The State of Hip-Hop: East Asia
Traveling is a different experience every time, with a familiar set of questions. When do you start your trip? What do you bring? Where do you go? What do you eat? What do you see? Who do you travel with? I always have another question to answer: what am I going to listen to?
Whether it's Young Thug, Kanye West, or Odd Future, hip-hop has always been my most trusted travel companion. I find it hard to vibe with other travelers in general, especially in countries where I don’t speak the language. But the one thing that always bridged the gap was a communal love for this sound and culture, and the music that results when a foreign country tries its hand at hip-hop.
In Chiang Mai, I asked locals where I could hear “rap music”—they all pointed to one bar. It was nearly empty, but there were enough hip-hop heads present to warrant a few beers. It was a stark contrast to the “Compton to Seoul” show I attended in Korea, which featured DJ Yella from NWA, Trinidad James, Twista, Royce da 5’9, Sonny Digital, and a bunch of big Korean artists.
Different cities. Different countries. Different cultures. Different continents. No matter where I went, a different kind of hip-hop existed. I knew the artists had stories, and music was the way they shared.
Last year in East Asia I interviewed artists, explored clubs, and kicked it with local music lovers. The State of Hip-Hop is a video series that chronicles those encounters, those sounds, and those sights. Starting with China and moving each day through Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, we’ll spend this week hearing the sounds and flows coming from the other side of the world.
ChinaFirst up is China—I interviewed Bohan Phoenix, a rapper from Chengdu, China, in the green room of Tokyo venue. From rapping on the Apollo Stage at amateur night to becoming one of the biggest artists in Chinese hip-hop, Bohan has proved that his Jala wave has been spicing up the culture in China and it’s not going to stop anytime soon. Hip-hop is conditionally banned in the country, but artists like Bohan, Higher Brothers, and Kris Wu have built international buzz in spite of state opposition—it seems that for China, hip-hop is here to stay.
"The firewall allowed [China]... to cook up its own flavor," Phoenix says. "I think in time, it will become a super mature market...you're talking about one billion people. New York is a great place to go and visit, but you go there to build your confidence, then you take that and do great things elsewhere...we're not just fans now, we want to be part of the conversation."
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