The Risks and Possibilities of Rap Music Gaining More Recognition in Asia
In the past years, reality shows have become a staple of Chinese television. In particular, owing to the popularity of karaoke and pop music, American Idol-style programs that seek to discover untapped musical talents in the general populace have become extremely popular and widespread. Different TV stations and independent media websites have invested and competed to host the biggest, most professional, and most lavishly set "talent search," drawing some of the biggest popstars of Chinese musical industry today to help discover some of the best raw talent hidden in plain sight.
In this boom of musical talent search, one program in particular stands out. Erroneously titled Hip-hop of China, the show independently produced by media website iQiYi took the concept of musical talent search to a rather surprising direction by focusing exclusively on finding the best Chinese rappers today. In the process, the show highlighted an underground rappers' community in a country (and indeed, the whole Asian continent) that is little known and appreciated by the general public, who remains more in tune with romantic ballads and bubblegum pop that form the bulk of mainstream Asian popular music.
There are two reasons why iQiYi's investment in a show like Hip-hop of China is extremely risky. One is the aforementioned fact that rap is not mainstream in Asia in general and China in particular. Most music listeners, even among the youth population, not to mention people who are older, have extremely little exposure to rap music, and especially indigenous homegrown rap music. The fact that there was little attention paid by mainstream media outlets (until iQiYi came along to run this show) ensured that the number of people who are previously confirmed to be followers of Chinese rap is completely unknown.
But more than the fact that rap is a "musical fringe" in Asia is the fact that, unlike most other musical forms popular today, rap has no long history of an reputable homegrown variety in Asia. In other words, whatever rap that happens to exist on the continent tends to be what one could call outright importation or imitation of rap styles and techniques developed in America. The reality of the copy-pasting is quite clearly displayed in Hip-hop of China, in which the use of English language, American gang-like baggy clothing, and American street greetings styles inundate the interactions among the contestants and the judges.
How Asian rap is distinctly lacking in Asian elements of any sort presents perhaps the biggest obstacle for greater proliferation of the musical form on the continent and impedes potential popularity of a show like Hip-hop of China. Despite continued exposure of Asian populations to Western entertainment forms, most Asians tend not to completely embrace Western art forms that have somehow been filtered or modified to the local palate. To enjoy rap, for instance, one has to be quite familiar with American street culture, something that is neither taught, show, nor present in the general cultural environment of Asian cities.
As such, to promote something so unabashedly foreign and unmodified from the original American form present possibilities of socio-political oppositions. In an era of Asian cultural and ethical nationalisms, spreading the underlying values of rap culture, one that is materialistic, boasting, and visually violence-prone, can quickly draw the ire of self-styled defenders of "cultural purism," whether they are grassroots or government level. If these people had their way, a show like Hip-hop of China can directly transition the relationship between the view of the general populace of rappers from "unknown" to "despised."
To be completely clear, this is not to say that greater public exposure to rap music is going to lead to downfall and censorship of rap music in China by public outcry or government decree. Instead, we are seeing that, albeit from an extremely low base, there is a gradual increase in use of rap in mainstream Chinese (and Asian) popular music, and with it, greater understanding and acceptance of the musical form. But for the general acceptance of rap to continue unabated, the rap community must make concrete efforts to connect more with the cultural environment of Asia rather than America.
Rap music, in many ways, gained popularity in America due to its ability to reflect real social issues and frustrations of the disadvantaged people in the US. While frustrations and social issues also exist in Asia and are worthy of being expressed through music, frustrations and social issues in Asia are fundamentally different from those in America. For rap music to truly gain ground on the Asian continent, rappers must rap about issues unique to Asia and do so in a more Asian way.. The resulting "nativization" of rap is the only way it can gain mainstream status in the near future.
In this boom of musical talent search, one program in particular stands out. Erroneously titled Hip-hop of China, the show independently produced by media website iQiYi took the concept of musical talent search to a rather surprising direction by focusing exclusively on finding the best Chinese rappers today. In the process, the show highlighted an underground rappers' community in a country (and indeed, the whole Asian continent) that is little known and appreciated by the general public, who remains more in tune with romantic ballads and bubblegum pop that form the bulk of mainstream Asian popular music.
There are two reasons why iQiYi's investment in a show like Hip-hop of China is extremely risky. One is the aforementioned fact that rap is not mainstream in Asia in general and China in particular. Most music listeners, even among the youth population, not to mention people who are older, have extremely little exposure to rap music, and especially indigenous homegrown rap music. The fact that there was little attention paid by mainstream media outlets (until iQiYi came along to run this show) ensured that the number of people who are previously confirmed to be followers of Chinese rap is completely unknown.
But more than the fact that rap is a "musical fringe" in Asia is the fact that, unlike most other musical forms popular today, rap has no long history of an reputable homegrown variety in Asia. In other words, whatever rap that happens to exist on the continent tends to be what one could call outright importation or imitation of rap styles and techniques developed in America. The reality of the copy-pasting is quite clearly displayed in Hip-hop of China, in which the use of English language, American gang-like baggy clothing, and American street greetings styles inundate the interactions among the contestants and the judges.
How Asian rap is distinctly lacking in Asian elements of any sort presents perhaps the biggest obstacle for greater proliferation of the musical form on the continent and impedes potential popularity of a show like Hip-hop of China. Despite continued exposure of Asian populations to Western entertainment forms, most Asians tend not to completely embrace Western art forms that have somehow been filtered or modified to the local palate. To enjoy rap, for instance, one has to be quite familiar with American street culture, something that is neither taught, show, nor present in the general cultural environment of Asian cities.
As such, to promote something so unabashedly foreign and unmodified from the original American form present possibilities of socio-political oppositions. In an era of Asian cultural and ethical nationalisms, spreading the underlying values of rap culture, one that is materialistic, boasting, and visually violence-prone, can quickly draw the ire of self-styled defenders of "cultural purism," whether they are grassroots or government level. If these people had their way, a show like Hip-hop of China can directly transition the relationship between the view of the general populace of rappers from "unknown" to "despised."
To be completely clear, this is not to say that greater public exposure to rap music is going to lead to downfall and censorship of rap music in China by public outcry or government decree. Instead, we are seeing that, albeit from an extremely low base, there is a gradual increase in use of rap in mainstream Chinese (and Asian) popular music, and with it, greater understanding and acceptance of the musical form. But for the general acceptance of rap to continue unabated, the rap community must make concrete efforts to connect more with the cultural environment of Asia rather than America.
Rap music, in many ways, gained popularity in America due to its ability to reflect real social issues and frustrations of the disadvantaged people in the US. While frustrations and social issues also exist in Asia and are worthy of being expressed through music, frustrations and social issues in Asia are fundamentally different from those in America. For rap music to truly gain ground on the Asian continent, rappers must rap about issues unique to Asia and do so in a more Asian way.. The resulting "nativization" of rap is the only way it can gain mainstream status in the near future.
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