Kazakh rapper Takezhan (Oteghaliev) has reached out to his fans to help fund the production of a new song. In a video [ru] posted on his blog, the rapper sings for his fans and asks them for financial help to finish a “political rap [song]” he is working on. 

Scheenshot from video in which Takezhan is asking his fans for cash. The video was uploaded on yvision.kz on January 22, 2014.

Takezhan, who never shunned controversy, took the spotlight in 2011 after he announced plans to organize a concert in support of striking oil workers in western Kazakhstan. The authorities then pressured him to cancel the performance, while the oil workers’ strike soon burst into deadly riots.