Dirty Ramirez is the most controversial character in Russian hip-hop. “For some, our work seems rude, and even immoral. Someone listens to us, not attaching importance to the meaning of words. Really, we're just rapping."
Under one of Dirty Ramirez's videos, a user wrote: "Sometimes I listen to Dirty's tracks and I have only one desire - to wash off all the dirt that got into my ears. But there comes a point where I want to get my whole body covered in this shit.”
The biography of Dirty Ramirez cannot be called bright. The rapper hides his face under a mask, and it seems that Ramirez does not intend to reveal his cards. However, mystery and secrecy only increases interest in the young man.
Childhood and youth of Sergei Zhelnov
Under the creative pseudonym Dirty Ramirez, the name of a modest guy is hidden - Sergey Zhelnov. A young man was born on November 29, 1992 in the provincial Nizhnevartovsk.
There is very little information about the childhood of Sergei Zhelnov. It is only known that his parents are far from show business. In addition to Seryozha, an older brother also grew up in the family, who, in fact, instilled in him a love of music.
To the question of a journalist: “What does your childhood smell like?”. Dirty Ramirez replied: "My childhood smells like sour potatoes."
He did poorly at school. Physical education was my favorite subject. By the way, in his school years, Sergei was engaged in break dancing. However, he soon gave up his hobby. Music took precedence.
Sergey Zhelnov listened to hip-hop at the age of 15. The young man's preferences were American music. Dirty Ramirez considered the tracks of domestic MCs and rappers to be base music. Soon Ram took up the pen to correct this misunderstanding.
Sergey has always given preference to style and sound. Text content was in the background. The rapper admired one of the most technical rappers on the planet Tech N9ne.
It was he who showed everyone what a feed and fast flow are. For Ram, the rapper became something of an idol, inspiring him to get on the path of rap culture.
Already at the age of 16, Ram occupied the niche of underground hip-hop with all the elements inherent in it. Ramirez's early work can by no means be called "insipid".
Clear rhymes, interesting presentation of text and expressions make him a memorable personality. Sergei joined forces with like-minded people. Soon, a new musical group appeared in the world of rap culture.
Dirty Ramirez as part of the Impact Strategy group
In 2010, rap fans could get acquainted with the tracks of the new group "Influence Strategy". The team was led by Dirty Ramirez, then known as Versailles, as well as BreD, Nekk and Kapo.
The group "Strategy of Impact" has become a real discovery for Nizhnevartovsk rap. The guys attended local festivals and gradually gained their audience of fans.
In 2011, the team won the next music festival, becoming the best team of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug.
During the existence of the "Influence Strategy" team, the guys managed to release more than one album. However, the rapper failed to increase popularity. They have remained local stars.
The debut album was the album "Impact under the law", which was released in 2010. Then the group's discography was replenished with collections: "Product Tasting" (2011), "Team Zalp" (2012) and "All Ours" (2012).
During this period, there was a peak in the popularity of the musical group. The guys were interviewed and autographed. Not a single local event was complete without the Impact Strategy group. The team even performed on the Europe Plus radio. Nizhnevartovsk.
No matter how hard the guys tried, they still did not manage to achieve the popularity they were counting on. Someone decided to go on a solo “swimming”, someone entered the university, and only Sergey decided to finish what he started.
“I am very inspired by other people's victories. When I feel like I'm about to give up, I read the biography of famous people. Helps to cope with the desire to go to the bottom,” said Dirty Ramirez.
Dirty Ramirez and Sidoji Duboshit: the history of the creation of the group
Dirty Ramirez and Sidoji Duboshit is one of the loudest duets that conquered all the CIS countries without exception. By 2014, the guys had known each other for more than 5 years, but had never been in the art before.
At the time of 2014, each of the rappers studied at a higher educational institution, rapped exclusively for himself. Duboshit's rap was more melodic and very different from Dirty Ramirez's rap style.
However, in the summer of 2014, the guys decided to create a group. The rappers did not make big bets, but simply decided to reconsider the free niches in Russian rap. The niche of horrorcore rap with elements of horror was free.
Dirty Ramirez and Sid realized that this was definitely their niche. In addition, they were attracted by the fact that it was not at all necessary to show your face to the audience.
Sidoji Duboshit informed Rem that he had scary masks in his pantry. Soon rappers realized that masks would become the main element of their image. The guys weren't wrong. Aggressive reading combined with style did the trick.
The first clips of the team
The rappers shot the first video clip on an amateur camera. Of course, in the first work you can see the lack of a strong technical side. The clip has gone viral. The lack of PR did not allow the video clip to become something more than just an amateur video.
Sid was about to drop the case, but Ram convinced him to move on. Sid was skeptical, although he eventually agreed. Time has shown that he agreed not in vain.
In the summer, the first high-quality video clip of the rappers "Mereana Mordegard" was released. In the video, young people appeared in the form of a goblin and a man with a black plastic bag and an angry birds hat on his head.
For Russian music lovers it was something new. The guys managed to light their star. Despite this, for some time rappers disappeared from the horizon.
Success "knocked on the windows" of rappers a little, but you won't go far without PR. Once, the performers entered the chat roulette, where they showed people their “strange” creativity. The rappers chose not to take off their masks.
One of the chat roulette interlocutors was the famous rapper Oksimiron. He promised to transfer the work of the guys into the right hands. Miron Federov became these "hands".
Help Oxxxymiron on the path of an artist
Oxxxymiron not only kept his word, but also promoted the guys on his Twitter. From that moment on, Dirty Ramirez opened his stellar path.
The popularity of the duo began to increase exponentially. Soon the video clip "Wizards of the country ponOZ" appeared. However, Sid and Ram are still not happy with the work, they wanted to "raise their bar".
And in 2016, the guys made a powerful shot. Sid and Dirty Ramirez presented one of the most powerful compositions of their repertoire "Jean Grey". Those who were not previously familiar with their work learned about Russian rappers. It was a "hit on the bull's-eye".
Dirty Ramirez and Sidoji Duboshit for 2016 were able to form their audience of fans. Despite their popularity, they continue to hide their faces behind masks.
Moreover, no one knew the real names of the rappers. And only a year later, fans were able to see the faces of their idols and find out their real names.
Joint music guys
In the same year, the rappers released the joint album Mochivils. The album is just a hurricane. The collection turned out to be so powerful, and in some places even crazy, that it could seriously compete with the Joker for a place in Arkham. How do you like the line: “But Kipelov hasn’t finished boiling?”.
In support of the record, the rappers went on a big tour. The tour of the performers took place in large and provincial towns of the Russian Federation.
The rappers decided not to stop there. Already in 2017, their common discography was replenished with the album Mochivils 2. This collection was just as incendiary, funny, and in some places even frightening!
In the same year, Dirty Ramirez presented his solo track "Toxin" to fans. A music video was later released for the track. The fans cheered. “Test work” - about such comments were written to the rapper by fans.
In 2017, official information appeared that the duet of Sid and Ram had ceased to exist. The rappers did not comment on the situation. Later it became known that the rappers began to break up for the sake of PR and a decrease in interest in themselves.
In the winter of the same 2017, the rappers presented a new collection, Reptile. In addition to general songs, the disc contains three solo tracks by Dirty Ramirez.
Dirty Ramirez today
After playing the battle with Andy Cartwright, Dirty Ramirez returned home. Later, Ram, together with Sidogio, played a tour of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine.
By the way, the guys' concerts are also a kind of "madhouse". The performances were held on a huge scale.
In 2018, Ram released a joint track "Cabernet" with the musical group Anacondaz. The track was included in the disc of the mentioned group "I Never You".
In 2019, Dirty Ramirez released his solo album TRAUMATIX. The record was positively received by the "fans" and was certified gold by Sony.
An updated version of the mentioned collection was later released. In the same year, the rapper released a joint song with the Dutch band Dope DOD Crazy.
