GMU Hip-Hop Party Brings Together Some of China's Finest Rappers This Sunday, Oct 29

Tom Arnstein | Oct 24, 2017 1:00 pm | Add a comment | 915 reads

Hip-hop in China is having something of a moment right now. Whether its rise to the mainstream is for better for worse remains to be seen, due in large part to the first season of The Rap of China, which this year gave rise to the ubiquitous meme "有freestyle吗?" In the case of the little hunk of fresh meat Kris Wu's attempt to rhyme, the answer was a definitive "no," but thankfully there is many a Chinese rapper now spreading the love of wordplay far and wide.

Sichuanese rapper Gai, who also featured on the show, has fared better, not least because he can actually spit a line but also because he raps about what he knows – in this case, hot pot. When the Sichuan-by-way-of-New-York transplant Bohan Phoenix hit up Beijing's Omni Space last month, touring on his similarly spicy-themed Jala EP, the crowd went wild. Beijing-based rappers like MC Dawei, with his tight and politically-astute rhymes, and J-Fever, with his hazier stream-of-consciousness offerings, are pushing the boundaries of what local artists are capable of.

Two out of those four, Phoenix and Fever, just so happen to be on the bill for Tango's latest rap outing, the All Directions Hip-Hop Party, on Oct 29 at 8pm. Those two heavyweights will be joined by the likes of Pact (plus a Nous-Underground labelmate mystery guest), Shanghaiers Lil Akin and VISUDY, Xi'an's DJ Gunknown, the ITSOGOO crew, the Cantonese hip-hop crew 精气神, DJ Edi, Soul Han, and Simba. VJ Wujing will provide the visual backdrop for the evening.

It's clear from the bill alone that whoever pulled this group of rappers together wasn't messing around, ending up with some of the best talents from around China coming together from, well, all directions. In short: these boys 有freestyle. The effort hasn't gone unnoticed, with early bird tickets selling out within 24 hours of going on sale. You can still grab tickets (RMB 220) via Showstart here or see the event listing here. Tickets will be RMB 300 on the door.