Little people about life in the city. Little Big: how the nastiest group in Russia came to success
Name: Olympiya Ivleva
Age: 28 years
Height: 130
Activity: singer, actress
Family status: Single
Olympia Ivleva: biography
This charming petite girl was going to become a professional psychologist, but Lucky case brought her into show business. In 2013, Olympia became the vocalist of a rave group, in which she gained incredible popularity. However, at the peak of success, the singer decided to leave the team to get serious about acting career. In 2017, Ivleva already starred in leading role in the film "Lily".
Childhood and youth
Olympia was born on June 21, 1990 in St. Petersburg. She is a native Petersburger in the third generation. The girl’s parents have nothing to do with creativity, but they raised their daughter to love books and good music.
The school period left an ambivalent feeling in the soul of the future artist: on the one hand, an unforgettable time of childhood, new knowledge, friends, fun communication, on the other hand, the first negative emotions and resentments from the cruel attitude of other children.
“I never focused people’s attention on my height (the girl’s height is 130 cm, weight is about 40 kg) and I never felt different from everyone else. For the first time I encountered ridicule at school...”, the actress recalls that period of her biography.
In an interview with the “gentle editor,” Olympia spoke about how in the 5th grade she was attacked by two high school students. However, this story ended well, albeit a little late. When the girl was already studying at the university, the offenders met her and asked for forgiveness.
Having experienced in childhood and adolescence a lot of negativity associated with the lack of education of other people, Olympia decided to become a psychologist. Moreover, I wanted to work specifically with children with disabilities.
After graduating from school, Lipa, as her relatives call her, entered the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Special Pedagogy and Psychology, where she studied for 5 years, leaving her alma mater as a certified specialist. By the time she graduated, the girl had accumulated a lot of creative material: while still a student, she became interested in photography, organizing animation events, exhibitions, etc.
Therefore, in no hurry to open a psychological practice, Olympia continued to “hang out” in underground circles, where she was noticed by the musicians of the group “ Little Big».
Music and creativity
Initially, 23-year-old Olympia was invited to film the “Harlem shake” video. The initiator was former soloist"Little Big" - . She introduced the girl to the group's producer Alina Pyazok, founder and lead singer.
“There was no talk of any invitation to the team, there were no clear plans to create a project... Everything happened on its own: the video took off, the guys decided to continue filming... Then the first performances began,” the artist said about her appearance in the group.
In 2014, the band’s debut album “With Russia From Love” was released. But true success overtakes the musicians after the video for the song “Give Me Your Money” with the participation of the Estonian artist Tommy Cash.
Anna Kast and Ilya Prusikin And if Olympia already had experience filming in a swimsuit, then in this video she appears topless. According to the artist, this was a serious step for her, and the girl was especially worried about how her mother, who is a rather conservative person, would take it. But everything worked out, the woman accepted her daughter’s new activity.
Meanwhile, Lipa’s career in the team was gaining momentum. The artists were accepted and loved in Europe. And now the guys toured not only the cities of Russia, but throughout the Old World. At the very beginning touring activities Ivleva fulfilled her childhood dream - she visited Paris. “Little big” visited Germany, Spain, Holland, Belgium, France and a number of other countries with concerts. And the little soloist, who performs under the pseudonym Olympia Twerk, is called the “pearl of the team.”
Having traveled around the world, Olympia realized that she liked to travel, study the life and culture of other countries. Back in 2013, Lipa started her own vlog on YouTube and began posting video notes about voyages, as well as behind-the-scenes footage from concerts and film sets and other fascinating posts.
In 2016, the vocalist of the group “Little Big” starred in the provocative video “Big Dick”, which took 1st place at the Berlin Music Video Awards in the “Most Trashy” category. The video is a parody-banter of pop culture and is filled with indecent images and gestures, but has become a record holder for views - over 35 million.
Song "Big Dick"In 2017, Anna Kast told reporters that Olympia does not sing in the group herself; a professional vocalist does it for her. Lipa did not comment on the statement, but the girl told the Gentle Editor that “her vocals are definitely present in the Little Big recordings.”
On April 1, 2018, on the eve of the release of the new album “Antipositive, Pt.”, Olympia announced her departure from the band. The date of the statement initially convinced fans that it was a joke. But it soon became clear that Lipa had indeed left the group. Summing up the results of her work, ex-colleagues came up with some kind of statistics:
“In 5 years with Olympia, we created 14 million-dollar videos, played over 300 concerts, and traveled to many cities in many countries around the world.”
The singer herself admitted that she made a very serious and difficult decision for herself.
“Little Big is a huge part of my life, it’s a part of me. I devoted 5 whole years to the project. But at one point I realized that I couldn’t give him anything more,” the ex-soloist commented on her departure.
Also among the reasons last girl named the desire to develop as a dramatic actress. This desire appeared in Olympia after her role in the film “Lily” - a project of Channel One. The singer appeared in the form main character- circus performer Lily, who falls in love with an ordinary rural guy, and their love undergoes a series of tests.
Personal life
Olympia does not advertise her personal life, but does not hide it either. She has been dating a guy named Alexey for 3 years.
The couple tested the strength of the relationship for a long time, the young people broke up three times, but realized that they could not live without each other. Alexey is not from creative environment, is engaged in drifting.
Olympia Ivleva now
Now, according to Ivleva, she is running two business projects: the first is related to the sale of peanut butter, the second is related to underwear.
The ex-singer also continues to be interested in photography (works can be viewed in "Instagram") and takes the first steps towards his dream - an acting career.
Discography
- 2014 - “With Russia From Love”
- 2015 - “Funeral Rave”
- 2018 - “Antipositive, Pt. 1"
- 2018 - “Antipositive, Pt. 2"
Childhood and youth
The future YouTube celebrity was born on April 8, 1985 on the border with China, in Transbaikalia. Soon the family moved to Leningrad region, and later to the city on the Neva itself. According to the blogger, his family has Polish and Jewish roots. 
Ilya graduated not only from general education, but also music school in piano class. As a teenager, he enjoyed football, airplane modeling and baseball.
In 2002, Ilya founded his first group – Tenkorr. The team worked in the emocore genre. Their first mini-album consisted of three tracks and was called “It Will Be Late.” In 2004, the group presented a concert video for the song “How It All Began (K.V.N.)” and received the Grand Prix at the Leningrad Regional Festival.
A year later, their debut album “Moe” was recorded last letter", which included ten conceptual compositions, including "It will be late", "Pseudo love", "World without you", "Metro", "K.V.N." Then videos were released for the tracks “Hate” and “Believe”. In the latter, at first everything looked like a traditional emo video: there was a hero, a girl, suffering and a friend calming the guy down. But then it turned out that he was suffering not for her, but for his friend...
During the same period, Tenkorr recorded new album“ROCK, baby!”, made a tour in support of it, visiting about three dozen cities in our country.
Ilya Prusikin and the Tenkorr group - “Sex police”
In 2008, their new long play “SEX POLICE” was released, which included 10 songs in the “alternative rock” genre.
At the same time, the musician managed to work with the bands Like A Virgin, st.Bastards, Construktorr, which the media dubbed “the brightest phenomenon in cultural life countries, then expressive crazy people.”
Biography of Ilya Prusikin
Playing music didn't hurt young man get higher education. He graduated from the Faculty of Psychology and Pedagogy at the St. Petersburg Institute of Culture.
Career development
In 2011, the musician and songwriter, who had experience producing video clips, began collaborating with creative association"Thanks, Eva!" and master video blogging.In partnership with Vladimir Besedin, he launched the project “Guffy Gaff Show”. They attracted other YouTube stars to record it: Ilya Davydov (Madison), Ruslan Usachev, Arthur Galchenko (Sam Nickel), Vasily Rudenko (Vasya Ebashilovo), etc.
The show imitated children's entertainment and educational programs: sock puppets sang funny songs, but they were not at all dedicated to learning letters and basic social concepts- The giraffe advised how to avoid the army, the drug-addicted cat taught how to become a rapper...
Only 2 seasons of the show were released, as the creators switched to more interesting projects, but many songs from “The Guffy Gaff Show” are still remembered by thousands of viewers.
No less popular was the satirical show “The Great Rap Battle” (an adaptation of the English-language project Epic Rap Battles of History), where famous historical figures in the format of rap duels. The topical topics and pressing social issues discussed during them made us not only laugh, but also think. For example, in a battle Pussy Piot and Patriarch Kirill, Jesus Christ and Nikita Mikhalkov, Alexei Navalny and Vladimir Lenin could clash.
Great Rap Battle from Ilya Prusikin! Stalin vs Pavel Durov
In 2012, Ilyich became one of the directors of the web series “Police Everyday Life”, and also played the role of Sergeant Kotov in it. Many of the video makers from “Eva” again became his co-stars: Denis Kukoyaka, Vladimir Besedin, Sam Nickel, Ilya Maddison. The project was closed after the release of only three 12-minute episodes.
In 2013, Ilyich began collaborating with St. Petersburg video blogger, member of the “Successful Group” Eldar Dzharakhov. The result of their joint work was the creation of the ClickClakBand association. As part of the project, Ilyich, Dzharakhov, Yura Muzychenko and other bloggers played Jenga with a stun gun, fought in the pool with Vaseline in skimpy swimsuits, gave each other “bream” and did many other crazy but funny things.
Ilya Prusikin and “Little Big”
During the same period, he created the rave group Little Big, which was called a super virus in the press. Listeners often compared her with the shocking South African band Die Antwoord, whose opening act the musicians rocked at the St. Petersburg club “A2” on July 2, 2013. 
The band's frontman was even accused of completely copying his image from the lead singer of Die Antwoord, but the attacks did not last long. Little Big have proven their originality and great potential on the world stage: the St. Petersburgers have won the hearts of listeners in Germany, France, Belgium, Spain, Argentina, the USA and Brazil.
The pearl of the group were the dwarf soloists Olympia Ivleva and Anna Karst (later left the group).
The very first video of this shocking group called “Everyday I"m Drinking” instantly spread across the Internet. The clip ridiculed “cranberry” stereotypes about Russia and delighted the eye with stunning camera work: a bear snorting cocaine with a naked purple-haired girl, predatory grinning clowns in the background a shabby front door, Soviet interiors and a lot of vodka.
Ilya Prusikin and Little Big - Everyday I"m drinking
The bar was set high, but everyone new clip Little Big was not inferior to the first in quality and extravagance of approach: “Life in Da Trash”, popularly nicknamed “clip with maggots”, “Give Me Your Money”, “Big Dick” (winner of the Berlin festival music videos in the category “Best Trash Video”), “With Russia From Love”, “Public Enemy”, “Hateful Love”, in which model Elena Sheidlina starred.
Greetings to guests and regular readers of the site website. So, YouTuber and musician Ilya Prusikin, better known as Ilyich, was first released on April 8, 1985. Since childhood I was a creative child.
His parents, seeing their son's desire for art, sent him to music school. educational institution in piano class.
After receiving secondary education, Ilya studied to become a psychologist-teacher.
Already from adolescence, Prusikin was a member of various music groups. One of the first was Tenkorr, which gained some fame in Russia. The group played in the rock genre and even released several records.
Our hero also had experience working with the groups Like A Virgin, St. Bastards and Construktorr who played various directions- from grunge, glam rock to new rave and hardcore.
While working as a musician, Ilya’s groups sooner or later had to release video works for their songs. Usually, most The guys made the clips themselves, which is where the desire for video making came from. Perhaps the first famous work Ilyich on the YouTube video hosting site became the “Guffy Guff Show”, made together with Vladimir Besedin. The project had a social and humorous overtones and was stylized as a children's program.
The Guffy Guff Show: Season 1 / Episode 1 (2011)
Later, inspired by the foreign series of videos "Epic Rap Battles", our hero launches the Russian analogue of the "Great Rap Battle" on the resource "Thank you, Eva!"
Prusikin was also one of the creators of the web series “Police Everyday Life,” in which top Russian video makers at that time starred, including Denis Kukoyaka, Sam Nickel and others.
Cop Weekdays: 1 episode, season 1 (2012)
In 2013, he began collaborating with the “Successful Group”, creating with him the association “KlikKlakBand”, where the guys rap on behalf of schoolchildren who want to seem cool.
In the same year, he created the rave group "Little Big". The peculiarity of the group is to show in a satirical manner how foreigners see the Russian people. " Little Big"gained fame far beyond Russia, thanks to the scandalous video clips for his songs, gaining millions of views on the YouTube video hosting site.
LITTLE BIG - Everyday I'm drinking (2013)
Ilyich is a real old-timer in the Russian YouTube segment. He has a huge number of completed projects behind him, let’s hope that this is not the limit for the talented St. Petersburger.
TrendSpace met with three small people and found out what difficulties they face in ordinary life.
Olympia Ivleva
Occupation: front-woman of the musical rave group Little Big
Age: 25 years
Height: 130 cm
I have never focused either myself or other people's attention on my height, and in most cases I have always found mutual language with the people who surrounded me. I first encountered this only when children appeared in my life, known for their cruelty and misunderstanding in their early teens at school.
Naturally, I had difficulties at school, but they were so rare that until some time I did not understand why children were trying to show such an increased interest in me. After some time, I myself conveyed to everyone who was burning with curiosity to find out why I was so “non-standard”, and all the questions disappeared. I just spoke to them calmly, without being aggressive, things like: “Look at yourself and look at me. How are you and I different? Everything is true, nothing, we can see, hear, speak and think, as well as feel and love. So why do you think I'm inferior to you? Maybe physiologically - yes, but does that change anything? I have always had many friends, as well as an extremely positive attitude towards the world.
Perhaps only with high bar stools and height limiters on the rides.
In regular stores, but I have a significant bonus - an expanded selection: I can buy clothes in the adult and children's departments. This significantly expands the boundaries of choice. In general, I believe that if you want to look cool, you just need to put in some effort and have a sense of style, and everything will be great.
The vast majority, if you count average height 170–180 cm. Again the concept of medium, low and tall very relative for me in particular. There are no limits or laws of growth. Therefore, it is difficult to say which of my friends is a person of average height.
No way.
It seems to me that no one thinks about this, except people with short stature. Well, again, I always get out of the situation very simply: I ask the people around me for help. Men, by the way, really appreciate it when they understand that they can help someone with something.
I would like to see changes in people. I want them to be kinder and more smiling. This is the most important thing.
Sergey Lekhkobyt
Occupation type: actor
Age: 21 years old
Height: 138 cm
How did you feel the first time you realized you were different from most people?
Honestly, I don't remember when I felt that I was different from other people. Probably in school years. I remember when we went to the doctors, then I already realized that I had a problem with my growth. I was even given the third disability group.
Did you encounter insults and bullying towards you as a child?
Yes, I have. Especially at school, various offensive words were said to me. It was very disappointing. And then I couldn’t hit or shut someone’s mouth. It was unpleasant. I often told my mother and cried because I was being offended. Now no one offends me. Just let them try!
What difficulties do you face in everyday life?
I wouldn't say that I really feel any difficulties. My legs and arms are fine, just like an ordinary person. I can do everything. Every person has difficulties, no matter what they are. For example, one of the difficulties is getting something in the supermarket. There are very high shelves, and you either have to jump up or ask someone to do it. Also, at various ticket offices, for example, at railway stations, it is difficult to reach the window, and mostly people sit there fat woman, and it’s even difficult for her to lift one place.
Where do you buy clothes and shoes?
I buy clothes in regular stores. For example, T-shirts, shirts, sweaters - I have everything. The pants are also easy to find, but you still need to bring them in to be cut off. Shoes are also easy. My feet are size 39, so, thank God, there are no difficulties in this regard.
I would not say that my life is somehow different from the life of another person. I decided that I was a man like all men. I live like everyone else and don’t look at what I have short stature. On the contrary, it is my uniqueness that everyone pays attention to. I walk, relax and do everything like everyone else.
On this moment I'm a young and single guy, without a soulmate yet. I emphasize that for now there is no soulmate, she will appear very soon. And I don’t see the point in rushing into this. I'm still very young, only 21.
Do you have friends of average height?
I have few true friends, but they are of different sizes - both small and large. Mostly I have comrades. I communicate more with girls than with guys. They are all taller than me, comfortable and comfortable with them.
Do you feel isolated from society?
In no case. I'm the same person as everyone else. I am open, uncomplicated, I set an example that I am cheerful and sociable, I went towards my goal and was not afraid of anything. There is only one life, and you need to take from it what you can.
Do you think there are conditions for short people in the city?
If we talk about conditions in cities, then they are nowhere to be found, since there are only about a couple of tens of thousands of little people in the world. Why should they think about little ones? We ourselves adapt to their conditions that they create for us.
What changes would you like to see in social and urban life to make your life more comfortable?
I like everything. I feel comfortable, I’m not afraid of anything, I’ll climb where no one can climb a common person. I never even paid much attention to it.
Anna Nikishina
Occupation type: unemployed
Age: 33 years
Height: 113 cm
How did you feel the first time you realized you were different from most people?
I do not remember. Probably, from childhood I understood that I was different from other people.
Did you encounter insults and bullying towards you as a child?
Yes, I did, but I dealt with it. My dad explained to me from childhood that I was the same person, just short in stature.
What difficulties do you face in everyday life?
In ordinary life, these are trips to shops and supermarkets. The food is high up there. Now is the 21st century, so almost everything has already been done for disabled people. It used to be difficult on buses, but now there is no problem with it. They now have low steps.
Where do you buy clothes and shoes?
I buy clothes in children's stores. It’s very difficult with shoes; I’m size 25. I also find it only in children's stores.
How does your life differ from the life of a person of average height?
It is very difficult for us to get a job. Because of their height, they don’t take them anywhere. Well, it’s good at home, because we arrange everything for ourselves.
Do you have a loved one?
Yes. He accepts me for who I am.
Do you feel isolated from society?
No, I don't feel it. I can visit anything you want. There were problems with carousels before, but now I'm not interested. There were height restrictions. There are also problems with licenses; we are not given the right to drive.
Do you think there are conditions for short people in the city?
No, they have not been created. Shops, some banks, metro, where the cash registers are high. This is very inconvenient for us.
The group “Little Big” is the brightest and most extraordinary phenomenon in the modern Russian music scene. music scene. The powerful rave energy in the work of Little Big is reinforced by the carefully thought-out image of the participants, satirical texts with “cranberries” (editor’s note) and references to popular culture, and each video of the group is a masterpiece that deserves special attention. Although for a long time she had to disown the label of “Russian “Die Antwoord””, the group still proved its originality.The team owes much of its success to frontman and ideological inspirer Ilya Prusikin, better known in the Internet space as Ilyich, who was recognized as the most influential character on Russian YouTube at the end of 2016. “There are no more beaten people than us,” is how the musician characterizes his brainchild.
History of the group's creation
Founder of Little Big Ilya Prusikin with early childhood was distinguished by his extraordinary creative abilities, graduated from music school with a degree in piano, and as a teenager became interested in rock. From the age of sixteen, he performed in various bands and tried a lot of musical styles, including being the frontman of the emo group Tenkorr. After school, Ilya entered to study as a psychologist, which helped him master the mechanisms of media influence on mass consciousness and delve into all the intricacies of the advertising business. At the same time, he shot video clips and collaborated with video bloggers, and soon he himself launched several original and very successful projects on YouTube. 
The idea of creating the “Little Big” group was born spontaneously, after the unexpected success of the video for the song “Everyday I"m Drinking,” which Ilyich filmed together with Alina Pyazok, his faithful partner in YouTube projects. The video was shot at the highest level and ridiculed stereotypes and Russia, but at the same time showed life in Russia without embellishment, with alcoholism, poverty, gopniks and dull rooms in communal apartments.
Little Big – Everyday I"m Drinking
In this contrast, the video received a viral effect (more than one hundred thousand people watched it in the first day, which was the best figure for 2013), and although there was no group as such yet, Ilyich was offered to perform as an opening act for the South African zef group “Die Antwoord” at the St. Petersburg club A2. Just a month before the concert, the members of the newly formed group wrote six songs, which were enthusiastically received by the St. Petersburg public.
In short, April 1, 2013 (the release date of the video) became the official birthday of the new musical group. In addition to Ilyich, its composition included Sergei Makarov, also the bass guitarist of the Jane Air group Gokk, Jane Air frontman Anton Lissov (he is the one who wears the Evil Clown mask) and two miniature girls Anna Kast and Olympia Ivleva, whose height is “ provoked" the name of the group. Soon, due to creative differences, Anna left the team, and Sofya Tayurskaya took her place.
The main stages of creativity
Video clips were shot for all new tracks, which were not inferior in shockingness and creativity to “Everyday I"m Drinking.” The scripts for the videos were invented by Ilyich, and Alina Pyazok was still the director. Thanks to this, each new clip of the group became a shocking art object that caused a wide range of emotions among fans. For this, the band members were ready for any trick, such as eating maggots in the video for the song “Life in Da Trash”, which became one of the most expensive in the Russian segment of YouTube.Little Big – Life in da trash
A year later, Little Big released their debut album, With Russia From Love, which caused a stormy and very controversial reaction from the public, as did the rest of the band’s work.
Thanks to the wide popularity of English-language clips on YouTube, the group became a welcome guest abroad and soon went to international tour. Their work was especially liked by the residents of France and Holland, where the musicians invariably received a warm welcome. "Little Big" became regular participants in prestigious European music festivals, where they performed on the same stage with such world celebrities as Snoop Dogg and Skrillex.
In 2015, the group’s second album, “Funeral Rave,” was released, which alerted fans of the group with its name. Many felt that in this way the musicians were hinting at the completion creative activity, however, Ilyich quickly dispelled these assumptions. He said that they musical style dubbed in the foreign press, and the group’s immediate plans are to “pump up” the whole world and force people to talk about themselves in all corners of the planet.
Two very extravagant videos for songs from this album were awarded at the Berlin Music Video Awards: ironic modern pop culture a video for the song “Big Dick”, characterized by exaggerated sexual overtones, and “Give Me Your Money”, which could be described in one phrase - “rural luxury”. Next came the bright video “Hateful love”, in the filming of which a photographer and model took part
