Daily Inspiration: Meet Sergei “The Surrge” Kabashov

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sergei “The Surrge” Kabashov.

Hi Sergei “The Surrge”, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I was born in Arkhangelsk, way up north in Russia. When I was around five, my mom enrolled me in music school. Honestly, at the time I hated it. I didn’t understand the point, but she was determined that I stick with it, so I couldn’t really back out. Then we moved to Moscow. After she passed away, I convinced my dad to pull me out. For a while, I was trying to figure out what I actually wanted to do. Eventually, I realized I wanted to play football, and I threw myself into it for about ten years.

Even during those football years, though, music kept coming back around. I had this odd obsession with listening to music, finding new gems, and sharing them with my friends. They always thought I was doing too much. In 2013, I started writing a lot of raps, and by the end of that year I’d recorded my first song in a small professional studio. I was excited and wanted to share it with everybody. When I played it for some of my peers, they kind of put me on the spot about it. It wasn’t anything serious, but it still unsettled me, and over time my interest in pursuing music kind of faded—even though I had about five more songs written.

Around then, I bought BeatMaker 2 for my iPhone. I think it may have been the first app I ever paid for. I wanted to try making beats, but I didn’t really know what I was doing, and I found the app too complex, so I stopped using it. A few years later, after I moved to the United States, I bought a Mac because I wanted to trade stocks and crypto. Then I saw that it came with GarageBand. It reminded me of experimenting with that beat-making app back in the day, so I started using GarageBand. I was kind of amazed that music kept finding its way back into my life. At the end of the day, I was like, I already have a good ear, and I’ve been able to sing since I was a kid. Why the hell not take advantage of that? I wasn’t starting completely from scratch. Later that same year, as I got better at making beats, I finally realized music was what I wanted to dedicate my life to. I wanted to understand the process better, so I started looking at schools and courses and found Recording Connection School.

That’s where I met Mark Christensen, who became my mentor. The program took place at Engine Room Audio. He showed me around the studio and broke down how everything worked. The program was about $12,000, which was a lot to pay on my own at 22, but I was like, “Fuck it. Let’s do it. Whatever it takes.” So I paid it off in installments. After I completed the program, they offered me an internship at the studio and I took it. That was the beginning of my studio years. Forever grateful to Mark Christensen and Scotty Lee. Salute to them and the whole Engine Room family—they’ll always have a special place in my heart.

I put together a small setup at home with a mic that cost around $100 and pretty much the cheapest audio interface I could find, just so I could practice. I just couldn’t get the idea out of my head that I should be an artist too, instead of boxing myself into only the production side of music. After all, I’d already written songs and even recorded one back in the day, right? And honestly, my obsession with Post Malone at the time was a big part of it too. He really inspired me to pick up the mic. Once I started recording myself, I got just as carried away with vocals as I had with making beats. I spent more and more time singing, rapping, and writing. In 2019, I made around 50 demos. I picked “Paranoid” as the one I wanted to release first and set it to drop at midnight on New Year’s Eve, going into January 1, 2020. I decided to celebrate by myself in the studio.

Here’s the part I still can’t wrap my head around: that same day, on my way home from the studio, I had what turned out to be a panic attack. I was at a train station, called an ambulance, and ended up in the emergency room. They didn’t find anything physically wrong, but mentally I’d been going through a lot. When I listen to the song now, I can hear that whole period in it. It almost felt like my paranoia and anxiety phase had just reached its peak. And I’m glad I haven’t experienced anything like that ever since.

Then I moved to Miami, and for the first time in my life, I had a chance to focus on music one hundred percent without working another job on the side. I started working with studios of all different calibers, from smaller spots to arguably the best one out there—House of Hits. Shout out to Serg and Vinny DeLeon for taking me under their wings there. They really took my engineering to the next level. But you can definetely say that Vice City gave me not only the biggest opportunities but also the hardest lessons of my life.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
No, definitely not. 2025 felt like my enemy year, numerology-wise. I’m not saying that was the main cause, but so much hit me at once that the numbers really started to add up.

Around that time, I started engineering and producing for a new client who eventually became my roommate. He used to be popular back in the day in a European boy band. I’m not gonna lie, I gotta give it to him—he even knocked my ex off the top spot on my list of most convincing manipulators. He gained my trust fast and broke it just as quickly. Once I started seeing the full picture, I realized he was just another Miami crypto scammer—and I wasn’t the only one caught up in it. My boy DropTop, who was living in Miami at the time, got hit even harder than I did. We became really close through all of that and even started developing business ventures together, so I absolutely gotta shout him out too.

The fallout went deeper than it might seem at first, because it hurt my reputation in other circles too. Even the studio where I met him finessed me out of money they owed me for sessions, and that was mostly because of him. And look, don’t get me wrong, I always take responsibility for my own life. But it’d be stupid to deny the part he played in this. They claimed the landlord was kicking them out, allegedly because of me, and refused to pay the balance. Their excuse was that the money had to cover their “moving expenses.” Well, guess what? Those punks just changed the name of the studio. That’s it. Nothing ever shut down.

Basically, the summer of 2025 got especially hot for me. I lost many relationships, money, work, and even the roof over my head. I was homeless for five days altogether. I’d never gone a single day without a place to stay before, so I remember thinking, damn, this is happening to me for real. I had to spend my last couple hundred dollars on a ticket back to New York and start putting my life back together. It didn’t break me, but that realization stays with you.

And you know, I could’ve dropped their names and put them on blast, or taken legal action, but at the time I just didn’t have the financial or mental bandwidth to go after it. But it’s never too late though, right? So just like I said in my most recent song, I always keep a couple aces up my sleeve.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
These days, I work across both my own music and client projects, covering writing, production, recording, mixing, and mastering. Sound-wise, I move between R&B, rap, and pop, and I write in both Russian and English. I always stamp my production with my signature electronic edge, and I think that comes from my deep love for EDM back in high school.

I’ve also been fortunate enough to work in rooms like Engine Room Audio and Penthouse Studios in New York, and House of Hits in Miami. Along the way, I assisted on sessions involving Dave East, Joey Bada$$, French Montana, Lil Baby, Central Cee, Ice Spice, Moneybagg Yo, 42 Dugg, and BIA. And yeah, for sure, this is something I can flex about all day, but honestly, that’s not even what I’m most proud of.

The fact that after all these years in the industry, I never folded to trends. Honestly, I deserve a damn medal. ’Cause yes, on the surface they look like shortcuts, but people don’t realize they hurt your reputation in the long run and shape the next generation coming up in the worst way. Trust me, I’ve been in rooms where people tried to push me into rapping about heavy drugs, on some, “Bro, it’s not that deep. If it sounds cool, it sounds cool.” And some people told me I should start making some goofy-looking dance TikTok videos just because that’s what gets attention. And look, I get it—I know it works. But if it doesn’t reflect who I am or what I stand for, you can miss me with that bullshit. I’d rather keep pushing my own line and trust the process, ’cause the right listeners are gonna line up behind it regardless. Bars, by the way.

How do you think about happiness?
That’s an interesting one. So, here’s my take on it.

I don’t believe you should spend your whole life chasing this thing called happiness. People don’t even know what that is. Life is too volatile; it has too many ups and downs for that. If shit hits the fan and you’re walking around with a forced smile plastered on your face, then you’re just putting on a front.

But you can still find peace within yourself no matter what’s going on. Listen, if you think rich, famous, and influential people can’t have troubled minds too, then you’re just delusional. And just like that, you’re stuck running laps in a race with no trophy.

Some of my most profound realizations came during my ‘enemy year’ and the period right after it, when I was at my lowest. I’d been in and out of long-term relationships for over a decade, and I’d never really had the chance to sit with myself by myself. I can guarantee you for sure, the same routine won’t bring different results. So it takes a real shake-up for you to wake up. That’s how some of my best ideas about music, branding, and life in general came to me.

Solitude made me realize I had to learn the business inside out for myself. That’s what pushed me to launch my own label, ELECTЯROCITY, and learn the nitty-gritty of running it.

Also, I definitely wasn’t new to spiritual practices—I’d learned to meditate a while back. But this time, I took it up a notch and started exploring more, including abstinence and fasting twice a month with the lunar cycle as part of a physical and spiritual cleanse. This month, I hit 100 days of abstinence—which might sound crazy, because since when does a grown man brag about not having bitches, right? But that’s exactly what I mean. I started flipping those societal norms and narratives upside down. And I’ll tell you what—I’ve never felt this invincible or this driven in my life.

And you know, lately I’ve been on the road, living out of a suitcase. In the past twelve months, I’ve lived in four different cities. A lot of people might be frightened by that kind of uncertainty, but I found peace in not knowing where I want to stay because it always gives me room to grow.

I’m learning to approach my music the same way. I used to get caught up in questions like, ‘When am I gonna blow up? Why did somebody leave a hateful comment? Why am I not getting enough likes or streams?’ But at the end of the day, what matters the most is that at least I do what I love, and I love what I do. And honestly, I just think it’s pretty cool that I’m capable of flipping my life experiences into sound frequencies that charge somebody else up. That alone is the type of luxury most people will never have.

I know every song isn’t gonna be the one. I know every song isn’t going to be a Billboard hit. And I’ve made peace with that reality. So I just stay in my lane, keep my vision clear, and eventually on this journey, I’ll spot the right sign when it’s finally my turn.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://thesurrge.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesurrge/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thesurrge
• Twitter: https://x.com/theSurrge
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKjPnnORXgZZLlpWOO_OlIg
• Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/thesurrge
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@thesurrge