Chinese hip hop
Encyclopedia
Chinese hip hop is a relatively new phenomenon
; in Chinese music; “hip-hop in Beijing emerged around the year 2000 from African American culture, but it has been part of Chinese culture since the 1980s.” Some of the earliest influences of hip-hop in Beijing
came from movies such as Wild Style
(1982) and Breakin'
(1984), which arrived via trade and travel with Japan and Hong Kong. The Chinese
term for rap is shuōchàng
(Simplified Chinese: 说唱; literally "narrative," actually the name of a traditional genre of narrative singing).
(庾澄庆) of Taiwan in the early 80s. In the early 90s L.A. Boyz
started a trend that spread into Taiwan and the rest of China. Early Taiwan youth rap groups like The Party and TTM were both underground and mainstream. In the late 90s Hong Kong's Softhard
and LMF
were influential though their Cantonese dialect was foreign to Mandarin speaking regions, while Taiwan's MC HotDog, Da Xi Men, and Da Zhi were more widely intelligible in mainland China.
When Eminem’s movie, 8 Mile, came out in 2002 the art of freestyling was popularized in China. Movies have played a major role in fostering the growth of hip-hop culture in China; from the music itself to dance, the art of graffiti and style of dress. “In the wake of the Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989, interest in hip-hop waned as the government attempted to revitalize reverence for traditional Chinese culture and socialism” (Steele, 2006) and “the government still keeps a tight hold on radio licenses” (Trindle, 2007). However, there was considerable uptake of "Dakou CDs" - “surplus CDs created in the West that were supposed to be destroyed but were instead smuggled into China and sold on the black market” (Steele, 2006). The Lab is a “free studio to foster hip-hop culture and teach aspiring young MCs about the types of music that don’t make it onto the radio” (Trindle, 2007).
Yin Ts'ang
(隐藏) was the first group in Mainland China to sign with a record label (Scream Records 嚎叫) and release a full length album, Serve The People (为人民服务)(2002), which was co-produced and engineered by Mel "Herbie" Kent. It also contained China's first Jungle/drum'n'bass track. The pioneering four person rap group which consisted of MC Webber, Sbazzo, 老郑XIV, and Dirty Heff, continued on to make appearances at The 2003 Pepsi Music Awards, where they were nominated for Best New Rock-Rap Group and the China National Radio Music Awards, where they won Best New Group of 2003. In addition to full length articles by the LA Times, the China Daily, Music Magazine (China) and the NY Times, the group also made special appearances on CCTV-1, PBS, CTV and Stir TV (cable).
Dana Burton, also American, arrived in China in 1999, made connections at a club in Shanghai and in time was allowed to play more and more hip-hop in the club. Hip-hop began to develop a following at the club and eventually a new club was created to play only hip-hop. Since then more clubs playing exclusively hip-hop music have emerged (Foreign Policy, 2007). Burton also started the Iron Mic competition in 2001; an annual rap battle which encouraged more freestyling and less karaoke style performances (Foreign Policy, 2007). Burton recorded:
Chinese DJ V-Nutz (Gary Wang) notes: "I would say we don’t have a Chinese style yet. If you really want me to say, what is Chinese style, I would say it's young, local kids really enjoy Western things right now. Then maybe after 10 or 15 years, maybe they can have their own style." (Trindle, 2007). Hip-hop is often performed in English and many believe Chinese is not suitable; “people said, straight up, you can’t rap in Chinese, Chinese does not work for rap… Chinese is not suitable for rap music because it’s tonal.” XIV of the rap group Yin Ts’ang put it clearly. “I can tell you about what we don’t rap about: gangbangin', pushin' drugs, or the government, that’s a good way to not continue your career (or your life).” A big and important part of the localization of Chinese hip-hop “is encouraging Chinese rappers to rap in Chinese” (Trindle, 2007).
Rappers of Chinese heritage have achieved renown success in the United States, the most recent of whom is the Miami-born, NYs 106 and Park hall of famer Jin
, who raps in both English and Cantonese.video Another Chinese American
rap group was Mountain Brothers
, based in Philadelphia in the 1990s; the group rapped in English. Florida
's "Smilez and Southstar
" under Trans Continental Records and Hong Kong-based hip hopper Edison Chen
has also gained some popularity in the US.
One underground Chinese artist Hu Xuan recorded all of the tracks on his album in Kunminghua, the local dialect spoken in the area of Kunming (Go Kunming, 2007). "One rapper spits out words in a distinctive Beijing accent, scolding the other for not speaking proper Mandarin. His opponent from Hong Kong snaps back to the beat in a trilingual torrent of Cantonese, English, and Mandarin, dissing the Beijing rapper for not representing the people.".
As of 2010, popular artists and groups include MC Hotdog (哈狗帮), Sbazzo (from 隐藏), Young Kin, 噔哚 (Dumdue), 讲者 (Prosa), IN3 (阴三), Young Cee (from Bamboo Crew), 凤凰鸣 (PhoenixCry), Tim Wu, D Evil光光, AP Manchucker (满人), 老郑XIV (from 隐藏), MC Koz, Tang King (from Red Star), 天王星 (Uranus), 大狗, ABD, 大肆院, 龙门阵 (Dragon Tongue Squad), Sha Zhou (沙洲), JR Fog, Nasty Ray, 小老虎 (Lil'Tiger), the Uhiger minority group Six-City and the now-disbanded LMF to name just a few.
Big Zoo is another famous rap crew in China. Being a group from China's "Dirty South," Big Zoo represents its city Chengdu, which is the capital of Sichuan Province. In their recorded songs, most of them are rapped in their own dialect, Sichuanese. Just like their Sichuan cuisine, Big Zoo's style is hot and spicy, but in the meantime, they seek to use rap as a tool to speak their thoughts and problems within the society. There are totally four members in the crew. Three of them are now studying abroad in France, America, and Australia. Sometimes they rap in French and English as well. Their bio can be found in Baidu Baike, which is Chinese biggest online encyclopedia. However, in 2008, Big Zoo hit its rock bottom when one of the crew members, Mow left the team. Ever since, the team stopped making music due to this incident and busy works from school. In the midst of 2011, rapper Free-T released his song "Diary of Life," signaling the return of Big Zoo.
In addition to an official Annual Chinese Hip-Hop Awards Show (中国嘻哈颁奖典礼) now in its third year, there are a handful of websites serving as platforms to promote hip hop culture in China. The online urban channels www.hiphop2china.tv and zhong.tv, the original Hip-Hop online website Lins Bros.林氏兄弟 www.lins-bros.com, the popular and only mainstream radio show 嘻哈公园 (The Park) www.xihapark.com, locally run www.u-dig.cn, the music community streetvoice.com, the video and music site www.mogo.com.cn and www.ez4lf.net.
, Western-oriented Korean influence has played a role in Chinese pop culture development, particularly in Beijing. Each regional breakdancing (or Bboy) scene is slightly different. Hip-hop culture came earliest to Guangzhou (Canton,) so its scene is consequently the deepest rooted. In Shanghai B-boying first became systematized with many local break dance schools.
Phenomenon
A phenomenon , plural phenomena, is any observable occurrence. Phenomena are often, but not always, understood as 'appearances' or 'experiences'...
; in Chinese music; “hip-hop in Beijing emerged around the year 2000 from African American culture, but it has been part of Chinese culture since the 1980s.” Some of the earliest influences of hip-hop in Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
came from movies such as Wild Style
Wild Style
Wild Style is a 1983 hip hop film produced by Charlie Ahearn. Released theatrically in 1983 by First Run Features and later re-released for home video by Rhino Home Video, it is regarded as the first hip hop motion picture...
(1982) and Breakin'
Breakin'
Breakin', released as Breakdance: The Movie in some countries, is a 1984 breakdancing-themed film directed by Joel Silberg. The film setting was inspired by a German documentary entitled Breakin' and Enterin set in the Los Angeles multi-racial hip hop club Radiotron, based out of Macarthur Park in...
(1984), which arrived via trade and travel with Japan and Hong Kong. The Chinese
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
term for rap is shuōchàng
Shuochang
Shuochang is a form of traditional Chinese storytelling , with many regional subgenres; it is also often referred to as "narrative." Shuochang performances usually intermix speaking and singing, and are accompanied by percussion instruments and sometimes also plucked or bowed string...
(Simplified Chinese: 说唱; literally "narrative," actually the name of a traditional genre of narrative singing).
Origins and development
The first Chinese rap song was by Harlem YuHarlem Yu
Harlem Yu was born 28 July 1961. He is a Taiwanese Golden Melody Award singer-songwriter. He was the first artist to experiment with the style of R&B and rap in Chinese music. He has released 14 studio albums. He contribution to the Asian music industry has earned him the reputation of 'God of...
(庾澄庆) of Taiwan in the early 80s. In the early 90s L.A. Boyz
L.A. Boyz
L.A. Boyz was a Taiwanese pop/rap group composed of brothers Jeff Huang and Stanley Huang , and their cousin Steven Lin...
started a trend that spread into Taiwan and the rest of China. Early Taiwan youth rap groups like The Party and TTM were both underground and mainstream. In the late 90s Hong Kong's Softhard
Softhard
Softhard is a Hong Kong rap duo consisting of DJ Soft "Jan Lamb" and MC H "Eric Kot".The rap duo is widely accredited for pioneering the hip hop act to achieve mainstream minor success during the early 90s while on an independent label during the late 80s....
and LMF
Lazy Mutha Fucka
LMF also known as Lazy Mutha Fucka or Lazy Muthafucka, is a Cantonese hip-hop group in Hong Kong. The group, signed by Warner Music, was founded in 1993, disbanded in 2003 and regrouped in 2009...
were influential though their Cantonese dialect was foreign to Mandarin speaking regions, while Taiwan's MC HotDog, Da Xi Men, and Da Zhi were more widely intelligible in mainland China.
When Eminem’s movie, 8 Mile, came out in 2002 the art of freestyling was popularized in China. Movies have played a major role in fostering the growth of hip-hop culture in China; from the music itself to dance, the art of graffiti and style of dress. “In the wake of the Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989, interest in hip-hop waned as the government attempted to revitalize reverence for traditional Chinese culture and socialism” (Steele, 2006) and “the government still keeps a tight hold on radio licenses” (Trindle, 2007). However, there was considerable uptake of "Dakou CDs" - “surplus CDs created in the West that were supposed to be destroyed but were instead smuggled into China and sold on the black market” (Steele, 2006). The Lab is a “free studio to foster hip-hop culture and teach aspiring young MCs about the types of music that don’t make it onto the radio” (Trindle, 2007).
Yin Ts'ang
Yin Ts'ang
Yin Ts’ang is a highly influential, multi-national Chinese hip-hop group from Beijing, China that originally consisted of MC Webber , 老郑XIV , Sbazzo and Dirty Heff...
(隐藏) was the first group in Mainland China to sign with a record label (Scream Records 嚎叫) and release a full length album, Serve The People (为人民服务)(2002), which was co-produced and engineered by Mel "Herbie" Kent. It also contained China's first Jungle/drum'n'bass track. The pioneering four person rap group which consisted of MC Webber, Sbazzo, 老郑XIV, and Dirty Heff, continued on to make appearances at The 2003 Pepsi Music Awards, where they were nominated for Best New Rock-Rap Group and the China National Radio Music Awards, where they won Best New Group of 2003. In addition to full length articles by the LA Times, the China Daily, Music Magazine (China) and the NY Times, the group also made special appearances on CCTV-1, PBS, CTV and Stir TV (cable).
Dana Burton, also American, arrived in China in 1999, made connections at a club in Shanghai and in time was allowed to play more and more hip-hop in the club. Hip-hop began to develop a following at the club and eventually a new club was created to play only hip-hop. Since then more clubs playing exclusively hip-hop music have emerged (Foreign Policy, 2007). Burton also started the Iron Mic competition in 2001; an annual rap battle which encouraged more freestyling and less karaoke style performances (Foreign Policy, 2007). Burton recorded:
"The few rappers I met [initially] were rapping in English. I’d say, ‘Let me hear you rap’, and they’d just do a karaoke thing, repeating a few lines of Eminem or Naughty by Nature. As an American that was so odd for me; you can’t say anyone else’s rhymes, you just don’t do that. But it’s the culture here. They like karaoke and doing someone else’s songs." (Foreign Policy, 2007).
Chinese DJ V-Nutz (Gary Wang) notes: "I would say we don’t have a Chinese style yet. If you really want me to say, what is Chinese style, I would say it's young, local kids really enjoy Western things right now. Then maybe after 10 or 15 years, maybe they can have their own style." (Trindle, 2007). Hip-hop is often performed in English and many believe Chinese is not suitable; “people said, straight up, you can’t rap in Chinese, Chinese does not work for rap… Chinese is not suitable for rap music because it’s tonal.” XIV of the rap group Yin Ts’ang put it clearly. “I can tell you about what we don’t rap about: gangbangin', pushin' drugs, or the government, that’s a good way to not continue your career (or your life).” A big and important part of the localization of Chinese hip-hop “is encouraging Chinese rappers to rap in Chinese” (Trindle, 2007).
Rappers of Chinese heritage have achieved renown success in the United States, the most recent of whom is the Miami-born, NYs 106 and Park hall of famer Jin
Jin (rapper)
Jin Au-Yeung , who performs under the stage name MC Jin, is a Hong Kong hip hop rapper, songwriter, and actor. Growing up in the Miami, Florida area, and later living in New York City, he decided to reside permanently in his motherland, Hong Kong...
, who raps in both English and Cantonese.video Another Chinese American
Chinese American
Chinese Americans represent Americans of Chinese descent. Chinese Americans constitute one group of overseas Chinese and also a subgroup of East Asian Americans, which is further a subgroup of Asian Americans...
rap group was Mountain Brothers
Mountain Brothers
Mountain Brothers was an American hip hop group originally from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Named after the legend of 108 mountain bandits depicted in the Chinese novel Water Margin, the group formed in 1994 after all attended the Pennsylvania State University in State College, Pennsylvania.The...
, based in Philadelphia in the 1990s; the group rapped in English. Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
's "Smilez and Southstar
Southstar
SouthStar is an Asian American hip-hop artist who is best known for his music in the hip-hop duo Smilez and Southstar based in Orlando, Florida. Southstar is Chinese/Filipino-American....
" under Trans Continental Records and Hong Kong-based hip hopper Edison Chen
Edison Chen
Edison Koon-Hei Chen is a Hong Kong film actor, Cantopop singer, Hong Kong hip hop rapper, model, record producer, fashion designer, and a pop icon. Chen is also the founder of CLOT Inc., and the CEO of Clot Media Division Limited...
has also gained some popularity in the US.
One underground Chinese artist Hu Xuan recorded all of the tracks on his album in Kunminghua, the local dialect spoken in the area of Kunming (Go Kunming, 2007). "One rapper spits out words in a distinctive Beijing accent, scolding the other for not speaking proper Mandarin. His opponent from Hong Kong snaps back to the beat in a trilingual torrent of Cantonese, English, and Mandarin, dissing the Beijing rapper for not representing the people.".
As of 2010, popular artists and groups include MC Hotdog (哈狗帮), Sbazzo (from 隐藏), Young Kin, 噔哚 (Dumdue), 讲者 (Prosa), IN3 (阴三), Young Cee (from Bamboo Crew), 凤凰鸣 (PhoenixCry), Tim Wu, D Evil光光, AP Manchucker (满人), 老郑XIV (from 隐藏), MC Koz, Tang King (from Red Star), 天王星 (Uranus), 大狗, ABD, 大肆院, 龙门阵 (Dragon Tongue Squad), Sha Zhou (沙洲), JR Fog, Nasty Ray, 小老虎 (Lil'Tiger), the Uhiger minority group Six-City and the now-disbanded LMF to name just a few.
Big Zoo is another famous rap crew in China. Being a group from China's "Dirty South," Big Zoo represents its city Chengdu, which is the capital of Sichuan Province. In their recorded songs, most of them are rapped in their own dialect, Sichuanese. Just like their Sichuan cuisine, Big Zoo's style is hot and spicy, but in the meantime, they seek to use rap as a tool to speak their thoughts and problems within the society. There are totally four members in the crew. Three of them are now studying abroad in France, America, and Australia. Sometimes they rap in French and English as well. Their bio can be found in Baidu Baike, which is Chinese biggest online encyclopedia. However, in 2008, Big Zoo hit its rock bottom when one of the crew members, Mow left the team. Ever since, the team stopped making music due to this incident and busy works from school. In the midst of 2011, rapper Free-T released his song "Diary of Life," signaling the return of Big Zoo.
In addition to an official Annual Chinese Hip-Hop Awards Show (中国嘻哈颁奖典礼) now in its third year, there are a handful of websites serving as platforms to promote hip hop culture in China. The online urban channels www.hiphop2china.tv and zhong.tv, the original Hip-Hop online website Lins Bros.林氏兄弟 www.lins-bros.com, the popular and only mainstream radio show 嘻哈公园 (The Park) www.xihapark.com, locally run www.u-dig.cn, the music community streetvoice.com, the video and music site www.mogo.com.cn and www.ez4lf.net.
Breakdance
Pīlìwǔ 霹雳舞 (literally, thunder dance or breakdancing), is seen as a type of jiēwǔ (Simplified Chinese: 街舞) "street dance". Break dancing has been going on sporadically in China since the 1980s, but has never gained much attention. More recently, following the Korean waveKorean wave
The Korean Wave, also known as the Hallyu , refers to spread of South Korean culture around the world. The term was coined in China in mid-1999 by Beijing journalists surprised by the fast growing popularity of Korean entertainment and culture in China...
, Western-oriented Korean influence has played a role in Chinese pop culture development, particularly in Beijing. Each regional breakdancing (or Bboy) scene is slightly different. Hip-hop culture came earliest to Guangzhou (Canton,) so its scene is consequently the deepest rooted. In Shanghai B-boying first became systematized with many local break dance schools.