The website had been created by Lin Haoli and his friends, who would later found their own rap crew, TriPoets (参劈), in 2002. ![]() In 1998, a 20-year-old rapper by the name of Yao Zhongren started uploading his rap demos onto MU, Taiwan’s biggest online discussion forum for hip hop at the time. (LMF has only been permitted to play on the Mainland once in their career.)Īcross the strait in Taiwan, hip hop had hit earlier via L.A.Boyz, a group of three Chinese-Americans (Jeffery Huang, Stanley Huang and Steven Lim) that was active from 1992 to 1997. ![]() The group plans to release new music, and has seemingly found a new audience for their authority-challenging lyrics in present-day Hong Kong. LMF recently returned to the live arena ahead of their 20th anniversary, giving of a handful of “Still Lazy” reunion shows in 2018. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the group’s obscenity-filled songs stirred up a load of controversy, but also won them a dedicated fan base. The group featured MC Yan, who went on to produce Hong Kong superstar and sort-of rapper Edison Chen, and DJ Tommy, CEO of CMD Music and co-founder (with Chen) of hip hop fashion brand CLOT. That same year, a group of friends in Hong Kong going by the name LMF released their debut EP, the self-titled Lazy Mutha Fucka. The group remains famous to this day for their hit song “霞飞路87号 No.87 on Xiafei Road”. In 1999, another influential group, 黑棒 Hi-Bomb, was founded in Shanghai. was formed, and became another important gateway for Chinese fans to get a taste of hip hop music and street dance. In addition to introducing professional basketball to China, the background music of the televised games and the players’ style gave young Chinese a new avenue through which to encounter hip hop. In 1994, national sports station CCTV5 began broadcasting NBA games for the first time. (This was in 2000, long before last year’s supposed “ ban” prohibiting rappers from appearing on broadcast television.) Li, who has the same Chinese name as Bruce Lee, released his debut album Li Shao Long in 2000. Li Xiaolong, a former B-Boy from Fujian who is widely regarded as “the first Chinese rapper,” also got his start in the mid-’90s, and eventually went on to rap the theme song for hit TV series Loquacious Zhang Damin’s Happy Life. The album’s cover literally had the words “China Rap” on it, along with a photo of Xie Dong, Yin Xiangjie, and Tu Tu, two of whom went on to help form the first generation of pop singers in Mainland China.Īround the same time, in 1992, Dai Bing and Tian Bao formed the first rap group in China, D.D.Rhythm. 1990s: The Emergence of Rap in ChinaĮven though rock and pop artists Cui Jian (Beijing), George Lam (Hong Kong), and Harlem Yu (Taipei) had injected some rap elements into their music even before 1990, the genre didn’t really garner widespread attention until the release of Someone ( 某某人) in 1993. this was my “Hip Hop 101,” my first taste of rap as a middle schooler in Beijing at the turn of the millennium.īut if we want to take a deeper dive into the real history of rap in China - a history that goes far beyond the mainstream version exemplified by hit reality show The Rap of China - the origins of this culture date back to a decade earlier. “ Dakou” cassettes featuring Eminem and Taiwanese rapper MC Hotdog, and my classmates dancing at school, imitating Korean boy band H.O.T. ![]() Find Part 2 here, and see more of RADII’s in-depth hip hop coverage here. This is Part 1 of a two-part series on the history of rap in China.
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