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The rapper Kirby Lee is trying to define his flow, his style, what makes his music stand out from hip-hop's global shout of ghetto ambition. "Lyrically, we ain't no gangstas," he explains. "We don't talk about violence or guns. We don't look down on women. We have no drugs in our songs, no political stuff." Welcome to the curiously pleasant world of Chinese hip-hop. In America, hip-hop began as the voice of disenfranchised urban black youth. In China, the government has to clear all album lyrics, and you get - well, compare What up Gangsta by 50 Cent and Welcome to Beijing by Yin Tsang.
First up, 50 Cent: "They say I walk around like got an S on my chest/Naw, that's a semi-auto, and a vest on my chest/I try not to say nothing, the DA might want to play in court/But I'll hunt or duck a nigga down like it's sport/Front on me, I'll cut ya, gun-butt ya or bump ya."
Now Beijing: "In Beijing, walk along Chang'an Avenue/In Beijing, there are many exotic beautiful women/In Beijing, you can burn incense at the Lama Temple/In Beijing, study history at the Forbidden City." It's enough to make Snoop Dogg weep. China has accomplished what millions of disapproving parents could not: tamed hip-hop music. Chinese rappers deliver lyrics that glorify national pride, celebrate tourist attractions and preach against the dangers of adolescent impulsiveness. One group is so proud of its songs, it has affixed a sticker to its debut album asking fans to share it with their parents.
Of course, hip-hop is very young in China. Most of today's crews - Dragon Tongue Squad, Kung Foo, Hi-Bomb and MC Bo Webber, from Yin Tsang - have been in the game for only a couple of years. Before that, hip-hop was proscribed, with most kids struggling to get hold of American albums. "Almost all hip-hop records were banned because of the dirty words and sexual imagery," says Jian Wei, who runs the break-dance crew Underground Gang of Hip Hop. Now the Chinese hip-hop scene is exploding, with more cross-cultural links than any previous Chinese music. This month, for instance, Dragon Tongue Squad - consisting of Crazy Chef, Kirby Lee and the national freestyle battle champion J-Fever (aka Lil Tiger) - play the UK for the first time.
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Yet, almost accidentally, Chinese hip-hop is managing its own sneaky act of rebellion. The first attempt to rap in Mandarin was by the Chinese rock star Cui Jian, on a mid1980s album. His problem, and one that still dogs Chinese MCs, is that the language doesn't lend itself to the hip-hop flow. Mandarin is built from four vowel tones that have to be pronounced correctly. It's also hard to break up words into syllables, so the sharp, broken rhyming and rhythmical style of rap is difficult for Mandarin-speakers.
Dragon Tongue Squad, and others, are reaching back to once banned dialects to create sharper, crisper lyrics. "Some Shenzhen people can rattle their tongue at high speed, and we think that could give us the Chinese Busta Rhymes," says Crazy Chef. "Cantoese, with its nine tones, is a lot easier, and there are regional storytelling styles that include rolling vocals. We're trying out those languages because we think they would be better for hip-hop."
"Chinese hip-hop is a prism through which you can see the way the country is changing," says Robyn Read, producer of Hip Hop China Style, to be broadcast on Radio 4 next month. "Although this is a generation that has little interest in political reforms, they're breaking down the stiff rules on official language and rediscovering aspects of their own culture that were all but banned. It's going to be interesting to see if it will bring them up against the Communist party in any way."
Indeed, Kirby Lee admits that his involvement in hip-hop has led to some distinctly rebellious behaviour. "I got my first hip-hop CD from a French journalist," he recalls. "It was A Tribe Called Quest. I loved the beat, the rhyme rhythm. So I got some old drum machines and would stay up until four in the morning working on beats." He pauses. "And maybe take some mushrooms and smoke a bit. So my classmates thought I was a druggie." He burst out laughing. "I guess I was." Now that sounds like a rapper talking.
Dragon Tongue Squad are at the Royal Opera House, WC2, on February 21-22; Hip Hop China Style is on Radio 4 on March 25