Basta Russian Rapper With 5.8M Instagram Followers

Early life

Basta, whose birth name is Vasiliy Mikhaylovich Vakulenko, was born on 20 April 1980 in Rostov-on-Don. His father was an army officer. He studied at a local music college but did not finish the course. By the time he was fifteen or sixteen he had begun writing rap lyrics.

Career

In 1997 Basta joined a rap group called Psycholyric, which he later renamed Kasta. A year later he recorded his first solo single, "Moya Igra" (My Game), and went on to form his own band, Ulichnye Zvuki (Street Sounds). In 2004 the rapper Bogdan Titomir noticed his work and invited him to Moscow. There he met the performers Smoky Mo and Guf, took part in the recording of Guf's album "Gorod Dorog" (City of Roads), and made a new version of "Moya Igra" with him.

Basta's studio albums began with "Basta 1" in 2006 and "Basta 2" in 2007. In 2008 he adopted a second stage name, Noggano, a reference to the Nagant revolver, and described it as an alter ego through which he presented himself as a gangsta rapper. Under that name he released two albums, "Noggano: The First" and "Noggano: Warm". His numbered series continued with "Basta 3" in 2010, "Basta 4" in 2013 and "Basta 5" in 2016, and he also issued collaborative records: "Basta/Guf" in 2010 and "Basta/Smoky Mo" in 2015. Other releases include "N1nt3nd0" and "GlaZ" in 2011, "TVA" in 2014, "Luxury" in 2016, "Papa na reive" in 2019, "Basta 40" in 2020 and "Palets na otsechenie" in 2022. A joint album with Guf, titled "Basta/Guf 2026", is listed for 2026.

Among his many singles are "Final Match", described as the official anthem of the Match TV channel, in 2015; "Golos" (The Voice) with Polina Gagarina in 2016; "Master i Margarita" with Yuna in 2017; and "Sansara" in 2017, which features several guest artists, among them Diana Arbenina and Skriptonit. In 2020 he released "Neboley" with the singer Zivert. He plays guitar and tambourine, and his music is mainly hip-hop. Besides recording, he has worked as a producer and a radio host.

In 2006 Basta and his business partner Evgeny Antimoniy founded Gazgolder. The company works under a multi-brand approach: it is a record label, a nightclub, a production company, a management agency and a talent agency, and it also runs retail businesses such as clothing stores, pubs and restaurants. In October 2019 Basta became the owner of the football club FC SKA Rostov-on-Don, and together with the state corporation Rostec he contributed to the restoration of the club.

Basta also has two screen credits. He directed and wrote the film "Tea Drinker" (2008), and the film "GazGolder" followed in 2014.

Public roles

Basta's public positions have led to restrictions abroad. In 2017 Ukraine banned him from entering the country for three years after he performed in Crimea, following the Russian annexation of the region in 2014. In January 2023 Ukraine imposed sanctions on him for publicly supporting the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.