Just an awful song

A pro-government tune by two rappers is now the most hated Russian music video ever shared on YouTube

Update: Guf has apologized for the song, claiming to have been unaware that Moscow was holding “mayoral elections [sic],” and Timati later deleted the original video from YouTube, saying that he doesn't want to “perpetuate this wave of negativity.”

A new song by the rappers “Timati” (Timur Yunusov) and “Guf” (Alexey Dolmatov), where the two performers praise Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin, has become the most-disliked video ever shared on Russian-language YouTube. The song was released on September 7, two days before Russia’s capital held hotly-contested City Duma elections. At the time of this writing, the music video has more than 1 million dislikes and just 62,000 likes, with more than 3.1 million views. Russia’s previous champion of YouTube dislikes was the music video for a song by the rapper “Face” (Ivan Dryomin) called “I’m Dropping the West.”

The song contains lines like “Moscow’s the city where they don’t stage gay parades,” “I don’t want protests and I don’t bullshit,” and “I’m slamming back burgers in honor of Sobyanin.” These lyrics have led many YouTube and Instagram users to suspect that the two rappers created the song for either a fat paycheck or some kind of preferential treatment by Moscow’s city officials.

On Instagram, Timati even responded to some angry fans. Here’s a summary of what he said:

I’m not ashamed, I wasn’t paid, and I’m not trying to save my business here. It’s cool these days to go after the authorities, but I’ve got my own views. Sure, there are a lot of shitheads in the government, but they’re not all bad. I’ve got immense respect for the Mayor, and I see how my city is blossoming. Half the protesters only turn out for money, and they’ve got handlers who are sponsored by you-know-who. Changing the government won’t change anything, because the new people will just bring in all their own people. The only way out is to work on yourself. Changing the mayor’s team won’t affect your salary. You don’t need to be going to protests: you need to get to work and focus on yourselves.

Guf’s response to his critics was even more concise. “The track and the video were made in two days,” he said. “There was no government contract or any money involved. Just a stupid drone and a desire to celebrate our city. At least we’d like to believe in it.”

On Twitter, the Russian rapper “Loqiemean” (Roman Khudyakov) suggested adding the hated “Moskva” ballad to footage from earlier this summer showing police officers and National Guard troops beating up peaceful protesters. It turns out that the song synchronizes eerily well with some videos.