Earlier this week, instead of playing one of his long-anticipated, sold-out arena shows in Russia, Oxxxymiron gave an antiwar concert in a packed club in Istanbul. A crowd of Russians, many of whom had left their own country, filled the club, chanting "No to war!" and "Glory to Ukraine!"—slogans that could now get them jailed at home
ISTANBUL — Only a month ago, it would have been an innocuous scene in Moscow: Oxxxymiron, one of Russia’s most popular rappers, performing his latest tracks onstage with a banner behind him reading: “Russians against war.”
But after President Vladimir Putin decided to invade Ukraine, what had been typical for the rapper, known for his political sloganeering, quickly became impossible.
©2019 New York Times News Service