Will the real hip-hop please stand up? In honor of The Roots' upcoming concerts in Beijing and Shanghai, music writer Aric Queen goes on a quest to discover if true hip-hop exists in China.

"You don't know sh*t about hip-hop!” yelled a Shanghai music producer while I was hanging out at The Lab, leaving me to wonder whether it was my AC/DC t-shirt or handlebar mustache that tipped him off. Apparently, my angle of how hip-hop, or at least the initial acquisition of it in China, is relatively “pop” compared to the gangsta drive-bys of the hip-hop culture in the United States wasn’t what this unofficial spokesman for Chinese hip-hop wanted to hear: “It’s you all, it’s the f*cking media that make it like that, not us.”

With the immediate and obvious defense of handgun sound effects in the back of a Jay-Z tune and the “ice” that covers the jailhouse tattoos of 50 Cent, compared to the boy band like music video’s of Pan Weibo, Taiwan’s top hip-hop star, it seems that it isn’t just the media who portray American hip-hop culture as hard core, and the Asian equivalent as family entertainment. As I sat down to mull over my verbal beating, I wondered who in China does know about hip-hop. Is it all about the bling, hard living and honeys, or can it exist merely in backward baseball caps and baggy pants? What exactly needs to happen before hip-hop can emerge not as imitation, but as adaptation in China?

First, you have to turn back that big-ass Humpty Hump clock on your neck about 30 years.

Most would agree that “hip-hop” sprang from the 1970s New York City “block culture,” with obvious ties to James Brown and Parliament. Quickly look at where China was at that time: ’71 saw the U.S. Ping Pong team as the first Americans to set foot in the Middle Kingdom for the past 49 years, so needless to say The Godfather’s gyrations and George Clinton’s pink dreads weren’t making waves. Back to the States a decade later, it was the no shoelaces boys from DMC rhyming about “Run’s House” while the Chinese government was asking its crew to keep it to “one a house.” Meaning that hip-hop in China didn’t start “representin’” till the mid-90s; enter 2Pac, Dre and Eminem, masters of both lyrics and aesthetics.

“By the time [hip-hop] got here, it was all about image,” says Gary Wang, aka DJ V-Nutz, founder of Shanghai’s The Lab, a communal studio aimed at teaching anyone interested how to mix. “Ask anyone about Grandmaster Flash, Common or A Tribe Called Quest and they won’t know what you’re talking about. There’s just no foundation,” says Wang, which is one of the reasons he began the popular Back to the Roots series, now on at 4 Live.

“To get rich is glorious.” Sounds like a 50 Cent lyric, but actually are the words of the late Deng Xiaoping. The rise of China’s economy, individual purchasing power and “conspicuous consumption” among the growing middle and upper classes has made the superficial side of hip-hop music and culture explode in popularity, as the excesses of rags to riches MTV Asia rap superstars, bragging, boasting and the “bling” lifestyle (albeit a Chinese pop version of the Jacob the Jeweler watches and 24-inch spinning Cadillac rims that reign in the West) seem to resonate among young urban Chinese. But come down to the local level and there may be something much deeper.

“Hip-hop is a huge business in the U.S., but because most Chinese hip-hop kids are not rich they can't live the hip-hop lifestyle you see on MTV,” says Beijing's DJ Wordy, a two-time China DMC Turntable champion who is known for his large collection of classic hip-hop records. “I think it’s more real [at the local level]. People write about their lives or things that matter to them, and Chinese crowds want to hear things they can relate to if it’s in their language—you can't talk about guns or being a gangster in Beijing 'cause nobody really comes from that background.”

In China, hip-hop is still very young, with many people trying out different parts of the culture, from beatboxing to graffiti to rapping. Currently, the scene in Shanghai “is full of mainstream hip-hop parties,” says American MoJo, a member of the Shanghai hip-hop scene. “To me it’s like stepping into an MTV beach party.” While “Beijing is the cultural capital, so the roots here are deeper than elsewhere. People in Beijing have a very strong respect and understanding of hip-hop culture,” says MC Webber, who is considered the most talented and respected MC in China and belongs to the band Beijing Live Hip Hop Experience. “Hip-hop in Beijing is in a similar position to where hip-hop in the U.S. was 20 years ago; it’s still young so it will keep growing.” But there is no east coast-west coast rivalry in China. Most hip-hoppers hope that the scenes in Shanghai and Beijing will continue to work together to help the culture grow and even spread to the rest of China. In Shanghai, folks like The Lab, Dragon Dance Studio and Caster Dance are taking their own road and veering away from the popular music track. MoJo believes that we’ll be seeing hip-hop increasingly linked to funk and reggae, like the Back to the Roots shows and So Much Soul. “And of course,” says MoJo, “I have to give some shameless self-promotion to my own band, Redstar, with MC Tangking and Kyle 'Beatmaker Sickstar' China.” In Beijing, MC Webber is continuing along the same vein: Not content to just dominate hip-hop MCing, he’s also one of China’s top D&B and Reggae MCs and performs regularly with Beijing’s Upstepper Sound Reggae Soundsystem and The Syndicate D&B crew, as does DJ Wordy.

Young Kin, a Swiss-Chinese MC raised in Beijing and former member of the band YinT’sang, says to keep an eye on Section 6, where live hip-hop shows happen, and that yintsang.com will be a great platform for pushing hip-hop in China. Also new to the Beijing scene is Jeff Kong, aka the well-known pop star Kong Ling Qi, host of the radio show “The Park” on 88.7fm (weekends 6-8 p.m.). Kong uses his star status to push the hip-hop music he loves through the radio airwaves. And expect to see hip-hop artists from both cities show up at Beijing’s Midi Festival over the May holiday.

All of these new and on-going events spell a possible bright future for hip-hop in China, but those in the scene warn that they must continue to grow in their own direction, mixing genres and creating music and lyrics that works for the Chinese.

“We can’t go back to the mid-90s, the ‘golden age’ of hip hop,” says DJ Wordy. “We have to move things forward and create a new golden age.”

contact the author at: editor@cityweekend.com.cn