Running head: RISE OF CHINESE RAP 1

The Rise of Chinese Rap

Ricardo Vargas Jr

University of Texas at El Paso

RISE OF CHINESE RAP 2

Abstract

Chinese rap is on the rise. Not only is it gaining traction in china itself, but it is also flourishing

in the west as well. It as gained its following by collaborating with big artists. It is now being

recognized all over the world thanks to this. It has also had a decent economic impact thanks to

its large following and large festivals that they perform in. in resume, Chinese rap is positively

on the rise.

Keywords: Chinese rap, industry, net worth, collaboration

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The Rise of Chinese Rap

It is safe to say that rap has been part of anthropology in the west for a long time. The

west has had a major monopoly on hip hop and R&B (Rhythm and Blues). Artists such as Drake,

Notorious B.I.G., Snoop Dog, although in modern times; Lil Yachty alongside all the different

reiteration of the name “Lil”, have been keeping this monopoly in check. But in recent years,

western rap has managed to reach the Chinese audience, and that very same audience is the one

that is transforming rap with their own spin on it and putting it out for the world to see.

Furthermore, it seems that the western audience is listening loud and clear since it has been

getting quite a bit of reception. However, how did Chinese rap come to be? Why is it rising in

popularity in such an unusual place such as the west? And lastly what kind of impact will such

an event have on the rap industry as well as, oddly enough, the economy of the United States?

How did American Rap Reach China?

The United states has been a large provider of rap. After all, rap is thought to have been

originated in New York. More specifically the Bronx. And had been secluded there due to racial

tension in the united states. But “Rapping first gained popularity in the U.S. in the 1970s as a

kind of street art, especially among African American teenagers. But it wasn’t until 1979, when

the Sugarhill Gang released their breakaway hit, ‘Rapper’s Delight, that record producers took

notice of this emerging musical genre. once they did, numerous rap acts including Run-DMC and

N.W.A., surfaced, and rap’s audience began to swell.” (“History of Rap Music”). The surfacing

of these now widely renowned rappers aided the virus like spread of rap music. It gained

popularity in the United States, other countries started to pick up this style of music. This is

mostly attributed to Media. Shows like MTV, and articles like VICE and VOX. In addition In the

1980s and early 1990s, American-style rap made its way to mainland China via the then-British
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colony of Hong Kong, where singer George Lam (aka Lam Chi Cheung, 林子祥) came out with

a rap song called "Crosstalk".” This was one of the “rap seeds” that was planted on china. The

popularity of these shows that of which contained several rap related shows and similar

influences, Reached the open-minded youth if china and as consequence, it had gained

popularity. And thus, rap had planted its seed in china. To further illustrate how these things

influenced the Chinese youth, a famous Chinese rapper by the name of 杨俊逸 (Psy.P), who is

part of the world wide phenomenon called “Higher Brothers” said this in an interview with

HYPEBEAST said: “ I started listening to Jay-Z and later Snoop Dogg, I slowly became

immersed in the world of hip hop” (HYPEBEAST, 2017) this is further proof of the impact that

the west had on the emergence of Chinese rap. But what if someone were to say that rap had

already planted its seed about 900 years before it was even relevant? The Wall Street Journal

says that “one of the words Chinese dictionaries list as a substitute for the English word "rap" is

shuochang (spoken singing), which also denotes an ancient folk art combining storytelling and

song.” And in rap, at least in early rap. It was more like storytelling with a beat behind it. It

usually told stories of the rapper’s life.in fact Revolvy described shuochang as “ 说唱 a form of

traditional Chinese storytelling (or, more properly, "story-singing"), with many regional

subgenres; it is also often referred to as "narrative." Shuochang performances usually intermix

speaking and singing, and are accompanied by percussion instruments.”(Revolvy,)”Another

closely related to rapping but in ancient times was the Kuaiban, “Kuaiban (快板) literally means

fast boards. It is also known as kuai shu, literally meaning fast books. In Beijing, the art form is

known as kuaibanr.
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The name refers to bamboo clappers, a set of small bamboo boards or bones, which the

performer rattles to produce an accompanying beat (similar to rapping)”.So this does check out

with the common conception of rap that we have in current times. WSJ als o tells us that “China

already had the world's longest shuochang epic, "King Gesar," a full 900 years before rap

appeared in the U.S. Thus, rap might be considered China's fifth "great invention".” (WSJ,

2008) Furthermore, this would actually mean that china was a founder of rap and could change

the whole narrative of rap starting out in the Bronx. So with that evidence, we can assume that it

is only natural for rap to bloom once again in china.

On what level is Chinese rap being recognized?

Much of the rap industry is based on the United States. And for Chinese rap to reach the united

states there must be a way to make the mainstream rap notice the up and coming industry that is

Chinese rap. Fortunately there have been countless efforts that have achieved such results of

acknowledgement and exposure, such as 88 rising, The Rap of China, and last but not least the

group called Higher Brothers. First we can start with 88 rising. 88 rising is a brand and record

label that has signed up artists such as Indonesian hip hop legend Rich Brian, and Chinese group

Higher Brothers. This label is one of the reasons that Chinese rap has been able to reach the

United states. It was responsible to get artists like 21 savage which by himself has 19,776,014

listeners on Spotify alone. Meaning that such a titan of the rap industry has noticed and

acknowledged this brand and has offered himself to expanding it by collaborating with some of

its most prominent artist. Another artist that this brand has been able to get in contact with and

collaborate with is A$AP Ferg 8,433,438 monthly listeners, Travis Scott 26,126,754 monthly

listeners. The monthly Spotify listeners is provided to hopefully show how massive the exposure

is when collaborating with these artists. Every up and coming label needs to establish credibility
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in order to succeed and that is what 88 rising where able to achieve. And it helps to have some of

the biggest names in the rap industry want to collaborate with you. Another benefit of

collaborating with big artists is the fact that your music could reach millions of people and bring

in new fans. All this contributed to the building of a strong foundation in the music genre and has

overall stretched its influence on not only the United States, but the whole world.

Another item of pop culture that has boosted the popularity of Chinese rap has been the globally

acclaimed show “The Rap of China” This is a show hosted by Kris Wu a k-pop idol that features

up and coming Chinese rappers. It dabbles on different rap styles and techniques and is

considered a talent show of sorts This show is considered one of the most heavily funded reality

TV shows with about “$30 million dollars poured into it.” ( Beijing bureau 2017) This massive

show has boosted the popularity of Chinese rap exponentially, it gained more than 2.5 billion

views on China's largest video sharing website, “iQiyi”. Making it somewhat mainstream all

over the world. To illustrate the magnitude of this massive viewership as well as the comparison
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with an already established show that has already a cult following. here is a graph:
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Note: The first season got almost the number of China’s current population (1,420,062,022)

It has also gotten some “underground” artists to stardom. This show and its influence managed to

make an impact over in the United states by topping views over the hit talent show: “Americas

Got Talent”. This means that Chinese rap has the potential to overturn already established media

with enough effort and creativity. One more thing to add: in 2011 if you typed into google “The

rap of china” you would get about maybe 100 results. If you type it in now, you get more that 31
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million results all pertaining to the show. This illustrates the amount of reach this show has really

had over the world.

Lastly in this category we have the now world-renowned Higher Brothers. This rap group

originated in Chengdu China and have been consistently successful in their endeavors. They are

recognized by many to be the Face of Chinese rap. Their reach has been recognized by titans of

the rap industry in a video titled:” Rappers React to Higher Brothers | Migos, Lil Yachty, Playboi

Carti, KYLE, & more” (88rising,2017) They have even gotten a song remixed by the also world

renowned DJ Snake in ULTRA 2018 China by 88rising. The 88 brand used its gained influence

to bring in even bigger artists in order to get the group Higher Brothers more recognition. And by

specifically using these, they have brought even more recognition to these rappers and have

gained the opportunity to collaborate with them in the future. In addition to the

acknowledgement that Higher Brothers received from mainstream rappers. There seems to be a

wave of recognition by people all over the worlds for their music. Their song “Made in China”

has accumulated over 15 million since its debut in 2017. This is evidence of Chinese rap

reaching audiences world wide. Another thing to note is that their songs that have been in

collaboration with other American artists have consistently gotten 1 million views in its release.

In culmination, Chinese rap has been recognized worldwide by not only just mainstream well

known artists, but also by million and million of people. It has been recognized by many as a

legitimate fusion of eastern culture with western culture and eastern culture. From TV shows

exceeding viewership that of America’s Got Talent, and a rap group making top of the charts.

Chinese rap has blurred the lines of rap and is now acknowledged worldwide, that is the level in

which it is getting its reputation and recognition now. Next, is the economic impact that Chinese

rap has had overall. How much is it worth? How much are the individuals in set industry worth?
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What economic impact if any will Chinese rap have on the US?

Now, along with the potential to change things culturally, and bring overall diversity into

the rap industry, Chinese rap might also have the ability to have an economic impact on the

united states. As noted in one of the previous questions, The Rap of China is one of many

examples that fit this category. It was on of the most heavily funded shows ever but in

consequence it was able to impact the US indirectly by impacting America’s Got Talent. Another

way that Chinese rap has affected the united states indirectly is the amount of business and flow

of money things like the “Head in the clouds music festival” brought in. the HTC music festival

was an event that celebrated Chinese trap culture. It was held in Los Angeles and the tickets sold

out in minutes. The connection to the US economy here is clear. The organizers have to pay a

certain amount of taxes depending on the revenue they achieved. Furthermore, there was a

considerable amount of merchandise available at the festival that was exclusively designed in

Los Angeles. Meaning that that’s even more money in circulation thanks to the Chinese rap

genre. In addition, as of 3-31-2019 there is another Head in the clouds festival in the works with

tickets reaching 200 dollars maximum. Another form of income that Chinese rap gives to the

united states is new York based 88rising. “a Seattle-based company that tracks such deals, puts

the total figure at $7 million, including a $4.5 million infusion in (May by WPP Plc, a global

advertising firm that put a $20 million valuation on 88rising.” This shows that the recod label

that focuses on Asian rap is a valuable asset to the economy since they bring a good amount of

business to it. And not to mention jobs since they need sound designers, makeup artists,

computer engineers, web developers, graphic designers and much more. All this is not

mentioning the amount of money their artists make on things like song sales which can

contribute to the platforms hosting their music like Apple Music and Spotify which coincidently
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have to also pay taxes. So subsequently Chinese does have an impact economically. It helps with

the flow of money and even generates jobs.

The Conclusion

All in all, Chinese rap in on the rise in many different ways. Rap reached china by

various means of media as well as other influences of the old style rap artists that are

believed to make rap mainstream, and was found that rap could have actually been a

Chinese invention. Chinese rap has started to become recognized globally as a legitimate

spin on rap as a whole genre. It has been able to get acknowledgement from titans in the

rap industry, established credibility in the west, been able to impact the United States

economy by bringing comers and allowing the flow of currency thanks to their artist as

well as the various live performances that Chinese rap groups do. The culmination of all

these things and more have led to the inevitable rise in the culturally diverse genre of

Chinese rap in the rap industry dominated by an already existing oligopoly in music. The

sheer statement that the Chinese rappers featured in many of big rap videos and songs by

western artists is testament to the steady rise of this genre. It is not far-fetched to think

that in a few years; Chinese rap will be fully integrated into the blank artistic canvas of

western music and may very well provide more variety to today’s library of music, in

addition of revolutionizing the already existing rap genre. Additionally this could prove

well and needed since some may go as far to say that the creativity in the rap genre is

stagnating for the worse. But only time can tell if this will be the case for future Chinese

rap and western rap in general.

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