Chinese Hip-Hop
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Chinese hip hop (Chinese: ; pinyin xīha) is a relatively new phenomenon; in Chinese music; “Hip-Hop as a movement (initially in Beijing) emerged around the year 1990 via British, Filipino and Congolese DJ's. ” Some of the earliest influences of hip-hop in came from movies such as Beatstreet(1984) and "Beat Dis, a Hip Hop History" which entered China on video tape via embassy workers or foreign businessmen and their families.
The first DJ's in China to play rap music on a daily basis were residents at China's first nightclub/club 'Juliana's' in Beijing during 1984. At the time there were no other clubs in mainland China but Juliana's was already receiving monthly deliveries of records from London featuring labels such as Sugarhill, Tommy Boy and Morgan Khan's Streetsounds.
In 1992 China got its first regular Hip Hop nights (Fridays/Saturdays) at Beijing's Kunlun Hotel 'Crystal Disco' <DJ's Florient Obesse, Carol (Lu Li Hong)>. 1994 saw the first nightly Hip Hop club open in China (DJ's Jiggz and Mel "Herbie" Kent) at Shanghai's 'Broadway' club in the port area. This was the first phase of HIP HOP in China, developed by DJ's, Rap enthusiasts and B-Boys - it flourished without mass media support, sponsorship or exposure.
Though no noticeable outside influence on Beijing or Shanghai's Hip Hop scene came from either Taiwan or Hong Kong due to Dj's not playing Cantonese or Taiwanese rap in clubs, the Ultimix and Funkymix labels were without a doubt the source of rap's initial popularity. Distribution was via Crossline Records, BPM of Shanghai and again Juliana's of London. Rap in China later became more mainstream in 2003 with the opening of Beijing's "Vic's" (initial design and installation by Mel "Herbie" Kent) and "Mix" nightclubs.
The first Chinese language song to feature rap style content was by rock artist Cui Jian in the early 90's though viewed as experimental as opposed to credible Hip Hop in the eyes of enthusiasts. Early Taiwanese rap groups such as The Party and TTM had limited success due to a market that was more ballad focused. In the late 90s Hong Kong's Softhard and LMF were influential though their Cantonese dialect was foreign to Mandarin speaking regions, while Taiwan's MC HotDog, Da Xi Men, and Da Zhi were more widely intelligible in mainland China.
Yin Ts'ang (隐藏) was the first group in mainland China to sign with an active record label - Scream Records, and release a full-length album, Serve The People (为人民服务)(2002), which was co-produced and engineered by Mel "Herbie" Kent. It also contained China's first Jungle/drum'n'bass track, also written by Herbie. The pioneering four-person rap group which consisted of MC Webber, Sbazzo, 老郑XIV, and Dirty Heff, continued on to make appearances at The 2003 Pepsi Music Awards, where they were nominated for Best New Rock-Rap Group and the China National Radio Music Awards, where they won Best New Group of 2003. In addition to full length articles by the LA Times, the China Daily, Music Magazine (China) and the NY Times, the group also made special appearances on CCTV-1, PBS, CTV and Stir TV (cable).
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