On stage, a pair of rappers face off, microphones in hand, trading verses of improvised rhyme. Hundreds of people gyrate rhythmically as a DJ spins hot beats. Inside the steaming walls of a nightclub in the heart of one of the world’s most dynamic cities, you can hear the sounds of the future. Burton then taps into his pool of more than 300 Chinese rappers, DJs, dancers, and graffiti artists. Today, multinational corporations including Intel, Coca-Cola, and Adidas turn to him when they want help in marketing their consumer goods to China's booming youth market. Admirers called him "the godfather of Chinese hip-hop."īurton soon began to promote tours for famous hip-hop artists visiting from the United States. He not only performed himself but also helped others - foreigners and Chinese - get their own acts off the ground by hosting parties and hip-hop nights such as Iron Mic. "It was hip-hop." Burton began to moonlight as a rapper and developed a following. "I thought about what I could offer China," he says. So, Burton embarked on a mission to bring the real thing to the Middle Kingdom. But the closest thing to hip-hop was a Michael Jackson impersonator. During his first week in town, he went to a nightclub that advertised hip-hop music. The Detroit native arrived in China in 1999 to take a job teaching English. This annual rap battle, called the Iron Mic, isn't taking place in New York or Los Angeles, but in Shanghai, where its founder, 32-year-old Dana Burton, has unexpectedly found fame and fortune. The crowd goes wild, raucously voicing delight and dismay. His opponent from Hong Kong snaps back to the beat in a trilingual torrent of Cantonese, English, and Mandarin, dissing the Beijing rapper for not representing the people. One rapper spits out words in a distinctive Beijing accent, scolding the other for not speaking proper Mandarin. But listen closely and you notice something unusual: They're performing in Chinese. They look like typical hip-hop artists, dressed in baggy pants and baseball caps. Inside the steaming walls of a nightclub in the heart of one of the world's most dynamic cities, you can hear the sounds of the future.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |