"There are things an order of magnitude higher ..."
The Casta group originates from the glorious Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, which was reputed to be the criminal capital of the Russian Federation.
History of creation
The nineties are considered a kind of heyday of Russian hip-hop culture. In response to a turning point in the life of Russian society, musical hip-hop groups begin to appear that describe in their lyrics the life that surrounded them without any hint of any exaggeration, in general, ordinary provincial life. And the PsychoLirik group, founded in 1995 by two friends Vladi and Tidan, is no exception. It is with the creation of this group that Casta begins. The provincial guys then began to try to compose their first texts, which were truly courtyard. Soon, Shimon joins them.
Caste (group). Members
1997-1999 was marked for the collective by the birth of the so-called conglomerate hip-hop movement of the time. It consisted of groups such as Psycho Lyric, Basta Oink, Western Sector, Sand People. As a result, a more or less constant composition of the rap association is formed and the cult album “Three-Dimensional Rhymes” is born. Surely everyone remembers the song "We take it on the streets", which becomes the hallmark of the group. If we characterize this album in more detail, we can say that it still absorbs the echoes of youthful maximalism under the style of New York hip-hop of that time. By mid-1999, three people came to the forefront from a kind of conglomerate called “Casta”, who later became the basis of the group - Shimon, Hamil and Vladi.
United Caste
In 2000, the group is gradually gaining momentum, having shot the first video for the already sensational song “We take it on the streets”. In 2001, the single of the group "An order of magnitude higher" was released, and later listeners can watch a video on this song, which already then occupied the first places in the MTV charts. The next work is the album “Louder than Water, Above Grass” (2002), with the release of which the group went on a tour of the Russian Federation. One of the main achievements is the powerful Casta concert at the same venue with Bomfunk MC's.
Formation of a musical style. Timeline
The music of the Casta group of this period is already becoming clearly expressed. In their texts, the guys talk not only about their life position, but also, perhaps, the entire “Pepsi generation”, speaking as cool rhymes from the hinterland, the lyrics of which are permeated with the spirit of Russian rap. During this period, Vladi and Hamil engaged in a solo career. In November 2002, Vladi released the album “What shall we do in Greece”.
Having listened to the album, we can confidently say that Vladi is a master of his craft: excellent reading technique, smooth transitions, and most importantly, the meaning in the lyrics. It was he who wrote the songs for the album. There is a little about love, a little about Moscow through the eyes of a person from the hinterland, there is also a fine line of politics and thoughts about the modern structure of Russia.
In 2004, Hamil's Phoenix solo album was released. About his brainchild, Andrei said that he was imbued with the spirit of "Caste" in rhythm, in the style of the texts it turned out to be quite tough and severe, but with lyrical digressions in several places. When listening, you can cry in the literal sense of the word, and laugh.
In 2006, fans can contemplate a new creation - the album "For Fun", in which the group "Casta" will talk about rap in a different way. After listening to the album, in which there are only six tracks, we can talk about the emerging new style. We judge about such songs as “Trap”, “For Fun” (the second version of this song sounds brighter and cooler thanks to the live sound). The presence of electric guitar, piano, drums is a good addition to this story.
In 2007, the Casta group decided to continue experimenting with a live sound, and the first DVD with a concert of the group along with a symphony orchestra was released. Yes, the guys decided on such a thing that no one had done before. The Casta group, the songs of which were not arranged earlier, gave them a lively sound thanks to the bass guitar, keyboards and wind instruments.
The new caste group
A year later, the group includes the Serpent, an ex-member of "Faces". The renewed caste of Casta is releasing a full-length album, “Eye contact,” from which songs sounded on the air of the most popular radio stations. After some time, clips are released for everyone already loved tracks from the album “Around the Noise”, “Radio Signals”. This album is in many ways not like the old Caste. As the guys say, there is no main idea in it, it identifies the very essence of reality, which they create, expressing all the pros and cons. Many ideas, thematic sketches intertwine in it, these are the relations of parents and children, thoughts about human masks, about the quality of pop music of that period, about female psychology. This album is even older than the previous one. In it you will not find texts about the youth of Rostov yards, there are no street motives. "Eye contact" is considered the peak of the creative activity of the team. By the way, he came out on the Respect Production label, which the guys took over, and was awarded the "Muz TV" prize "Best Album".
10th anniversary of the group
In 2009, the guys decided to summarize a decade of creativity by publishing a record of their best tracks called Best hits. The clip on the well-known theme “Around the Noise” takes the second place in the award “The Best Russian Clip” according to the results of the music portal “rap.ru”. Hamil and the Serpent begin to work on recording their album, which will later be called "HZ". This album was able to please the listener with excellent sound quality, melodic rhythm and meaningful content.
In 2012, after Hamil and the Serpent, the third member of the collective - Vladi - released his solo album, entitled "Clear!" “And he made himself known again,” said music critics, in general thanks to him for his new quality of music, for his complete rejection of street “boy rap”. This is proved by the track “Compose Dreams”, in which there are a lot of lyrics and experiences of the author, juxtaposition of past life and this, hope for a better future (“... compose dreams, there are millions of chances that everything will come true soon ...”).
Modern Caste
2013-2015 They were marked by a number of group performances in neighboring countries and not only, many releases were released, participants try themselves in cinematography, work on solo activities, and their label is actively developing. This year, Vladi’s third solo album “Unconceivable” was released, the plans are to shoot several videos. By the way, if we talk about the cover of this album, then it is very symbolic. It depicts the author himself in the guise of a monk holding a luminous ball in his hand . And it’s not just that. The very filling of the album is permeated with kindness, spiritual calm and a sense of the happiness that Vladi himself went for a long time.
Conclusion
To summarize the guys ’creativity, we can say that the Casta group, whose songs have been played for fifteen years, deserves a place of honor in the domestic hip-hop scene along with the famous Bad Balance, Legal $$ Legal, Yu.G. Dolphin. And they can’t even be compared, because the Caste creative association is a group whose members have their own special style, their fans, their soul and, finally, their rap ... They are the founders of Rostov hip-hop. Now the guys are gathering whole stadiums. Arriving at their concert, you will hear not only new songs, but also your beloved old ones. Many people have a smile when they hear their songs and people involuntarily begin to recall their childhood and the songs of “Caste” on which they grew up.