When you think of mainstream hip-hop royalty, names like Tupac, B.I.G., Mos Def and Jay-Z come to mind. Even with all of their accolades, street credibility and bottles of Cristal, they don’t hold a candle to one of the hardest things to hit the USA since the Cold War. While most hip-hop artists these days try to “keep it real”, there is one man who is kicking down the oppressive communist walls of rap music and staying true to his Cosmonaut roots. His name is simply, ILL Mitch.

His lyrics are hard and reflective of his rough and tumble childhood growing up in Russia. With songs like “No Job for Mitch”, “Fantastic Rap Battler”, “Chernobyl Poem From Old Russia” and “Fast and Danger”, Ill Mitch grabs us by the hand and leads us on a journey through his world, giving us a small glimpse into his gangster lifestyle. His battle skills are second only to his incredible prose, as featured in this excerpt from the club banger, “Rap to World”:

I’m only one Mitch, but you deserve two
homies, permit me to serve you
one hot rap, coming right up
and what does ILL Mitch want in his cup
mellow yellow, what hello fellow
it get me high strung just like a chello
it give me energy and a tight feeling
make me want to dance on white cieling

no drug dealing, only fun wording
honeys on my jammy, always be flirting

ILL Mitch’s talents are more than obvious. I mean, c’mon, you have to hand it to a guy who’s “rap mustache” only took 3 minutes to grow! Do yourself a favor and support one of Russia’s newest and brightest rap stars by joining the street team or purchasing a shirt at the store. You won’t be dissapointed. At least not too much. Ok, maybe a little. And if that’s not consolation enough, here’s a video of Mitch dancing and getting ill on his board.

When you think of mainstream hip-hop royalty, names like Tupac, B.I.G., Mos Def and Jay-Z come to mind. Even with all of their accolades, street credibility and bottles of Cristal, they don’t hold a candle to one of the hardest things to hit the USA since the Cold War.