Pasha Technique
Russian musician and music producer (1984–2025)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pavel Nikolayevich Ivlev (1 July 1984 – 5 April 2025), known by his stage name Pasha Technique (Russian: Паша Техник, romanized: Pasha Tekhnik), was a Russian hip-hop artist and music producer.[1][2][3]
1 July 1984
- Rapper
- record producer
- DJ
- blogger
Pasha Technique Паша Техник | |
|---|---|
 Technique in 2019 | |
| Background information | |
| Also known as | Pasha Technique |
| Born | Pavel Nikolaevich Ivlev 1 July 1984 |
| Died | 5 April 2025 (aged 40) Phuket province, Thailand |
| Occupations |
|
Spouse | Karina Melnichuk (2015–2023) |
Ivlev was a founder of the group Kunteynir[1][4] and was known for his provocative work and behavior.[2][5] Among the main themes of his work were drug addiction, nationalism, and black comedy. He was referred to as one of the most significant rappers in Russia's underground hip-hop scene.[1][3][6] In 2010, Pitchfork published an article about the Moscow electronic scene, where the Kunteynir was called an "underground legend" and the album Five Years a masterpiece.[7] Former editor of The Flow and Rap.ru Nikolai Redkin described Technique of the mid-2000s as "a well-heard, very erudite music lover who dug new music and was well versed in non-mainstream hip-hop."[8]
From the late 2010s, he gained media popularity and appeared in numerous internet shows, with quotes from these becoming memes.[8]
Early life
Ivlev was born on 1 July 1984 in Moscow. His mother worked as an accountant and his father worked as a trade agent.[9] The family lived in the Lefortovo district.[8] During his school years he took part in swimming competitions, where he took first places despite his full weight. He attended art school, taekwondo and basketball.[10] He graduated as a translator from the Institute of Economics and Culture, according to his own statement - for bribes.[8]
While still at school, he started listening to Russian hip-hop and, in particular, the rap groups Bad Balance, D.O.B., and Slaves of the Lamp.[1][10] In 2000, he bought audio cassettes with rap records in the office of the RAP Recordz label, which was located in a basement on Tagansky District.[10] The nickname Technique appeared after the musician registered under the nickname technique on the popular rap forum hip-hop.ru in 2002.[11]
Career
Kunteynir (2002–2008, 2013–2016)
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In 2002, along with rapper MC Smeshnoy, he created the rap group Kunteynir.[1] In 2003, Technique began to master the music writing software Fruity Loops.[12] Kunteynir's debut performance took place at the presentation of the group's album Smoke Curtain in the Moscow club Downtown on 29 April 2004, where the duo performed as a warm-up act and was received coldly by the audience.[10] It was at this event that Pasha Technique first went on stage wearing a gorilla mask, which became his stage appearance until the start of his solo career.[10]
On 4 June 2004, the RAP Recordz label released the duo's debut album Edward Scissorpaperhands.[13] The album was recorded at home. All lyrics were written by Technique, and the music was created by beatmaker Radj from Canadian emigre rap group DaBro.[10] The album had a print run of 500 copies. The cover of the disc was printed on expensive cardboard for business cards and depicted a pink stamp.[10] According to Nikolai Redkin, musically it is "underground boom bap with the hiss of vinyl", "absurd funny rap".[10] After the release of the album MC Smeshnoy left the project and Pasha Technique was joined by MC Blyov.[1]
In 2008, Kunteynir broke up due to Technique's prison sentence for drug possession and distribution, but reformed after his release in 2013. On 15 July 2013, Studio Soyuz released the album 5 Years on CD, and on 9 June 2014, the band's sixth album, Basis, was released.[14]
On 18 May 2014, Pasha Technique took part in the internet show Versus Battle, during which he held a rap battle against St. Petersburg rapper Brol. During the battle, Technique took off his trousers and showed the audience his penis through his underwear, which caused a negative reaction from the audience. In the end, Brol won, but this performance laid the foundation for Technique's future Internet popularity.[10]
In 2015, Technique recorded several solo and collaborative tracks. In 2016 Kunteynir released a mini-album The Last Record, after which the band broke up.[15]
Solo career (2017–2025)
In 2017, he released a double solo album, Statistics of the Goose,[3][16] and two "Buckwheat" and "Need Xanax" videos.[17]
In 2018, publisher Molot Comics released a series of comic books about the fictional life of Pasha Technique[18] He also launched his own show on YouTube called In Search of Easy Money,[19] recorded an album called Ru$$ian Tre$hmvn,[5][20][21] and made his film debut in Igor Belyaev's Lost in the Dark.[22]
In 2019, he recorded a collaborative mini-album with Conductor MC Freckles.[23] On April 20 of the same year, Pasha Technique defeated Mikhail Vakhneev in a pro-wrestling match on the Independent Wrestling Federation's show High Stakes.[24] He also performed at the "#Sasha Skool Cure" benefit concert in support of Sasha Skool, who at the time had cancer,[25] and worked one match as the mascot of FC Krylya Sovetov.[26][27]
In 2020 he released the album In the Blood, recorded with LuckyProduction.[28]
From 2021, he produced his own energy drink, Zaryazhenka.[29] He also owned a bar in the centre of Moscow called Technique Pub.[30]
In 2022, the album Boiling Pot was released.[31] In the summer of 2022, participated in the MMA project Arena, where he fought against rapper Uncle JI.[32] On 11 October, he joined the media football club GOATS,[33] but on 24 October, he was expelled from the club for unsportsmanlike conduct.[34]
Internet popularity
Pasha Technique's speeches were rife with profanity. Since the second half of the 2010s, he had been a guest on a number of internet shows, with quotes from these shows becoming memes and catchphrases on the Russian-language Internet: "there's a fuckload of humanity in me", "oldtimer, get the fuck out of here", "I think you're mixed up", and others. His quote, "Let's fucking think, give me a fucking clue, why are you fuckin' with me? How to make it beautiful, for fuck's sake", got a big response with millions of views.[8]
Personal life
He met Karina Melnichuk (born 1994) in 2012, and the two were married in 2015.[35] In 2019, their son Ivan was born.[36] They divorced in 2023 due to Ivlev's drug addiction and cheating.[37]
From early 2025 until his death, Ivlev was dating an escort known as Christina Lexi.[38]
Ivlev was part of the football hooligans, attending FC Dynamo Moscow matches.[39]
Drug addiction
Pavel Ivlev suffered from drug addiction since the age of 14. He regularly appeared in a state of drug intoxication at various interviews and openly spoke about addiction. According to him, active addiction began in 2013, after he was released from the prison.[40] Since 2015, he had actively abused Xanax.[41]
I haven't injected anything, but I've tried everything.
— Pasha Technique, on his drug addiction[42]
On 11 November 2021, Ivlev was forcibly sent to rehab for two months.[43] On 7 October 2022, he fell into a coma due to abuse of narcotic drugs.[44] On 8 October he regained consciousness and was discharged from the hospital the same day. On 6 November of the same year, he fainted twice and was again sent to the rehab.[45]
Prison sentences
In 2008, he was arrested on charges of drug possession and distribution.[1] In 2009, he was sentenced to five years' imprisonment in a high-security colony, serving his sentence in the Republic of Karelia.[1] He continued his drug use in prison. He was released from prison in 2013.[46]
In December 2019, Ivlev's driving licence was revoked for one year and seven months, and he was fined 30,000 roubles for an accident while under the influence of alcohol.[47] On 17 June 2020, he was arrested in Balashikha for driving while intoxicated for the second time; in September 2020, he was sentenced to 11 months' imprisonment and banned from driving for two years. On 23 August 2021, he was released from prison.[48]
On 7 July 2023, Ivlev was arrested for 13 days for displaying Nazi symbols: the performer had a tattoo on his arm depicting the cartoon character Karlsson-on-the-Roof with a swastika-shaped propeller.[49]
Death
On 27 March, Ivlev was hospitalized in Phuket, Thailand, where he was placed in a medically induced coma and connected to a ventilator and an ECMO machine.[50][51] He was diagnosed with pneumonia, sepsis, multiple organ dysfunction syndrome, and acute respiratory distress syndrome.[51] He appeared to have been poisoned, allegedly by illegal substances, though a test showed no drugs in his blood.[50][52] According to his ex-spouse, Ivlev used codeine mixed with ketamine, although the day before he had been treated from opiates. She claimed that he choked on vomit, which gave him bacterial pneumonia.[53] On 28 March, Ivlev's lungs stopped functioning, and he began having heart problems.[54] On 31 March, a specialist from the Institute of Sklifosovsky went to Thailand. It was noted that pneumonia had damaged almost all of the rapper's lungs. On 1 April, it became known that streamer Mellstroy transferred five million rubles for Ivlev's treatment.[55] Also raising funds for treatment was the Survivor Project.[56] On 4 April, Ivlev experienced clinical death, and although he was resuscitated, his condition worsened, including a pneumothorax. The rapper's entourage planned to transport him to a hospital in Bangkok, but he could not be transported because it was not known whether he was brain-dead.[51] The Russian Consulate General in Phuket confirmed a death date of 5 April,[57][58] with the cause of death listed as septic shock.[59] The death certificate also states that the rapper had advanced lung cancer.[60]
On 9 April, Ivlev's body was brought to Moscow by plane from Phuket. On 11 April, a funeral service was held at the Peter and Paul Church in Lefortovo, after which he was buried at the Nikolo-Arkhangelsky Cemetery in Balashikha, Moscow Oblast.[61]