Meanwhile in Russia...

[kerouac2]

I know that all of us are bombarded with probably 10 times more media than even 10 years ago, but most of us remain incredibly ignorant about some of the major countries of the world. Rap has become the leading form of musical expression in Russia, but obviously rap music travels poorly since you generally have to understand the language to fully appreciate it.

Oxxxymiron is the biggest rap star in Russia. He studied at Oxford and has a degree in medieval English literature, which is probably not the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about rap.

Videos like this fascinate me, because they give a completely different vision of Russian life than what is usually presented to us -- stilted banquets and Red Square.