Whatafuk is Morgenshtern?

The recently renamed Lil Pimp (Lil Pump) has dropped a fresh track with Morgenshtern, a rapper you’ve almost certainly never heard of unless you’re a close follower of the Russian rap game. “Whatafuk” is the pair’s first collaboration – stretching the definition of the word “rap” as far as it could possibly go. Morgenshtern’s verse talks about how he is a “Young Tupac”, swiftly contradicting that statement by repeating the same stock bars over and over again. But the real question is: whatafuk is Morgenshtern?

Morgenshtern, or Alisher Tagirovich Morgenshtern, was actually born Valeyev but changed his name as a teenager. He was born in Ufa, the capital of the Republic of Bashkortstan, a federal subject of Russia around 1,000km from Moscow.

Morgenshtern is known for his wild lifestyle, controversial opinions and his tattoos. In one interview, he stated that the reason he got face tattoos was so that he would never be employed in an office. He quickly built a reputation making lazy tracks about how much money he earns, complementing that with OTT music videos starring his new cars, chains, clothes and of course – girls. His rap ability certainly does make you question how he has earned the money he has, but also explains why he has collaborated with Lil Pump.

One of Morgenshtern’s tracks “Pososi” – or as a direct translation “Suck it” – is currently ranked as the most disliked video on Youtube in Russia. The incredibly explicit song is once again an ode to how rich and wild he is, showing off his large dacha (country house). The video does explain why his current fan base consists of teenaged Russian’s blasting his songs on a JBL speaker as they walk through their local shopping centre. 

Despite his mainly unoriginal tracks, Morgenshtern has still collaborated with some big names in the Russian Rap scene, namely his song “Cadillac” with Russian rapper All-j, and most recently “El Problema” with Timati, currently sitting with 62 million views on Youtube after just 1 month.

Recently on his Instagram, Morgenshtern said that he would release his new album if he received $1 million, and wouldn’t release it at all for $2 million. He also told fellow Russian rapper Timati to change the release date of his album (13th November) because he had something big coming (Whatafuk). 

Despite his controversy and clear lack of rap ability, Morgenshtern is considered to be one of the biggest names in the Russian music industry, and we imagine his popularity will continue to increase. His recent interview with Russian journalist Yuri Dud has already racked up 18 million views in just one week, and has a running time of nearly 3 hours.