Hip hop Dragons: The Asian hip hop scene

“When people think of Asian musicians, they typically think about two things: ‘Gangnam style’ and classical music.” (Bernier, “11 Badass Asian Musicians Who Are Shattering Stereotypes”). Although a lot of people do not suspect it, there are other prominent genres with great musical exponents in this continent as the worldwide recognized genre, hip hop. Indeed, hip hop music has reached so much influence that it has established a solid base in many countries in Asia. Asian hip hop is diverse and it changes depending on the country. It ranges from an 80’s hip hop style to a 21st century hip hop style and according to The Korean, it could be even an element imported into another musical genre as pop (2015). Whatever its style, hip hop has become a popular music phenomenon in China, Korea and Japan.

Melon Awards 2012 retrieved from Gettyimages

To begin, Chinese hip hop is a new phenomenon that brings back the best of American’s 80’s hip hop. Since 2000s American rappers like Eminem and 50 Cent has become popular in China, but according to a CNN report, in 2008 Chinese hip hop started to have a fan base. It happened because a Chinese hip hop group named In3 caught people’s attention with their song dedicated to the Olympics “Beijing Welcomes You Back.” (Dayu, “Home-grown rap finds a fan base in China”). Chinese rap is mostly influenced by American hip hop artists specifically Public Enemy with a social and political message. Also one of the most important messages Chinese hip hop transmits is “individuality” as Wang Dazhe, a big fan of hip hop said: “When I was in high school, I wanted to be different, […] And hip hop music is stimulating; it made me feel excited […] Chinese rappers tend to tell stories of their everyday life, which I’m more emotionally attached to.” (Dayu, “Home-grown rap finds a fan base in China). For some hip hop artists as Fat Shady, China’s culture could be an obstacle to their individuality, “Chinese audiences can’t accept music with any attitude or individualistic stuff.” (Sheehan, “Meet The Chinese Rappers Bringing Hip-Hop To The Middle Kingdom”). But Chinese culture is not the only obstacle to develop this expression of individuality. Censorship is another major obstacle to spread Chinese hip hop message. A high percentage of Chinese hip hop music is considered as immoral or “harmful” to society by the Chinese government (Ap, “China's online ban against 'Fart' and 119 other 'immoral' songs”) and this makes Chinese hip hop more difficult to spread out. At present this one is considered an underground genre.

Classic "Ghettoblaster" retrieved from Pixabay

In contrast, Korean hip hop is a pop-mixed and popular genre with anglicized lyrics. Hip hop spread to Korea in the early 90s (The Korean, “What's Real in Korean Hip Hop? A Historical Perspective”). Around this time, some artists started to include rap verses in their songs, for example, Seo Taiji in his debut album, I know! (1992) specifically in his song named “I know” included a rap verse that was considered by many people as a “historical rap number”, although these verses were not properly called “hip hop” but “rap dance” (The Korean, “What's Real in Korean Hip Hop? A Historical Perspective”). At the end of the 90s, started to emerge Korean pop artists who dedicated almost exclusively their musical career to hip hop because “hip hop was the latest genre that was imported to K-pop” (The Korean, 2015). For all this, at present, if we want to talk about Korean hip hop it is necessary to make certain references to the Korean pop and their artists. Also R&B/ Rap hip hop is considered one of main Korean pop styles and it is very popular nowadays (Jeonghye, and Sujeong, “5 Main Styles or Genres of KPOP”). On the other hand, the lyrics of Korean hip hop songs contain a lot of English words (“K-pop’s Disconnect With ‘Authentic’ Hip Hop Culture”). That could be caused by the desire of the artists to hold a more "authentic" hip hop although at the same time they use Korean language to interest the local audience, also the uses of "Englishness" can be attributed to stylistic reasons which could provide an exotic shade to artists voices (Moon Kyuwon et al, n.d). Although as Morelli (2001) argued, some people do not consider the rap of Korean pop as hip hop nor rap music as a true category in Korea (as cited in Mitchell, 2001).This music genre has obtained a lot of audience because the major percentage of artists who are dedicated to this genre are mostly “pop idols” who already have been recognized before been part of Korean hip hop scene. 

G-Dragon, Korean Hip-Hop singer 2011 retrieved from Gettyimages

Similarly, Japanese hip hop is a highly American-influenced popular music genre. The first interaction of hip hop culture with Japan could be in Tokio in 1983 with the release of the film "Wild Style" (1983) (Condry, “Japanese hip hop”). This first interaction included some elements of hip hop culture to Japan as graffiti, breakdance, rap and DJs but the rise of rappers and DJs started specifically in the early 80s on Tokio's night clubs with the first rap hit on Japan: "Rappers Delight" by the American hip hop group Sugar Hill Gang. In 1988, was started the first label focused on hip hop and dance music in Japan, Major Force, the first rap group to record with this label was B-Fresh and the Japanese hip hop "legend" DJ Krush, although "for the music world Japanese sentences were not capable to form the rhyming effect that American rappers contained" (Kinney, “hip hop influences Japanese culture). At present, Japanese hip hop artists are still influenced by American hip hop but they have incorporated new styles to make hip hop music closer to Japan's culture (Kinney, n.d). For example, the lyrics, generally do not content explicit violence. They mostly talk about economic and social situations. According to I. Condry (2001) "In its lyrics there are no guns, no misogyny and little violence." (as cited in Mitchell, 2001, p. 223). For example, the rapper K Dub Shine in his songs consistently criticizes "the heartless commercialism" of Japan. In contrast of these kind of lyrics, there are groups who transmit a different message, for example, in 2002, a popular hip hop group called “King Giddra” released their singles "F.F.B" and "Unstoppable". Those singles were taken off the shelves. The first for "indicating that was acceptable to kill homosexuals" and the second because the lyrics were "offensive to women and HIV infected public." (Kinney, n.d). All this, we can infer Japanese hip hop is a heterogeneous genre with a long timeline history of cultural exchanges with USA.

To summarize, the hip hop in Asia is diverse and its characteristic vary depending on the country, however the hip hop of China, Korean and Japan have some points in common. At first, the hip hop of this countries have influences of USA for example, in China with the political and social message influenced by the Golden Edge of hip hop, in Korea the lyrics have been “anglicized” because of the desire of the artists to have a more "authentic" hip hop and also that this “anglicized” language can attribute an exotic tone of the singer’s voices, in Japan the USA hip hop culture introduced the breakdance, DJs and graffiti to the popular culture of this country. And secondly, in these three countries the home-grown hip hop is relative new, in Korea started in the 90s well known as “rap dance” in Korean hip hop songs, in China it started in the 2000s emerging because of the need of individuality and in Japan began in the early 90s with the introduction of hip hop culture in Japanese culture.