Is Guf the last hero of Russian rap? The answer is clear

In my opinion, every journalist should have a text dedicated to one of his idols. Anyone can write about Pushkin or Yesenin, but not everyone can write about me, so pay attention to Alexei Dolmatov. I hope that if I tell everyone to be positive, it will not sound like a bum. Understand, this is not some rapper, this is Guf.

Today, September 23, he turns 45, and more than half of it is music. Real music. From time to time he threatens to leave, but he doesn’t, because not all the words have been said and not all the texts have been written. Some call him the father of Russian rap, but I tend to a different formulation. He is the older brother, bold, reckless and extremely attractive. The kind that guys look at, the kind that all the girls are crazy about.

My friend once said, “There will never be another one like him” and gave me something that was exactly 1,485 words and 200 lines (measured in 14 Calibri font). Can we say that Alexey Dolmatov is the last hero of Russian rap? For me, the answer is obvious. Here’s why.

September 23, 2011. Gufu is 32 years old, performs at the Moscow club “16 Tons” and performs the track “Ballad” for the first time. Where she sings: “Mom, forgive me, forgive dad. Forgive me for gambling, for the smell.” And everyone understands that nothing is wrong. Again. No need to explain.

When I wrote that Guf is my idol, I was not cheating and I was definitely not exaggerating. He is really an idol. Not in everything, of course, but in terms of sincerity. At 100%. Only he managed and still manages to openly admit his own failures, fears, problems and defeats. And do it so honestly that you don’t want to object, condemn or scold. Empathize like your favorite literary hero (which he is to some extent).

While some rappers brazenly boast about new cars, shoot obscenely expensive videos and throw around green banknotes, he simply writes his story as if it were a public diary. When I asked my friend why he loves Guf, he looked at me in surprise and asked as if on the spot: “Have you ever listened to his tracks? Take 30 minutes and you will understand everything yourself. Am I offended? Definitely, because Guf’s work was still given a little more than the recommended 30 minutes. But the message was immediately clear, the phenomenon of Alexei Dolmatov is that it does not need to be fully explained. And as one unknown commentator on social networks correctly noted, “They listened to him and continue to listen because he knows how to create such an atmosphere as if you were sitting in the kitchen with Alyosha, and he just talks about his difficult life.” Honestly, sincerely, without embellishment.

Agree, the truth always catches up with you. Whatever it is. In his works, Guf does not hesitate to reveal the naked truth about rehabs, breakdowns, family and other painful topics without fear of condemnation. From track to track, from album to album, Guf becomes more familiar and closer even to those who live a thousand kilometers from the capital. Some recognize themselves in short verses and complex rhymes, while others listen to the albums as audiobooks, admiring the unexpected plot twists and sharp 180-degree turns.

By the way, have you ever wondered how the sincerity and sadness of a piece of music is measured? Maybe by the ranking in the playlist? Or the number of likes and comments in the broadcast? It’s hard. All of them are empty. But when music is playing in a kitchen where there’s almost no one left at 4am, it means something. It’s not just like that.

Guf is an old-school rapper. For those who are not familiar with this genre, let me remind you that representatives of this genre favor content over content and try to tell a story with a clearly observed narrative chronology. Add to this the language training of Alexey Dolmatov and we get what we got. That is, a beautiful, heartbreaking, lyrical rap. You listen to his albums like a book, you sincerely begin to empathize with the hero and hope that in the next track, as in the next part of the work, you will find out how everything ended or what really happened. It turned out to be the same rhymed diary in which the author desperately tries to make sense of a contradictory world.

This approach is especially evident in “Forbidden Place”, released last year. Written by the last studio student Alexey Dolmatov, when he was once again forcibly sent to rehab in March 2023. The tracks mention Olya’s sister, grandmother and mother Ptah, and also mention dates and add the voice of the attending physician or Guf’s curator. It is important to listen to the release one by one to really understand what it is about. Everything about this album is great: the unique style that has been preserved, the old-school rhythms and the relaxed reading that makes it possible to listen to every word.

Now someone will say that this is old school, it’s in the past and it’s not trending anymore. But this album still feels like a breath of fresh air in this age of plastic rap about things labeled as “material”. And I would like to express my utmost respect (and admiration) to Guf for his ability to stick to his line, to stay true to himself and his principles.

Love comes in different ways, everyone knows this almost from childhood. And if you think that here we will talk about the song Ice Baby and who Guf will love even in heaven, you are very mistaken. Of course, the track is iconic and very romantic – it’s scary to think how many guys and girls confessed their feelings to each other using these lines. But this is not the same thing. Love in the songs of Alexey Dolmatov is, in principle, much deeper and stronger than that of his colleagues in the store, who undress only with words and disdain listeners, if not the audience.

Guf is an incorrigible romantic in terms of emotions and treats texts in this category with respect and great care, as if afraid to break the magic of words. And we are talking not only about the classic love of a man for a woman, but also about something global. I am ready to write an article about why the track “For Her” is the best declaration of love. And yes, it was definitely not written to a woman, but to the city. The city where he was destined to be born.

In general, Moscow occupies a special place in the work of Alexei Dolmatov, and no one writes about it as sadly as he does. From the words “We need rainy Tverskaya, we need city melancholy” something swells inside, and from the words “And as long as there is She outside the window, everything should be fine” your soul immediately warms up somehow. It is unlikely that such feelings will arise after listening to the tracks of Kanye West, Skepta or A$AP Rocky (no matter how much we love and respect them) – after all, they are as far from our cultural codes as possible. But Guf is his own, dear. That is why his love for trams, the Garden Ring and Stalinist high-rise buildings resonates so sharply in the heart.

But the theme of love in Guf’s works has not yet been fully disclosed. To fix this, we need to remember Tamara Konstantinovna, the Original Ba, to whom Alexey Dolmatov dedicated the most touching lines every year. And she did it not in a pretense, not to evoke empathy, but simply because she felt like it. As music critic Oleg Karmunin once said, this has become “the most important key to the hearts of millions.” “Pranking the audience with touching grandmothers, children and cats is a dubious technique that should be included in the Geneva Convention, but damn it, no one thought of it before Guf,” he said, and he was a million percent right. Agree, the song “Original ba” (feat. ba) somehow squeezes your heart, and your hands reach for the phone, dialing the number to call. But this is nothing, because after the “TKDR” fragment of the song “Forbidden Place”, released last year, the heart breaks without the possibility of rehabilitation.

Eternal love, a bitter sense of guilt and the same sincerity that I mentioned at the very beginning – these are the ingredients that make up Alexey Dolmatov.

Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky once said, “To write well, you have to suffer,” and this quote has caused a lot of controversy, forever etching itself into history. But these words seem to apply to Guf. I don’t want to get into psychoanalysis (I’m a journalist by profession, after all), but the many beautiful texts about what is so painful seem to imply that suffering is the best friend of creativity.

Pain and sadness run through all Guf’s albums like a red thread. And he himself repeatedly said that “he either has depression or Alik” (Alik is Guf’s dark alter ego). The epicenter of these feelings and emotions is concentrated in the track “New Year”. Just think how much pain is embedded in the words “I’ve been killing sneakers somewhere for two years”, how much desperation lies behind the words “The subway is over, get out of here as you want”.

There are many works in which Guf courageously pours out his soul. A lot. This is another reason why both children from the region and serious people listen to Alexei Dolmatov. They are also respected for their ability to experience this pain, analyze it, and convey to the listener the unforgettable atmosphere of the cold entrances to the lost settlements.

And yes, I repeat, none of his heavy texts evoke either condemnation or negativity. First, because the audience understands that something very special is being shared with them. Second, because it is done very honestly and openly (mentally I refer you to the first block). It is so ingrained in our cultural codes that “power lies in truth.” Our society cannot stand fakes and ostentations. But it accepts ordinary men with a difficult fate and an open soul with open arms. This is a cultural paradox.

So why is Guf the latest hero of Russian rap? If he is not ideal and does not strive to be so, if he does not promise anything and has one fall after another? Who said that a hero should be perfect? ​​Who said that a hero has his ups but no downs? Who said that a hero should always smile? The main thing is that the hero is real. And Guf is exactly like that. That’s it.

In 2011, the meme “Guf is dead” appeared on the Internet. After the terrorist attack in Domodedovo, someone posted fake news about the death of Alexei Dolmatov, and everything began. In the following months (or years), this phrase became a mandatory comment for any news about the rapper or his work. Some used these words as a joke, while others used them to emphasize the creative inconsistency of Alexei Dolmatov’s subsequent albums, saying that he did not release anything better than “City of Roads”. But I am ready to argue. Or rather, I am ready to draw a parallel. In one of the interviews, Quentin Tarantino was asked the following question: “There is an opinion that he did not do anything cooler than Pulp Fiction…” Tarantino answered without finishing the question: “Who directed it?” See what I am getting at?