Russia’s Biggest Rappers Are Going Hard Against Putin’s War As the rapper, who would look comfortably at home on a Tekashi 69 set, spits bars about Cartier and riches from behind the wheel, a woman and her son are held at gunpoint. Suddenly, blood spatters the car’s glossy yellow contour as the victims are dispatched offscreen. In fact, the surprise release of “12,” from Russian rapper Morgenshtern, is revolutionary. As the song wraps, a woman’s voice rises above the fray, an angry mob surrounding the rapper, hands banging on the Bentley. It’s the voice of a Ukrainian woman, the mother of rap producer and longtime Morgenshtern collaborator Palagin, who endured Russian strikes in Odesa. Putin’s media clampdown means she will not be heard on Russian airwaves any time soon — she may be the Ukrainian voice most widely encountered by Morgenshtern’s millions of die-hard Russian fans on YouTube. “12,” named in honor of the rapper’s younger brother’s birthday , is the first serious missive from a normally apolitical Russian rapper against the war.

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