N3koglai & zubarefff: two paths
15 years of life, thousands of kilometers, and two completely different success stories separate them. But today, N3koglai (Nikolai Lebedev) and zubarefff (Alexander Zubarev) stand on the same step – each with 2.5 million subscribers on Twitch. One is a scandalous TikToker, deported from Russia and raising money for drones for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The second is a 39-year-old choreographer from Donetsk, living in China and famous for swearing at unsuspecting Chinese people. We analyze the phenomenon of two completely different, yet equally successful streamers.
Part 1. N3koglai: The phenomenon that blew up Twitch and was deported
From waiter to record-breaker: The TikTok star's path to Twitch
Nikolai Lebedev, known as N3koglai, was born on November 14, 2000, in Chisinau, Moldova. His childhood was not easy. At nine, his mother died of stage four cancer, and at ten, his father died of a drug overdose. Nikolai was raised by his older brother, who was 21 at the time.
Kolya was a poor student in school. After ninth grade, he dreamed of becoming a professional Dota player, but his brother insisted he continue his studies. He never finished tenth grade. At 16, he got a job as a waiter but worked "poorly and lazily" and lost his job after three months.
He first gained popularity on TikTok after being inspired by Dani Milokhin's example: "I watched and thought, 'Wait a minute, 150 thousand likes, a guy turned on the camera, set it up, and made faces.' I put two and two together and realized that if I had a phone, I could do the same thing."
In May 2021, Nekoglai recorded a reaction to Egor Kreed's video, where he parodied the anti-lifehacker blogger Khabib Leym. The video with infectious laughter and the phrase "Explosive! You're joking, you're joking!" collected almost 2 million likes. This became his ticket to the world of great popularity.
By the end of 2021, the number of TikTok subscribers exceeded 5 million people – only a few in the Russian-speaking segment could boast this.
A record no one could beat
The real breakthrough on Twitch happened when Nekoglai began joint streams with 17-year-old TikToker Ivan Zolo. Initially, the broadcasts gathered 3-5 thousand viewers, but gradually the audience grew.
A key moment came when the streamers began choosing a girl for Zolo from photos. Ivan couldn't read the Latin script of the streamers' nicknames, and Nekoglai, as an "English teacher," tried to explain it to him. The sound "stopapupa" became the main Russian-language trend of late 2021.
On January 10, 2022, a historic event occurred: a joint stream of Nekoglai and Ivan Zolo gathered over 578 thousand viewers – a record for Russian-speaking Twitch that remains unbroken.
In January 2022, N3koglai became first in average online viewership on Twitch among all streamers worldwide – his broadcasts were watched by an average of over 103 thousand viewers.
The fall: scandals and deportation
The rapid rise was accompanied by a series of sensational scandals. In February 2022, bloggers accused Nikolai of botting: out of 1.36 million unique viewers, 604 thousand were unregistered, and 305 thousand created accounts in December 2021.
In the summer of 2022, alarming events began to happen around Nekoglai: first, thieves allegedly broke into his apartment, then he was involved in a fatal car accident on the Tverskoy overpass in Moscow, and a little later – in a room where an MMA fighter was detained on suspicion of extortion.
But the biggest fall happened later.
On November 7, 2022, Nekoglai posted a video on TikTok parodying a Russian soldier dodging grenades dropped from a drone. On November 9, he was detained and taken to the Babushkinsky court in Moscow. He was fined 5 thousand rubles and sentenced to deportation to Moldova.
After the court, a shocking video appeared online: Nekoglai, with a shaved head and bruises on his face, said in a cracking voice: "I feel like an animal." On November 24, 2022, he was deported from Russia.
Life after: aid to the Armed Forces of Ukraine and a criminal case
After returning to Moldova, Nekoglai continued his activities, but from a completely different position. In January 2023, he held a stream where he raised money for the purchase of drones for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, stating that he considered himself an "enemy of the Russian regime." In March of the same year, he personally came to Kyiv and handed over five DJI Mavic 3 drones and a car to the Ukrainian military.
In February 2023, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation initiated a criminal case against Nekoglai under Article 128.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation "Slander" for statements against the head of the Safe Internet League, Ekaterina Mizulina.
Where Nekoglai is now
In 2026, Nikolai Lebedev is 25 years old. He still streams on Twitch, where his channel has 2.5 million subscribers. In November 2024, he participated for the first time in a boxing match at the FEA Championship against Moldovan blogger Zhosan, but lost the fight.
Nekoglai is a streamer-phenomenon who shot to the top in a matter of months, set a record that remains unbroken, and crashed due to one video. His story is the clearest example of how quickly a streamer can rise to the top and how rapidly they can lose everything.
Part 2. zubarefff: The choreographer from China who conquered the internet with swearing
A paradox man: from Donbas to Wuhan through dance
If Nekoglai's story is a story of rise and fall, then zubarefff's biography is a story of unexpected discovery and complete rebirth.
Alexander Zubarev was born on February 15, 1987, in Donetsk, Ukrainian SSR. He is 39 years old – 15 years older than Nekoglai. His childhood was difficult: his father, a miner, left the family, and his mother was left alone with three children, working from early morning until late at night. His older brother Igor died of an overdose at 32, which, according to Alexander himself, greatly affected him.
Our Services for Streamers
Our Services for Content Creators
