A Big Hit Pop Our Life ---The Rise of Hip-Hop Music

Home , Chinese hip hop, MC HotDog, The Rap of China

投稿類別:英文寫作類

篇名: A Big Hit Pop Our life ---- The Rise of Chinese Hip Hop Music Powerful Influence of “The Rap of China”

作者: 邱煒甯。嘉義高中。高二 16 班沈明諺。嘉義高中。高二 16 班

指導老師: 黃郁方老師

A Big Hit Pop Our Life ---- The Rise of Chinese Hip Hop Music Powerful influence of “The Rap of China” I. Introduction I.1.The motivation of the study

In recent years, Chinese hip hop music has been obviously thriving and flourishing. They have invaded the music industry in Taiwan successfully. More and more rappers emerged, and released their own compositions. These phenomena intensified after a TV program, named “The Rap of China,” was broadcast. What’s more, many Chinese singers now start to add an episode of hip hop music into their songs, which reforms styles of Chinese mainstream music. From the points mentioned above, it can be seen that Chinese hip hop music has gone viral in Taiwan.

As members of this new generation, we are also influenced by Chinese hip hop music wave naturally and caught in this fad. This wave, resembling an enormous hurricane, has made a tremendous impact on the young men in Taiwan. Therefore, we are eager to figure out the reason for its and the effects of “the Rap of China” on the development of Chinese hip hop music.

I.2. Research questions With the full consideration, a survey was conducted. The following three research questions were generated to explore the reasons for the popularity of Chinese hip hop music in Taiwan and the effects of “the Rap of China” on the development of the music genre.

(1) Do teenagers in Taiwan know about Chinese hip hop music? (2) Why has Chinese hip hop music made a hit recently? (3) What are the influences that” the Rap of China” has on teenagers, rappers, and the development of Chinese hip hop music?

II. Literature Review II.1 Definition II.1.1 Definition of Chinese hip hop music

According to Wikipedia (2017), hip hop music is a musical style with spoken words and a steady beat played on electronic instruments. It is sometimes used as a synonym of hip hop or rap music although rapping is not the necessary component of hip hop music. It is originally developed in the United States by inner-city African Americans in the 1970s. It may also incorporate some of the elements of hip hop culture, including DJ, turntablism, scratching, beatbox, and instrumental tracks, etc. In this research, we mainly focus on the music genre in

A Big Hit Pop Our Life ---- The Rise of Chinese Hip Hop Music Powerful influence of “The Rap of China” Chinese.

II.1.2 Definition of “the Rap of China”

On the basis of Wikipedia (2018), “the Rap of China,” a variety show with the theme of hip hop music on the Internet, is produced by an online video platform, IQiyi. There are three groups of famous producers such as Kris Wu, Will Pan, MC HotDog and Chang Chen-yue as the competitors’ teachers to train and guide the rappers before the contest, and they also take charge of evaluation and comment on the contestants’ performance in the competition. This show did become the center of attention among youngsters in Taiwan in a very short time after its first episode was aired on June 24, 2017.

II.2 History and Development II.2.1 History of hip hop music

Based on the Wikipedia (2017), hip hop, defined as not only a musical genre but a culture, was first created in the poorest districts of New York City during the 1970s. At that time, many of the African-American young people were unemployed, but some worked as DJs in discos where they learned deejay techniques like how to use two turntables and a DJ mixer to play records non-stop. Sometimes they'd deejay at free block parties, which became increasingly popular in New York City, particularly among those residing in the neighborhoods of Bronx. At parties, they'd play funk and disco tracks non-stop, and ask a friend to act as their MC. Besides introducing the DJ and encouraging everyone to dance and have a good time, some MCs tried to be more entertaining by talking in time to the beat of the music and using rhymes, which is the birth of rapping.

However, hip hop music did not get officially recorded for the radio or television to play until 1979, because it originated from the people in the slum area, which caused the lack of acceptance outside the ghetto neighborhoods. In 1980s, hip hop music became more diverse and the genre turned into more complex styles. Before the 1980s, hip hop music was mostly limited in the United States. However, during the 1980s, it started to spread to dozens of countries, many of which mixed hip hop music with local styles to create new subgenres.

II.2.2 Development of Chinese hip hop music from 1980s till now

According to ComeLee’s statement (2017), in 1980s, hip hop music spread to Chinese culture. Though it wasn’t totally accepted by the public, more and more media kept an eye on

A Big Hit Pop Our Life ---- The Rise of Chinese Hip Hop Music Powerful influence of “The Rap of China” this new phenomenon. Some Chinese hip hop singers appeared at this period of time, such as Lin Zi Xiang, Yu Cheng Qing, and so forth. They are also called the “pioneers” of Chinese hip hop music. In 1990s, pure American hip hop music reached the summit, and it swept across the whole world, and became more widespread. Taiwan was also in this wave. The Huang brothers, who have grown up in California, teamed up a group, “L.A. BOYZ,” and brought American hip hop music into Taiwan. It was the crucial moment that bred Chinese hip hop music.

In the last few years, Chinese hip hop music has developed rapidly, and many juveniles got involved in it. Lots of rappers also emerged and released their own productions like Mc HotDog, Softlipa, and Wilber Pan, and so on. Also, a few months ago, a TV program called “the Rap of China” blew up the entertainment industry, and cause an even huge wave. It opened up a new world of a variety of Chinese hip hop music, and also brought this underground music onto the mass platform, which really made it a part of Chinese mainstream music.

III. Methods III.1. Participants

In order to understand more about the recent development of Chinese hip hop music and the teenagers’ recognition and preference for this music genre these years, we devised a questionnaire to collect the data in the study. There are 110 participants in our study, including 67 girls and 43 boys. They are students in Yunlin and Chiayi counties. Their ages range from 15 to 18. They were selected randomly.

III.2. Instrument

To achieve the goal of this project, we designed a questionnaire to collect data. There are two parts in the questionnaire. The first part is the personal background, which is intended to elicit the information of the participants such as gender, age, etc. The second part focused on getting the information related to the theme of our study. With these questions, a more reliable study will be carried out.

III.3. Procedure

With a view to collecting the statistical data, we gave our questionnaire to the students in Yunlin and Chiayi counties. After receiving 133 questionnaires, we eliminated the invalid and

A Big Hit Pop Our Life ---- The Rise of Chinese Hip Hop Music Powerful influence of “The Rap of China” incomplete data, and did the statistics. Afterwards, we created graphs from the data. The last step we took was to analyze the data and describe them in the text of this study.

IV. Findings and Discussion

Have you ever known about Chinese hip hop music? 15%

Yes No

85%

Figure 1. The rate of teenagers who have known about Chinese hip hop music

When did you get to know Chinese hip hop music?

Before the broadcast of "The 48% Rap of China" 52% After the broadcast of "The Rap of China"

Figure 2. The specific time of their knowing Chinese hip hop music

According to Figure1 and 2, 85% of the respondents have known about Chinese hip hop music,and it can be noted that 52% of them get to know the music after the broadcast of “the Rap of China. ” Based on the finding, we can know that how this TV show influences the acceptance and preference of teenagers on Chinese hip hop music. Moreover, much more videos which contain the elements of Chinese hip hop music caused a teen sensation on the Internet after the show. It can be inferred that teenagers are more willing to spend time appreciating Chinese hip hop music due to the effect of“the Rap of China.” Also, there is no denying that Chinese hip hop music has taken its place in the teenagers’ mind in Taiwan successfully.

A Big Hit Pop Our Life ---- The Rise of Chinese Hip Hop Music Powerful influence of “The Rap of China”

Why did you like Chinese hip hop music? 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Special Meaningful Style of The hip hop rhythm lyrics music singers’ performing arts

Figure 3. The reasons why teenagers like Chinese hip hop music

Why did you dislike Chinese Hip-Hop music? 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 Noisy rhythm Indecent lyrics Vulgarity of the hip hop singers’ dressing style

Figure 4. The reasons why teenagers dislike Chinese hip hop music

Besides, the results of the data analysis in Figure 3 and 4 enable us to know the reason why teenagers like or dislike Chinese hip hop music. Mostly, the students like Chinese hip hop music. More than half of the participants are attracted by its meaningful lyrics and the music style. About one-third of them are appealed to the rappers’ performing arts, and one-fifth think that they enjoy the music because of the special rhythm. On the contrary, few of the subjects dislike Chinese hip hop music. Parts of them don’t like its noisy rhythm, and a very few aren’t fond of rap music as a result of indecent lyrics, and vulgarity of the singer’s dressing style. It is evidently known that the majority of the teenagers follow this fad, but there is still the minority unable to stand this new type of music. Therefore, it’s a matter of personal subjective views influencing its preference and acceptance.

A Big Hit Pop Our Life ---- The Rise of Chinese Hip Hop Music Powerful influence of “The Rap of China”

After wathcing"the Rap of China," how does it affect your life? 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Start appreciating Imitating the hip hop No effect Chinese hip hop singers' dressing style music

Figure 5. The influence of “the Rap of China” on their life

When it comes to the influence of “the Rap of China” on the teenagers’ daily life, Figure 5 shows that about over 50% of them started admiring Chinese hip hop music, such as the compositions of MC Hot Dog, MJ116, G.U.T.S., PG One, Gai, etc. after the show. However, almost half of them consider that there is no effect at all. It is apparent that “the Rap of China” did induce some participants to admire the music while others like it initially, which has nothing to do with the TV program.

How do you think will be the development of Chinese hip hop music in the future? 80 60 40 20 0 Flourishing Declining Remaining unchanged

Figure 6. The teenagers’ thought of the future development of Chinese hip hop music

As for the future development of Chinese hip hop music, at first, it is thought that Chinese hip hop music doesn’t have its role in the music history. However, on the basis of Figure 6, proximately 70 % of the participants think that it will flourish in the future with the fad of “the Rap of China,” and one-third think that it will remain unchanged. Less than one-tenth consider that it will gradually decline in the future. As a result, it is assumed that Chinese hip hop music will be very likely to become popular and influential.

A Big Hit Pop Our Life ---- The Rise of Chinese Hip Hop Music Powerful influence of “The Rap of China” V. Conclusion

In recent years, more and more Chinese hip hop singers have emerged in Taiwan. Most teenagers are attracted by them without a doubt. Actually, Chinese hip hop music has become a hit lately. For instance, a great number of people play Chinese hip hop music in public places such as stores, restaurants, pubs, coffee shops and so on. It is easily found that many Chinese hip hop singers perform here and there. Its status has been elevated these years in the music industry. As a result, it can be noticed that Chinese hip hop music has almost occupied every aspect of people’s lives. In addition, most of the teenagers in Taiwan regard Chinese hip hop music as their first choice when there are some music genres for them to choose from. From this phenomenon, we can know that more and more youths prefer this new music style. It can be concluded that we are all struck by this powerful hurricane --- the rise of Chinese hip hop music.

In this study, with the purpose of figuring out the impact of “the Rap of China” on Chinese hip hop music and the reasons for its great popularity, we distributed the questionnaire, and collected the data. Then we got the information related to the theme of our study. Because of the effect of “the Rap of China,” some of the teenagers tend to listen to Chinese hip hop music in their daily life. Furthermore, speaking of the participants’ preference and acceptance of Chinese hip hop music, it is seen that some of them like rap music on account of the special rhythm and its music style whereas a small number of them dislike the music owing to the noisy rhythm mainly. Eventually, when it comes to the power of the TV show “the Rap of China,” although some teenagers claimed that there is no influence on their lives, more than half of them indeed admitted that from then on, they began to admire the music. What’s more, much more Chinese hip hop singers have performed in a variety of shows thenceforward, which might stimulate the public’s interest, and have them more involved in this music style. Perhaps, in the future, Chinese hip hop music will become one of the most influential and flourishing music as it is shown in the Figure 6. It can be inferred that the power of Chinese hip hop music is really mightier than we can imagine.

After completing our research, we want to offer some suggestions for the teenagers, the Chinese hip hop singers, and the entertaining companies and the government in Taiwan. First of all, some of the teens may spend too much money and time following this new trend. They are so crazy when pursuing their idols that they might forget their duty--- being a student. For this reason, it may lead to some troubles in their schoolwork, or cause some family and school problems. However, as long as they can strike a balance between their interest in Chinese hip hop music and their studies, it will certainly be a win-win situation. Also, it is obvious that lots of Chinese hip hop singers show up currently. However, some of them began to copy or directly imitate other foreign or local singers’ compositions. Some advice is given to them. In the first place, they shouldn’t forget their

A Big Hit Pop Our Life ---- The Rise of Chinese Hip Hop Music Powerful influence of “The Rap of China” original intention. Only with the music composed by the singers themselves, the song could really touch people’s heart and become significant. Additionally, they should take heed of their behaviors at any time because they are celebrities now. Anything they do will be examined, magnified, and shown to the public, which will possibly have an impact not only on their individual career, but also on the whole field of Chinese hip hop music. Last but not least, for the entertaining companies and the government in Taiwan, they should spend more time and effort on this industry, and cultivate more people who have talents in this field. After all, Chinese hip hop music has just started to develop these years, and it is predicted that it will continue thriving in the coming future. If they can put more resources into this industry, Chinese hip hop music will definitely have a bright future, and become one of the most promising music genres.

In the end, of this study, because of some practical restrictions, some methodological limitations need to be pointed out before we attempt to generalize the findings to the whole population. First, all the participants in this study are the students in Yunlin and Chiayi counties. In addition, the size of the sample in this study is too small to make the representation of the subjects and generalize the results. Thus, the findings in this study are not absolute. Further research is still needed for integral understanding of the strong influence of the powerful hit – Chinese hip hop music.

VI. References 1. 你有 freestyle 嗎?嘻哈音樂剛剛上路，卻未老先衰。2018 年 1 月 22 日，取自 http://weiwenku.net/d/101402002#.WfWSN3hFr7g 2. 中國有嘻哈的崛起，就在 NYC 最大留學生派對|CSSA 獨家福利。取自 https://wechat.kanfb.com/star/19179 3. Hip hop. Wikipedia. Retrieved January 12, 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hip_hop 4. Hip hop music. Wikipedia. Retrieved January 12, 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hip_hop_music 5. ComeLee (2017)。乾貨!華語說唱發展史 (上) 80 年代誰與爭鋒。2017 年 6 月 6 日，取自 http://www.51555.net/home/html/news/tutorial/2017/0606/21643.html 6. ComeLee (2017)。乾貨!華語說唱發展史 (中) 90 年代獨領風騷。2017 年 7 月 25 日，取自 http://www.xihachina.com/7390.html 7. ComeLee (2017)。【乾貨】華語說唱發展史 (下.1)千禧年百花齊放！2017 年 7 月 25 日，取自 http://www.xihachina.com/7408.html 8. Hornby, A.S.(2004).Oxford Advanced Learner’s English-Chinese Dictionary (6thed.).Hong Kong: Oxford University Press. 9. 何穎怡 (譯) (2002) 。嘻哈美國。臺北市: 商周出版社

A Big Hit Pop Our Life ---- The Rise of Chinese Hip Hop Music Powerful influence of “The Rap of China” 10. Westbrook, A. (2002). Hip Hoptionary: The Dictionary of Hip Hop Terminology. New York: Three Rivers Pr.

A Big Hit Pop Our Life ---- The Rise of Chinese Hip Hop Music Powerful influence of “The Rap of China” VII. Appendix

Hello, we are students in National Chiayi Senior High School. We are conducting a research about Chinese hip hop music. We would like to know how you think of it. Through this questionnaire, we want to find out how Chinese hip hop music influences teenagers in Taiwan and why Chinese hip hop music becomes so popular. Whatever opinions you offer will help us a lot. Thank you for spending your time on this questionnaire.

Group members: Chiu Wei Ning Shen Ming Yen A. Personal Background 1. Gender : □Male □Female 2. Age : ______B. Questions 1. Have you ever known or learned about Chinese hip hop music? □Yes □No (Thank you for your cooperation. The questionnaire is over.) 2. When did you get to know Chinese hip hop music? □before the broadcast of “the Rap of China” □after the broadcast of “the Rap of China” 3. Do you like Chinese hip hop music? □Yes, I do □No, I don’t (Please move to question 6.) 4. Why do you like Chinese Hip hop music?(Multiple choices) □special rhythm □meaningful lyrics □style of music □the hip hop singers’ performing arts □ others:______(Please move to question 7.) 5. Why do you dislike Chinese Hip hop music? (Multiple choices) □noisy rhythm □indecent lyrics □vulgarity of the hip hop singers’ dressing style □others:______6. After watching the TV program “the Rap of China,” how does it affect your life? (Multiple choices) □start appreciating Chinese hip hop music □imitating the hip hop singers’ dressing style □no effect □ others:______7. How do you think will be the development of Chinese hip hop music in the future? □flourishing □declining □remaining unchanged □ others:______The end ~ Thanks for your kindly help.