Alexey Kashtanov is a rap artist, known in the world of Russian music under the pseudonym Dom! No or Domino. At the moment he writes songs not only for himself, but also for other artists.
short biography
His life begins in a city called Kokhma, Ivanovo Region. It was here that Alexei Kashtanov was born on July 9, 1985.
He was always an ordinary guy: he loved playing in the yard with other guys, cycling along dusty roads and, like many boys, was terribly lazy and did not want to go to school. And no one then could have thought that this boy, whimsically arguing with his parents and running away from lessons, would someday become a completely different person - serious, obligatory and keeping his word.
The school period for the future rapper came to an end, he celebrated graduation after the ninth grade. Of course, there was no question of reaching the eleventh. And so the walls of the school were almost crushed by a budding talent. After nine years of training, the future Domino, Alexei Kashtanov, finally felt truly free.
early years
After school, finding a job at that age was a real problem, however, the young man was not too eager to look for it. At that time, he only got acquainted with the world of music, for the first time tried himself in writing texts. This business brought him pennies, and yet the young performer kept afloat, claiming that the higher forces needed to hear his texts, otherwise why would they pull him out of all the troubles over and over again?
By the way, the young man was practically homeless and really did not like noisy places like bars or nightclubs. He did not visit such institutions, since he did not see the slightest sense in them, and in connection with the complicated disease he had suffocated, the stuffy halls were completely unbearable for his body. Nevertheless, everyone around us has eyes and ears: literally a few months later, in the musical world that Kashtanov knew and Kashtanov himself knew, they began to discuss the strange detachment of the new rap artist, his inactivity.
In every night institution, where young rappers usually started, they noticed his absence now, and if Alexey came, they looked at him like a white crow. There was talk of his excessive arrogance, of his two-faced life - supposedly the performer walks in a pretense in worn clothes, although in reality he is a very rich man. In other words, at the first time of his fame, Domino received not only admired reviews, but also a large number of negative associated with his closed character.
The album that changed everything
After the release of his first album entitled “My Hollywood,” the rapper completely despaired - the album was neither popular nor even approved by the audience. At that moment, all the colors of the world faded before Alexei Kashtanov: he was suppressed by such a reaction to his first work and even thought about stopping senseless attempts to find his audience.
But this guy just couldn't live without music. A long stagnation in creativity helped the performer figure out the mistakes and correctly prioritize life. After several weeks alone with himself, the rapper finally gathered all his strength and got out of the walls of the house with the already begun plan of his future collection of compositions.
The new album received a name that accurately reflected all the feelings Kashtanov had for the music world. “My music is hypnosis” blew up the rap scene in the country, and its popularity has not decreased to this day. The album was written in such an unbroken manner that many listeners seemed to have discovered for the first time such an artist as Alexei Kashtanov. Domino, whose concerts, thanks to the new album, were now sold-out and were held almost daily, was able to materialize and declared itself to be a real music artist.
He wrote his collection in a simple and understandable language, without excessive pathos and ostentatious tragedy. Without hiding anything, the rapper veiledly told about what was happening at that time in his life: the eternal lack of money, conflicts with loved ones, quarrels with friends, problems with alcohol and drugs - all this Kashtanov laid out without embellishment, as it really is It was.
Inspiration
Starting from grade 9, Alexei had already thought in advance about the future profession. He always knew that he would write something that would "catch" people. The guy was looking for inspiration in everything: he read books, listened to various music, drew atmospheric from films. But none of this helped: the Russian rappers did not inspire confidence in the heart of the young artist that he had made the right choice regarding his life path. At some point, Alexei Kashtanov accidentally heard a foreign rapper by the name of Eminem, who was still not very famous in those years. After listening to all his compositions, the young man suddenly realized: this is the source of his inspiration for future creativity, his first role model.
Own style
The music of the American artist, his style was so new for a guy who was used to hearing only the monotonous motives of Russian rap that he involuntarily began to imitate some of the details of Eminem in his rap. However, very quickly Alexei Kashtanov found his own unique manner of execution, and now he just occasionally focused on his first idol so as not to get lost in himself again.
About the producers
From the moment that the career of Alexei Kashtanov went uphill, he became a tidbit for many producers who are happy to offer young performers their services for promotion.
There were several producers in his story, each of whom left the most negative memories in the soul of the musician. According to Kashtanov himself, producers are extortionists of money with a beautiful name, nothing more. In order to unwind and stay in the music world, you need to rely only on yourself, but not on someone else's help. Producers first promise the best scenes in the country and gold fees, and then just throw an inspired musician, taking their money for what they did not.
As a result, now Alexey Kashtanov does not communicate with producers and is trying to independently distribute his music in various ways: he creates official groups on social networks, speaks on radio and on small platforms.
Work with Oxxxymiron
Work in show business involves communication with a variety of people. It was natural for a young rapper to make acquaintances with colleagues in the musical genre. In 2011, he met the then-famous rapper Oksimiron.
The guys quickly found a common language, being not only the same age, but also similar outlooks on life. Together with Oksimiron Domino recorded a song called "Hello from the bottom", which was included in Oksimiron's collection "The Eternal Jew".
Health problems
Throughout his career, Domino has hardly been seen in large clubs or on large stages. This fact should not be attributed to his unpopularity, since the whole problem of a rapper named Alexei Kashtanov (Domino) is a disease that left a significant mark in his life. Not everything is as simple as it seems at first glance: in his youth, the guy was ill with a severe form of pneumonia. Now, because of this, he cannot speak in crowded crowds, as in a stuffy room the rapper simply begins to choke.
To his chagrin, so far there has been no alternative but to speak in small halls. Nevertheless, the performer does not despair: he believes that no matter how many spectators come to his concerts, they all deserve good music. They came to simply support his work, to hear what they are so lacking in ordinary life.
Current activity
Now Alexei Kashtanov continues to devote himself to musical creativity without a trace. More frank and vital texts appear from his lips, his motives are gathering more and more fans around him.
Alexey writes first of all for himself, then for his listeners. For myself - to better understand my own vocation, to understand whether he is doing everything right. For their listeners - to give them at least a piece of their perception of the world. Alexey Kashtanov (whose photo can be seen below) is looking forward to each of his concerts, despite the fact that they are held mainly in very narrow circles. It makes no sense to talk about how much the performer would like to perform on the big stage, read from high venues in order to communicate his work to other people.
Now other cities, in addition to the capital of the country, are open for a rapper named Alexei Kashtanov: Penza, Yekaterinburg, Vladivostok, Saratov, Kursk, Novosibirsk and so on. A large audience wants to see the performer, and for this some promise a lot of money, while others promise constant cooperation. But the bottom line is that the performer could speak everywhere and absolutely free, because in the performance of his texts he does not care about the material side of the process, but how the public accepts his words.
The article briefly describes the biography of Alexei Kashtanov, an old-fashioned rapper who lives to create, not to earn.