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.
Sep 14, 2010 | Music, Portraits
I met up with DJ Wordy this afternoon to interview him about the history of hip hop in Beijing. For those of you not in the know, DJ Wordy is a three-time DMC China DJ Champion and has toured all over the world with his phat beats and dynamic scratching abilities. His contributions to the Beijing hip hop scene are legendary. More recently, DJ Wordy spent a month in New York this summer and was taken under the wing of Damon Dash who wants to make inroads into China through his new DIY-inspired company, DD172. Hopefully by the end of the year a new CD from DJ Wordy will be out with artist collaborations from all over the world including those from Damon Dash’s roster such as Curren$y and Ski Beatz – local Beijing MCs would also be featured. If the project actually materializes, it could represent a great leap forward for underground hip hop in China. Beijing freestylers are in desperate need of some quality producers who can put their talents to better use.
Sep 1, 2010 | Music, Youth
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.
