Russian hip hop refers to hip hop music recorded in Russia or in the Russian language in former Soviet states such as Ukraine, Belarus, Tatarstan and Kazakhstan. Hits by Russian rappers are included in the soundtracks of some PC-games and have formed part of several popular internet memes.

Many Russian rap artists have achieved commercial success, including Detsl, Bad Balance, Face, Skryptonite, Husky, Basta, Feduk, GeeGun, Centr, Morgenshtern, Timati, Ligalize, Markul, Slava Marlov, Kizaru, Instasamka, Slava KPSS, Pale, Irina Smelaya, Loc-Dog, Big Baby Tape, L'One, Mayot, Pharaoh, Jah Khalib, Soda Luv, Macan, Smoky Mo, Eldzhey, Bogdan Titomir, Egor Kreed, T-Killah, Kasta, Oxxxymiron, Boulevard Depo and Belarusian artist Seryoga.

Especially at the end of the 2010s and the beginning of the 2020s, rap has become a very political form of music in Russia. In this respect, rap could be compared to rock in the 1980s, which gave voice to young people critical of the Soviet system, expressed, for example, by Viktor Tsoi's song "Khochu peremen" ("I want changes").

The increased politicization was most impressively demonstrated at the end of 2018, when a string of concerts were canceled. Among them was a performance by rapper Khaski (real name Dmitry Kuznetsov) in Krasnodar at the end of November. After the local prosecutor's office banned him from performing at Club Bounce on the grounds that the music contained extremist ideas, drug glorification and a call to suicide, the rapper stood on the roof of a car and began singing to his fans in the street until the police took him away for "hooliganism" (chuliganstvo) leading to him initially being sentenced to several days in prison. As a result, many famous rappers gave a solidarity concert for him in Moscow.

Hip hop culture in Russia began during the mid-late 1970s from the growing influence of the Eurodisco movement in Soviet Russia. However, breaking was one of the first elements of American hip hop culture to become popularized in the country, along with skateboarding, DJing, and MCing shortly after. The beginnings of Russian hip hop's musical form, rap, can be traced back the 1980s. Regarded as the first 'rap group in Russia, the group "Rush Hour" (Chas Pik) created one of the first attempts at rap in their 1984 album, "Rap." The album contained a track called "Rap" which featured lyrics based on multiplication tables and letters and took its inspiration from the funk-based style of the popular track, Rapper's Delight by Sugarhill Gang, released five years earlier. The 1980 Summer Olympics, held in Moscow, was one of the main catalysts for bringing hip hop culture to Soviet Russia, and by 1985 events like the 12th World Festival of Youth and Students and Mikhail Gorbachev's policy of Perestroika further brought Western culture into the country.

Until the beginning of the 1990s, there were not many rap artists in Russia and the Soviet Union.

The pioneers of Russian rap were Mister Maloy, Bad Balance, Malchishnik, Bogdan Titomir. Russian hip hop, just like Canadian hip hop, is inspired by Jamaican music, which hit an upswing during the fall of the Soviet Union. Some of the first groups to emerge from the breakdancing scene was Jam Style & Da Boogie Crew, a group composed of two 'breaking' groups which ultimately coalesced and became popular as collaborators with rap groups and artists alike. Other early attempts at rap were in the group Black and White, a group originating from Djing, forming in 1989, although breaking apart by the early-1990s.

At the early and middle of '90s appears hip-hop scenes in Moscow (D.O.B Community, White Hot Ice) and Saint Petersburg (DA-108, Baltic Clan).