2H Company is a St. Petersburg hip-hop group founded in 2001 by MCs Mikhail Fenichev and Mikhail Ilin and electronic musicians Alexander Zaytzev and Ilya Baramiya of the Christmas Baubles (EU). Fenichev's linguistic manipulations are fast-paced surreal narratives full of humor that are at once wry and absurd, written in high-literary Russian style. They are coupled with the halting and playful electronic beats of Zaytzev and Baramiya. The group is popular in St. Petersburg and Moscow and often plays elsewhere in Russia and Ukraine. MCs Mikhail Fenichev and Mikhail Ilin grew up in the U.S.S.R. in a suburb of St. Petersburg. Through the early years of Russian MTV, they strained to hear a few rhymes through the Iron Curtain and later started their own project, a group called Provincia. The Russian hip-hop group 2H Company began just when Provincia ended in 2001. Electronic musicians Alexander Zaytzev and Ilya Baramiya of the Christmas Baubles (EU) got a hold of one of the duo's tracks just as they were looking for vocalists for their new composition. Fenichev agreed to sign on with Zaytzev and Baramiya, and invited Ilin, his friend and collaborator, along as a backup MC. Their first effort as 2H Company was called "Prov," in homage to Fenichev and Ilin's former project, Provincia. The St. Petersburg label Cheburec included the track on a compilation of Russian electronic music. It remains the first example of rhymes in Russian paired with experimental electronic music in place of standard hip-hop beats. In the next few years leading up to the band's debut album, as Zaytzev and Baramiya came into their own as electronic musicians, this juxtaposition would become even more pronounced. The real history of the group begins in 2004 when Cheburek released the group's debut album, Psychosurgeons. The album drew the attention of MTV Russia and other music media, and the group's fan base grew. Many critics remarked the narrative related by the album's tracks: a relocation away from conventional hip-hop territory onto uncharted ground sometimes replacing drum machine with a sampler. In 2005 the group signed to the Snegeri label, which re-released their debut album. By that time 2H Company had already begun touring, playing festivals in Russia and Europe. In the first months of 2007, backup MC Ilin left the group to pursue other projects, but remains on good terms with all members. The remaining trio had a full plate in front of them, preparing for the March release of their new album and simultaneously taking on a new challenge: the original score of a ballet to be performed at the illustrious Marinski Theater in St. Petersburg. The new album was entitled The Art of AK-47 Maintenance. Critics noted that it was tighter, including "nothing extra," and drawing attention to Fenichev's vocals, which alluded to literary heroes like Fyodor Dostoevsky, Vladimir Sorokin, and Phillip K. Dick, just to name a few. The album drew influence from indie rock and showed evidence of Zaytzev and Baramiya's complete and congruous transition into digital media. ~ Sabrina Jaszi, Rovi