any time, you could meet someone you knew, and as a result, this place became a platform for unofficial rap gatherings for several years. We fought, rapped, and had fun. Here you cannot ignore the “Drama”, a square with a fountain near the Russian Drama Theater. Then it was a place for hanging out with completely different subcultures, everything that was there... And whoever was there, even future stars, now of an all-Russian scale, for example, Sergei Pizza, a former member of Via Chappa, often visited here.

- Did Ufa rap have its own peculiarity?

At one time there was a group called Ike Yuz, which performed in the Bashkir language and their concert was accompanied by live instrumental music. And despite the fact that I am not a big fan of Bashkir music, I liked their performances and remembered them for a long time. It is impossible not to mention such a performer as MC Baga. He was originally from Tagil, but then lived in Raevka and was a frequent participant in hip-hop festivals. Thanks to him, many performers began to travel to perform in the cities of the republic and beyond. Over time, a strong team came together: Baga and INFO, Vysotsky, Spectrum Roma, and, in fact, me. Once there was a case when they didn’t want to let us leave the town - the girls after the concert were rocking the minibus in a crowd, not allowing the driver to move.

- Did you imitate someone?

All rappers naturally tried to imitate American gangsters, so accidents often occurred at concerts.

- Why has the time of the festival and concert rap industry in our city come to naught?

This is how it happens, time has passed, a generation has grown up, who rewound Decl, Ellipsis, Casta on cassettes with a pencil. Everyone has work and family. Nowadays, the rap theme has mostly gone to the Internet, and only famous rap artists promote concert activities.

Famous MC and hip-hop artist VIS KID,winner of the All-Russian hip-hop festival KFC Battle. Performed with L"one and other winners of the battle in Moscow. A sought-after MC in Ufa.

- How did you get into hip-hop?

I came to the topic like most players of that time: I painted graffiti, break danced and eventually came to recitative. If we look at recent achievements, then these are rather not achievements, but rather stages that should be on the path of development.

Well, you’re being modest, I know about your joint performance with the famous Russian rapper L’one and you are on tour throughout the country!

Yes, Leva and I performed in Moscow at the finals of one of the Russian festivals and recorded a joint long mix there. We first met and performed with him at a local festival back in 2008, when L’one was part of Phlatline. In general, I crossed paths with a lot of people on stage during my creative path, but again I don’t consider this the highest achievement.

Let us note that Ufa artists are currently popular in domestic hip-hop. Among the most famous performers - grouping "DOPECLVB" - a musical association of young performers from Ufa, which includes i61, GLEBASTA SPAL and Basic Boy. The artists of this group do not limit themselves to genre boundaries and play in the so-called “cloud rap” style (a genre of rap music characterized by slow beats, wordless vocal samples in which singers harmonize or draw long notes to create a majestic effect). The guys have already worked with such artists as: PHARAOH, Jeembo, Yung Trappa, Boulevard Depo. Killah TVETH.

Thomas MRAZ, real name Almas Gataullin. Thomas's creativity is ideal for creating EDM compositions (Electronic Dance Music - electronic dance music). The sound of his magical music creates the effect of complete distraction from the meaning of the text. Performs on Oksimiron's Booking Machine label.

Increasingly, the tired phrase “Ufa is the new Atlanta” is popping up in Internet resources. Today, “Atlantean” sound is called everything that is not lazy. Moreover, this is done both by public sites focused on humorous content and launching memes among the people, and by serious publications dedicated to hip-hop culture. However, as for Ufa, a comparison with the American Atlanta is quite appropriate, but not so much because of the sound of the local scene, but due to the fact that it was Ufa that gave domestic hip-hop such artists who successfully represent the younger generation, such as Boulevard Depo, Face, Jeembo, TVETH, DOPECLVB and Thomas Mraz association.

But the list of talented representatives of the musical sphere of Ufa does not end with the names listed. Not the “Additional Club” alone, as they say. While the sweet-voiced and ambitious Mraz is trying himself as a legionnaire of Oksimiron’s “Empire”, and Face, representing “vk-rap”, which has already become a separate layer of the musical world, like Western “soundcloud rap”, breaks the record for album reposts several times and sticks in in the heads of schoolchildren, promising talents are emerging from the shadows, seemingly only the dark horses of the industry. Today we want to introduce you to five talented Ufa residents, whose work might have flown past your playlists, getting lost in the rapid flow of the modern information field.

Heartsnow

What to listen to: EP “Blink”

Heartsnow, who shortened his pseudonym to Snow in the latest release, is remembered by many for his collaborations with TVETH and Face and participation in one of Stepan Karma’s mixtapes in the “VILLAINSUNITED” series. By the way, one of the best solo tracks by Snow, under the reactive hook with a dense flow of which it is simply physically impossible not to speed up your step and start vigorously waving your rapper fingers, was given to the mixtape by Karma. Perhaps the track “Glock faith” is the best, but far from the only thing you can discover in the work of Heratsnow. The artist’s latest EP “Blink” is designed in a similar style, which can be listened to in one breath, on the cover of which the porn actor Keiran Lee flaunts in the image of a secret service agent.

In addition to the “Blink” EP, new listeners should also check out the singles “50/50”, “I Don’t Need Love”, “102”, as well as the collaboration with TVETH “One after Another”, on which the performers surprisingly organically complement each other, as if the flow of each of them was initially created as two different facets of a single style. In addition, the release of the EP “102” will take place in the near future, and since the summer of this year, the first full-length long play, postponed indefinitely, has been on the list of expectations, interest in which was intended to stir up “Blink”.

Kreem

What to listen to: album “No Chill”

It’s hard to call Arthur Krim a newcomer. A signee of the Azimutzvuk label, who roams from Moscow to San Francisco and back, has been rapping since the mid-2000s, for which he earned the title of “godfather” of all rap from Ufa. But he presented his debut album “Crème De La Crème” only in 2014. Already at that time, Kreem was reaching for a new school - on his album, between solo tracks and a feature with the founder of Azimuthzvuk, Slim, a collaboration with Boulevard Depo was squeezed in.

The 2017 longplay “No chill” contains a much more impressive list of guest verses from representatives of the younger generation - these are the vocals of Tomas Mraz, and the recognizable flow of Boulevard Depot, and the participation of Fedyuk, who shot the undisputed hit “Pink Wine”, and production from popular beatmakers StereoRYZE, saluki and trio LAUD. Overall, the release sounds quite modern, although in many ways it differs from the traditional new school sound. Compared to the rest of today's freshmen, Kreem produces a sound that is too underground, uncouth in places, but therefore more courageous and convincing.

The best way to start getting to know the performer is with the track “Sexy,” which very cleverly ridicules the narcissism of modern rappers. In it, Artur Kreem, as in the composition “The Tenderest” (jointly with Tomas Mraz), is closest to the sound familiar to the average lover of progressive rap.

OBRAZKOBRA

What to listen to: singles “Adidas” and “Sunstroke”

“The image, but not its hostage,” says Obrazkobra about himself, who took glasses, a pseudonym and the plot basis for his first photo shoots from the cult film with Sylvester Stallone. Most readers probably know this artist from his collaboration with the Belarusian newcomer who made it into our top 10, Bakay. The summery colorful track “Sunstroke” with Bakei’s reading, as always reminiscent of the Belarusian people, and the chorus presented by both performers can truly claim to be one of the best collaborations in the collection of each of them.

An incredible sense of musical rhythm, resulting in a corrosive composition, which, with the proper level of familiarization with the hip-hop community, can become a full-fledged hit, is the track “Adidas”. The visualization of this track, created by the “Weather Fire” team, leaves no less a vivid impression than the work of the same studio on the design of Bakei and Aikko’s videos, such as “Locust”, “vi+ik” and “Making Love”.

However, Obrazkobra’s earlier works deserve attention. The very first track of Cobra’s project “Silence”, which the artist’s official public page suggests comparing with one of the extreme tracks “Look with My Eyes”, does not look unprofessional even compared to the latter. A performer who tries to produce high-quality material from the start probably has the ambitions of a future hitmaker. We will find out how plausible and feasible these ambitions are already in 2018, when a new Cobra album is planned.

KURT92

What to listen to: album “DONE”

Calling yourself a rock star, or even comparing yourself to one of the main legends of rock, Kurt Cobain, is almost the main trend among modern rappers. As one Anacondaz member noted, “Every rapper wants to be a rock star, but no rock star wants to be a rapper.” Kurt92 went much further than his contemporaries in this regard - he named himself after his probable creative reference - and charged the rock!

And how I loaded it. Horrorcore? Please! Extreme vocals? Receive it - sign it! Loud aggressive rapping, reminiscent of the work of Pharaoh and Dead Dynasty from the time of the “Phosphor” album? Certainly! We can't forget about rap.

The style of performance can be anything. The question is how diligently the artist approaches writing material and how he treats his own creativity. Kurt92 doesn’t have any problems with these points, which means you should at least click your mouse while scrolling through his tracks. Perhaps something will catch on. In addition, the beast runs to the catcher - the other day the performer presented a new atmospheric four-track release “True”, which undoubtedly deserves your attention.

SEVNZ

What to listen to: the album “Friday the 13th”, especially the tracks “Take it all off” and “Madhouse”

A lover of post-modern single and album covers, Sevnz is another representative of the Ufa scene, perhaps familiar to you from his TVETH features, as well as from his work with members of the Sunset 99.1 and Sabbat Cult associations. The rapper’s latest release was released on October 13, and it bears the symbolic name “Friday the 13th,” to which the content of the album fully corresponds.

Previous Sevnz releases, for example, the collection of remixes “Remake,” sound much softer, and in some places they even feature dance compositions. In addition, the artist has a joint release “ULTRAVIOLET” with the performer OBRAZKOBRA, which was discussed above. It’s worth getting acquainted with all three albums, if only because each of them presents a diverse but interesting sound, so that almost every listener can find something for themselves in the rapper’s library of releases, which is not yet very large, but rich in experiments.

We have also compiled a playlist in Apple Music with tracks from the most prominent representatives of Ufa.

Society

Alisher Morgenstern is a Ufa rapper and video blogger, whose popularity was brought by the project “Izirap” on the MORGENSHTERN YouTube channel. In his show, he taught subscribers to create music in the style of popular rappers in a matter of minutes. Now his channel has more than 1 million subscribers. As part of a charity event, Alisher gave a free concert in Ufa.

- How do you feel after the concert?

- Super. But they overestimated their capabilities a little. Let's just say that at the end all hell broke loose. I had to retreat and escape. Someone even sprayed pepper. They gathered peacefully to sing songs and do things. But, overall, it’s great. I didn't expect there to be so many people.

- Aren’t you upset by the behavior of your fans?

- This was to be expected.

This is not your first charity event. What prompted or motivated you to do charity work?

- Do you remember how you felt the first time you took part in a charity event?

- Somewhere in the area of ​​the heart it became warm. It’s very nice to feel that you are making at least some contribution to society, that you are useful, that’s cool. Just like. It's a shame that some people can afford everything, but others cannot. After all, it’s not people’s fault that, for example, they don’t have parents. Therefore, why not? Making the world a better place is wonderful.

You are the creator of a section on your channel “Izirep”, where you proved that creating tracks in the “new school” style is easy. Then you released an album in the same style that you were criticized for. How do you feel about such criticism?

- I wrote this album in about 5 days. Making music is not difficult. Especially now. When everything is on the computer. There's nothing wrong with that. It used to be, of course, yes - studios, analogue devices, tapes, you had to worry a lot. No, now everyone, if they wish, can make an album for themselves at home, with a budget of a thousand rubles. This is wonderful.

- Don’t you think that you have become the person you criticized?

I never really criticized. Is it easy to make music? Easily. And it’s easy for me to do.

- You told your subscribers that “Izirep” will no longer exist. Why? Would you have to make a video about yourself?

- I just don’t want to. There is no desire. It was fun to do, a very cool project, we had a blast for a season and that’s enough. We need to move on. Don’t sit on the same format all your life.

- Do you remember the moment when you became famous? As I understand it, you can no longer walk around Ufa calmly.

- In general, it’s difficult to move around Russia. Actually, no, I don’t remember such a moment. We have been working with the guys for a long time, first we had the “MMD” project, there was already some kind of recognition, local. But there is no such thing as waking up famous; everything gradually accumulated.

- I don't think everything we have now is because of the diss. Partly, of course, yes. But I don’t see anything bad in this.

- At what stage is your conflict or is it settled?

- Yes, there is no conflict. I can tell you how this idea came to me. I flew often at that time, I am afraid of flying. And I usually smoked before the plane so that I could fly calmly. But then the grass ran out, and I decided to get drunk, and I hadn’t drunk for a long time. And so I got drunk and some kind of peasant bullishness woke up in me, like “I want, damn it, to write a diss on someone.” Who's pissing me off? And I remembered, this guy infuriates me. And that’s it, I wrote the text on the plane, flew home, and made some music.

- Your line from the diss track: “To hell with old people.” What don't you like about Russian?YouTube? What, in your opinion, is already a relic of the past?

- Russian YouTube... This is a terrible garbage dump. Especially now, when the state comes and settles there, propaganda has begun. YouTube is a very scary thing, in fact. Because many, so to speak, opinion leaders take advantage of this and, for a lot of money, rub such unpleasant things into their audience that you don’t want to be associated with bloggers.

- How do you position yourself? Musician?

- No, I'm human (laughs). I don't consider myself a blogger, a musician, or a rapper. I just want to be able to do what I like and live off of it. I wanted to make a video, I wanted to make a funny video, I wanted to sing a song, and tomorrow maybe I’ll want to draw a picture or tune cars, I don’t know.

- Your family moved to Spain. What prompted you to take such a step? For what purposes did you return to Ufa?

- I won’t say what motivated my family, but I’m in Ufa... we’re working, doing things. I don't want to live in Spain. I like living in Russia.

- You had a conflict with Kizaru, who lives in Barcelona. Will there be a meeting? Do you have anything to tell him?

- I would love to, but he doesn’t get me off the “black list”, I don’t know how to contact him. I’m interested to know whether in real life he is the way he positions himself on Instagram broadcasts or whether it’s just an image. I adore him, seriously. I would love to meet him

- What are your future creative plans? What do you plan to do: music or blogging?

- How do you now assess the musical potential of Ufa?

- Wonderful. From the point of view of education, our music education is disgusting. For example, I became a music teacher because the second profession there was a sound engineer. I came to my first lesson in sound engineering, and they were working on programs from the 2000s, they were already 20 years old, on terribly old equipment. I understand there is no money, but we are holding on. Music education in Ufa is terrible. But we have a lot of original talents. I don’t know what this is connected with, but Ufa is a concentration, Atlanta.

- You stated that your relationship interferes with your work. Have you changed your mind?

- No, I haven't changed it. I'm probably too young for this.

- One of your calling cards is dreadlocks. Aren't you going to shave?

- Yes, I'm actually thinking about it. I like long hair. I had curls, and they were so difficult. Dreadlocks are a cool thing. I wash it once a week, no need to comb it.

Dear readers! We invite you to join the discussion of the news in our groups on social networks -

We go to meetings together
We take the counter plan by the throat,
We make noise during long meetings
On the topic: “Is Bashkortostan alive?”

DDT, “We are from Ufa”

Ufa, built just to the west of the Ural Mountains (“already Europe!”) was conceived by Ivan the Terrible as a defensive fortress. It was supposed to become a haven for numerous Bashkir tribes who wished to voluntarily become part of the Russian state. The name “Ufa” most likely comes from the Bashkir “uba” (hill, elevation), since for reasons of defense the fortress was built on a mountain.

Echoes of bygone eras can be traced here in many ways. For example, wooden houses with carved frames that were miraculously not demolished are reminiscent of former times. Being adjacent to expensive new buildings, they even slightly highlight their grandeur. Moreover, life still glimmers in them in the person of little Bashkir grandparents. The contrast between the blocks of elite buildings and these favelas is so striking that it is difficult to say what you will stumble upon if you decide to take a shortcut through the old Ufa courtyards.

Due to the national status in Ufa, there are not one, but two main languages ​​- Russian and Bashkir (English is also added to them on house number plates and signs). And despite the fact that there are few indigenous people left here and Bashkir speech can only be heard from the lips of representatives of the older generation, at the insistence of the authorities, the language continues to be taught in schools. True, it is not always effective.

For most schoolchildren, the Bashkir vocabulary is limited to the words “azik-tulek” (groceries) and “daryukhana” (pharmacy).

The speech of Ufa residents can be distinguished from any other by the specific words that periodically slip into it like “ayda” (“let’s go”). Illegitimate children of the Russian and Bashkir languages ​​have become so deeply ingrained in the subcortex of local residents that some of them are sincerely surprised when their words are incomprehensible to their interlocutors from other regions of Russia.

The most controversial reason for pride among Ufa residents can rightfully be considered one of the closest associates of the notorious Emelyan Pugachev - Salavat Yulaev. According to the official version, the main goal of Yulaev, who joined the Pugachev uprising, was the well-being of the Bashkir people. Nevertheless, many Ufa residents still consider the national hero a robber and categorically disagree with the cult of his personality. This outrage was the reason for repeated acts of vandalism against the monumental monument to Yulaev, which is considered perhaps the main symbol of modern Ufa.

The heart of the Bashkir capital, which every visitor should definitely visit, is the so-called Old Ufa, located in the south of the city. It is notable primarily for the large number of truly beautiful architectural monuments of pre-revolutionary and Soviet times, which to this day retain their noble appearance. Fortunately, in this area of ​​the city there are almost no new buildings that are uncomfortable and eyesores. But there are several theaters for the most sophisticated tastes (Youth, Opera and Ballet, Bashkir Drama), the House-Museum of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin and that very colossal monument to Salavat Yulaev. In a word, the esthete will have something to look at. But not him alone.

Ufa is not as boring and toothless as it might seem at first glance. Over the past few years, the local infrastructure has leapt far ahead, not least thanks to the SCO and BRICS summits that took place in 2015 (more precisely, the preparation for them).

On the huge open lawns near the Congress Hall building, where these summits were held, Ufa residents sunbathe and picnic all day long. And the first floors of five-story buildings on the central streets of the city are often dotted with coffee shops, bars, burger joints, barbershops and lounge areas, so it’s impossible to get bored here, if only you had the money.

The apotheosis of the entertainment sphere can be considered the Square of Two Fountains, which appeared several years ago near the Youth Theater (Kirova St., 27). This place delights city residents with a variety of street food from various cuisines of the world, daily events like the “Open Microphone” and the music restaurant “Music Hall 27”, where artists from the pyromaniac poet Husky to the noir romantics from “Affinage” perform concerts. And on the square, oddly enough, there are two fountains, several steampunk installations and a sculpture in the form of a huge bilingual inscription “I LOVE ӨФӨ”.

Due to the fact that the name of Ufa is written this way in Bashkir, people sometimes call it “the city of three screws.”

Ufa is saturated with fashionable trends, which, intertwined with the dashing mentality of the steppe Bashkirs, ultimately flow into something original. This is reflected in a special love for hobbies such as roofing and stalking - walking on rooftops and abandoned buildings. For better or worse, the unfinished 11-story building “Under” (from the word “underground”) plays the role of a free anti-cafe, and even with texts of the Glory of the CPSU and Pepe the frogs on the walls. True, recently this place has become so popular that even small children 5–9 years old do not hesitate to play hide and seek there. Apparently, this is how the soul of a Ufa resident works - he cannot live without adventures.

If we abstract from a certain cultural heritage, the capital of Bashkiria corresponds to the style that is set by the tracks of the Ufa association DOPECLVB. Modern Ufa is a city of the generation of the zeros, or at least the nineties: both in the center and on the outskirts, there are a lot of young people here, often informal.

Every fourth schoolchild in Ufa, if not rapping, then at least writes beats for it.

At the House of Trade Unions, also known as Prof, guys who call themselves riders ride skateboards and BMX day and night. You can’t walk into the backyard of McDonald’s on Gostiny Dvor without meeting several Hilfiger-clad vapers discussing popular memes in narrow circles about seventh-graders from the 39th gymnasium. Finally, even in the most cozy courtyard, it’s easy to stumble upon an inconspicuous hookah bar, where you will be allowed in, regardless of your tender age (administrations of elite schools seriously organize raids in more popular places). Ufa residents were “rummaging” long before it became mainstream.

Don't scold me, mom

Let me say:

All I need in life is

Drink beer and ride!

MMD Crew, “Beer and Skateboard”

An undeservedly forgotten pearl of the underground in Ufa are the vast territories in the north of the city. Kalininsky and Ordzhonikidze districts intertwine with each other, forming a space called Chernikovka. Once these places were the small industrial town of Chernikovsky, but then it was swallowed up by the rapidly growing Ufa.

After the unexpected collapse of the USSR, Chernikovka turned into a place of concentration of not the best subjects. Life here was reminiscent of the tracks of the Krovostok group: drug trafficking, punks, the gypsy mafia and other delights of the nineties haunted the Chernikovites at every step.

Fortunately, since then the situation has changed radically, but residents of other areas are still wary of accepting offers to take a walk in Chernyaga.

Chernikovka is worth visiting if only for its surreal atmosphere. Here there is a clear confrontation between times: the Red Banner Soviet and our hopelessly capitalist. And the spirit of the first, ingrained into Chernikov’s Khrushchev buildings like dust into a grandmother’s carpet, seems to never fade away. However, it does not at all prevent the children of the second from riding through the streets on hoverboards, lighting a fashionable “Bond” with a button. In addition, due to the local Petroleum University, the area is very multinational, which only adds points to the treasury of Chernikov contrasts.

Judge for yourself, where else can you meet a South African student drinking kumiss among Russian concrete alleys?

It just so happens that the city of three screws is the birthplace of many famous musicians. Lumen, 43ai, FACE, DDT, Thomas Mraz, Boulevard Depo, Zemfira, Basic Boy and many others - all these artists come from the capital of Bashkortostan.

Because of such an abundance of cloud rappers, Ufa is even called the new Atlanta. Interestingly, the performers’ environment often significantly influenced their creativity. In the tracks of rapper Glebasta Spal, the author of the cult song “Ufa Boyz,” one can hear stylish motifs of the nightlife of Ufa, while the work of the same Zemfira is thoroughly imbued with the lyrics of the cramped Chernikov slums.

Ufa is a hodgepodge of eras, cultures and mentalities. Ufa is an old woman whose youth unexpectedly returned. Ufa is a city that really wants to become the third or at least fourth capital of Russia. He is genuinely offended if his attempts are not taken seriously. But does he really need this title?