Feb 27, 2011 | Music, Youth
Nasty Ray is easily one of my favorite rappers in China – a true, homegrown, Beijing-back-alley freestlyer. First drawn to hip hop when he heard a Naughty by Nature track on an NBA videogame in 1998, he‘s now a battler who never shies from the mic. Nasty Ray is best known for his Dirty North CD released on the YinEnt label with Lao Zheng, but continues to collaborate with Aidge Rock of the Aesthetics Crew based in Los Angeles. A big fan of the Wu-Tang Clan, he also got to fulfill a dream by opening up for Ghostface Killah when he rolled through Beijing last year. The video above was taken at last month’s Section Six hip hop party. It showcases Nasty Ray whiling out with his crew followed by a song featuring heavyweight MC Daxiao. Also, as part of the upcoming Jue Festival, Nasty Ray will perform at the “Slam, Rap, Words” event held at 2 Kolegas. I’ll end the post with a rhyme he wrote for me when I took his portrait last September:
从我嘴里说的词, 到唐宋念的诗, 这跨越的是五千年文化的历史, 我代表团结湖讲着老北京的话, 欢迎来到我的家和我一起岔
The words from my mouth to poems of Tang and Song / Stretch over history 5,000 years long / I represent community, spit real Beijinghua /Come over to my house and we’ll cha (battle)
Feb 18, 2011 | Portraits, Youth
Getting down to funky beats in China has been around much longer than grabbing the mic and spitting rhymes. Many point to pirated tapes of Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo getting wide circulation in the late eighties as really triggering the b-boy and b-girl movement. More established breakdancing scenes in Korea and Japan also influenced and catalyzed rockers in China. Now there are dance crews all over major cities with Beijing and Shanghai at the epicenter of this urban dance movement. One of the best places to catch these kids throw down on the dance floor in Beijing is the Section Six hip hop party held on the last Saturday of every month at Yugong Yishan, but competitions are held on the regular throughout the city. Otherwise there are plenty of dance studios in town if you feel like practicing before busting a move in public.
Jan 26, 2011 | Sports, Youth
Nanshan is making a big push this winter with more and more kids strapping on snowboards and taking to the slopes. Although Nanshan might be an over-glorified hill, it is still home to one of the best snow parks in China and remains the closest one to Beijing. Every year it hosts The Red Bull Nanshan Open, now considered a top-level slopestyle competition, and attracts snowboarders from around the world with its large cash purse. Otherwise, it has been hosting a series of events called the Nike 6.0 “Five Gates” Jam Series which, “replicates the historic Three Kingdoms story of a captured General and the five gates he had to fight through to return to his rightful home and family – in this case replacing gates with obstacles and battles with jam sessions!” Quite an interesting way of incorporating Chinese history into a snowboarding event. All the same, it is bringing more and more snowboarders out to Nanshan and helping pave the way for yet another extreme sport in China. I predict we will be seeing many more visits like Shawn White’s during the Air & Style competition in the coming years. These photos were taken at the first Nike 6.0 “Five Gates” Jam Series event entitled The Ledge. There are still two more events left on February 12 and 26 at Nanshan. Catch a bus and head for the hills.
Dec 13, 2010 | Sports, Youth
A forty-meter high kicker was built in the Olympic Sports Center Stadium in Beijing for the Air & Style snowboard competition presented by Shaun White and Oakley. Probably the largest alternative/extreme sports competition ever to be held in China, it broadcasted live to an estimated fifty million people even though the stadium was less than full. Apparently the Public Security Bureau clamped down hard before the event and there was little to no promotion in terms of ticket sales. Those with VIP status were also supposed to maintain their seats the entire event even during the live performances by New Pants and China’s largest pop superstar Wang Lee Hom. Oakley and many other sports brands see Air & Style as the beachhead from which the entire snowboarding industry can enter China. With the widespread construction of new skiing and snowboarding resorts across eastern China there is a lot of hope for snowboarding to catch fire amongst China’s youth. Letting China’s top snowboarders appear with some of the best in the world on national Chinese television is a good start.
Nov 30, 2010 | Music, Youth
The finals for the China Iron Mic freestyle battle competition took place to a packed house at Yugong Yishan this weekend. Winners of three preliminary rounds in Beijing, Guangzhou and Wuhan faced off with MC Majun/马俊 from Xinjiang who earned his slot in the final four through a knockout tournament earlier in the evening. Iron Mic is the oldest and most recognized freestyle battle competition in the country. Some of the greatest MCs in China have battled on stage seeking its crown including MC Webber who won the first three in a row and now oversees the proceedings. This year the man to beat was the Beijing hometown favorite MC Dawei/大卫. I documented his skills in a previous post covering the Beijing preliminary round. He is only sixteen years old, and his rhyming is precocious to say the least. However, the man of the hour turned out to be MC Majun. In one evening he battled his way through a host of characters from all over China with his machine-gun-like flow to clinch a coveted spot in the semifinals where he tore apart MC JV from Wuhan. Before facing off with MC Dawei in the finals the entire place went crazy, and despite MC Dawei’s home field advantage, MC Majun won the crowd over and had them chanting Xinjiang when he spit his final verse.
Nov 26, 2010 | Clippings, Music, Youth
I should have blogged about this last month, but I only just received a PDF of the New York Times print version of my work on the explosion of music festivals across China. Such an article was a long time coming and received the usual criticisms aimed at mainstream media coverage of the alternative music scene in China from industry watchers such as China Music Radar and Beijing Daze. Obviously it was too short to cover all the historical and social nuances bound up with proliferation of music festivals across China. Unfortunately the New York Times rarely publishes extended think pieces that such a subject deserves. I actually read a longer version of Andrew Jacob’s first draft which was much better, but the editors decided to cut it down as they are wont to do in this day and age – apparently they feel readers can’t last more than a thousand words in a row. Still, I was really happy with the article and thought Andrew did a quality job trying to introduce the China music festival scene to the rest of the world with his insightful descriptions and awesome quotes. My favorite came from Zhang Fan of MIDI fame, “The government used to see rock fans as something akin to a devastating flood or an invasion of savage beasts, now we’re all part of the nation’s quest for a harmonious society.” Some of the other issues Andrew addresses such as the paradox of having government-backed festivals filled with subversive bands as well as the rising commercialism of the entire alternative music scene also needed to be laid out. Yang Haisong, of P.K. 14 fame, really nailed it on the head with his closing comment, “The government used to see us as dangerous, now they see us as a market.” I feel an approach employed by the Chinese state where they try to appropriate cultural scenes rather than empower them through censorship is becoming the norm. It is happening in the contemporary art scene in Beijing’s 798 art district and more and more with bands taking on corporate sponsorships and other branding opportunities. When the artists and musicians are making more money, they have less to complain about and more at risk by creating controversial or outspoken material. It is a savvy step forward by the Chinese state and goes hand in hand with their other attempts to spin media rather than quash it. The Beijing Daze post gets into this quite a bit as well. Still, no matter what, I am a huge fan of the spread of music festivals in China. The only thing that is needed right now is quality production and more bands. The same performers can’t keep recycling through the festivals. A large injection of new musical blood is needed. Hopefully there are more diamonds in the rough amongst all the second-tier cities around China who are just opening up their ears to the latest sounds coming out of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Wuhan. Otherwise there are still too many reports of badly planned festivals with no toilets and crappy sound systems. Check out these critiques by Helen Feng, Pity the Cool, and Beijing Today. Hopefully we are just experiencing the birthing pains of the China music festival circuit. Also check out this great extended piece on the first musical festival in Nanjing and an extended interview with Scarlett Li, the brains behind the Zebra Festival movement. Unfortunately there is no online slideshow in addition to the video I produced for the New York Times website, so I attached my favorite shots to this post.
