Who is Aljey / Allj
Real name— Alexey Uzenyuk
Date of Birth — 09.07.1994
Hometown— Novosibirsk
Nickname- Aljay / Allj
Activity— Rapper
http://www.instagram.com/sayonaraboy/
Aljay / Allj biography
So, Aljay is a young rap artist from Novosibirsk, who this year blew up the charts with his tracks, on for a long time eating into your head.
Before he became famous
Alexey was born in 1994, in Novosibirsk, since childhood he had a craving for music, the guy attended a vocal class, was engaged in creativity. At the end of school, he enters a medical school, starts working at the same time, but the desire to become a musician takes its toll and Aljay quits routine classes and devotes himself to music, as you can see, not in vain.
Early work
The path of the rapper with Aljay began, oddly enough, with battles. In his hometown rap battles were held, one of which happened to get to Alexei, impressed by this phenomenon, he understands that he can do better than the guys who performed there. At the age of 13-15, he even takes part both in offline battles and online, winning many victories.
In 2013, Allj releases its first studio album together with the rapper "Mal'om".
allj&mal - Gundezh In terms of sound, it is similar to “access lyrics”, underground, that is, it is not at all the style in which we are used to hearing LJ now.
In 2014, Alexey's second album was released with the title " The heads are smoking". The audience of listeners accepted the album with a bang, the sound became better and more interesting music. A main composition album, from by the same name, sounded from every car, for the sake of it they even put a subwoofer to impress the weaker sex. This was the first success of the artist, but not the last.
In 2015, Allj released the album "Cannon", and began to travel around the country with concerts, thereby further expanding its audience of listeners.
In 2016, he released a solo album "Catacombs" in which I would like to note the rather hit track "Music" recorded together with the performers MiyaGi & Endgame, and it already feels a new sound, a departure from the old style.
Popularity
The turning point in the work of LJ can be noted in September 2016, it was then that the joint track with Kravets "Disconnect", which instantly "shoots", takes first place in all charts and becomes a hit of all parties.
Aljay and KravetsFurther, Alexei's career rapidly went up, he releases the album " Sayonara boy", which for a long time kept at the first positions in "iTunes" and "PlayMusic"
"Sayonara Boy" is a completely new sound, a new style.
In 2017 LJ releases another solo album "Sayonara Boy ろ". With the release of which is formed own style, namely appearance, tattoos, and of course all recognizable white eyes.
The peak of popularity, in our opinion, is - August 2017, it was then that a joint composition with " Allj (Aldzhey) x - Rose wine ". Which without any doubt became the main hit of the summer of 2017.
What's wrong with Aljay's eyes
Allj's eyes are fine, there are no problems or diseases. And he wears white lenses like tattoos and defiant clothes, only to attract attention and form a memorable image. Because of FAQ about the eyes, he even has a song called "What's With My Eyes".
LJ now
SAYONARA BOY X
March 27 aljay releases its new album with the title LJ - "SAYONARA BOY X". Aljay, as promised, released his new album called " Sayonara Boy X". Two compositions " Suzuki" And " Minimal” the rapper posted on social networks before the release of the record. All tracks from the album are performed in the same style, so beloved by the fans, even the themes of the songs have not changed.
Zef- South African counterculture movement
Encyclopedic YouTube
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The golden age of the grotesque. Part 2. ZEF | ZEF
Subtitles
Origin of the term
Word " zef" (in Russian "zef") is colloquial expression from the Afrikaans language, which translates as "ordinary" with a negative connotation - "boring", "dirty", "cheesy". This movement is not associated with the poorest sections of society, but rather with the "white" petty-bourgeois subculture of South Africa. As Die Antwoord vocalist Yolandi Fisser says, “ Zef is when you are poor, but fashionable and sexy. You don't have money, but you have style.».
The term "zef" originated in the 1960s as a derogatory term for the "white" working class. The word originated as an abbreviation for the Ford Zephyr, which was popular in the 50s and 70s of the 20th century. IN South Africa these cars were often tuned with new rims, tires and engines. At that time, they were mostly working-class from the developing East and West Rand areas of Johannesburg (due to the development of gold deposits and the rising price of gold). The average Zephyr driver, despite the relatively comfortable financial position in the 70s, he was still more a representative of the working class than the elite. Therefore, they received the nickname "zef" from wealthier Africans. Frikki Lombard, editor of the Woordeboek van die Afrikaanse Taal, explained the term zef as "something that is usually considered ordinary but is now credible". Music and culture zef
The Die Antwood group associates itself directly with the zef style. Responding to racist accusations of identifying zef, Die Antwood's Ninja argues that the style means "you really don't care what others think of you, you express yourself through music. You are what you wear, what you think and what you say."
The authors of the satirical blog Zef Kinners perceive the style of zef as a South African parody of themselves, which arose from a sense of national melancholy in the post-apartheid era. They notice intersections with early anti-apartheid movements such as the Voëlvry Movement, the satirical magazine Bitterkomix, and the alternative rock band Fokofpolisiekar. At the same time, academic and playwright Anton Krueger argues that "the vulgarity that zeph represents" is partly a consequence of the "sense of shame" during post-apartheid. Other ZEF representatives are Voëlvry leader Koos Kombuis, comedians Corné and Twakkie (Louw Venter and Rob van Vuuren) from The Most Amazing Show, known from the 2006 TV series Kompleks.
Style zef in Russia
In Russia and in the post-Soviet space, where the standard of living in places is quite consistent with the African, this aesthetic has received fertile ground for growth. Layering and mixing with fashion nostalgia for the dashing 90s (which in the West are called post soviet chic or ugly chic), zef gathers its adherents. Increasingly, dressed in the zef style can be seen among the bourgeois youth and even celebrities. A significant influence on this was the super popular in Russia, the pioneers of the style - Die Antwoord.
The first to introduce zef in Russia to the general public were Little group Big (Russian copy of Die Antwoord), which were later joined by Estonian original freak rapper Tommy Cash. They did not call their style any word, but it was, although adapted to domestic realities, but still the style of zef. popular in 2017 Russian rap artist Aljay, on his album "Sayonara Boy 3" releases a track with the same name ZEF, in the chorus of which the lines "we do zef and we are fucked at all" sound, thereby giving the listener a definition of style and becoming the main ambassador of zef' but in Russia.
Notes
1. Russ Truscott, "National melancholia and Afrikaner self-parody in post-apartheid South Africa", Psychoanalysis, Culture & Society (2011) 16, 90–106. DOI:10.1057/pcs.2010.42.
2. Russ Truscott and Maria Brock, "What's the Difference Between a Melancholic Apartheid Moustache and a Nostalgic GDR Telephone", Peace and Conflict: Journal of Psychology Peacelogy, Vol. 18, no. 3, 318-328. DOI: 10.1037/a0029073.
3. Hannalie Marx and Viola Candice Milton, "Bastardised whiteness: ‘zef'-culture, Die Antwoord and the reconfiguration of contemporary Afrikaans identities", Social Identities: Journal for the Study of Race, Nation and Culture, Volume 17, Issue 6, 2011, pp. 723-745. DOI: 10.1080/13504630.2011.606671. (Among other references, this quotes an Afrikaans source as describing Kombuis the "grandfather of zef".)
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To become popular in the West, you need to really try, as they say, to get into the stream. However, not everyone succeeds, but those who managed to gain fame can no longer think about tomorrow and about daily bread. What am I getting at, you ask? In addition, today we will talk about another subculture, which has relatively recently become popular all over the world. Do not forget to bookmark our site site, because we always have very fresh and fashionable information.
However, before continuing, I would like to recommend you a couple more sensible publications on the subject youth movements. For example, what does Grunge mean, who is called Alternatives, who are Vinishko-chan, who is Ofnik, etc.
So let's continue what does zef mean in the song? This term is an abbreviation for the brand name of the car " Ford Zephyr", popular in the 50s and 70s of the last century. How this is connected with Russia, and what is happening in general, I will tell you a little lower.
ZEF is a South African term for fashion trend, which can be compared to "Kitch" or "Common"
Essentially the word ZEF" is slang, and comes from the Afrikaans language, it can be translated as "cheesy", "dirty", "boring".
Popularizers of this fashion is the group "Die Antwoord", which includes three strange members of Ninja, Yo-Landi Visser, and DJ Hi-Tek.
However, this fashion did not appear in their heads, but arose much earlier.
Throughout the 60s and 70s Ford Zephyr was the favorite car of a certain group of South Africans. In South Africa, motorists often improved the appearance of their Vehicle. Some of them even restyled the Ford Zephyr, although it was a workhorse. These cars were equipped with new tires, engines and wheels, after which the car looked very fresh and fashionable. Typically, these cars were mainly bought by people from the working-class neighborhoods of Johannesburg, who worked in the gold mines. And despite the fact that the typical owner of the Zephyr car was quite wealthy, he was still closer to the working class than to the elite. By the way, Ford Zephyr was the prototype for our native Volga Gas-21, but the truth is that it was a little wider and made of better quality.
Wealthy Africans, having discovered that most of the local hard workers drive Ford Zephyr, came up with the contemptuous nickname "ZEF"
The ZEF people liked to "knock down" their socks so that wrinkles appeared on them, and were considered "Common" ("regular"), "Kitch" (kitsch) or having a low social status. The term "ZEF" was coined to describe these people. In Russia, such individuals have always been called "rednecks", in the USA - "rednecks", but in South Africa such citizens had the nickname " ZEF".
This word could be used as an insult, they called those who considered themselves the upper class or better than others.
Bernoldus Niemand aka James Phillips, a South African musician who came from a mining town, is good example man-ZEF, so some of his texts, for example: " welcome to my car”, give direct references to this youth movement.
Today, South African rap artists such as "Die Antwoord" and "Jack Parow" are the epitome of what zef is.
One day Yolandi Fisser once said " ZEF is when you're a beggar, but sexy and fashionable, and although you have no money, you have your own style".
Since the fashion for ZEF is at the peak of its popularity in the West, our youngsters, of course, did not leave this without their attention. Today at major cities, some, especially stubborn citizens try to dress in the ZEF fashion, but frankly, it doesn’t turn out very well for them. As they say, not with Ryazan muzzles try to imitate African fashion.
Our self-made performers, realizing that hype is starting to rise around this subculture, decided to cut down the dough in an easy way. The pioneers who really deserve a mention were the guys from " little big "(Russian rave group, formed in 2013 in St. Petersburg). The guys turned out to be almost complete copies of "Die Antwoord", but since they were "ours", they were accepted with a bang. Later, more Russian rave- ZEF bands that weren't as popular as the pioneers from "Little Big" already.
Of course you're waiting for me to finally say ZEF Aljay which means you don't need to explain, but I'll try anyway. After listening to many ZEF-style tracks, Alexey Uzenyuk (born July 9, 1994 in Novosibirsk) aka Allj decides to change underground rap to a more popular style among young people. He embodied his new ideas in 2017 by releasing the album " Sayonara boy", which contains the track "Eldzhey - ZEF" (posted on YouTube on July 6, 2017).
What can I say about this album, it turned out much better than his first "record" "Gundezh", although it was from it that people learned about its existence.
Unfortunately, the guy is definitely an outsider when compared to " Die Antwoord"It's just that when I hear LJ's slightly unintelligible and nasal voice, and then I listen to Ninj, the contrast is so striking that it just doesn't fit in my head. I understand that Alexey is improving and will eventually achieve unprecedented heights, but for now, "guys with big pussy" prefer Yolandi and Ninja.
However, I want to add a couple of my thoughts about the fact that we are completely unable to make shows, literally all ideas
