Looks like we're not done having fun with this one yet. From the Associated Press:
Putin did not technically rap -- but he did deliver his speech clutching a mike to the backdrop of a hip hop groove. He clapped his hands while listening to the rappers, standing by the stage with the show's mostly teenage audience.
Rappers meanwhile sang Putin's praises and declared they would welcome the chance to record a track with the Russian prime minister, who has cultivated a bad boy image over the years with cutting wisecracks and occasional rude language.
"For this is Putin, he is our idol," rapper Roma Jigan said in one improvised flow. "Let's give him a shout out so that the whole world hears it."
Putin's just taking cues from Zhirinovskij: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCTyFpJLz4s
This is truly sick and laughable. Only in a place as perverse as Russia could rappers and hip-hoppers become pawns of the state, thus negating the whole basis for their existence.