Taiwanese Hip Hop Music Under the Transnational Cultural Flow in East Asia

i 國立臺灣師範大學英語學系碩士論文 Master’s Thesis Department of English National Taiwan Normal University 狂聲見我：東亞跨界文化流動下的台灣嘻哈樂 Holler If You Hear Me: Taiwanese Hip Hop Music under the Transnational Cultural Flow in East Asia 指導教授：黃涵榆教授 Advisor: Dr. Han-yu Huang 研究生：王友良 Advisee: Yu-liang Wang 中華民國一百零四年七月 July 2015 ii Holler If You Hear Me: Taiwanese Hip Hop Music under the Transnational Cultural Flow in East Asia A thesis submitted to The Graduate Institute of English National Taiwan Normal University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts by Yu-liang Wang July 2015 iii 摘要本文以台灣嘻哈音樂在東亞影響下之跨界合作為主要研究目的。台灣嘻哈樂在經過二十餘年的發展後，從初期的模仿到中期的音樂型態在地化，再至現今與東亞國家進行各項跨界音樂交流，帶出台灣嘻哈音樂多樣且豐富的文化流動與可變性，同時也呈現出台灣嘻哈音樂在全球化潮流下跨界亞洲之可能性。本文分為三章。第一章探討嘻哈樂的歷史起源、饒舌音樂形式與其全球化過程，並利用阿君．阿帕度萊(Arjun Appadurai) 全球景觀理論指出嘻哈文化所具有的跨國族群離散與媒體景觀等特質，與饒舌樂所具有的多變性，使嘻哈音樂能夠在不同的文化中發展出多樣風貌。第二章以東亞脈絡下的嘻哈音樂發展為主，以日本嘻哈及節奏藍調音樂與韓流(Korean Wave)風潮下的韓國嘻哈音樂為重點，指出兩者與台灣嘻哈樂的發展及形塑有著不可分割的關係。第三章回歸台灣嘻哈音樂發展史，並以樂團大嘴巴、歌手李玖哲、音樂製作人 Jae Chong 與饒舌歌手蛋堡為例，分析其音樂風格、形象與自身之東亞跨國合作經驗。透過全球離散流動、跨國主義與跨國界認同，強調台灣嘻哈音樂在地化的同時，也經由跨國音樂合作產生了跨東亞嘻哈音樂的可能。關鍵詞：嘻哈音樂、饒舌、跨國合作、東亞、韓流、全球化、台灣嘻哈 iv Abstract The thesis focuses on the transnational collaborations of Taiwanese hip hop music in East Asia. Over the past twenty years, Taiwanese hip hop music has transformed from the stages of initial imitation and appropriation of the music form, the domestication of local culture to the present transnational crossover collaborations among East Asian countries. Transnational Taiwanese hip hop music brings abundant cultural diversity and flow and also presents the possibility of “trans-Asian” hip hop. The thesis consists of three chapters. The first chapter probes into the history of hip hop culture, the art form of rap music, and the globalization of hip hop. By adopting Arjun Appadurai’s “scape” theory, I indicate that ethnoscapes and mediascapes are related to the globalization of hip hop, along with the mutability of rap to develop hip hop in different cultures. The second chapter draws the attention on the development of hip hop music in the context of East Asian countries by discussing specific issues as Korean Wave/K-pop, J-hip hop and J-R&B to thus suggest that the interrelations of hip hop’s cross-cultural and regional experience in East Asia has the great influence on Taiwanese hip hop music. In Chapter Three, I first summarize the history and development of Taiwanese hip hop and take Taiwanese hip hop group Da Mouth, singer Nicky Lee, music producer Jae Chong and rapper Softlipa to be the cases to analyze their images, music style and experience of East Asian collaborations. I argue that transnational Taiwanese hip hop music in East Asia has come to possibility through global mobility of diaspora, transnationalism and transbordering identities. Key words: hip hop music, rap, transnational collaboration, East Asia, Korean Wave, globalization, Taiwanese hip hop v Acknowledgements I would like to offer my sincere gratitude to those who accompanied me and encouraged me during the writing process of my thesis. First, my grateful thanks goes to Professor Han-yu Huang, who has always been very kind and supportive toward my research project. I thank him for letting me choose the thesis topic and helping me complete this project because the thesis stands for a part of my life story. Whenever I met obstacles or felt perplexed in continuing my writing, his constant support, patience and guidance often gave me confidence. I also regard him as a mentor in many ways. I am thankful to my thesis committees, Professor Chen-hsing Tsai and Professor Yuh-chuan Shao, whose precious comments inspired me to improve my project as well. My special thanks also go to Professor Eva Tsai. Without her encouragements, I could not have finished this thesis. Second, I want to thank my mom and dad for their love and tolerance. I am lucky enough to have their support no matter what happens. Also, I would like to thank my husband, Max, for his unfailing help and support. During my long-term writing, he always provided me with constructive suggestions and feedbacks. His warm companion also helped me go through those dark nights. I feel truly grateful for having him by my side. In addition, I would like to thank all my besties: Irene, Inging, Rin, Angel, Emily, Zoe, and Ting. Thank you all for always being there for me and participating in all the important events of my life. Finally, my greatest gratitude goes to hip hop. For so many years, hip hop has taught me how to live one’s life with attitude, and how to appreciate a culture with respect and love. I thank hip hop for being my lifelong friend. PEACE. vi Table of Contents Chinese Abstract……………………………………………………………………...iii Abstract……………………………………………………………………………….iv Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………………v Introduction…………………………………………………………………………....1 I. Motivation………………………………………………………………..1 II. Literature Review………………………………………………………...5 III. Approach………………………………………………………………..10 IV. The Outline of Chapters………………………………………………...13 Chapter One: A Brief History of Hip Hop Music and Its Globalization……………..18 I. A Brief History of Hip Hop Culture…………………………………….19 II. The Development of Rap Music………………………………………...23 III. The Globalization of Hip Hop…………………………………………..29 Chapter Two: The Transnational Development of Hip Hop Music in the East Asian Context……………………………………………………………………………….36 I. “Asianism” as Thinking Transnational over National………………...37 II. Japanese Hip Hop and R&B/Soul Trend………………………………..43 III. The Korean Wave as K-pop of “The Localized Hip Hop” in South Korea……………………………………………………………………48 Chapter Three: Hip Hop Music in Taiwan: History, Culture and Trans-Asian Experience……………………………………………………………………………55 I. The Development of Hip Hop Music in Taiwan………………………..56 II. Case Studies on Taiwanese Hip Hop Music’s Trans-Asian Experience...62 III. Trans-Asian Taiwanese Hip Hop: A Reconciliation?...............................67 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………71 Works Cited…………………………………………………………………………..74 1 Introduction I. Motivation Jump the way you want like crazy 跳乎伊爽跳甲欲起痟跳甲凍袂條 It’s been a decade of us coming back 已經過十年 Long live the Taiwanese hip hop 台灣的 hip hop 永遠袂死 It toughens more and more 逐年愈來愈硬 It toughens more and more 逐年愈來愈硬 Shout it loud, shout it loud 做卡大聲做卡大聲 That’s the way you listen to our hip hop Hip Hop 就是應該按呢聽 —Machi “Jump 2003” on Machi —麻吉 “跳 2003” 麻吉同名專輯 (My translation on the lyrics) When Jeff Huang (Huang Licheng 黃立成) rapped for his Machi crew debut in 2003, he claimed that his comeback signified another peak of Taiwanese hip hop music over a decade of its development in Taiwan because hip hop music has progressively spread out the significance in Mandarin pop-music industry. For many people, Huang has been considered one of the precursors introducing hip hop culture (e.g. rap, break dance, baggy jeans, etc.) from America to Taiwan with the boy group “L. A. Boyz” in the early 90s; by the time L. A. Boyz’s music, dancing and costume style caused huge sensations, the concept of “hip hop” or the new school style as they formerly called it, had thus been incorporated into the mainstream Taiwanese popular culture. It was the first time hip hop music ever drew my attention before I came to realize what it was and where it originated. Yet little did I know hip hop would ultimately become the obsession and also the main issue to my academic study. This Afro-diasporic, black urban and African-American cultural form went 2 across the Atlantics to rapidly spread out its most appealing and notorious features to the rest of the world. To me, hip hop used to be all those fascinating beat, slick rap flow, oversized apparel with most fake jewelry, and trendy break dance. It was not until I began to trace the history, the social issues and the civil rights of hip hop did I have more precise understanding of hip hop culture from different accounts and perspectives. Hip hop represents a complex assemblage of modern colored American culture keeping alive and nowadays it also transforms into myriad looks to live not only locally but transnationally. Over the past twenty years hip hop music has been growing in Taiwan from a novel cultural form to one of the most influential popular cultures. I have witnessed it changing from initial appropriations of the music form to the later mechanics of pan-patriotic ideology, patriarchy, misogyny and nationalism wrapped in the lyrics to present its politics in a rather provocative sense. Nevertheless, if we take a further step to scrutinize how hip hop can reach such a position here in Taiwan today and to see how Taiwanese hip hop music has entered the phase from the merely foreign pop music form to the local business, we will later find that trans- Asian music collaborations with cultural bricolage alter the routes of hip hop music and its development in Taiwan and give Taiwanese hip hop a new look. Chronologically, hip hop in Taiwan encountered the global communication trend by “re-mixing” hip hop elements into Taiwan’s music industry in the early 1990s. It later became one of the energetic music genres, and the impact of hip hop music stroke not only the youth subculture but also the former Mandarin pop music styles1 more than ever, which could not be detached from the context of Taiwanese popular music culture therefore. Besides, hip hop culture, which originates from the streets and the black neighborhoods in South Bronx of New York City in the late 1970s, ____________________ 1. Before hip hop music was introduced in Taiwan in 90s, folk, rock, Chinese ballads and art songs would be considered as the best seller of mainstream popular music genres. 3 has indeed swept across the world and has been inscribed into and familiarized with the East Asian regions2 (here mainly indicating Taiwan, Japan, China, Hong Kong and South Korea).This distribution of hip hop culture, mainly resulting from cultural fluidity and globalization, affects both mainstream popular culture and subculture over East Asia for the past twenty years and still thrives today.

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