The opening party for the China-wide Iron Mic competition kicked off this past weekend at Yugongyishan. The festivities also joined hands with Section Six, the longest-standing freestyle hip hop party in Beijing. Overall it was a great night and included an appearance by Damon Dash who is supposedly trying to break into the China market with some new bands and supposedly even here to poach some talent to take back to the America – all hearsay for now. The highlight of the evening was definitely MC Davey. He came out early for a few numbers, but truly shined when the freestyle battles ensued. Although most of the old school Beijing MCs were taking a seat to make room for some of the young bucks, it was obvious that MC Davey’s rhyming skills were some of the best in the house. He easily took the opening competition and got the crowd riled up at the beginning of every set. It’s going to be interesting to see where MC Davey goes in the future, and whether or not he could be a new hope for Beijing’s street hip hop to break into the wider market currently dominated by studio-groomed, pop-flavored hip hop. The attached video highlights some of MC Davey’s skills.
