Playing Underground:
Hong Kong’s lesser-known independent music scene
Political hip hop invigorates local music scene as Hong Kong’s anti-government protests continue
Anti-government protesters in Hong Kong sing political hip hop song “Fuckthepopo” by rapper JB during a shopping mall protest in September 2019.
© Day Day Up.
In hip hop, the standoff continues.
By Stephanie Ma
Get to know Canto hip hop!
When Hong Kong’s embattled chief executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor announced the enactment of an anti-mask legislation to quell weeks of ongoing pro-democracy protests in October last year, Cantonese hip-hop group Lazy Mutha Fucka (LMF) decided it was time to speak out.
Furious over the announcement -- a move rapper Leung Wing-kit calls “authoritarian suppression” -- the outfit, a 21-year-old veteran independent rap crew that has been widely regarded as the pioneers of Cantonese hip hop since the 1990s, released an acerbic track titled “2019” penned to criticize local authorities in their handling of the months-long demonstrations.
In “2019”, Mr. Leung raps:
“2019”
The political system is so broken
Who is creating the conflicts?
The corrupted regime is attempting to murder the young people
I am so fucking irritated
The police are excessively abusing their power
This is just terrible
The government dares to do anything
But for justice
We stand as one
There are more ways to revolutionize Hong Kong than you think
Translated by Stephanie Ma
Track by LMF performing “2019”. © LMF.
Anti-government protesters at a mass assembly at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Photo by Stephanie Ma.
Since June last year, hundreds of thousands of people in Hong Kong have repeatedly taken to their streets to voice their opposition initially against a now-withdrawn extradition law amendment bill - a legislation that was widely seen as China’s increasing encroachment on the semi-autonomous city’s freedom.
After weeks of resistance, the large-scale protests have now evolved into a full-fledged pro-democracy movement and an open manifestation of defiance against Beijing, as protesters expanded their demands calling for greater democracy and an investigation into alleged police brutality.
Championing the social movement, “2019” is amongst the list of anti-establishment rap songs hailed as protest anthems by the city’s young protesters.
The song brought underground hip hop music to the forefront of Hong Kong’s music scene, an industry that has long been dominated by Cantonese love ballads, a litany of unrequited love and heartbreak hits targeting a young audience often performed by singers signed to major record labels.
Championing Hong Kong’s anti-extradition bill movement, political hip hop “2019” by rap outfit LMF is amongst the list of songs hailed as protest anthems. Music video by LMF performing “2019”. © LMF.
Characterised by its anti-establishment and counter-culturalism artistry, hip hop is a sound of resistance developed by marginalized inner-city African and Latin American youths in the Bronx, New York City during the 1970s.
Political hip hop, a subgenre of hip hop music, emerged a decade later when societal conditions of inner-city African-American communities worsened following then President Ronald Reagan’s decision to reduce spending on affordable housing. Rap music was turned into calls for social action against injustice and exclusions with the Bronx’s hip hop community, often addressing social problems such as police brutality, political apathy and oppression.
The influence of political hip hop extends far beyond America, and was imported to Hong Kong’s music scene during the early 1990s. The subgenre was popularised with the formation of LMF in 1993, the first rap group to land a major record with Warner Music until they broke up in 2003.
The band regrouped in 2009, this time without a record label. But with the critical success of their host of often profanity- laced classics that have been critical of society, such as the 1999 song about grassroots life “Housing Estate Boy” and ‘Dai Lan Tong” from 2000 that delves on the pressure of living in Hong Kong, the group is now largely seen as the elder statesmen in the city’s rising hip hop scene.
“We wrote the song to tell the truth of the anti-extradition bill movement, instead of trying to offer a political message to the public,” he said, adding examples from his lyrics, such as police officers firing live rounds in clashes and the 10-year prison sentence protesters would potentially face if they are prosecuted for riot.
A manifestation of the angry creativity the city has witnessed since the demonstrations erupted in June last year, the four-minute rap song garnered 50,000 views on its second day of release on Youtube. It has also been widely blasted by black-clad protesters on mobile phones and portable speakers during mass assemblies.
Released earlier in June last year when demonstrations first broke out, another popular soundtrack is rapper JB’s “FUCKTHEPOPO”. Aimed at skewering the police force of their violent crackdown on the protests, the expletives-laden song also made multiple references to alleged police misconduct, such as officers’ referral of laser pens as dangerous weapons and their concealing of identification numbers when on duty.
“FUCKTHEPOPO”
F*** the popo, F*** your mother (F*** your mother)
F*** the popo, F*** your mother
F*** the popo, F*** your mother
Two million plus one We stand firm together
Don’t tell me it’s your job
How much do you make anyway?
Tear gas, rubber bullets
You dickheads fire them so carefreely
To fight for freedom, I will get through this with masks and helmets
With a mic in hand, I swear war to you cowards
Stop trying to justify your shit, shut up, you unschooled kids
Translated by Stephanie Ma
Track by JB performing “FUCKTHEPOPO”. © JB.
Like LMF and JB, rapper Luna Lee, aka “Luna is A Bep” wrote the track “Harvest” to criticize Chan Kin-por, the Finance Committee chairman of Hong Kong’s Legislative Council, for his comments about protesters disrupting the order of the city during the “harvesting period of his life”.
"My lyrics are a reflection of my life. Since the social movement and Mr. Chan’s comments have already taken up a huge part of it since June, I have to say something about it in my music,” she said.
Video by Youtube Channel Hong Kong. © Hong Kong. Music by JB performing “FUCKTHEPOPO”. © JB.
Finding resonance
Hong Kong’s angry youth are finding solidarity in political rap songs that vocalise their shared frustrations, said Canadian-Japanese rapper Txmiyama, whose real name is Yuri Tomiyama.
“Everyone’s unified under the same view of fuck the government, fuck the police. We’re all struggling, and if somebody puts out a song about the exact emotions that you are already feeling, it creates a sense of unity and resonance,” he said.
Born in Canada but raised in Hong Kong, Mr. Tomiyama’s music paints a grim picture of the city. He takes on a host of its long-standing social issues, in particular the widening wealth gap between the rich and the poor and a lack of affordable housing in the world’s most unaffordable housing market.
During a city-wide strike in August, the line “7k for a house like a cell and you really think we out here scared of jail?” from his song “5am in a minibus” was spray-painted onto a traffic barrier near a protest site in the working-class neighbourhood in Wong Tai Sin. Pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong Chi-fung later tweeted a photo of the graffiti, panning the government for “not giving hope to the future generation”.
Pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong shares a photo of the sprayed-painted lyrics “7k for a house like a cell you really think we out here scared In a tweet panning the Hong Kong government.
University student Natalie, who doesn’t want to reveal her last name, said she resonates with the message in Mr. Tomiyama’s lyrics. Her discontent towards the government’s inability to solve Hong Kong’s pressing but basic social problems, she added, only fuelled her determination to join the political movement.
“There’s just nothing to hold us back from protesting because young people nowadays are under so much pressure to earn a living without any certainty of upward mobility in the future,” Natalie said.
She said that political rap songs help enhance her sense of belonging to the movement, and galvanize the support of non-protestors, especially young people who like to rap music.
“They give us the determination to resist against an unjust system that would rather push for pro-Beijing policies instead of prioritizing social issues like the lack of affordable housing,” said university student Cherry, who also did not want to reveal her full name for security reasons.
Anti-establishment rap songs that draw on Beijing’s increased suppression and alleged police violence, she said, are often played at mass assemblies, marches, and in pro-democracy businesses where protesters have vowed to prioritize their consumption.
“It gives us hope to see that there are artists who are willing to stand up for our city’s core values, even if this would mean they have sacrificed a more lucrative career path in the mainland,” she added.
Political hip hop songs are resonating with Hong Kong’s angry youth, said rapper Txmiyama. Photo by Stephanie Ma.
"We’re all struggling, and if somebody puts out a song about the exact emotions that you are already feeling, it creates a sense of unity and resonance".
Rapper Txmiyama AKA Yuri Tomiyama
Severe Censorship
With a history of producing defiant music reflecting social injustice, hip hop collective LMF said they have been blacklisted in mainland China prior to the protests.
After the group released their “2019” single, Mr. Leung said they were dropped from several sponsorship deals for their 20th anniversary concert in Hong Kong, as brands hurried to take a side because the subject was too “sensitive for their brand image”. But, he said, the group does not regret dropping the song.
“Writing it we had already anticipated the outcome to be like this,” he said, “We just want to follow our conscience."
Originating from the streets, hip hop has always played the role of an observer to society because it raises questions that reflect its realities, added bandmate Phat Chan Wai-hung.
“Our creation is based on society, and we will criticize its problems in our music. The truth is often unpleasant, but there isn’t a need for LMF to exist at all if our society is truly peaceful,” he said.
Some of Hong Kong’s mainstream entertainers have proclaimed support for mainland China in order to retain their access to the more lucrative market there, where political dissent in the entertainment scene has been stamped down by extreme censorship.
South-Korean based rapper Jackson Wang Ka-yee is among some of Hong Kong’s biggest names in the entertainment industry to publicly declare their support for China in an online campaign after radical Hong Kong protesters desecrated the Chinese national flag in August last year. The campaign was spearheaded by state-run media CCTV on Twitter-like Weibo, which asked users to share and use the hashtag “The Chinese national flag has 1.4 billion flag bearers” after the incident.
Please click on the photos to read captions.
Chinese rappers have also proudly championed their patriotic credentials.
In response to the contentious protests, Chengdu-based rap group Higher Brothers - signed to the American record label 88rising, which gained a wide global fan base for pushing representation of Asian hip hop artists, posted an image of the five-starred Chinese national flag on Instagram.
Melo aka Xie Yu-jie, one of the rappers in the group, wrote: “Once again. I’m proud I’m a Chinese.” The same photo was also posted by bandmate DZknow aka Ding Zhen. Rapper Vava aka Mao Yan-qi, who rose to fame from hip hop talent show “The Rap of China”, also wrote in English on Instagram: “Hong Kong is part of China forever.”
The posts triggered polarised reactions on social media as pro-China netizens applauded the gesture. But Hong Kong supporters slammed the artists for misrepresenting hip hop, a sound of resistance they believe to be characterised by its anti-establishment artistry developed by inner-city African and Latin American youths in Bronx, New York City during the 1970s.
“The irony of seeing this on Instagram. Hope you never come to America again with your shitty rip off of our culture,” wrote a user called Celld7.
“American rappers: fuck the police. Chinese rappers: We support the police and the regime. Bruh,” wrote ChingChong_mebba777.
What is “real” hip hop?
Pro-government statements in the hip hop circle are rare, said Hong Kong rapper Chef Fung.
“Anti-establishment sentiments have been at the roots of rap when political hip hop emerged in the 1980s and incorporated the personal narratives of African-American rappers when they encountered police brutality and oppression,” Mr. Fung said.
But in China, government censorships have been quick to tighten its grip on the fledgling industry, which gained widespread popularity in the country only in 2017 with the success of hit reality TV show “The Rap of China”.
High-profile rappers GAI and PG One were pulled out of shows for bad behaviour and lyrical references to porngraphy and drug use, as Beijing extended the scope of popular culture censorship on the relatively new music genre to wipe out possible channels of dissent for defiant youth.
“The Chinese government is using hip hop to control young people because hip hop is getting popular within their age group,” added Fung, who was invited to compete on the show in 2018, but declined due to the many restrictions imposed in the program in order to ensure the rappers’ lyrical content are in line with the core values of China’s ruling Communist Party.
“It’s not real hip hop if you have to seek prior approval for your lyrics in rap battles, instead of freely rapping about your feelings of that exact moment,” he said.
But state intervention in China’s nascent hip hop scene does not stop here.
A modern take on China’s revolutionary songs emerged during the reign of late Chairman Mao Zedong, Communist Party-sponsored gangsta rap group CD Rev released the track “Hong Kong’s Fall featuring Donald Trump” as part of the state-directed tactics to discredit the Hong Kong protests.
Rapping in Mandarin and English, the group muses:
“Hong Kong’s Fall featuring Donald Trump”
There are 1.4 billion Chinese standing firmly behind Hong Kong Police
They will always protect Hong Kong without any hesitation
Airplanes, tanks, and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army
We don’t see freedom, We don’t see peace and democracy
What we all witness these days are self-called “protesters” attacking Hong Kong police offices with weapons
Track by CD Rev performing "Hong Kong's Fall Featuring Donald Trump". © CD Rev.
In January, Hong Kong’s Beijing-backed government replicated the Communist Party’s musical propaganda push and released its own anti-protest movement diss track, criticizing protestors for causing major disruption to the society and not “seeing the clear picture”.
"See the Clear Picture"
"Youth rush forward to sacrifice for all?
Criminal damage and assault
Is this really brave and bold?
In fact, it ruins their future
Fight for freedom
Hong Kong already has freedom
Track by Information Services Department, performing "See the Clear Picture" . © Information Services Department.
China’s government-backed rap group CD Rev releases the track “Hong Kong’s Fall featuring Donald Trump” as part of the Communist Party’s propaganda push. Music video by CD Rev “Hong Kong’s Fall featuring Donald Trump”. © CD Rev.
Asian propaganda rap: “a new subgenre of hip hop?”
Hip hop is becoming a tool of the government in the Greater China region, which might signify the emergence of a new subculture of pro-government rap music that is only unique to Asian hip hop, said Hong Kong-based Taiwanese music producer Wayne Lin.
“The hip hop feel is there, but the spirit is not because it is no longer about being fearless towards injustice and oppression,” he said.
But rapper Tong Sung-ching “MastaMic'' said hip hop should not be defined as being anti-authority, or measured against the music’s earliest form because it was hailed from a background of severe racial discrimination that Hong Kong and China have not undergone.
He thinks music and politics should be separable as the slew of angsty political rap songs released after Hong Kong’s summer of unrest has been glamorized as protest anthems.
“They only fed public anger instead of offering concrete solutions to the political turmoil,” he said.
As a form of art, political hip hop should not have definition, said rapper and music producer Doughboy, better known as Galaxy Ho ngo.
Protest rap songs are often regarded as protests anthems, said Hong Kong-rapper and music producer Doughboy, also known as Galaxy Ho ngo. Photo by Stephanie Ma.
But he said, the emergence of protest rap songs seems to have ossified Cantonese hip hop into monotonous themes in the already small local music industry.
“Protest rap songs are often regarded as symbolic leaders, but they rein in artists’ creation when their musical styles become stereotyped as political”.
That was the particular case for Cantonese hip hop pioneers LMF, whose host of classics have been censure of Hong Kong’s government and society since its formation in the 1990s.
LMF’s rapper Mr. Leung said the group has long been stereotyped as a political rap crew, and are often asked to release songs that are critical of the current state of affairs.
“This reflects Hong Kong’s music market lacks variety, and so is its cultural space because the preference of the general public always gravitates towards [political] rap,” added chief lyricist Mr. Chan, also known as MC Yan.
But political rap is expected to prevail in the city’s hip hop scene, as protestors vow to return to the streets after months of calm amidst the global coronavirus epidemic.
Hip hop will continue to serve as a platform for Hong Kong’s youth to build community, especially during a time when the whole city is divided by political affairs, said Mr. Tomiyama.
“Music is universal, at least in Hong Kong. It’s very much like a community”.
“As tensions between Hong Kong and China grow, and anger goes up, so will hip hop.”