Basta

Biography

The variety of directions of creativity is so wide for Vasily Vakulenko that at one time he recorded songs under three pseudonyms. The stylistic, manner of performance, theme and mood of each of the nicknames distinguished themselves. We could hear his names like Noggano or N1NT3NDO. But the largest number of listeners know him as Basta.

One of the most famous rap singers Basta was born in April 1980. Parents were military and were not at all interested in music or poetry. When they noticed his son's creative abilities, they did not cut off the wings of talent and sent him to a music school. To tell the truth, the restless boy did not particularly like the lessons at the music school. But his grandmother always insisted that even though it was not very pleasant now, he would learn and all his musical knowledge would come in handy.

Vasily Vakulenko spent his childhood and adolescence in his hometown - the largest city in the south-west of Russia, Rostov-on-Don. Here he graduated from school number 32. Here he entered the conducting school. But relations with this type of musical and performing art did not work out, the guy was kicked out for academic failure.

It was during this period that Vasily began to get involved in the rap culture popular in the 90s, he was fond of the work of Russell Tyrone Jones (Ol 'Dirty Bastard) and his Wu-Tang Clan, as well as Trevor George Smith (Busta Rhymes), a member of Public Enemy.

Career

The first tests of the pen at Basta took place in his youth. And at the age of 17 he became a member of the "Psycholyric" collective. It was this group that in the future laid the foundation for the well-known and adored by many "Casta". In a year, the guy will become mega-popular thanks to the hits “Gorod” and “Moya igra” written by Bast. From that time on, the guy will become a regular at rap parties, will begin touring the cities of the country. But a small star fever and passion for illegal substances stopped the artist's career for several years.

Will return to the music of Bast only in 2002. The rebuilding process in show business proved to be a daunting task. But soon his demos fell into the hands of producer Bogdan Titomir. Thus, Basta's biography as an artist continued on his way, he moved to Moscow and began cooperation with the record company Gazgolder. After 4 years, the debut studio work will be released. During this period, the guy also met Smokey Mo and members of the Centr group, and recorded the joint work “Gorod dorog” with them.

In 2007, Vasily Vakulenko considers sharing his creative roles and the world begins to acquaintance not only with Basta, but also with Noggano — more impudent and boyish. A year later, the brutal and electronic N1NT3NDO will appear.

Basta continues to meet other popular rappers, records collaboration tracks and even albums with them. For today, the artist has more spheres of activity. He is not only a performer, but also a beatmaker, screenwriter, producer, actor, TV and radio presenter. Also, Basta acted as a mentor in several seasons of the talent show “Voice” and “Voice. Children ”, was on the jury of the show“ Songs ”. Leads channels on Youtube GazLive and "Question by the edge".

Since 2019, Vasily Vakulenko decided to add his biography with one more page, becoming the owner of a football club in his hometown SKA Rostov-on-Don.

Personal life

Although artists rarely marry their fans, this is not at all about Vasily Vakulenko. His wife was just that ardent fan who took the initiative and met the artist herself. She turned out to be Elena Pinskaya.

Elena's mother, a famous journalist, seeing her daughter's chosen one, was horrified at first: brutal, in tattoos. But after reading the lyrics of his songs, she was able to discern in him a romantic and caring young man. By the way, it was Basta who became the author of soundtracks for documentaries by Tatyana Pinskaya and the life and work of Eric Bulatov and Oscar Rabin.

Vasily and Elena got married in 2009. The first daughter Maria was born in early December of the same year. After another 3 years and 2 months, Vasilisa was born.

The artist himself claims that fatherhood has changed his life for the better. If earlier he was fascinated only by the beauty of the night city and life began only under the cover of night. Then with the advent of his daughters, Vasily saw the beauty of sunsets, sunrises and everything around.

Basta is also fond of boxing, but only as training, he is attracted to snowboarding, ice skating and curling.

In 2020, Forbes magazine ranked him # 4 among high-earning artists. He was only surpassed by Sergey Shnurov (founder of the Leningrad group), Yegor Creed and Dima Bilan.

The artist willingly shares fragments from his personal life and work processes on his Instagram page.

Discography

Fans were able to buy Basta's first album in 2006. Its name was simple “Basta 1”. A year later, the release of the second album "Basta 2" was released, which broke all sales records. It was in this album that duets with Maxim and Guf found their place, as well as the hits “Tak plachet vesna” and “Nashe leto”.

The fans had to wait three years for the third album from Basta. In 2010 "Basta 3" was released. But this was preceded by albums as Noggano. In the same year, Vasily Vakuleko presents a joint album with Sergei Dolmatov called “Basta / Guf”.

Subsequent albums with the expected name "Basta 4" and "Basta 5" are released in 2013 and 2016, respectively. Between them flaunts a joint album with Alexander Tsikhov "Basta / Smokey Mo" in 2015.

The newest Basta songs were placed in the 2020 album “Basta 40”.

Under the pseudonym N1NT3NDO (Nintendo), the artist is releasing two albums: “N1NT3NDO” in 2011 and “Dad at the Rave” in 2019.

His debut album “Tpliy” under the role of Noggano gained the status of the best album of 2010 according to the Russian Street Awards. Within the framework of the same award, the composition "Lubov bez pamyati" became the best soundtrack of the year. You can hear the song in the film by Eldar Salavatov entitled “Antikiller AD: Love Without Memory”.