Childhood and adolescence
Jacques-Anthony is the son of the black vocalist of the hip-hop team "D.O.B. Community" Simone Makanda, the first girl in Russia to rap. The boy was born on January 31, 1992 in Vologda, where he lived until he was four years old. Then his mother married rapper Legalize (in the world Andrei Menshikov), who adopted the child and gave him his last name. 
In 1996, the family moved to Congo, Simone’s homeland, and there they opened their own nightclub, where rappers gathered. Soon the country began Civil War, Menshikov and Jacques returned to Russia, and his mother remained in the Congo for some time. The boy was sent to Vologda to live with his grandmother; later he and his adoptive father lived in Moscow. There he went to first grade at the prestigious school of Sergei Kazarnovsky, where children were taught jazz, blues and acting along with general education subjects.
Jacques felt like a duck to water: he had been interested in music since early childhood, at the age of three he sat down at the piano, and at the age of four he began attending music school. He wrote primitive punchlines, which he enthusiastically read out to his parents and friends. Moreover, he had great feeling humor and easily endeared himself to others.
When the boy was nine years old, Simone divorced Menshikov and in 2004 moved with her son to St. Petersburg, where she began writing scripts. She did not maintain a relationship with her ex-husband, and subsequently Legalize did not help her stepson in any way in his promotion.
Jacques quickly joined the local hip-hop scene and became friends with the aspiring rapper Yung Trappa, with whom he began writing and performing his first tracks. At the same time, he studied dancing, karate and mastered playing the guitar, and did well in school.
At the age of fifteen, Jacques fell into bad company, began to skip classes, and repeatedly got involved in street fights.
– We had an atmospheric childhood. Constant troubles because of drugs, but they were minor. Someone took thirty grams for release, lost them - they pressed him at the entrance. The boy took out a knife, picked his mother in his pocket, the mother ran out with a baseball bat, scattering everyone. Those were very fun days - we always hung out in the musarna.
Simone tried in every possible way to set her son on the right path and even promised to buy a car if he graduated from school with a gold medal. Seeing that persuasion and persuasion were not bringing results, Simone sent her son to Africa for re-education with her brother, the director of an oil company. The beautiful, carefree life “relaxed” the young man even more; he spent all his time in clubs and bars, completely abandoning his studies.Returning to Russia, with grief in half, he nevertheless graduated from the eleventh grade and passed the Unified State Exam. After receiving his matriculation certificate, Jacques quarreled with his mother, went to Moscow and became a student at the Department of Political Sciences of the RUDN University. But, after studying for two years, he dropped out of college and joined the army, where he served for a year in the missile forces. Despite his exotic appearance, Jacques felt quite comfortable during his service, continued to play music and even organized a small “underground” business.”
After demobilization, the guy noticed that serious changes had taken place on the Russian rap scene: the situation had noticeably brightened up, new interesting performers had appeared. The same Yung Trappa, with whom he had been friends since childhood, achieved good success and was recording new tracks with all his might. “Who else if not me?!” thought Jacques and began active creative work.
Music career
At the start of his career, Jacques often changed pseudonyms and musical styles, collaborated with the T.A. Inc,” which at that time included Yung Trappa, rapper ST and Yanix, and even launched his own clothing line PVRVDIGMV. He recorded his first tracks in a small St. Petersburg studio, Reigun Records, for 500 rubles an hour, and when the money ran out, he began to “write” at a friend’s house.But after the guys from the studio heard his song “Be Free,” they offered their services to the aspiring musician for free.
At the end of 2013, the musician under the pseudonym Dxn Bnlvdn presented his first video clip for the song “Day After Day”, and a couple of months later he presented the trial mixtape “Molly Cyrus” to the public, which took only one day to record.
At the same time, Jacques tried himself as a director, and following the example of his mother, who by that time had left the stage and took up cinema, began making videos and commercials. Among his works of that time, it is worth noting the video “Hummingbird” for the track of the same name by rapper Miyagi. But such orders came through quite rarely, there was still not enough money, and Jacques had to work part-time as a courier in a restaurant and as a manager in an airline agency.
One day, he and a fellow cameraman decided to test new equipment and shot a test video for their track “Old Testament.” I liked the result, and the clip was posted on the Internet as a portfolio, where it collected a huge number of views. In the wake of unexpected popularity, Jacques abandoned video shooting and devoted himself entirely to music.
With rapper Oxxxymiron, he recorded a joint track “Breathless”, which became the foundation of the album of the same name. It was followed by the musician’s second disc, “Dorian Gray. Volume 1", warmly received by fans and music critics.
Jacques Anthony - Expensive
At the beginning of 2017, Fyodor Bondarchuk’s large-scale action film “Attraction” was released on domestic screens; Jacques-Anthony’s track “Our District” was included in the film’s soundtrack. The video for this song collected more than three million views on YouTube, and working with Bondarchuk opened the way for the rapper to appear on federal television. For example, he became the hero of one of the episodes of the popular show “100 to One” on the Rossiya channel.
At the end of 2017, the musician presented his third album “DoroGo”, which included fifteen solo tracks.
Personal life of Jacques-Anthony
Jacques-Anthony lives in St. Petersburg, which he loves for its unhurried, measured pace of life. He was married to a girl named Oksana and has a common daughter, Michelle (born in 2013). 
Jacques-Anthony now
Despite the rapper's many achievements in the musical field, his journey is just beginning. In the summer, he recorded a joint track with Chayan Famali “Awesome”. On August 31, 2018, Jacques-Anthony promised to release a new album, “Dorian Gray. Volume 2".Jacques Anthony – Luli
Jacques was brought up in a creative, international family. The boy’s mother, Simone Yori, is a native of Congo and ex-vocalist of the hip-hop project “D. O.B/Community.” When the future artist was four years old, his parents divorced.
Soon Andrei Menshikov, better known as Legalize, became Jacques-Anthony's stepfather. The famous rapper adopted a black boy and gave him his last name.
Young traveler
In 1996, the Menshikovs went to Simone’s homeland, Congo, where the woman opened a nightclub for the rap crowd. A year later, hostilities began in the African country, Legalize gathered his son and took him to Russia. Later, Jacques was taken in by his own grandmother and taken to Volgograd. In 1999, Menshikov took his stepson to Moscow, where the guy went to Sergei Kazarnovsky’s specialized school.
Here, in addition to general education subjects, students had the opportunity to independently choose additional lessons: acting, jazz or blues. Jacques, who loved music, enjoyed going to school and shared his original texts with his friends. In 2001, Simone and Andrei finally broke up and the mother took her son to St. Petersburg. The sociable and cheerful guy quickly found like-minded people, and Young Trappa became his best friend.
Here Jacques-Anthony began writing his first songs and mastered playing the guitar. At the same time, he attended sports clubs in karate and dancing. At the age of 15, the boy began skipping classes at school and became interested in drugs, for which he was repeatedly taken to the police station. Simone struggled to find mutual language with my son, I made compromises, but there was no result.
In desperation, Jacques's mother sent him to Africa, where her brother, the director of an oil company, lives. The beautiful life, luxury, and lack of control relaxed the teenager even more. In his mother’s homeland, the teenager had fun in nightclubs and bars, but Anthony soon returned to Russia.
Having received a matriculation certificate, the guy packed his things and left for Moscow, where he entered the Peoples' Friendship University. Jacques-Anthony was enrolled in the Department of Political Science.
In the second year, the student realized that he had no desire to study, so he left the university. For new experiences, the future rapper went to the army, where he served in the missile forces. After being demobilized, Jacques-Anthony decided to start a solo career as a rapper and began creating his own original music.
Confident start
At first, the black rapper collaborated with the creative association “T. A. Inc.”, where Young Trappa, Yanix, ST. already worked. In parallel, Jacques-Anthony launched his own line of branded clothing “PVRDIGMV”. Then he began recording tracks at the lesser-known studio “Reigun Records” for 500 rubles a month.
In December 2013, the premiere of the “Day After Day” video, signed by the strange nickname Dxn Dnlvdn, took place. The original abbreviation is pronounced like Don Benladen. Early next year, the artist presented the “Molly Cyrus” mixtape, which he recorded in 24 hours.
The rapper independently shot a video for the track “Old Testament,” which quickly became popular. Convinced of his abilities, Jacques-Anthony decided to focus on music. No less successful was the joint work with Oksimiron, called “Breathless”, which was included in the artist’s album of the same name.
Following her, Jacques released his second album, “Dorian Gray. Volume 1". In 2017, Jacques-Anthony wrote the soundtrack “Our District” for the science-fiction film “Attraction”. The video for this song received more than three million views on YouTube in just a few days.
At the end of the year, the rapper presented his third studio album, “DoroGo,” to fans and critics, which included 15 tracks.
A year later, Jacques presented a new record called “Dorian Gray. Volume 2". The personal life of a young and talented rapper can be judged by his photographs and posts on social network
Instagram. It is known that Jacques-Anthony was married to a sweet girl Oksana, who gave him a daughter, Michelle. Jacques Anthony's wife appeared in an Interview on the Vpiska YouTube channel.
Almost immediately after the birth of the child, the couple separated. Now the artist is dating the aspiring performer Badsophie or Bad.
Jacques Anthony who is this? Real name
— Jacques Menchov Hometown
— Vologda Nickname
— Jacques Anthony Activity
— Rap artist, director, designer Height
— 181 cm Nationality
instagram.com/jacques_anthony/
twitter.com/JAnthony812
Jacques Menshov, better known as Jacques-Anthony, is a Russian rap artist, designer, producer and director.
Jacques Anthony in childhood
Jacques Menshov, performing under the stage name Jacques-Anthony, was born in the city of Vologda on the last day of January 1992. The mother of the future musician is rapper Yori, who performed as part of the creative association “D.O.B. Community". The boy's father was replaced by Andrei Menshikov, who is known to fans of Russian hip-hop as the rapper Legalize. Mom married her stepfather when Jacques was four years old. After the wedding, the friendly family decides to move to the Republic of the Congo.
Jacques Anthony and Legalize
For some time, Jacques studied at a prestigious Moscow school. But after his stepfather divorced the boy’s mother, Yori moves to St. Petersburg and takes his son with him. Since 2004, the future rapper decides to devote his free time to teaching creative arts, and attends several music educational institutions. The teachers had high hopes for the young man, because he studied exclusively with straight A's. But after getting involved with the rap movement, Jacques-Anthony begins to skip classes. At this moment, the mother of the future musician decides to give motivation to her son, declaring that if he successfully graduates from school, she will give him a new car.
But in 11th grade everything returned to normal. The young man becomes more and more interested in creativity, forgetting about lessons and school. Handing over with big ones Unified State Exam problems, he quarrels with his mother, and moves to Moscow, where he enters higher education educational institution. Despite the fact that he is not particularly interested in subjects, he manages to cover his “tails” thanks to his charisma. At this time, he leads a riotous lifestyle, is fond of alcohol and night parties. In order to change something in his life, the young man voluntarily decides to repay his debt to his homeland and joins the army.
Jacques-Anthony rapper
After resigning from Russian Army With the rank of corporal, the young man decides to devote his life to music. And without shelving his dreams, he records two parts of a mixtape called “Flaming Tony.” This event happened in 2013. In the same year, he met the guys from the team “T.A. Inc", which included such famous rap artists as. It is worth noting that in the early period of his work, Jacques-Anthony worked in the pop-rock genre. But later he decided that hip-hop music was closer to him.
In early December, Jacques finished filming the video clip for the song “Day After Day”, taking the creative pseudonym “Dxn Bnlvdn”. In the same month, the musician will present a commercial that was filmed for the opening of his own business selling branded clothing. The brand was named "PVRVDIGMV".
In the 20th of February, in less than one day, the rapper recorded the album “Molly Cyrus”, and immediately presented it to the public. In the spring of the same year, Jacques shot the video “#Podomnoy”, taking the creative pseudonym Jacques-Anthony. In the summer, the EP “Enough Questions” will be released, under the authorship of Dxn Bnlvdn.
At the end of the year, the young performer finishes working on the recording of the next mini-collection, which was called “Live and Do.”
In mid-spring 2015, Jacques delighted his fans with the “#NoName” mixtape, which included tracks that were not suitable for other albums. At the end of the summer of the same year, Jacques-Anthony recorded the song “Breathless” together with a rap artist.
Jacques Anthony and In mid-October, the video clip for the song “Do the Right Thing” premiered. Despite the fact that the composition is particularly popular among fans, Jacques himself does not like it, and performs it at concerts through force. At the end of the same month, the album “Breathless” was released. Music critics and fans of the Russian rap scene praised the album. One of the songs in the collection was recorded together with British rapper Porchy.
In December, another mini-album appears, consisting of seven works, called “That Negro.” These same days, Jacques-Anthony is working on recording the song “Director”, together with Smokey Mo.
At the beginning of 2016, the second full-length studio album “Dorian Gray” was released. Volume I". Two months later, Menshov finishes work on the side project “3e5ra”, on which Misha Malinovsky also worked. In the 20th of January, a video clip for the song “Our District,” which was written as a soundtrack to the movie “Attraction,” was published on a video hosting site.
Jacques-Anthony - Dorian Gray At the beginning of spring, Jean-Anthony delights fans with the EP “At Any Cost”. At the beginning of May, the video clip for the song “24/7” premiered. The rapper PlinOfficial worked on it as a guest. In the second half of the year, the musician shocked fans by getting a tattoo on his face in the form of the inverted word “Game.”
Jacques-Anthony and his wife
What is known about the musician’s personal life is that he is married to a girl named Oksana. The happy couple had a girl in July 2013, whom the young parents decided to name Michelle.
Jacques-Anthony now
Since October 2017, the rapper has been posting lifestalk vlogs online, telling subscribers about touring and entertainment, and how many new tattoos he has gotten. On October 11, the video clip “Expensive” was released. But soon the musician was accused of plagiarizing the rapper’s song, “Vitamin.” At the end of the month, the next album was released, called “DoroGo”.
Wikipedia talks about the rapper’s life and work, and he also has active accounts on Instagram, VK and Twitter.
Jacques-Anthony Expensive Childhood and adolescence Greetings to guests and regular readers of the site website. So, rap artist Jacques Menshikov, better known under the pseudonym Jacques-Anthony, first saw the light on January 31, 1992 in the Russian town of Vologda. Our hero’s mother is the former vocalist of the hip-hop association “D.O.B. Community” - Simone Makanda (Yori), and his stepfather is rapper Legalize (Andrey Menshikov), who was also a member of this group and married Simone when Jacques was about four years old. That same year, the family went to live in the Congo.
In 1997, a civil war breaks out in central Africa, so Anthony and Legalise leave for the Russian capital. Around that period, the future Don Benladen began to become interested in music. The young man and his girlfriend wrote various rap poems and read them to their parents, who, in turn, supported their children’s endeavors, despite the primitiveness of the lyrics.
Jacques went to a local prestigious school for some time, but our hero was not destined to study there for a long time.
Yori and Lagalaise were unable to maintain their marriage for long and eventually divorced. In 2004, Menshikov and his mother Simona moved to St. Petersburg, where the teenager began going to various music schools. The guy learned to play the piano and a little guitar. In general, Tony changed quite a few educational institutions, even studying in Africa when he was 15 years old. By the way, he studied very well for some time, he was so obsessed with grades that he could sit and do homework, and then immediately go to study without even going to bed. At one point, the teenager becomes involved with the rap movement, so he begins to rarely attend school. However, his mother, having learned about her son's progress, decides to give him the right motivation. She told Jacques that if he received a certificate of secondary education with honors, she would give him a car. After this, the future musician again took up his head. In the 11th grade, everything changed again and the guy again became seriously interested in writing music. Anthony passed the Unified State Exam, quarreled with his mother, and left to conquer Moscow, where he entered a university majoring in political science. Jacques was not particularly interested in studying, although he managed to successfully pay off his debts using his charisma. At that time, the young man lived in a hostel, played sports, and also actively attended various parties with a lot of alcohol.
Later, Anthony, in order to move away from a riotous lifestyle, voluntarily joins the army, where he was sent to the strategic missile forces located in the city of Ivanovo. According to Jacques, he quickly found a common language with his colleagues, even organizing a small “underground” business with them.
Music career
Having been discharged with the rank of corporal, the guy did not waste time and began his musical career. In 2013, under the pseudonym A.M.Faya, the rapper presented two parts of the “Flaming Tony” mixtape. During this period, Jacques collaborated with the T.A. Inc group, which also included not very well known at that time. It is worth noting that in the early stages the Vologda resident tried to record music in the pop-rock genre, but then switched to hip-hop.At the beginning of December 2013, the artist, already under the nickname Dxn Bnlvdn (Don Benladen), released his debut video for the trap song “Day After Day”.
DXN BNLVDN - DAY AFTER DAY (2013)
In the same month, he publishes a promotional video dedicated to the launch of his personal clothing brand “PVRVDIGMV” (read “Paradigm”).
The second half of February 2014 is marked by the premiere of the “Molly Cyrus” mixtape, recorded in less than a day.
Jacques Anthony - Self Made (2014)
In the spring, the performer as Jacques-Anthony presents the video “#Podomnoy”, and in July he adds to the discography an EP from Dxn Bnlvdn called “Enough Questions”.
Jacques Anthony - #Podomnoy (2014)
In December, Jacques released the mini-album "Live and Do", as well as three music videos. The most famous work was “Old Testament”, after which Anthony received his first recognition in the rap community. It was after this that the artist quit his job as a cameraman (he shot videos for performers, as well as commercials) and began to devote more time to hip-hop.
Jacques-Anthony - Old Testament (2014)
At the end of April 2015, Jacques presented the mixtape “#NoName”, in which the artist included tracks that are not suitable for a full-length album and are “trash” in the rapper’s understanding. In August, the premiere of a joint song between Menshikov and a popular performer called “Breathless” took place. A short promotional video was shot for the track.
On October 14, a film adaptation of the composition “Do the Right Thing” was released, which became one of Jacques’ most famous works, despite the age restriction from the video hosting (the video shows a woman’s breasts). The artist himself admits that he does not like this track and only performs it at concerts through force. In the second half of the same month, the solo album “Breathless” was published, which took pride of place in the ratings of various rap publications. The album included 13 tracks, in addition to the feature with Miron, there is a common track with London MC Porchy.
December is marked by the release of a 7-track release called “That Negro.” In the same month, the performer recorded the song “Director” together with him.
At the beginning of May 2016, Tony pleased his listeners with the composition “Fallen”, and after 3 weeks the premiere of our hero’s 2nd album entitled “Dorian Gray. Volume I” took place. The name is taken in honor of the character of the same name from the novel by Oscar Wilde. According to Jacques's idea, the first part of the solo album is more “humane and neutral”, while the second part will be “completely out of place”.
At the end of December, the artist, together with Misha Malinovsky, will present a joint side project “3e5ra”. In order to take a break from the usual sound of their music, the performers released a 5-track release “Zebra”. On January 23, 2017, Jacques presented a video work based on the track “Our District”. The composition became the soundtrack of Fyodor Bondarchuk's fantasy "Attraction", the premiere of which took place three days later. The film takes place in the Moscow district of Chertanovo, where an object of extraterrestrial origin has landed.
Jacques-Anthony - Our District (OST "Attraction")
The beginning of April is marked by the release of the EP "At Any Cost", which includes 6 songs. In the track "Sharish" Smokey Mo performed a guest verse. A month later, a video by Jacques Menshikov and his colleague called “24/7” was released, which was included in Plinofishl’s debut solo album “GOLDY”.
In the second half of the year, the musician tattooed the inscription “Game” on his face upside down. The meaning of the tattoo is quite creative: Jacques believes that he managed to turn the rap game upside down with his creativity.
Personal life
As for Jacques’ personal life, it is known that the rapper is married to a girl named Oksana, who took her husband’s surname. On July 14, 2013, the couple had a daughter; the newlyweds named her Michelle.Jacques-Anthony now
On October 9, 2017, the performer began releasing lifesteal vlogs, in which he shows some moments from his touring life and leisure time.Two days later, the performer delighted fans with the musical work “Expensive.” In the comments under the video on YouTube, the artist was accused of being similar to the song of the Kazakh rapper “Vitanin”, while the other part, on the contrary, was glad that Anthony decided to experiment with the sound. The composition was included in the lists of Menshikov's third solo album of 15 tracks called "DoroGo", which premiered on October 30.
Jacques-Anthony - EXPENSIVE (2017)
Jacques-Anthony became pleased famous performer and is not going to stop delighting his fans with new creative works.
Preview: YouTube
: instagram.com/jacques_anthony (Official Instagram page)
: youtube.com, still images
: vk.com/dxnbnlvdn (Official page on VKontakte)
: instagram.com/_oksana_menshikova_
Stills from music videos PVRVDIGMV, DXN BNLVDN, Jacques-Anthony from YouTube
Personal archive of Jacques Menshikov
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The article was prepared by the resource "How Celebrities Changed"