Text | Music Herald, author | Lin Kankan, editor | Fan Zhihui
Unexpectedly, the grievances between haquan and talk shows will continue.
On October 23, PSY_P, a member of Higher Brothers, posted a screenshot of his relationship with Fu Hang, and expressed his love for Fu Hang, saying that he has become his fan completely.
Just last week, a big beef happened between the hipster circle and the talk show.
The cause of the incident was that talk show contestant Yu Xiangyu used rapper GAI Zhou Yan to tell a joke on the show, joking that “a crooked mouth has the appearance of a champion.”
This remark aroused strong dissatisfaction from GAI. He posted an article on Weibo angrily criticizing the talk show contestants, “You have not taken advantage of any of the benevolence, justice, propriety, wisdom, and trust.” It quickly became a trending topic on Weibo, but was ridiculed by the group in the comment area.
However, netizens accused GAI of double standards, saying that rappers always like to diss others but cannot make jokes about themselves, and they also used the term “little to junior high school” to mock GAI’s low academic level.
After the incident escalated, talk show fans and GAI fans got into a fierce fight. GAI fans say that GAI has a deviated nasal septum, and it is unethical and a personal attack to make fun of other people’s physical defects. This statement was quickly slapped in the face by talk show fans, who claimed that the nasal septum will not cause a crooked mouth, and said that next time “you have athlete’s foot” it will be used to make a bad deal.
Then, a netizen asked the talk show actor Hei Deng in the comment area whether he studied philosophy in college; Hei Deng replied: “I studied benevolence, justice, etiquette, wisdom and trust,” sarcastically mocking GAI.
In this beef between the haha circle and the talk show circle, Yu Xiangyu never responded to a word, but in the end, GAI ended up being laughed at by the crowd. Today, on PSY_P’s Weibo post where he expressed his love for Fu Hang, some talk show fans said he was just trying to gain popularity.
No matter what kind of public opinion field, rappers seem to be the target of public criticism.
Rap, which once aroused phenomenal popularity, is now not even as well regarded as idols in the eyes of the public, and has fallen into a position where everyone can laugh at it. So, why is the reputation of Haquan so bad?
The increasingly bad reviews in the ha circle
The reason why Haquan has a bad reputation among passers-by is mainly due to the rappers’ arrogant character and habit of dissing others.
Take the incident between the B-game circle and Parker. In August this year, in order to help label member Naiman, Parker released a song dissing the Otome game “Love and Deep Space”. In the lyrics, he criticized B-game “It’s all about sidelines.” “It’s greasy and allows pre-adult children to play adult games”, calling it “poisoning the next generation of minors”.
This statement caused dissatisfaction among a large number of B-game players, who believed that it was disrespectful and slanderous to the game and its players.
From the perspective of Otome fans, as an outsider who has never played an Otome game, Packer stands on the moral high ground and preaches daddy-style sermons, slandering their favorite culture, which is tantamount to igniting the anger of the fan circle.
As a result of the incident, “Love and Deep Space” officially issued a statement that it would not tolerate Packett’s infringement and insults. Even though Packer quickly deleted the song and apologized, a lot of black material in the Harbin circle was uncovered by fans, which almost brought the whole circle to ruin.
In addition, the chaos and irresponsibility of some rappers’ private lives is also the reason why the ha circle is disliked by the public.
In March this year, rapper Man Shuke was exposed by his ex-girlfriend in a long post, saying that she was infected with HPV because of her relationship with him. After Man Shuke learned about her physical condition, he was not only 40 minutes late for the surgery, but also did not Bear the cost of any surgery.
After the girl posted the post, at least three girls contacted her, claiming that they were infected with HPV after dating Manshuke. This incident triggered public condemnation from a large number of netizens. Even though Manshu Ke issued a clarification afterward, his public image also plummeted.
In addition to moral issues, the extreme behavior of some rappers, as well as the verdicts involving illegal crimes such as fighting, drug abuse, and drug trafficking, have further aggravated the public’s negative impression of the Harbin circle.
In 2019, rapper Beibei (also known as Li Jingze) chopped off his fingers during a live broadcast, which also shocked the entire Internet. The reason was that there were rumors on the Internet that he was having an affair with fans. In order to prove that he had a clear conscience during the live broadcast, Beibei emotionally chopped off one of his fingers.
The judgments circulating on the Internet about Haquan are even more shocking. Gao Tianzuo once beat people to serious injuries, MC Guangguang was involved in drug abuse, Tangoz was detained for drunk driving, and Li Jingze was involved in drug smuggling… These judgments have become the most popular topics for Haquan circles. The “evidence” of fans being whipped to death repeatedly.
In order to gain popularity, some rappers engage in various abstract behaviors such as clowning, which has also led the public to label the rappers as low-educated, technical secondary school rap, and spirited boys and girls.
For example, the kid king broke into the stage at Kanye West’s audition in Haikou and was detained by the police. However, he was not ashamed but proud, saying that he “does not apologize or regret.”
Fierce Katie, a female rapper who became popular through abstraction, sang in her song, “Put on the starched yoga pants, the smell makes him unbearable.” The vulgar expression not only did not help Chinese rap become better, but also caused the public to associate rappers with the Internet. The connection between ugly and ugly has further lowered the threshold and level of Chinese rap.
From their defiant personality, to their personal indiscretions and criminal history, to the bad behavior of some rappers who work for their posts, they have seriously damaged the image and reputation of Haquan, making its public reputation worse and worse.
The embarrassment of the circle
In the past underground niche stage, the reputation of Chinese rap has actually gone through a golden age for nearly ten years.
At that time, the rap circle with Beijing and Taiwan as its core criticized current shortcomings and paid great attention to the humanistic and ideological nature of lyrics. However, when Chinese rap became popular, it created contradictions and conflicts with mainstream culture.
The first is a conflict in values. Hip-hop culture originated during the apartheid period in the United States in the last century. Black people at the bottom of the class dealt with drugs and crime in the slums all day long. The sex, violence, wealth display and rebellious genes in hip-hop music were born under this kind of suppression. However, black people show that their street life is rooted in reality, but Chinese rap does not have similar soil.
More importantly, China’s mainstream culture emphasizes qualities such as diligence, simplicity, and humility, and has a negative attitude towards excessive display of wealth. This conflict in values is particularly evident in the process of commercialization of Chinese rap, making it difficult to gain public recognition during the dissemination process and limiting its development in the mainstream market.
After rap music was commercially incorporated, rappers also faced the embarrassing situation of giving up their personality.
Most of the rappers come from grassroots backgrounds and generally have low academic qualifications. Their music has a strong personality and rebellious spirit, which is the charm of hip-hop culture. But when rappers want to step onto the mainstream stage, they need to cater to the market and the public’s tastes. This may cause them to lose their original personality and style, making them unpopular with both the mainstream and the niche.
Dong Baoshi is the most typical example. As the first rapper to appear on the Spring Festival Gala stage, after transforming into an artist, the style and content of his works have changed, but this has also caused dissatisfaction among the original audience. Harbin critic ADbaby commented sharply on the increasing commercialization of Laojiu’s music, saying that his music “looks sanctimonious” and “you have overturned the bowl of Chinese rap, and you are still here representing Chinese rappers.”
The embarrassment between commercial interests and personal expression puts rappers in a dilemma, which not only limits the expression of music creation, but also prevents Chinese rap from finding a path suitable for its own development and growth.
Some rappers who have successfully transformed into mainstream singers, such as Wan Nida, Liu Boxin, Wang Yitai, etc., have found a music path that suits them, but many more rappers still face the contradiction between blindly imitating foreign countries and localization. In the current Internet environment, every move of a public figure is monitored by netizens with a magnifying glass. In this public opinion environment, rappers who come from grassroots backgrounds can’t help but be picky.
From a market perspective, hip-hop culture has passed the barbaric growth period and entered the stock era. Although top singers have successfully transformed, it is difficult for newcomers from the waist down to get tickets, resulting in a lack of success in the music industry. Moreover, the political review of large-scale evening variety shows is strict, and they are more cautious in inviting rappers, which to some extent also limits the process of entering the mainstream market.
At present, the biggest embarrassment of the Chinese rap circle is the mismatch between commercial value and personal image, and the survival logic within the circle is still reckless and lacks professional operations.
It can be seen that the current Chinese rap circle is filled with a mixture of abstraction and seriousness, indulgence and self-restraint, recklessness and civilization, and the coexistence of highly educated people and technical secondary school students. These types of rappers appear in the Haru circle at the same time. It is difficult for the public to understand the logic, and the natural perception is that they are chaotic.
Can the bad reputation be reversed?
In recent years, leading rappers have made many attempts to enter the mainstream market and improve the overall image of the hip-hop scene.
For example, JonyJ served as a rap mentor in “Youth With You 2”, Naiwan and Zhang Yanqi transformed into idol artists by participating in the talent show, GAI, Bridge and Liu Cong participated in the variety show “Brother Overcoming Troubles” to gain recognition in the mainstream, and C-Block appeared on “Singer” 2024″ stage, Dong Baoshi, Ai Re and other rappers performed on the Spring Festival Gala stage, allowing the public to see the positive and positive side of Chinese rap.
But in the long run, relying solely on the leadership of a few leading musicians is not enough.Faced with the increasingly bad reviews of Harbin Circle, the most important thing Harbour Circle needs to do is self-cleansing, and efforts should be made from multiple aspects including the label, the company, and self-censorship.
First of all, the standardization and professionalization of local brands is crucial.
Currently, there are nearly a hundred labels in the Chinese rap circle, but few of them can function as professional record companies. In contrast, in South Korea, where the hip-hop industry is relatively mature, super labels can be called excellent independent music companies. For example, the super label AOMG founded by Park Jae-bum has mature experience in music production, distribution, and artist operations. Currently, the only one that can be called a super label in the Chinese rap circle is Zhongmeng Music. Other local labels are still far behind South Korea in terms of standardized management and professional operations for musicians.
Moreover, the managers of large labels have not taken the lead. For example, as the manager of the NOUS label, Packer used his own impulses to sing and diss the B-game circle, which is a failed example.
Secondly, cooperation with large record companies is also an important way to help Chinese rap accelerate its transformation. Currently, international labels such as Universal Music, Sony Music, Warner Music and 88Rising are accelerating the recruitment of rappers for the purpose of localized operations in the Chinese market.
For example, last week, Universal Music reached an exclusive cooperation with iQiyi’s flagship IP variety show “New Rap 2024”; not long ago, New Rap 2024 champion Lian Ma Swimming also officially announced that he has signed a contract with Universal Music. Prior to this, Henan rap god and Digi Ghetto member thomeboydontkill also signed a contract with Warner Music, and the French independent music distribution company Believe also had in-depth cooperation with Asen Ai Zhiheng and Capper.
The reason is that large record companies have rich industry resources, mature artist training experience, and professional image building and public opinion management teams, which can help grassroots rappers get on the right track quickly. This will not only provide a broader development platform for rappers, but also enhance the competitiveness of Chinese rap in the international market.
The most important thing is that in addition to the efforts of labels, platforms and companies, self-censorship is the core of the Chinese rap circle’s reputation reversal and long-term development. Musicians in the music industry cannot use their status as rappers as a “gold medal” to get out of their own way. If they want to enter the mainstream market, the long-term development of the music industry requires artist consciousness, or the self-cultivation of a public figure.
After all, as a new music category, Chinese rap still has great potential in the future. The narrative and story-telling nature of rap music also has irreplaceable charm from other music types.
Although there is a long road ahead, as long as all parties work together, Chinese rap still has a chance to reverse its reputation and find its “place” in the mainstream market.
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