Advertisement
Opinion | How Chinese rappers are selling out hip hop by slamming Hong Kong protesters and supporting police
- US rappers like NWA and Public Enemy once urged their followers to stand up to the government and police – but Chinese acts don’t feel the same
- For artists like Higher Brothers, Vava and CD Rev, nationalistic pride comes first. Perhaps we should see them as a separate genre altogether?
Reading Time:4 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
Rap music was originally rebel music, a sound created by disenfranchised, downtrodden African-Americans often unfairly targeted by the police.
Advertisement
Old-school rappers such as NWA said F*** tha Police and Public Enemy urged their followers to Fight the Power, but the biggest hip-hop artists in China today do not seem to have done their homework.
Instead, as Hong Kong is rocked by protests and the city’s police force is accused of various abuses, Chinese rappers are calling on their fans to support the police and submit to the power. Not really as catchy, is it?
After celebrities including pop star Lay Zhang and actress Liu Yifei publicly expressed their support for the central government and the Hong Kong police, many others followed – but the sight of Chinese rappers waving the red flag arguably raises red flags of a different kind.
More than seven of China’s biggest rap acts have so far spoken out against the Hong Kong protests. They include Higher Brothers – arguably China’s biggest international hip-hop exports to date – and Vava, one of the breakout stars of the massive Rap of China reality TV show.
Advertisement
Advertisement