Kirill Tolmatsky, performing under the stage name Decl, was a prominent representative of the Russian musical scene. Back in 2000, he introduced the country to a new promising direction of rap, the musician left his mark on hip-hop culture.
Childhood and youth
Kirill was born in 1983 in Moscow. As a representative of the "golden youth", he graduated from the prestigious British International School in the capital and continued his education in Switzerland. The student's neighbor was a young man from Zambia, who turned out to be the son of the president of this country. From morning to night, the guy listened to music unusual for Cyril, which at first seemed to him a cacophony of sounds. Once he could not stand it and moved out from the hated neighbor. But, returning to Moscow, he suddenly realized that he was completely captured by the love of music, which he was so tired of in Switzerland. Then the "pioneer" of Russian rap tried to reproduce it on his own and realized that he wanted to share it with others.
Decl's creativity
The beginning musician spent most of his time at parties. His appearance was radically changed, now he was distinguished by loose clothing and dreadlocks. He studied the basics of break dance and read the classics to the beat.
He began his career as a teenager while still at school. Kirill's father, the famous producer Alexander Tolmatsky, at an early age saw his son's talent and decided to turn him into another successful commercial project. The stage name "Decl" was born at the very beginning of his career, in slang it means "a little, a little." From the age of fourteen, the boy toured. Tolmatsky Sr. treated him more like a producer, and not like a father, this spoiled their relationship for many years, the divorce of his parents added tension when his father left for a young beauty.
The first steps in the music field were the shooting of Decl in Vlad Valov's video for the song "Pack of Cigarettes" in hip-hop style. Then his father helped Kirill to shoot a video for the author's composition "Tears". He presented his new song "Friday" at one of the music festivals.
In the early 2000s, Decl reached the peak of its popularity. During this period, his debut album "Who are you?" Was released. The composition "Party" from this collection became a hit, it was often played by domestic radio stations.
Decl has become a brand of modern youth. He was invited to advertise Pepsi, and dreadlocks became incredibly popular among young people. The young man was regularly invited by TV channels, even a computer game "Kill Decl" appeared. Soon the second album of the musician was released. It was more lyrical and touched upon adult themes. Viewers of the First Channel remembered Kirill in the TV show "The Last Hero" as a persistent and hard-working participant in the program.
New stage
The Tolmatskikh conflict reached its climax in 2004, when Kirill slammed the door and left his father's studio. He had to start everything from scratch and prove his talent. The musician began his independent creative work with a new pseudonym "Le Truk" in the videos "Pobatrachim" and "God Is", as well as in a new solo album. A smooth transition from one name to another did not work out, another scandal arose with his father - the holder of the Decl brand. The musician had no choice but to add a solid sign at the end to his pseudonym. As "Decl" he released his fourth disc in 2008, which included 19 underground compositions. This collection, as well as the fifth album "Here and Now", released in 2010, did not arouse much interest among the listeners.
The situation changed in 2014, when success and popularity came to the musician again. Released three records in a row were united by the common name "Decellion". Their recordings were received by professionals from many countries of the world. In 2018 Decl collected his old songs under the general title "Acoustic".
Personal life
The family played an important role for Decl. In the early 2000s, he connected life with a model from Nizhny Novgorod named Yulia. Soon the couple had a child - a son, Anthony. Julia was not opposed to her husband being present at the birth. Cyril tried to spend all his free time with his heir.
Unexpected death
Recently, Decl toured the country a lot, performed at large venues, but more often these were small clubs in various cities. At one of these private parties in the center of Izhevsk, Kirill performed on February 3, 2019. At the end of the concert, he went into the dressing room, sat down in a chair and died of cardiac arrest. Everything happened so quickly that the staff of the club and the ambulance that arrived in time could not do anything. The musician recently turned 35 years old. His unexpected departure at such an early age was a shock for fans and thousands of music lovers.
There are no official autopsy results yet, but the internet and media are rife with reasons for what happened. I must say that the artist treated alcohol and drugs extremely negatively and said that these things are unacceptable when raising children. Fans, not ready to accept the fact of the death of their idol, immediately recalled his interview, in which he said that he dreamed of spending the rest of his biography on a desert island and faked his death at 35.
In parting with the singer, mother Irina lamented that her son had health problems and had to "drag him to the hospital" against his wishes. Father grieved that they never had to improve relations and talk heart to heart.
