Hangzhou, January 2010.

A huge crowd of Chinese b-boys, b-girls, hip hop dancers, and stylish hipsters has gathered in the cold waiting to enter Reggae Bar, a smoke-filled dive bar replete with Bob Marley memorabilia and Jamaican flags; the occasion is the second installment of the City Kingz competition, attracting top dancers from across the country. These young Chinese dancers are rocking colorful Puma Suedes with the ever classic fat laces, rainbow-psychedelic Nike high tops, a plethora of t-shirts from the online store of the properly-named bboyworld.com website, piercings, tattoos, the whole bit. These attendants are some of the best-dressed individuals I’ve seen over here on the Far East Coast – the Freshest Kids in China.

Although the competitors were almost entirely Chinese (with one exception being me, a Chinese-American b-boy from the outskirts of Washington, D.C.), the organizers of the event were a transnational melting pot of ethnicities. D’Roc, the host and main organizer of the competition, is a b-boy, DJ, and Hangzhou native. The judge of the competition, Miego of the internationally-renowned Soul Kingz Crew, is a Korean b-boy who has studied abroad in Shanghai and New York City. Caution, a Filipino-American DJ from Los Angeles, dropped ill vibes on the turntables alongside Shin, a New York native who provided rhythms on an electronic drumset to complement Caution’s scratching. A number of other dancers, including Albert, a hip-hop dancer from France residing in Shanghai, and Danny, a Russian b-boy working in China, performed showcases during and after the competition.

The wooden dance floor was dirty and dimly lit. When I arrived at the jam, the participants/observers had already formed a circle around the floor, the type of circle commonly referred to as a “cypher” in hip hop language. B-boys and b-girls took turns dancing inside the circle in a dance conversation, with seasoned veterans more willing to get down and dance. Often times, there were breaks in the cypher (no pun intended), during which noone was dancing and everyone was waiting for someone else to step in and rock the beat. Many of the dancers seemed to be hesitant to showcase their moves, waiting for the organized battles to begin and saving their best material for the actual competition.

The preliminary round for the two-on-two battles consisted of a showcase performance from a representative of each registered team. During the prelims, Caution and Shin delivered the music in the rawest form that I’ve encountered at a dance event since coming to China, using only impromptu drumming and scratching, which the b-boys and b-girls would then freestyle to. It was evident that some dancers were merely performing memorized routines, resulting in a visual spectacle that seemed to be mechanical and lacking flavor. Others fluidly freestyled their steps and movements to Caution and Shin’s improvised rhythms- this freestyle element, in my personal opinion, is the essence of hip hop culture, whether one is referring to the rhythmic contortions of hip hop dancers, the free-flowing forms of graffiti, the improvised lyrics of the MC, or the extraterrestrial sounds created by the DJ.

Biter’s block?

A second, critical element of hip hop that is often lacking in Chinese b-boying (again, in my opinion) is originality, the creative force that one employs to develop unique moves and personal style. On a technical level, Chinese b-boys have mastered extremely difficult movements- hopping one-handed handstands, gravity-defying freeze combinations, remarkable spinning moves with fancy names like “airflares” and “1990s.” However, the same forces that have allowed for the globalization of street dance culture have also homogenized the danceform on an international scale; in the age of Youtube, in which anyone with access to an internet connection can view the latest user-uploaded footage from around the world, mimicking movements and copying styles has become common practice. While this allows for the rapid transmission of cultural information, many older b-boys from around the world reminisce about the days prior to Youtube in which video footage was rare, and as a result dance styles were unique, original and diverse in different locales. Now, one can dig a figurative hole to China from the United States and see the exact same moves and styles replicated on the other side of the globe. Clothing and brand loyalty are homogenous as well- as a result of clever marketing by companies that have allied themselves with breakdancing and hip hop culture (Nike, Puma, Adidas, Dickies, Converse, and Red Bull to name a few), one can see the same dress styles anywhere they go in the world within the international breakdance community.

For many young people in China (and not just in China), breakdancing is about participating in a global culture through imitation of a New York-born dance style by copying the clothing, moves, gestures, and attitudes of the dancers that they see at competitions, on TV, in advertising, and on the internet. Just to illustrate my point, I’ve been asked once during a practice session at my university, “Whose style are you trying to imitate?” I almost choked on my green tea, as I personally pride myself in creating an original style in order to reflect my personal understanding of hip hop and breaking as a creative artform. However, this attitude has only developed after years of participation in the breaking scene and research into the history of hip hop culture; I personally believe that this education is the critical element that will allow for a deeper understanding of dance culture and the informed utilization of dance as a tool for personal expression as opposed to cosmopolitan imitation.

Thus, at City Kingz I was blown away by an activity that was organized by D’Roc. After the preliminaries and shortly before the actual two-on-two battles began, D’Roc grabbed the microphone, shut off the lights, and told everyone to sit on the floor. He had personally prepared a Powerpoint presentation and lecture on the history of hip hop culture, with slides of pioneering individuals and groups such as DJ Kool Herc, the Rock Steady Crew, Run DMC, and the Zulu Nation, set to music by A Tribe Called Quest. I later had the opportunity to ask D’Roc about his decision to include the slideshow, and got a snippet of what hip hop culture means to him personally as well.

“Obviously, my purpose for doing this event was to spread real hip hop. I know a lot about it, and I also know that many people in China have no idea, so when I did that slideshow I hoped that the event’s essence would impact all the people, a criteria for having fun with hip hop … Hip hop’s beginning was freedom, because there is some conflict because we are not free, especially these proper young people. A lot of the surface is a cool appearance, even if we don’t speak about the deeper meanings there is still already a lot to attract me. It has definitely changed me, I have a passion for something now, I have a goal, after time passed I have something to believe in. With that belief, one can change from a bad person to a good person, because there is now moral criteria.”

Respect! For me, City Kingz served as a notable example of how culture becomes adopted and developed by a particular community. For D’Roc, the competition was meant to set the standard on how breakdance culture should be in China, which I think was done exceptionally well. This criteria is also set primarily by the judges that are invited to competitions and the decisions that they make on who wins or loses. Often, I have encountered individuals (including myself) who are confused as to why they lost a particular battle. Many foreign judges are open to explaining their criteria for judging, although a language barrier does exist and a translator is often necessary, and these educational moments are critical in the authentic development of subcultures. Don’t get me wrong though- the scene in China is rapidly growing and developing, and there were some dancers at City Kingz that were highly talented, fresh and original, as you’ll see in the footage. Enjoy!!!

Last part of D’Roc’s official trailer- that’s me at 1:35 word!

Mimicking fighting in a dance known as the “Uprock”… somebody got smoked!

That’s all, folks! Until next time, PEACE.

Check out the article at STANFORD Magazine

DJ Wordy – I like that raw sh*t mix tape

… The history of Hip Hop culture is lost in translation, as there is a lack of Chinese articles related to this knowledge, as well as a lack of interest on the part of Chinese Hip Hoppers, many of whom are more interested in imitation of the moves and clothing styles than the informed practice of Hip Hop.

A lot of China’s imported “culture” has this problem: what I’ve been calling the problem of a “direct translation.” Musicians especially try to get from point A (amateurs) to point C (rock stars) without going through the process of B (development of your own sound, style, etc.) From what I’ve seen, this is true not only to musical sub-cultures but also to a lot of other imported cultural elements in contemporary Chinese society.

As for hip-hop, it’s such a different kind of musical culture, because it requires so much self-expression. I think this is tied closely to the issue of language. The tonal aspect of Chinese can definitely make word-play harder, or at the least dramatically different. But what is more central to the role of hip-hop is to express a story, an experience, a perspective. This role necessarily requires the process (B), the life experience to express a specific cultural moment in time and place that defines what an MC or bboy represents. A lot of Chinese hip-hoppers can express who they want to be (Eminem), but how many can express who they are?

What I’m saying is that hip-hop is not a lifestyle you chase, but a tool of expression for whatever lifestyle you have. In this sense, participation in hip-hop does not require an appreciation for its history or a fluency of English. All you need is an appreciation of your own history and have something to say about who you are. Globally there are many examples that show this: France, Japan, even the former Yugoslavia (see my college thesis haha).

A lot of the time in China, I get the feeling that hip-hop, or rock, or whatever “cool” thing is not a platform for expression as it should be, but rather the entire end goal. Obviously, this is hardly unique to China and exists everywhere, but at least from my view, this attitude is disproportionately pervasive here. I’m beginning to suspect that the source of this difference lies in two ruptures in China’s cultural history: the first being the suppression of Confucianism along with a lot of traditional Chinese culture since the rise of Communism, and the second being a huge emphasis on money and all its trappings associated with capitalist reforms post-1978. Maybe a side-effect of these influences is a youth culture that is struggling not to express its counter-cultural identity to a broader society (as has been the case with a lot of booming hip-hop scenes), but to find it’s identity outside of China’s confused and noisy cultural landscape.

So the question then becomes: what role does hip-hop really play in China?

I also wanted to post up a video of a choreographed set from a crew called 新偶像 (New Idol), which was performed at the competition (this video is from a different venue, as I wasn’t able to record their set in Changzhou). Ever since I came to China, I’ve been looking for instances of Hip Hop that successfully incorporates Chinese culture. I mean, it only seems right, since the pioneering Bronx B-Boys of the 1970s borrowed a whole lot from Chinese martial arts films in the infant stages of the dance.

And bonus feature for those who haven’t seen it yet: just for shits and giggles, a solo performance I did at Fudan University. Represent represent!

Until next time, peace and love!!

http://www.zshare.net/download/70312631b40203b4/

Dave Allen's Getting Things Done

Since I took on a new job in September with a producer role, my life has become increasingly busy. Managing my social commitments, personal hobbies, school work and professional responsibilities has likewise become increasingly difficult and stressful.

Recently, I have been searching for ways to organize my life to sort out the clutter. Luckily, my boss recommended an excellent book on the subject: Dave Allen’s Getting Things Done. Allen has an enormous following (the GTD community), and preaches a relatively straightforward system of getting things off your mind by storing it all in an external memory system. The theory is simple: things you need to do will constantly weigh on your mind, but your mind does not remind you at the right times, so the result is a lot of wasted mental effort (otherwise known as worrying). By capturing and organizing all your commitments, you can clear your mind and use 100% of it to focus on the task at hand.

I have been employing some of the principles in the GTD system with the excellent Things application for the Mac and iPhone. Since I started a month ago, I have literally forgotten nothing. Every book I say I want to read, every article I want to follow up on, every casual social commitment and professional agreement has been processed. The system is not so much about time management as it is about capturing absolutely everything you want/need to do and then organizing it so you can forget about it, and get reminded when you can do something about it.

For me the experience has been very positive, and the book is highly recommended, especially to people who tend to forget things, or never get around to them, or feel like they just don’t have enough time. That is probably most of you, so give it a shot!