Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said he thought that hip-hop could be a cure for alcohol and drug abuse and praised the country’s rappers for refining an otherwise alien culture by putting “Russian charm” into it.

Putin spoke during his first appearance on a hip-hop show, where he rubbed shoulders with performers in a subculture long associated with alcohol, drugs and violence.

“I do not think that the ‘top-rock’ or ‘floor-rock’ break dance technique is compatible with alcohol or drugs,” Putin said, speaking of problems that are rampant among the country’s youth.

He said “although rap is kind of rough, it has a social message dealing with problems of the young” and that graffiti had already become real art, “fine and elegant.”

Putin also said while phenomena like rap and break dancing showed their foreign origins by having English names, such an influx from abroad was unstoppable.

“Not everybody likes this, but we live in a peculiar time characterized by the penetration of cultures and customs. In politics and economics, we call that globalization,” he told the cheering crowd of hip-hop fans on “Fight for Respect,” which aired Friday night on Muz-TV.

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