Gulyayev Dmitry Igorevich (born January 22, 1986), better known by his

stage name A stage name or professional name is a pseudonym used by performers, authors, and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. The equivalent concept among writers is called a ''nom de plume'' (pen name). Some performers ...

Dimal /dɪmʌl/ (

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

: Димал), is a half-Russian, half-Ukrainian rapper, singer and songwriter based in

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

. He is also the founder and (

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

) of Russian Muziq Mafia Records in

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

Early life

Dimal was born and raised in

Sevastopol Sevastopol ( ), sometimes written Sebastopol, is the largest city in Crimea and a major port on the Black Sea. Due to its strategic location and the navigability of the city's harbours, Sevastopol has been an important port and naval base th ...

in the

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

in the eastern part of the

Crimean Peninsula Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrai ...

, where half of the population are

Russians Russians ( ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Eastern Europe. Their mother tongue is Russian language, Russian, the most spoken Slavic languages, Slavic language. The majority of Russians adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church ...

. He was born in a mixed family, with a

mother, Svitlana Agius, and Ukrainian father, Igor Gulyayev. His father left the family when he was just five years old. Dimal had a passion for

arts The arts or creative arts are a vast range of human practices involving creativity, creative expression, storytelling, and cultural participation. The arts encompass diverse and plural modes of thought, deeds, and existence in an extensive ...

such as

graffiti Graffiti (singular ''graffiti'', or ''graffito'' only in graffiti archeology) is writing or drawings made on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from simple written "monikers" to elabor ...

, singing,

break dancing Breakdancing or breaking, also called b-boying (when performed by men) or b-girling (women), is a style of street dance originated by African Americans and Puerto Ricans in The Bronx borough of New York City. Breakdancing consists mainly o ...

and

martial arts Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defence; military and law enforcement applications; combat sport, competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; ...

such as

boxing Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...

and

taekwondo Taekwondo (; ; ) is a Korean martial art and combat sport involving primarily kicking techniques and punching. "Taekwondo" can be translated as ''tae'' ("strike with foot"), ''kwon'' ("strike with hand"), and ''do'' ("the art or way"). In ad ...

. At the age of six he attended music school, where he studied the

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

. He began rapping at age of 15 and was a part of the rap group Zapadnya (

: Западня; lit. "Trap") and was also a member of the Key Clan, or just Keys. He left the Tavrida National V.I. Vernadsky University at his third grade, where he studied economics. At the age of 19 he moved to

2010: "Shake it" and Malta Music Awards

In 2010 Dimal released his first major single – featuring vocals from Maddee, a singer-songwriter from the UK – which received major air play in

. The song became very popular on

Myspace Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...

and in a short time it reached over 3 million plays Later on that year, he was nominated for "Best Hip-Hop/R'n'B Artist" at the

Malta Music Awards Malta Music Awards (MMA) is an annual music awards ceremony held since October 20, 1995, and organised by Mega Music Malta in collaboration with Public Broadcasting Services and Magic Malta. The aims of the Malta Music Awards include promotion o ...

with such artists like

Muxu Matthew Mercieca (born 19 July 1990), known professionally as Muxu, is a Maltese singer and songwriter. He is one of Malta's leading R&B artists, with multiple number-one singles, and has received various local awards. Career Mercieca started ...

, Kristina Casolani and Thea Saliba, and won. the award which was presented by CEO of

MOBO Awards The MOBO Awards (Music of Black Origin, also known as the MOBOs) are an annual British music award presentation honouring achievements in " music of black origin", including hip hop, grime, UK Drill, R&B, soul, reggae, jazz, gospel, and Ba ...

Kanya King Kanya King, (born February 12, 1969 at Kilburn, London), is a British entrepreneur who founded the MOBO Awards. Biography King was born in 1969 at Kilburn, London, to an Irish mother and a Ghanaian father, being the youngest of their nine chi ...

. Also that year, Dimal had played in support of two international acts,

Ja Rule Jeffrey Bruce Atkins (born February 29, 1976), better known by his stage name Ja Rule (), is an American rapper, singer, and actor. Born and raised in New York City, Ja Rule became known for blending gangsta rap with pop rap, pop and contempo ...

and

Flo Rida Tramar Lacel Dillard (born September 16, 1979), known professionally as Flo Rida ( ), is an American rapper and singer. His 2007 debut and breakout single "Low (Flo Rida song), Low" was number one for 10 weeks in the United States and broke the ...

2011: "Go Low" and Eurovision

The single "Go Low", which also was featured Maddee, was released on 17 August 2011 and hit Malta's Top 10 Charts but only for few weeks. In October Dimal worked on a

Eurovision The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster submits an origina ...

song with Deborah C, and together they flew in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

to record a song which was produced by

Ralph Siegel Ralph Siegel (born 30 September 1945) is a German record producer and songwriter. Siegel is one of the most notable figures at the Eurovision Song Contest, in which he has participated with 24 songs so far, among them the 1982 winner song Ein ...

– but they did not make it to the finals of the contest. Dimal at Bay Music Awards 2012

2012: "Lets Make It Happen" and Bay Music Awards

During the summer of 2012, Dimal teamed up with Maltese singer-songwriter Lyndsay Pace to release their song " Let's Make It Happen", which blends Dimal's rapping skills and Lyndsay's melodic vocals. The song did well on local and international radio charts including Malta's Top 10 Charts, PRS Top 40 Charts, Urban Top 20 Charts, among others. Most of the local DJ's picked up the song and put in their play lists. This led to the Bay Music Awards, where Dimal was nominated for "Best Newcomer". The song was also nominated for an award for "Top SIngle" in the MMI Listeners Picks Poll which is run by

Toni Sant Toni Sant (born 1968) is a Maltese academic and former radio and television presenter, producer and music journalist. He is Director of Digital Media & Film Production at Salford University and was formerly Reader in Digital Curation at the Unive ...

2013-present: IPMA

In January 2013 Dimal was nominated for the International Portuguese Music Awards in two categories, Best Dance Song1st Annual International Portuguese Music Awards (IPMA) – Nominees
/ref> and People's Choice Award. The show will be held on February 2, 2013, at the Zeiterion Theatre in

New Bedford New Bedford is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. It is located on the Acushnet River in what is known as the South Coast (Massachusetts), South Coast region. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, New Bedford had a ...

Awards and honors

Singles

References

Notes {{Reflist

External links

Dimal
on

Songs written by Dimal 21st-century Russian male rappers 21st-century male rappers Living people 1986 births Russian hip-hop musicians English-language singers from Russia People from Sevastopol Eurodance musicians Tavrida National V.I. Vernadsky University alumni