Seven Chinese hip-hop acts who’ve leapt the Great Firewall to make China look cool
Despite recent Chinese government censorship banning hip-hop culture from mainstream media, the country’s rap scene isn’t finished. A number of acts have found an international audience, and these seven are the stand-outs
About six months after hip-hop fever swept through China, propelled by the huge success of The Rap of China TV competition, authorities banned depictions of hip-hop culture in mainstream media in January 2018 on the grounds that it “encourages immoral behaviour”.
The ban has been a setback for the hip-hop artists – within China, they must now navigate their way around the new restrictions, such as by incorporating more positive elements in their lyrics (in accordance with what the Ministry of Culture sees as “upright”) or even through outright self censorship.
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But outside the Great Firewall, promoters and platforms such as YouTube channel Zhong TV have sprung up to promote Chinese hip-hop to the world – and they have found a willing audience. Here are the stand-out Chinese hip-hop artists who have managed to make China look cool.
Any initial scepticism about Chinese hip-hop among Western listeners was erased by these four guys from Chengdu in Sichuan province. The Higher Brothers have achieved international fame with the help of 88 Rising, a New York-based media company promoting Asian artists (also including Indonesia’s Rich Chigga, now known as Rich Brian) to a global audience.
Gai
