Hip Hop in the Chinese Cultural Context
Image credit: Tracey Lan
Kelly Marshall
The noteworthy traits of China’s Sichuan are relatively universal and well-known. While pandas and spicy hotpot represent major Sichuanese contributions to the global conception of China, in recent years Sichuan has become notable for a cultural product much less “Chinese.” Sichuan’s capital Chengdu has become a global center for the hip hop art form, which continues to be a largely American phenomenon yet has increasingly proliferated to other nations and cultures across the world. In particular, Chengdu natives MaSiWei, DZ, Psy.P, and Melo have found themselves at the forefront of a burgeoning local rap scene under the name 海尔兄弟, or the Higher Brothers. Their songs, most of which are concerned with aspects of their daily and personal life, have found widespread popularity both within China and the United States, exemplified by their recent full length album titled Black Cab. At first it may be difficult to understand what appeal an art form associated with American minorities may carry for Chinese listeners. Because rap music is often spoken of not only as a musical genre but also as a feature of “hip hop culture,” the answer to this question lies within both the culture that influences their work as well as the culture from which they originate. In order to better understand this cultural exchange, I will examine defining aspects of hip hop music and how the Higher Brothers have given them meaning and appeal within the Chinese cultural context by adapting notions which have been thoroughly explored in American hip hop such as economic status, linguistic difference, and political dissonance to the realities of modern China.
Perhaps the most notable aspect of hip hop is its history of integrating the viewpoints of those who have risen from extremely low socioeconomic status. Dating back to its genesis in New York City in the 1970s, the difficulty of living in poverty has been one of the defining themes of hip hop. This can be seen in the work of luminaries such as Grandmaster Flash, who has helped define the sound and message of the genre and whose music consistently “expressed the resentment and anger of people living in poor, postindustrial communities” (CERCL). For these early pioneers, music functioned as one of the few avenues that allowed them to communicate the flawed circumstances in which they lived. As a result, the art form came to embody the struggle of those trapped within the socioeconomic barriers constructed by their environment and the lengths to which they were willing to go in order to escape them. In the American context, these barriers largely reflect racial injustices. However, the experiences of those who have found success by way of rap music allow hip hop to express not only the tragedy of living in poverty, but also the miracle of becoming rich, resulting in a genre which “often straddles the line between extremes of of street credibility (poverty) and pop celebrity (wealth)” (Harrrison 83). In a fascinating reflection of the values of American society, this transformation is largely represented within hip hop music through an emphasis on brands and luxury goods. For formerly impoverished hip hop artists whose music has allowed them to find great wealth, luxury brands act as powerful displays of luxurious wealth. An analysis of hip hop lyrics found a high frequency of songs in which “There would be a prominent mention of luxury products and brands as artists showcased their achievements as well as some mention of lower or utility products and brands to show advancement from a lower rung on the social ladder” (Baksh-Mohammed). Thus, within hip hop, name brands function as concrete representations of class and success, marking the distinction between one’s former and present life. There is no better example of this than “Versace,” the hit song released by Migos, a Southern rap group that the Higher Brothers have cited as one of their largest influences. This type of materialism-oriented rap is itself representative of the way in which those of low socioeconomic class are instilled with a reverence for the luxurious life so far out of their reach, always manifested in commercial goods.
These themes can be seen within the music of the Higher Brothers, beginning with their portrayals of their impoverished past. Throughout the Black Cab LP, the Higher Brothers’ lyrics forcefully convey the life of poverty they experienced throughout their path toward eventual success. Frequent boasts about their now luxurious lifestyle are juxtaposed with allusions to their former hardships in order to emphasize the narrow odds they were able to overcome, mirroring the rags-to-riches stories that can be found in the discographies of nearly every American rapper. Following in a tradition dating back to hip hop’s genesis, the Higher Brothers are able to simultaneously use musical expression as an opportunity to communicate the nature of their economic hardships as well as as a means of remedying these issues and attaining financial freedom. Typical of the group’s style, these hardships are conveyed mainly through descriptions of events occurring within rather unremarkable everyday life, such as the album’s closer “711.” An ode in praise of the commonplace convenience store, the song centers around the critical role that the store plays in their lives, providing affordable food, particularly during late night recording sessions. Throughout the song, their modest means and financial stresses are a central concern, such as in MaSiWei’s description, “I’m so hungry I grab it all, but it makes me nervous/No need to worry, it’s all so cheap” (Genius). Here, the all-penetrating nature of poverty can be seen in his nonchalant portrayal of his own daily concern of feeding himself as well as the fact that to him the prospect of a cheap meal is itself miraculous enough to merit an entire song of praise. Thus, though the song’s topic is seemingly trivial, it effectively establishes a backstory for the Higher Brothers’ industriousness while struggling against their socioeconomic position, functioning as an inventive application of a fundamental hip hop theme.
Through their portrayal of poverty in Chinese society, the Higher Brothers apply a key theme of hip hop to confront issues which are increasingly relevant to their own environment. Although nations such as China may lack the racial element which influences the inequality described in American hip hop, the genre’s spread to other countries has resulted in “hip-hop in different parts of the globe, particularly among those who may share no historical relationship with blacks but who find in hip-hop a language, a set of resources, and knowledge with which to articulate similar but not identical struggles and concerns” (Tiongson). Thus, through its removal from the American context, hip hop is able to serve not only as a mode of expression for the experiences of specific American social groups, but also as a more flexible art form that can be adapted to the messages of those dealing with the inequality present in their own societies. In this case, these concerns bear particular relevance to modern Chinese society. In fact, this topic is considered so crucial in the current political climate that at the latest Party Congress, Xi Jinping changed the Party’s principal “contradiction,” a critical statement of the Party’s philosophy outlined in Maoist theory which had remained unchanged for over three decades, to reflect this exact issue. The Party’s official contradiction is now between “the people’s ever-growing need for a better life” and “unbalanced and inadequate development” (Beijing Review). Indeed, while poverty and hardship are hardly new to China’s citizens, there is now an extremely wealthy upper class that has divided Chinese society, a development that has no doubt been impactful upon the Chinese psyche. Through their own biographical narratives, the Higher Brothers’ lyrics are thus able to portray the perspective of those left behind by China’s economic development.
In order to apply the broad and universal issue of poverty and inquality to their own specific surroundings, the Higher Brothers cannot simply import the subject matter of American rap music into their context. Because economic class and the pursuit of wealth take different forms between different cultures or even within one culture, both the societal pressures causing economic inequality for American minorities as well as the actions taken as a result of these circumstances are in many ways different from what is experienced by the Chinese working class. Though the personal narratives that the Higher Brothers create through their depictions of their past are similar to those of American rappers in that they both stress the extremes to which the narrators were willing to go to escape economic difficulties, the sacrifices they made in order to do so differ significantly. Notably, American hip hop artists’ backstories tend to contain reflections upon extremely unethical behavior, such as gang violence and drug dealing, and the moral consequences of their behavior. Similarly, the Higher Brothers lyrics reference their willingness to strive for money; however, the emphasis is placed not on the ethical sacrifices required to do so but rather the furious urgency they placed on themselves to earn money. For instance, the album title itself is a reference to the illicit taxi service the group operated in order to meet their financial needs, a story which is elaborated on in the album’s title track, depicting a hectic disregard for anything unrelated to making money. Psy.P raps, “Hurry up hurry up, get in the car, time is not to be wasted/Time is money so I’m busy everyday with no desire to sleep” (Genius). Contrast this with a typical song by Migos, whose members have each been imprisoned multiple times for charges relating to narcotics and firearms (Golden). Though the business run by the Higher Brothers is in fact illegal, their experience bears less resemblance to the ruthless gangsters portrayed in American rap and instead evokes the modern ethos of the Chinese proletariat in a society where legal authority often fails to outweigh the desire for profit.
When describing the parts of their lives which occur after their newfound wealth, the Higher Brothers, much like their American counterparts, place great emphasis on their access to luxury, name-brand consumer goods. In almost every song on the Black Cab album, there are lines displaying the group’s fixation with name-brand goods, particularly of Western origin, ranging from high-class European fashion, such as Gucci and Chanel, to well-known streetwear brands such as Supreme and Bape. The obsession is not limited to clothing, with the entirety of the song “Aston Martin” dedicated to the iconic luxury British vehicle of the same name. The hook features DZ energetically requesting the brand, even saying, “Brother I don’t like Maserati, give me Aston Martin,” and “There’s only 76 left on the market, I don’t care the price” (Genius). Clearly, the group’s notions of success and well-being are directly measured by their ability to attain name-brand items, in this case a single type of car. While this can clearly be attributed to their Western influences, it is important to note that the Higher Brothers need not look any further than their own nation to find an obsession with brand goods. Research has found that “It has been traditionally associated with a Western lifestyle in the postindustrial world. But nowadays people in developing countries have also adopted material values”(Sun). Thus, the profoundness of the Higher Brothers’ hip hop music lies not only in their ability to embody the sufferings of China’s lower class but also to describe the tantalizingly improbable dream of overnight success. Because of China’s unequal growth, its poorest citizens now witness the stunning, ostentatious success of those who have gained not only wealth, but also the social status that it carries. This materialistic lifestyle is epitomized by the braggadocious descriptions of luxury goods and flamboyant displays of wealth employed by the Higher Brothers which provide an opportunity to observe the rare case in which these otherwise unfulfillable desires are given the means to be realized.
Unlike the West, where market economics and material values are well-developed, this cultural phenomenon has occurred in China over the span of mere decades. Thus, materialism in China is different from materialism in the West, as reflected by the Higher Brothers’ ability to give uniquely Chinese meaning to this staple of hip hop culture. Of particular note is their song “Made in China,” the Higher Brothers’ commercial debut and the one most responsible for launching them into the mainstream. The song’s hook lists off a mix of expensive products and cheap consumer goods, from gold chains and designer clothes to alarm clocks and toothbrushes, each followed by the phrase “Made in China,” spoken in English (Genius). Here, in their most widely disseminated message to listeners, they use their platform to juxtapose their own high-class aspirations with China’s image as a producer of cheap, low-quality goods. The accumulation of material gains is used to show not just their own rising success, but also that of their entire nation which has similarly escaped poverty to find wealth. This identification with China’s ascendance is displayed in lyrics such as DZ’s statement that “The responsibility I feel is like the Chinese national team winning respect in swimming”(Genius). Simultaneously, their lyrics point to the fact that the material goods they now enjoy are the same ones that not long ago were produced by China for other nations. By doing this they are able to use rap stereotypes to reflect the fact that although China may mirror the materialism of developed Western nations, due to their rapid development, they may still be regarded as a nation that provides low-value labor.
This insistence on incorporating the characteristics of their native land within their music is, in fact, an aspect of rap music to which hip hop culture places great importance. In American rap, this emphasis is often reflected within the linguistics patterns unique to each region within the country. Due to the highly regional nature of American hip hop as well as the importance placed on authenticity, regional slang and distinctive speech patterns are used as evidence of a rapper’s ties to their place of origin. A particularly significant example of this cultural phenomenon is the case of America’s Southeastern region. As a result of Southern hip hop’s rise to prominence over the last decade, the region’s distinctive colloquialisms, once ridiculed for their unpolished sound, have become part of the subgenre’s worldwide success and have influenced America’s national vernacular. This phenomenon has been so pronounced that those researching linguistics in the United States find the developments within hip hop culture to be vital to an understanding of linguistic trends, as explained within the Southern Journal of Linguistics:
Examinations of hip hop have shown that it is essential to consider the genre when analyzing contemporary language change, particularly among young speakers (see Smitherman
2000; Alim 2006). Morgan (1996) stresses the importance
of speech communities and the role of place in hip hop;
this is especially relevant in this analysis as the south has
recently been established as a distinct and unique region in
hip hop. (Bloomquist 2)
As seen in this quote, the importance of language use within hip hop is relevant even outside the genre and not only mirrors cultural trends, but influences them as well. Another way in which hip hop artists use their music to represent the communities they belong to is through explicit references to political issues facing their communities. American hip hop is notorious for its consistently anti-authoritarian message and its insistence on confronting issues of police brutality, political misconduct, and racial oppression. In this way, artists are able to perform an important service to their communities by providing a platform to discuss the injustices they may face.
In the case of the Higher Brothers, these cultural practices within hip hop act as important influences which the group utilizes for their own purposes unique to Chinese society. For example, this can be seen in the Higher Brothers’ decision to rap in their native Sichuanese dialect. The Higher Brothers are among several Chinese rap groups to use their regional dialects, which are countless in China. Although the decision to rap in a dialect familiar to only a small fraction of Chinese listeners may seem surprising as it is contrary to the group’s lofty ambitions of widespread success, the artistic choice is the direct result of the example set by Southern rappers such as Migos. In an interview, “Masiwei explains that they were inspired to embrace their local tongue after watching rappers from the Southern U.S. in the Vice documentary ‘Noisey Atlanta’. ‘We realized that [using Sichuanese] is an advantage. It’s actually really cool to do it,’ he says” (Agrawal). Therefore, through their use of hip hop culture, the Higher Brothers have inherited the genre’s norms regarding regional languages, even though the use of regional dialects has a completely different connotation within the Chinese culture. In fact, while regional linguistics may have great social importance within the American context, by importing them into China they have gained not only social but also political relevance. In advancing his concept of ‘Linguistic Imperialism,’ He Baogang notes that “China’s language practices and policies have been shaped by the dominance of the Han script (Hanzi 汉字) and the state’s desire to create and maintain Great Unity (dayitong 大一统)” (He). As a result of their desire to culturally unify China through a common language, the government wishes to discourage the use of local dialects such as Sichuanese. This is accomplished through official efforts to promote the use of Mandarin, which have succeeded in creating a common perception that speakers of regional dialects are uneducated and uncivilized. Because of this stereotype, almost all music released in China is limited to Mandarin, making the Higher Brothers and their rap contemporaries a notable exception.
By creating content that challenges the political and social norms of their society, the Higher Brothers are thus able to embody the political spirit of hip hop while adapting to the suppressive realities of China’s political climate. While this stylistic choice may lack the aggressively political tendencies associated with American hip hop, it is a manifestation of the genre’s consistently anti-authoritarian spirit which has remained constant as the genre has spread across the globe. As noted by Jeff Chang, “One thing about hip-hop has remained consistent across cultures: a vital progressive agenda that challenges the status quo” (Chang). In particular, this characteristic of rap appears to be incompatible with China’s cultural and political climate, a reality made clear when Higher Brothers’ Melo was briefly brought into police custody after making a song critical of Chengdu’s ban of Uber (Sheehan). This incident underscores a general suppression of Chinese hip hop by the nation’s government, a significant challenge to the genre’s success. As Liu Xuexin writes, “The Chinese government seeks to control popular music through censorship, but hip hop artists negotiate censorship in order to make their work socially relevant and to attract a grass-roots fan base” (Liu). Accordingly, the political realities of China restrict the extent to which rap is capable of tackling political topics in China. However, as can be seen with the Higher Brothers’ use of regional dialect, artists still use the traditionally political nature of hip hop in an indirect but effective manner.
Through alterations such as these, the Higher Brothers are able to adapt hip hop to their own environment and their own purposes. Hip hop was created as a reaction to the ills of modern Western society as perceived by those most harmed by them. As such, it stands to reason that as China becomes ever closer to a modernity defined by the West, the issues confronted in hip hop will bear increasing relevance to China. However, to blatantly copy and steal from the American original would do no justice to the original art form. It would merely be an imitation that would be recognizable as hip hop yet lack the meaning and importance that hip hop derives from its social context. Instead, by treating the identifiable features of hip hop as tools suitable for their own artistic purposes, the Higher Brothers are creating value for their listeners. It is not simply a matter of adding Chinese characteristics on top of something that is American, but instead selectively using characteristics that are seemingly uniquely American and creatively applying them in such a way as to give them entirely new meaning. Simply put, it is not hip hop with Chinese characteristics, it’s Chinese hip hop.
It is because of this uniquely Chinese subject matter that Chinese hip hop is able to appeal so effectively to Chinese listeners. In particular, the Higher Brothers’ success is due to their ability to integrate these messages while continuing to embody the aesthetics and characteristics of American rap to which fans have grown familiar. From gold chains and braided hair to a Southern-influenced rapping style, their images elicit an immediate comparison to American styles. This was the case for a number of American rappers whose reactions to the music video for the Higher Brothers’ song “Made In China” were captured in a now-viral video (88Rising). While watching the video, they expressed amazement at how well the group was able to capture the spirit of hip hop while creating something uniquely Chinese. Not only has this resulted in a surprisingly large following in the West, but has also allowed them to attract Chinese youth who have been increasingly enamored with hip hop culture since its introduction through China’s coastal cities in the early 2000s (Liu). Now instead of looking overseas for hip hop culture, they enjoy music that uses the cultural forms to which they have become accustomed—in a form to which they can feel a relation and connection. Thus, because the Higher Brothers are able to apply themes familiar to their listeners in a manner that is uniquely Chinese and carries particular importance within a new culture, their appeal is twofold: their music is able to potently reflect realities of Chinese society while simultaneously managing to appeal to Western hip hop sensibilities.
Works Cited
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