Morgenshtern
Quick Facts
Aquarius
Biography
Alisher Tagirovich Morgenshtern (né Valeyev;; February 17, 1998), known mononymously as Morgenshtern (stylized in all caps), is a Russian rapper, singer, record producer, and songwriter.
He first gained fame in 2018 as the author of parodies of popular music artists of that time, publishing these videos on his YouTube channel.
Biography
Alisher Tagirovich Valeyev was born on February 17, 1998, in Ufa; he changed his last name to Morgenshtern (Russian and Bashkir: Моргенштерн) as a teenager. His mother is of Russian-Jewish descent, while his father was of Bashkir descent. His mother was a florist; his parents divorced and when Alisher turned 11, his father died of liver cirrhosis due to severe alcoholism.
He has been interested in music since his childhood, and as a teenager he stated that he loved skateboarding.
He released his first music video in 2010.
He attended university for some time, but shortly after starting, he was expelled due to his "frank activities on YouTube", as the rector of the university stated.
Morgenshtern was also a street musician, and was the head singer of the rock band MMD Crew, with whom he collaborated in a song with the Russian rapper Face.
He is best known for his YouTube show "#EasyRap".
In April 2021, Morgenshtern donated to the fund for helping orphans "Our Children" in Bashkiria. This is reported on the foundation's page in VKontakte. The organization clarified that the musician sent a total of 666,666 rubles, which was the largest donation to the NGO from a private person. This money will be spent on the development of the project "Mentoring".
In May 2022, the Russian Ministry of Justice put Morgenshtern on the list of foreign agents after receiving funding from the Israeli media company Yoola Labs and for his remarks about Victory Day. Morgenshtern later apologised on his Telegram channel and tried to appeal against the decision to put him on its foreign agents list, but still continues to be on the list as of March 10, 2023.
Music career
On 17 January 2020, he released the album "Legendary Dust", which was recorded in a week on his live stream. The album became the most successful of Morgenshtern's career, gaining a million streams on VK in the first half-hour of release and five million streams in eleven hours. In the first two days after the release, the album was listened to on VK more than 21 million times, which is a record for this social network. On 30 January 2020 he visited the Evening Urgant show.
On 5 March 2020, he released the track "Malyshka" (ru: Малышка), collaborated with the Russian musician Sharlot. On 5 June 2020 he released the track "Pososi". Official music video for this track, currently is the most disliked YouTube video in Russia. On 9 June 2020 he released the track "Cadillac", collaborated with Eldzhey. On 31 July 2020 he released the track "Ice", which went viral on social network TikTok.
On 3 November 2020, Morgenshtern, as Russia's Most Successful Showman and Artist 2020, was interviewed by Yury Dud. The interview lasted almost three hours.
In July 2021, Spotify named Morgenshtern the most listened-to artist from Russia.
Shortly thereafter, Morgenshtern went abroad, and all of his previously scheduled concerts in Russia were canceled. On December 10, Morgenshtern released the single "Domoy" about his leaving Russia for the UAE.
Business
In 2020, Morgenshtern announced his plan to open a restaurant in the center of Moscow. On 25 June 2020, Alisher Morgenshtern and Eduard Popov, better known as an autoblogger "Janis Grek" and one of the members of the YouTube channel "Team A", registered Private limited company "KAIF". In October 2020, Morgenstern opened a restaurant in an office building on Bolshaya Dmitrovka Street. In September 2021, he opened another restaurant on Nikolskaya Street.
In March 2021, Morgenshtern was appointed as the "youth director" of Alfa-Bank. It is assumed that he will be able to attract at least 100 thousand new customers from among his fans.
Political views
Morgenshtern opposed the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The 12 (song) speaks about the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. During the chorus, Morgenshtern condemns Russian generals bringing Russian soldiers to the frontlines of the war, saying "Big bosses will send [you] to the slaughterhouse, [and] bosses never give a fuck". In May 2022, he was declared a foreign agent in Russia. In June 2023, the government of Kyrgyzstan canceled his performance at the Alga Fest music festival in Bishkek. Kyrgyz authorities and politicians justified the decision by saying that Morgenshtern has a "bad influence" on young people, but the real reason may be that post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan is heavily dependent on Russia and under the influence of the Russian government.
He supported the 2024 Bashkortostan protests and published a picture of the Bashkir national hero Salawat Yulayev on social networks.
Discography
Studio albums
- Do togo kak stal izvesten (2018)
- Ulybnis, durak! (2019)
- Legendarnaya pyl (2020)
- Million Dollar: Happiness (2021)
- Million Dollar: Business (2021)
- Last One (2022)
Remix albums
- Golden Hits (2023)
- Golden Hits, Vol. 2 (2023)
EP
- Hate Me (2018)
Singles
- Kopy na khvoste (with TIMURKA BITS) (2018)
- Vot tak (2018)
- Otpuskayu (2018)
- Turn It On! (with PALC) (2019)
- Guerra (2019)
- Novyj merin (2019)
- Igrovoy computer (with EQT_ALBERT) (2019)
- Mne pokh (with Klava Coka) (2019)
- Yung Hefner (2019)
- Sad Song (with Thrill Pill and Egor Kreed) (2019)
- Mne pokh (Acoustic Version) (with Klava Coka) (2020)
- Malyshka (2020)
- Pososi (2020)
- Cadillac (with Eldzhey) (2020)
- Cadillac (Remix Pack) (with Eldzhey) (2020)
- Ice (2020)
- Lollipop (with Eldzhey) (2020)
- El Problemá (with Timati) (2020)
- Watafuk?! (with Lil Pump) (2020)
- Klip za 10 lyamov (2020)
- Cristal & Moyot (2020)
- Degenerat (Deluxe) (with Dzharakhov) (2021)
- Rozovoye vino 2 (with Yung Trappa) (2021)
- Family (with Yung Trappa) (2021)
- Novaya volna (with DJ Smash) (2021)
- Leck (with Imanbek and Fetty Wap featuring KDDK) (2021)
- Dulo (2021)
- Cristal & Moyot (Remix) (with Soda Luv and OG Buda featuring blago white and MAYOT) (2021)
- Show (2021)
- Ya ne znayu (with Slava Marlow) (2021)
- Domoy (2021)
- Pochemu? (2022)
- 12 (2022)
- Selyavi (2022)
- Nomer (2022)
- Izvestnym (with The Limba) (2022)
- Daleko (with Aarne) (2022)
- 5:00 am (with LSP) (2022)
- Skolko stoi lubov (with The Limba, Niletto and BoombI4) (2022)
- Priton (with VACÍO) (2022)
- Bugatti (with Arut) (2022)
- Ya ubil Marka (Oxxxymiron Diss) (2022)
- Double Cup (with Kizary) (2022)
- Tsveti (with Lida) (2022)
- Grustno (with Magic Man) (2023)
- Ne Prada (with Arut and Eldzhey) (2023)
- Poydet (2023)
- Ratatatata (MØRFI Remix) (with Vitya AK) (2023)
- If I Ever (with Onative and Rich The Kid) (2023)
- Cherniy Russkiy (2023)
- Schitalochka (2023)
- Poslednaya Lyubov (2024)
- Poslednaya Lyubov (Robin Schulz Remix) (2024)
Awards and honors
| Award | Nomination | Source | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Topical Style Awards 2020 | Woman of the Year | |
| 2020 | GQ Person of the Year 2020 | Musician of the Year |
