siik.org

my movers said they were from kazakhstan. i was like, damn i have no idea what that's about. is the food good? and he was like, bro. the best. he went on for ten minutes, the whole time we're both getting hungry, then he goes fuck it. i know a place that's otw, we're getting samsa. he gives me a twenty, says he called ahead, ill pick it up so he can keep packing and driving. after that i've been all in on central asian countries, learning more about their history and culture. through this i've found some kazakh music with modern sensibilities, with some really interesting music videos and performances. õmir is hitting on crazy levels though - the middle verse is russian, while the rest is in kazakh, the official video is set as a performance in 1991, the year the ussr dissolved and central asian republics gained independence. i feel like the whole song is about this identity crisis. to go even deeper on the iceberg: kazakhs have been resisting russian imperial diktat since around the 1820s - especially when the traditional kazakh leadership structures were dismantled by the empire. forced conscription for world war 1(among other factors) led to a central asian revolt in 1916. more than a decade later, a widespread famine due to collectivization wiped out 30-40% of their native population. by 1959 they became a minority in their own land, also in part to settlement and wartime consequences. soviets were testing nuclear weapons throughout the cold war in their region, leading to more long lasting effects to kazakhs. in 1986 there were student protests because gorbachev replaced their leader with one who wasn't ethnically kazakh, breaking tradition. the next few years saw more protests across other soviet states. by the end of 1989, four baltics were already claiming sovereignty. and by december 1991, the last meeting about the end of their united states was being held in alma ata, kazakhstan, the same place where those protests first popped off. what a people. i have plov like twice a month at least.

shades
dynasty
smilez & southstar
s.o.s. band
bobby valentino
dru hill
groove theory
52nd street

truthfully, i think i've played groove theory one the most. but the 52nd street bassline beats everything on the list. the dub is my preferred variant.