The more esoteric and remote the artist, the more exciting my job gets. This post began when I stumbled upon Grundig, a Russian underground legend- compared by fans on a message board to Tupac and Pushkin- who died at 25 to a heroin overdose. I then discovered that he was 1/2 of the duo which translates as “Slaves of the Lamp:” a reference to drug addiction. Grundig wrote all of the lyrics and composed most of the beats for Rabi Lampi. Last but not least, the discovery of the video “TV Shit” on YouTube put me over the edge. I had to do some deciphering, and by no means am I done yet.

Above is the original cassette cover art for their first and only release, 1998′s “This Is Not Painful.” Below is the artwork from a more recent reissue. Decidedly less gritty.

In 2001, after Grundig’s death, the album was re-issued to feature the track “Dedication” – a song by the remaining Slave (“Jeep”) featuring the DOB Community and YG. Somehow, I navigated a website entirely in Russian and nabbed some mp3s from the album. Check them out, along with the “TV Shit” video:

mp3: “Rabi Lampi” (Intro) “Slaves To The Lamp”

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

mp3: “My Drug”

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

“TV Shit”

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

My friends often ask me how I find the artists for Flight 808- how I find myself capable of judging non-English hip-hop. My answer is always a combination of production, flow, and what I read about their “message” from other websites. While I’m excited about the story of Rabi Lampi and specifically Grundig, I really haven’t found anything about the content of their lyrics. Grundig also has a book out (I’m assuming it’s poetry), so this info is waiting for me somewhere. Flight 808 will get to the core of this mysterious, short-lived duo… stay tuned for Slaves of the Lamp pt. 2!

EDIT: Shouts to Konstantin for ripping me a new one on numerous errors in my post. Hopefully, things look better now. Konstantin also informed us that while Grundig was only half of the group in terms of members, he wrote all of the lyrics and composed most of the beats. Thanks again Konstantin. Translations forthcoming!