Organization attributes
"The biography of the band Caspian Cargo dates back to the year 2000, when two friends from Baku became interested in music. Especially the guys were interested in hip-hop - a musical direction, about which at that time not many people in Azerbaijan knew. For a long time, the musicians perceived creativity as a hobby and did not think about professional development in this area. Let's tell about the group in details: "Caspian Cargo": band members The composition of "Caspian Cargo" remained unchanged for all years of its existence: Anar Zeynalov (pseudonym - VesЪ) from his childhood admired American hip-hop performers. Music fascinated Anar so much that he began composing his own lyrics and reading them out to his friends. Some videos ended up on the Net, which brought him his first popularity. Timur Odilbekov (pseudonym - Brutto) was a troubled teenager. His passion for music began when Timur started writing beats to Anar's lyrics.
The guys had been friends since the second grade. They didn't go to music schools, they learned to read and play musical instruments on their own. In those years rap was an absolutely new genre in Azerbaijan, there was no one to ask for advice or help. It took them about twelve years to find their own style: their friends organized a simple studio in their apartment. Nobody ever heard the first tracks of the band: their quality was not satisfactory to the musicians and all records were kept in a drawer. One of the first tracks Anar and Timur recorded with someone else's accompaniment - a beat of a rap-band "Slaves of the lamp". Why was the band named "Caspian Cargo"? The story of the name is on the surface: the musicians' hometown of Baku is located on the Caspian coast. There is a major port hub here, through which a lot of cargo passes. Once they wrote a song "Caspian cargo", the text was rejected, but they liked the name. The creative work for a long time practically did not bring any money. They earned their living in other ways: Anar worked as a driver in a factory, wrote scripts and acted in a few art-house films. Timur tried his hand at business, opened stores with his friends. In 2011, they realized that they had to change their priorities. The guys began to devote more time to music, recording tracks and promoting them in social networks and on YouTube.
In 2013, the band's first album "Ringtones for the Zone" was released, the work on it lasted half a year. The tracks were recorded in a makeshift studio, on the balcony of Anar's apartment. The album caused a resonance in the creative community: some of them admired the sincere delivery, while others voiced their criticism. But the main thing was that interest in the band grew. The already famous at the time rapper Guf helped: the artist supported the guys in social networks and even invited them to Moscow. Together the musicians recorded a song and shot a music video "All for one dollar". In addition, "Ringtones for the Zone" took the fourth position among the best compilations of 2013 according to one of the well-known online rap portals. It was a great start for aspiring musicians. Finally, there was a bright streak in the creative path of the duo Caspian Cargo. Albums were released one after another: in 2013-2014 four mini-albums by Caspian Cargo were released under the title "Trinity". In 2014 the collection "Jackets Suits" was released, which became a real sensation. The rap community was surprised by the joint work of Guf and Slim, who had been at odds for five years before that. In the same year, the compilation album "Sweatpantsportivki" was released, which included twenty-three new compositions. In 2015, the duo's career reached its peak: their mini-album "The Killing Business No." and the full-fledged compilation "Side A / Side B" were released. The latter took top positions in music ratings and broke audition records. This album is notable for its changed theme: there are no tracks about bros, trunks, and dashing 90s. The guys read about the need to move to a normal life, find a wife, bring up children. The music has also changed: the harsh beats have been replaced by drum'n'bass and fragments of gypsy chorus. Surprisingly, the changes didn't alienate the fans, quite the contrary. At the end of the year, the compilation was one of the ten best selling albums.
The breakup of the band In 2016 two more albums were released - The Brutto and The Weight. True, these were the solo works of Timur and Aran. Even then it became clear that the artists had different views on creativity. In September 2017, fans waited for the joint album "The Soundtrack to the Never Made Movie". But unfortunately for fans, it was the last. In interviews, the artists admitted to being victims of a creative crisis. "Checked out," Brutto explained the band's breakup. The guys also noted that the crime aesthetic was a thing of the past, and they wanted to leave at their peak. In 2018, the duo went on a farewell tour of Russia. As part of the project, the musicians gave several concerts in the United States. Soon both Aran and Timur returned to the stage, but already with solo projects: In 2018, Ves' new pseudonym Kitoboy released a solo album "Y," distinguished by its lyrical sound. Almost a year later,
Brutto's solo album "Gaddem" was released. In the fall of 2020, Caspian Cargo temporarily reunited. In honor of the five-year anniversary of the "Side A / Side B" album, the rap duo went on an anniversary tour to perform fan favorites. "Caspian Cargo": songs The creativity of "Caspian Cargo" is associated with the so-called criminal romance. The musicians described the hard life of the 1990s, but at the same time in their tracks there is nostalgia for that time - not for lawlessness, but for respect and true friendship. The lyrics were so sincere and truthful that fans are still convinced: both members were "attracted". But the artists themselves claimed that they had never been behind bars. Despite the prison theme, the work of "Caspian Cargo" has nothing to do with chanson. Brutto admitted that the term "bardic song" is closer to him.
Anar and Timur sought to express deep meaning in their songs, to create quality and deep music. In the track "All for one dollar", recorded with Guf, you can hear excerpts from Solzhenitsyn's novel "In the circle of the first". The guys wanted their listeners to get interested in classical literature and read the work. The members of Caspian Cargo were not interested in creating easy, unpretentious tracks. They were very attentive while writing the lyrics and selecting the accompaniment, they used unusual solutions: the singers used recitative written in unusual size, they always tried to reach the "depth" of sound, they liked to play with different meanings of one and the same word in the lyrics. High-quality video for the songs is another distinctive feature of Kaspiysky Gruz. The clips were shot in the same style that dominates the songs. Here are the most popular works of the band: "Tabor Goes to the Sky," a song from 2015. It was part of the band's landmark album "Side A / Side B." In addition, it is the most viewed video of "Caspian Cargo" on YouTube counter has reached almost seventy million views.
The music video for the song "18+" from the same album gathered almost thirty-two million views. Along with Anar and Timur, the track was performed by guest artists Rigos and SLIMUS. "Black Volga" from the album "The Brutto" also sends the listener back to the dashing 1990s. And the music video for the song is based
on the 2011 Russian crime drama "Home."
"Adik Orginal." - is one of the latest tracks by Caspian Cargo. In it the artists reminisce about "the old times". Towards the end of their existence, the band experimented a lot, not being afraid to change the theme and sound. Thus, their creative arsenal includes not only tracks about gangster life, but also lyrical compositions. Now each of the "kaspians" follows their own creative path. Ves' has changed the format, while Brutto continues the cause of the former duo. But who knows, maybe one day we'll hear them work together again.