Today in Russia there are not many large music labels that specialize in rap music. And this is a little strange, because Western artists of this genre have long occupied the first lines of all charts and can give a great head start to various singers or pop groups. You can only envy their popularity, because rap clips gain billions of views, which means that this music can rightfully be considered one of the most popular in our time.
In Russia, rap is just beginning to gain popularity, and this is largely due to the fact that in recent years, major labels have seriously engaged in promoting young artists. And it bore fruit.
New name on label
In 2016, one of Russia's largest labels, Gas Holder, signed a contract with the then-unknown Ukrainian artist, whose name is Kirill Igorevich Nezboretsky. The team of PR managers, managers, SMMschikov actively engaged in the promotion of Cyril, and he seriously took up writing music.
Then he could not imagine how quickly popularity would come. A year later, Cyril, who performs under the pseudonym T-fest, became one of the most sought-after rap artists in the CIS. It is worth talking in more detail about how T-fest’s biography began, and how he came to such success. And the best way to start is from early childhood.
Childhood
The biography of T-fest begins in the small Ukrainian city of Chernivtsi. From a very early age he was passionate about music, went to music school and to the conservatory. However, this hobby was not limited only to listening to his musical idols. Cyril also recorded tracks since childhood, but he didn’t get much popularity then. He was just starting to show promise, but then he did not have his own style, therefore, although he was quite technical, he did not stand out from the rest of the rappers.
The artist’s early work was fundamentally different from what he is doing now. He wrote a very crude rap, which at the same time was quite meaningful and interesting in terms of the text component. This was the reason that in 2012 the future artist was noticed by then-popular rap singer Shock.
First successes
The shock was a guide for the rapper T-fest'a in terms of music. The young artist made covers for the tracks of his idol, and one day he randomly stumbled upon these records. The creativity of a young talented performer hooked Shock, and he began to help him with promotion. In 2012, rappers released a joint track.
By that time, Cyril had already become much more technical in terms of performance, and his music became even more complicated and interesting. However, even the collaboration with the then popular rapper did not bring him much fame, so the most important changes in his work were yet to come.
Reboot
In 2014, the T-fest already had a certain number of listeners, but this did not stop him from leaving his work for a while in order to create a completely updated style of music. After a long break, the artist returns completely completely different both in terms of appearance and in terms of creativity. His music is becoming more melodic and modern. Sophisticated themes in the lyrics disappeared, now the performer began to write light and hit tracks, which later completely ceased to be like classical rap, and became more diverse and interesting in terms of sound.
In 2015, Cyril released several successful clips in the new style, which his old audience really liked and helped to collect a large number of new ones. However, the most important thing is that at this time he is noticed by the owner of the "Gas Holder" label Vasily Vakulenko, also known as Basta. He invites the young artist to his label and offers as a debut to record a joint clip with one of the most popular Russian-speaking rappers, Scriptonite. T-fest, of course, does not miss this opportunity. On July 9, 2017, a video called “Lambada” was released on the official Gazkolder channel, which completely turned over the entire career of a Ukrainian musician. At this T-fest’s Biography, as an unpopular rapper, ended. A completely different life began.
Life after wide popularity
At the moment, the clip "Lambada" has more than 30 million views, which is simply an incredible figure for a Russian-speaking artist. The remaining videos of Cyril also gained 10-15 million views, so now he is certainly one of the most sought-after and recognizable artists of the CIS.
The T-festival is still a member of the "Gas Holder" label, and at the end of 2017, he released his second studio album on it, which was called "Youth 97". With this album, as well as with old compositions, Kirill performs at the largest venues throughout Russia, and almost always the demand for tickets does not disappoint the organizers. T-fest’s biography is a vivid example of how, even from a small Ukrainian city, you can rise to the top of music chats if you have the talent and desire to develop.