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Putin keeps it real

Vladimir Putin is poised to receive an award honouring his musical talents after making an improbable foray into the world of hip hop and rap, The Telegraphreports.

Russia’s home grown answer to MTV – Muz TV – said it had nominated the Russian prime minister for its “Event of the Year” award for his bizarre appearance last November on the televised final of a rap “battle for respect”.

The nomination is something of a surprise, since at the time the 57-year-old Mr Putin looked awkward and stood motionless among a crowd of teenagers as they writhed to a noisy rap song.

At another point, as a hip-hop groove played in the background, Mr Putin delivered a speech that mixed teenage street slang with observations on the hip hop scene - about which he apparently knew little. Critics dismissed the move as a cynical ploy to boost his already stellar ratings but Mr Putin denied that, saying he wanted to reach out to young people to warn them of the dangers of drugs and vodka.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .