Timur Ildarovich Yunusov (; born 15 August 1983), better known by his stage name Timati (), is a Russian rapper, singer, record producer, actor, and entrepreneur.

Biography

Early life

Timur Ildarovich Yunusov (, ) was born on 15 August 1983 in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

to an ethnically mixed familyKamenev, Marina (January 18, 2008).
The word on the street
". '' The St. Petersburg Times''. Retrieved 2009-06-14. of Tatar father Ildar Vakhitovich Yunusov and

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

mother Simona Yakovlevna Yunusova (née Chernomorskaya); he also has a younger brother, Artyom. He grew up in a wealthy industrialist family, saying "I have very wealthy parents", but "I was never spoiled." He was raised mainly on Mira Avenue in Moscow. His current stage name "Timati" has stuck with him since he was young.Redeeva, Elena (December 25, 2006).
Тимати: Я совершенно уникален!
(in Russian). ''

Moskovskij Komsomolets ''Moskovskij Komsomolets'' (''MK''; ) is a Moscow-based daily newspaper with a circulation approaching one million, covering general news. Founded in 1919, it is famed for its topical reporting on Russian politics and society. History The news ...

''. Retrieved 2009-06-14. Yunusov also lived in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

for 3 years. At the urgent request of his grandfather, composer and conductor Yakov Chervomorsky, Timur graduated from violin class in music school. He studied at the

Higher School of Economics HSE University (), officially the National Research University Higher School of Economics () is a public research university founded in 1992 and headquartered in Moscow, Russia. Along with its main campus located in the capital, the university ...

, and finished his third year, but left to focus on his music career. He later became associated with the YPS squad. His first single came out with Konaldo.

Career

He became well known to the Russian community from the music reality show '' Star Factory 4'', but before it he collaborated with

Detsl Kirill Aleksandrovich Tolmatsky (; 22 July 1983 – 3 February 2019), better known by his stage names Detsl (Russian: Децл, from youth slang: "little", "small") and Le Truk, was a Russian hip hop artist. Biography The son of Russian media ...

. Member of the group Banda (; lit. "Gang") and co-founder of VIP 77. Former owner of B-Club nightclub, the bar Black October and the stores Ё-Life. He is the CEO of his label called "Black Star Inc". In 2006, was featured in ''

Heat In thermodynamics, heat is energy in transfer between a thermodynamic system and its surroundings by such mechanisms as thermal conduction, electromagnetic radiation, and friction, which are microscopic in nature, involving sub-atomic, ato ...

'' produced by

Fyodor Bondarchuk Fyodor Sergeyevich Bondarchuk ( ; born 9 May 1967) is a Russian film director, actor, producer and TV host. He is also the founder of Art Pictures Studio, a production company. He specializes in action movies, war movies, and science fiction ...

. In 2008, Timati was featured in a

Fat Joe Joseph Antonio Cartagena (born August 19, 1970), better known by his stage name Fat Joe, is an American rapper. He began recording as a member of Hip-hop, hip hop group D.I.T.C., Diggin' in the Crates Crew (D.I.T.C.) in 1992, and pursued a sol ...

song called "Put U Take It", also featuring German rapper Nox and Raul, produced by Scott Storch, referencing Jacob Arabo. In 2008

Mario Winans Mario Mendell Winans ( Brown; born August 29, 1974) is an American R&B singer, songwriter, and record producer from South Carolina. An extended member of the Winans musical family, he is best known for his 2004 single " I Don't Wanna Know" (f ...

featured Timati in the single "Forever". In the same year, Timati appeared in the comedy film '' Hitler goes Kaput!''. Timati, in 2009, featured

Snoop Dogg Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. ( ; born October 20, 1971), better known by his stage name Snoop Dogg (previously Snoop Doggy Dogg), is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. Rooted in West Coast hip-hop, he is widely regarded as one of t ...

in the single "Groove On". Michael 'Mike' David is currently Timati's UK producer. He is responsible for Timati's collaborations with foreign artists, such as Snoop Dogg,

Busta Rhymes Trevor George Smith Jr. (born May 20, 1972), known professionally as Busta Rhymes, is an American rapper, singer and actor. Chuck D of Public Enemy gave him the moniker Busta Rhymes, after National Football League, NFL and Canadian Football Lea ...

, and

, and much of Timati's popularity in the

Western world The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to various nations and state (polity), states in Western Europe, Northern America, and Australasia; with some debate as to whether those in Eastern Europe and Latin America also const ...

. In summer 2011, he topped the charts in Luxembourg, Poland, and Romania with the single "Welcome to St. Tropez" vs. DJ Antoine and feat. Kalenna Harper from Diddy – Dirty Money, shortly after being nominated for the best clip in Russia's Capital Moscow with "I'm on You" feat. P Diddy. The clip was created by Timati's old friend and partner, Pavel Hoodyakov, in the U.S. In 2016, Timati gave his biggest solo performance in the

Olympic Stadium ''Olympic Stadium'' is the name usually given to the main stadium of an Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports ...

in Moscow. The concert was attended by 15,000 people and featured a 3D installation, a car on stage and other spectacular show elements. On the night of 21 June 2018 Timati and Egor Kreed held an unauthorized mass event in Moscow on Bolshaya Dmitrovka by staging an impromptu performance right on the roof of a car, which caused a major traffic jam on the street. This action was devoted to the opening of Timati's beauty salon. The next day, lawyer Alexander Khaminsky filed an application to initiate a case on this incident in the Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Tver and the Moscow State Traffic Safety Inspectorate. The court was appointed on 1 August 2018. In 2021, Timati's music video ''Scandal'' featuring Hanza and Oweek received a nomination at the Berlin Music Video Awards for Best Visual Effects. The VFX company behind the music video is HoodyFX.

Friendship with Ramzan Kadyrov

Timati calls the Chechen president

Ramzan Kadyrov Ramzan Akhmatovich Kadyrov (born 5 October 1976) is a Russian politician and current head of the Chechen Republic. He was formerly affiliated with the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, Chechen independence movement, through his father who was the ...

a friend and brother. In 2017, Timati shared an Instagram post of himself posing in Kadyrov's private jet. When anti-corruption activists highlighted this, Timati removed the Instagram post.

Support for Vladimir Putin

He participated in a political video to support

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...

during the 2012 Russian presidential election. During the 2018 Russian presidential election, he endorsed and was an official supporter of

. During the repression of candidates for the

election An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold Public administration, public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative d ...

of the Moscow State Duma,

police brutality Police brutality is the excessive and unwarranted use of force by law enforcement against an individual or Public order policing, a group. It is an extreme form of police misconduct and is a civil rights violation. Police brutality includes, b ...

was used to hold back protestors and Timati collaborated with another rapper "Guf" to make "''Москва''" (Moscow), a song including the chorus "my best friend is President Putin", dissing the protesters and Russian opposition movement while praising the

mayor of Moscow The Mayor of Moscow () is the head and the highest-ranking official of Moscow, who leads the Government of Moscow, the main executive body of the city. Moscow is both a city and separate federal subject, according to the Constitution of ...

, the

Kremlin The Moscow Kremlin (also the Kremlin) is a fortified complex in Moscow, Russia. Located in the centre of the country's capital city, the Moscow Kremlin (fortification), Kremlin comprises five palaces, four cathedrals, and the enclosing Mosco ...

, and

and the video amassed 1.48 million dislikes on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

, the highest amount for a Russian video on YouTube before Russian rapper MORGENSHTERN broke the record for a

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

for song " Pososi". Later, Timati deleted the "Moscow" video due to a "wave of negativity". On 18 March 2022, Timati sang at

's Moscow rally, celebrating the

annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation In February and March 2014, Russia invaded the Crimea, Crimean Peninsula, part of Ukraine, and then annexed it. This took place in the relative power vacuum immediately following the Revolution of Dignity. It marked the beginning of the Russ ...

from Ukraine and justifying the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

AliExpress Scandal

On Timati's merchandise store, Black Star Wear, Timati collaborated with the

Russian Army The Russian Ground Forces (), also known as the Russian Army in English, are the Army, land forces of the Russian Armed Forces. The primary responsibilities of the Russian Ground Forces are the protection of the state borders, combat on land, ...

with military-style clothes but users found nearly identical clothing being sold on Chinese

online marketplace An online marketplace (or online e-commerce marketplace) is a type of e-commerce website where product or service information is provided by multiple third parties. Online marketplaces are the primary type of multichannel ecommerce and can be a wa ...

AliExpress being

rebranded Rebranding is a marketing strategy in which a new name, term, symbol, design, concept or combination thereof is created for an established brand with the intention of developing a new, differentiated identity in the minds of consumers, investors ...

and price gouged on Black Star Wear. Similarly, the wireless earphones also sold on Black Star Wear that were branded as "unique" also were traced back to near identical AliExpress counterparts. Timati then did a brand deal with AliExpress, making a short rap video promoting AliExpress, praising AliExpress for delivery speed and good deals on the website.

Books

* 2008 – "The Moor" – producer books * 2009 – "Audio of Audi. History of the brand" – Executive audiobooks * 2010 – "Tatar folk tales" – Executive audiobooks * 2012 – "A boy of twelve. Tatar folk tale" – Executive audiobooks * 2012 − "A white serpent. Tatar folk tales" − Executive audiobooks * 2012 − "Kamyr-Batyr. Tatar folk tales" − Executive audiobooks

Business

Timati has several successful businesses including: * "Black Star Wear" - clothing line. * "Black Star Burger" - restaurant opened in 2016 in Moscow, it later became a franchise with several locations such as

and

Chelyabinsk Chelyabinsk; , is the administrative center and largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia. It is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, seventh-largest city in Russia, with a population ...

. The burger restaurant is popular among the youths in Russia. * "13 by Black Star" - barber shop and a tattoo shop in Moscow. * " Stars Coffee", taking over the former

Starbucks Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational List of coffeehouse chains, chain of coffeehouses and Starbucks Reserve, roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It was founded in 1971 by Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl, and Gor ...

coffees in Russia after the company withdrew due to the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

Concert tours

*2009–2010 – The Boss Tour *2011 – Carrera Tour 2011 0*2015 – GTO (with L'One) *2016 – Olimp tour

Discography

Studio albums

*'' Black Star'' (2006) *'' The Boss'' (2009) *'' SWAGG'' (2012) * ''13'' (2013) * RELOAD (2013) * Audiokapsula (2014) * G.T.O. (With L'One) (2015) *'' Olimp'' (2016) *''Tranzit'' (2020) *''Шипы и Розы'' (2021) *''Banger Mixtape'' (2021)

Collaboration albums

*''Noviye Lyudi'' ''(New People)'' (2004) – with Banda *''The Album'' (2006) – with VIP77

Singles

As lead artist

;Others *Forever *Love You *Money in the Bank *Top of the World *Not All About The Money *

Gucci Guccio Gucci S.p.A., doing business as Gucci ( , ), is an Italian Luxury goods, luxury fashion house based in Florence. Its product lines include handbags, ready-to-wear, footwear, accessories, and home decoration; and it licenses its name and ...

(feat. Egor Kreed) * Khavchik (feat. GeeGun & Danya Milokhin) * Rolls Royce (feat. GeeGun & Egor Kreed)

As featured artist

Awards

Berlin Music Video Awards

* Best Visual Effect ''Scandal'' - 2021 (nominated)

MTV Russian Music Awards

* Best Hip-Hop Artist – 2007 (nominated) * Best Hip-Hop Artist – 2008 (nominated) * Best Artist – 2008 (nominated) * Best Male Act – 2008 (nominated)

MUZ-TV Awards

* Best Hip-Hop Artist – 2009 (nominated) * Best Hip-Hop Artist – 2010 (won) * Best Album "The Boss" – 2010 (won) * Best Video "Love You" – 2010 (won) * Best Video "I'm on You" – 2011 (won)

MTV Europe Music Awards

* Best Russian Act – 2009 (nominated) * Best Russian Act – 2010 (nominated) * Best Russian Act – 2011 (nominated)

Golden Gramophone Award

* Award winner for the "I love you..." song – 2008 * Award winner for the "Moscow Never Sleeps..." song − 2009 * Award winner for the "London" song (together with Grigory Leps) − 2013

Night Life Awards

* Best club hit – 2003 * Best club figure of the year − 2007

World Fashion Awards

* Best R'n'B artist – 2007 * Fashion R'n'B project − 2008

Other awards

* 2008 − MTV RMA Award (Best club project for the Black Star Club) * 2009 − In Da Awards (Best album according to Indarnb.ru) * 2010 − Love Radio Awards (Best artist according to Love Radio) * 2010 − "Trud" newspaper award - (Best-looking man) * 2014 − World Music Awards (Best Russian Artist and Best RnB Artist of Russia)

Other achievements

His 2019 pro-Kremlin and anti-gay music video "Moscow" became the most disliked Russian video on YouTube, with 1.48 million dislikes before it was removed from YouTube. During the

, he argued in favor of the Russian attack.

Filmography

*2004 − ''Countdown'' *2006 − ''Heat'' *2008 − ''Albania!'' *2008 − ''Monday Twist'' *2008 − Daddy's Daughters *2008 − Hitler Goes Kaput! *2009 − ''Little Red Riding Hood'' *2010 − ''How the Cossacks...'' *2012 − ''My path to success'' (a videoseminar) *2013 − ''Odnoklassniki.ru'' *2014 - ''Capsule'' *2015 − ''Zero'' *2016 − ''Russian Hip Hop Beef'' *2019 − ''Hot!'' *2019 − ''Mafia'' *2020 − ''Mafia 2'' Translation dubbing: *2006 − '' Arthur and the Invisibles'' *2007 − '' Surf's Up'' *2009 − '' District 13: Ultimatum'' *2009 − '' Arthur and the Revenge of Maltazard'' *2014 − '' Brick Mansions''

Personal life

Timati was in a relationship with Alexa – his colleague from the “Fabrika Zvyozd” – a popular Russian television talent show. The pair split up in 2007. He was also in a relationship with model Alena Shishkova. They share a daughter named Alisa (born 19 March 2014). Since 2015, Timati has been dating Russian model Anastasia Reshetova. On 16 October 2019 the couple had a son, named Ratmir.

References

External links

*
Timati at the Forbes
*
Timati lyrics
* * * {{Authority control 1983 births Russian hip-hop musicians Living people English-language singers from Russia Volga Tatar people Jewish rappers Rappers from Moscow Russian Jews Fabrika Zvyozd Tatar people of Russia Jewish hip-hop record producers Russian record producers Universal Motown Records artists Russian people of Jewish descent 21st-century Russian male rappers