The goal of the research on our part is to explore the globalization of American Rap music, especially in China. To grasp the narrative of it, we chose two rap competition shows in different styles as our cases. These case studies help us understand how related cultural policies affect the development of the rap music ecosystem in China. We also interviewed two Chinese young rappers to hear about their opinions towards the shows and the cultural policies in the music industry for both China and the US.
Chinese rap culture on one hand inherits the US tradition in the subject of making money and expressing rappers’ inner anger against inequity in the whole society, and the apparels including gold chains and oversize hoodies. On the other hand, it attempts to make innovations based on the old tradition. It appeals to the Chinese contemporary young rappers, paying more attention to what happens nowadays in their real lifves within Chinese society and creating songs about these issues, rather than merely imitating the American rappers like rapping about heated issues in the US society.
Regarding the music industry and related cultural policies, it is obvious that rap culture will remain as a subculture in China. But Chinese rappers can easily have more fans and reach out to more audiences than rappers in the US as China has a potential big market increasing in the future. Chinese and American rappers are also paid differently according to the domestic music laws and regulations.
We interviewed two Chinese young rappers for our research: KimKhan and Yuhao Wu. Let’s hear more about why they decided to be rappers, and how rap practices helped to empower themselves and build their identities.
After PG One became the champion of Rap of China S1, he was involved in a scandal with a married actress famous in China, which aroused heated discussion on social media. On Jan 4 of 2018, Communist Youth League published a post on Weibo (a platform like Twitter in China), criticizing PG One for the dark lyrics in “Christmas Eve”, one of his previous songs, which “encouraged teenagers to use drugs” and “insulted women”.
Translation: “Warning! This song may encourage teenagers to use drugs!” Recently, some people have reported that the song “Christmas Eve” encourages teenagers to use drugs and to insult women. Public figures should actively set up good models online and provide proper guidance for young people in the country. If it is true that "pure white powder goes on the board" (lyric), it has seriously violated the law.”
On the same day, PG One soon published an apology on Weibo. He explained that he “was deeply influenced by black music in the early days” and “apologized for the misunderstanding of core values”. He promised to take down the works and to advocate social responsibility in the future, stating that the hip-hop spirit should always be “peace and love”.
Translation: “(original post)Triple H PG_ONE: I was deeply influenced by black music in my early days exposed to hip-hop culture. I misunderstood the core value and I sincerely apologize for that. As I mature, I am more aware that I should increase my sense of social responsibility, advocate for correct values and prosocial behaviors....I have taken off the work from all music platforms, waiting for the reorganization before re-uploading. Thanks public for supervision. The hip-hop spirit should always be ‘peace and love’.”
Followed by the event, general online discussion included various topics like: whether rapper could use black culture or the original background of rap as excuses for the lyrics exaggerating crime, drug and sex, whether the lyrics should be analyzed separately from the rappers’ real lives in China, etc. No matter how the discussion went, PG One was then “banned” from the main media and returned underground.