L.A. Boyz was a Taiwanese pop/rap group composed of brothers Jeff Huang (黃立成, Huang Licheng) and

Stanley Huang Stanley Huang (born 21 September 1974) is a Taiwanese-American singer and actor. Early life Huang was born and raised in Orange County, California. His family moved here before he was born. He is the brother of Jeffrey Huang and cousin of Stev ...

(黃立行, Huang Lixing), and their cousin Steven Lin (林智文) formed circa 1991. They are considered to be the first rap group in Taiwanese popular music. They released 13 albums (including 3 compilation albums) starting from their first "SHIAM! 閃" in 1992.

Background

The trio were brought up in

Irvine, California Irvine () is a Planned community, master-planned city in South Orange County, California, United States, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Irvine Company started developing the area in the 1960s and the city was formally incorporated on ...

and met at its University High School. They first became involved in music through their interest in hip-hop dance moves learnt from parties around

Orange County Orange County most commonly refers to: *Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area Orange County may also refer to: U.S. counties *Orange County, Florida, containing Orlando *Orange County, Indiana *Orange County, New ...

and Los Angeles, and fashion from Compton and South-Central LA. Their dancing, and entry into various competitions, eventually led them to be scouted by a representative of Pony Canyon Records, Taiwan.

Career

Breakthrough

L.A. Boyz received their "big break ... with the demise of the Little Tigers, a cutesy group that ruled the Taiwan pop scene until one of their members got drafted." Their distinct sound and use of American slang propelled them to quick success, selling more than 130,000 copies of their first record Shiam. Their second album, released in the same year, was similarly received.

Image and style

The L.A. Boyz style was a combination of the "youthful, innocent" look prevalent in

Taiwanese pop The music of Taiwan reflects the diverse culture of Taiwanese people. Taiwan has undergone several economic, social, and political changes through its cultural history, and Taiwanese music reflects those issues in its way. The music of the cou ...

at the time and a "great stage gimmick" in their dancing. They were perceived as an appealing hybrid of American and Taiwanese backgrounds. As Steven Lin noted in an interview with the

LA Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

in 1993, the perception Taiwanese youth had of Los Angeles as a symbol of modern America led them to choose their name (though only one of their members was from the city itself). Their music videos depict their unique style of synchronized

breakdancing Breakdancing, also called breaking or b-boying/b-girling, is an athletic style of street dance originating from the African American and Puerto Rican communities in the United States. While diverse in the amount of variation available in ...

in clubs and concert halls and various urban environments. Shots of

Kung-fu Chinese martial arts, often called by the umbrella terms kung fu (; ), kuoshu () or wushu (), are multiple fighting styles that have developed over the centuries in Greater China. These fighting styles are often classified according to common ...

Chinese New Year Chinese New Year is the festival that celebrates the beginning of a New Year, new year on the traditional lunisolar calendar, lunisolar and solar Chinese calendar. In Sinophone, Chinese and other East Asian cultures, the festival is commonly r ...

Dragons and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

also feature.

Musical style

LA Boyz' music was influenced by a wide variety of pop and dance music. In their songs they make prominent references to

new jack swing New jack swing, new jack, or swingbeat is a fusion genre of the rhythms and production techniques of hip hop and dance-pop, and the urban contemporary sound of R&B. Spearheaded by producers Teddy Riley and Bernard Belle, new jack swing was mos ...

and

Bobby Brown Robert Barisford Brown (born February 5, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter and dancer. Brown, alongside frequent collaborator Teddy Riley, is noted as one of the pioneers of new jack swing: a fusion of hip hop and R&B. Brown started h ...

as well as

techno Techno is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempo often varying between 120 and 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central rhythm is typically in common time (4/4) and often ch ...

and

rap Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

. A good example of their musical diversity is the song "Ya!", which features sampled

breakbeats Breakbeat is a broad type of electronic music that tends to use drum breaks sampled from early recordings of funk, jazz, and R&B. Breakbeats have been used in styles such as hip hop, jungle, drum and bass, big beat, breakbeat hardcore, and UK ...

and vocals stings (such as "yeah, uh-huh", "give me a big beat!", "drop the mid-range, drop the bass"). It features transitions in

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (often ...

, a

semitone A semitone, also called a half step or a half tone, is the smallest musical interval commonly used in Western tonal music, and it is considered the most dissonant when sounded harmonically. It is defined as the interval between two adjacent no ...

key modulation In music, modulation is the change from one tonality ( tonic, or tonal center) to another. This may or may not be accompanied by a change in key signature (a key change). Modulations articulate or create the structure or form of many pieces, as ...

, a

Glissando In music, a glissando (; plural: ''glissandi'', abbreviated ''gliss.'') is a glide from one pitch to another (). It is an Italianized musical term derived from the French ''glisser'', "to glide". In some contexts, it is distinguished from the co ...

synthesizer line, and a hip hop section. Their song "I Like It" is a reinterpretation of the

disco Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric pia ...

band

KC and the Sunshine Band KC and the Sunshine Band is an American disco and funk band that was founded in 1973 in Hialeah, Florida. Their best-known songs include the hits "That's the Way (I Like It)", "(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty", "I'm Your Boogie Man", "K ...

song "

That's the Way (I Like It) "That's the Way (I Like It)" is a song by American disco and funk band KC and the Sunshine Band from their self-titled second studio album (1975). The single became the band's second No. 1 hit in the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, and it is one of th ...

" in a

hip hop style In vertebrate anatomy, hip (or "coxa"Latin ''coxa'' was used by Celsus in the sense "hip", but by Pliny the Elder in the sense "hip bone" (Diab, p 77) in medical terminology) refers to either an anatomical region or a joint. The hip region is ...

. Despite being known for their rapping, "two-thirds of their music is actually a mixture of fast-paced

dance-pop Dance-pop is a popular music subgenre that originated in the late 1970s to early 1980s. It is generally uptempo music intended for nightclubs with the intention of being danceable but also suitable for contemporary hit radio. Developing from a ...

and slower, romantic R&B numbers."
Their lyrical content include finance, their own rapping and dancing skills, American recording artists and genres (as mentioned above), American cartoons (e.g.

The Hulk The Hulk is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in the debut issue of ''The Incredible Hulk'' (May 1962). In his comic book ...

) and romantic love. Their lyrics reference and reflect to their hybrid nationality, an example from their song "Jump" – which was an eerily similar clone to Kriss Kross's hit song "

Jump Jumping is a form of locomotion or movement in which an organism or non-living (e.g., robotic) mechanical system propels itself through the air along a ballistic trajectory. Jump or Jumping also may refer to: Places * Jump, Kentucky or Jump S ...

", imitating their beats, rhythms, and melodies. LA Boyz' song had a first verse – "Jerry's gonna make his rap funky in Chinese/ First you gotta start off with the ABCs (

American-born Chinese American-born Chinese () (sometimes abbreviated as ABC) is a term widely used to refer to Chinese people that were born in the United States and received U.S. citizenship due to birthright citizenship in the United States. Contested usage In ...

) / Then you gotta learn it like the Taiwanese" – is followed closely by a reference to the American pop-cultural icon

Superman Superman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, and debuted in the comic book ''Action Comics'' #1 (cover-dated June 1938 and publi ...

. They also tone down the violent themes and difficult-to-understand slang in the lyrics for it to suit a Chinese-speaking audience. They also sought to identify their local Taiwanese audience (despite having audience in

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

, Japan and Mainland China) by speaking with a strong Taiwanese accent and re-releasing some songs in

Hokkien The Hokkien () variety of Chinese is a Southern Min language native to and originating from the Minnan region, where it is widely spoken in the south-eastern part of Fujian in southeastern mainland China. It is one of the national languages in ...

Break Up

The band's members all worked in film and production of other Taiwanese artists' albums. Despite their success garnering recognition in Singapore's Billboard Awards Best Performance Group category, Hong Kong Billboard Awards Best New Artist category and at Taiwan's own

Golden Melody Awards The Golden Melody Awards (), commonly abbreviated as GMA, is an honor awarded by Taiwan's Ministry of Culture to recognize outstanding achievement in the Mandarin, Taiwanese Hokkien, Hakka, and Formosan-languages popular and traditional music in ...

the group eventually split. Jeff Huang returned to the United States and started an internet company that later merged with a Japanese software company in a 60 million dollar deal before once again returning to Taiwan and fronting hip-hop group Machi; brother Stanley went on to establish a successful solo career, winning Best Mandarin Male Singer in the 2005

; and Lin currently works as an orthopedic surgeon in California while still participating in music and film.

Members

''Jeffrey Huang'' * Chinese Name: 黃立成, Huang Licheng *

Huwei Township Huwei Township () is an urban township in Yunlin County, Taiwan. It has a population of about 70,269. Name In the 17th century, during the Dutch era, '' Favorolang'' was one of the largest and most powerful aboriginal villages in Taiwan. The ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

* Occupation: Vocalist for Machibr>Machi Website
''

'' * Chinese Name: 黃立行, Huang Lixing *

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the n ...

, Taiwan * Occupation: Solo artist ''Steven Lin'' * Chinese Name: 林智文, Lin Ziwun *
Los Angeles, California, United States * Occupation: Resident doctor & acto
Steven Lin Artist WebpageSteven Lin blog

Discography

Studio albums

SHIAM! 閃

Label: Pony Canyon Records (Taiwan)
Producer: Wang Chi-ping
Track Listing:
1.閃 Go Posse
2.愛我好嗎 Won't You Be My Girl?
3.別客氣 Don't Say You're ⽍歹勢 (Taiwanese)
4.來電吧 Dial My Number
5.怎可能 Unbelievable
6.好兄弟 Buddy Buddy
7.緣投困仔 Lover's Boy (Taiwanese)
8.飛越地平線 Drive & Fly
9.夜魔 Devil's Candy
10.夏天 Summer Vacation

Jump 跳

Label: Pony Canyon Records (Taiwan)
Producer: Wang Chi-ping
Track Listing:
1.跳 Jump
2.季節的歌 Merry Christmas
3.東方不賴 Oriental Mystery
4.愛難纏 Love Is A Weird Thing
5.神魂顛倒 Head Over Heels
6.心碎洛城 LA Heartbreak
7.落雨的晚上 Raining Night
8.城市之間 Between Two Cities
9.妳說妳會想我 Say You Gonna Miss Me
10.最後一⽀支慢舞 The Last Dance
11.閃(Remix) Go Posse (Remix)

Ya!/야!

Label: Pony Canyon Records (Taiwan)
Producer: Wang Chi-ping
Track Listing:
1.Baseball,O-Lay!! (English)
2.Baby Come To Me (Taiwanese)
3.還記得去年夏天
4.跳舞星球
5.Who's Got The Soul (English)
6. YA! (English)
7. My Love Just For You
8.擁有我已經⾜夠
9. Everybody, Everywhere
10.思念是最短的距離

That's The Way

Label: Pony Canyon Records (Taiwan)
Producer: Wang Chi-ping
Track Listing:
1. That's The Way
2.交換禮物 My Gift To You
3.邀你⼊入夢 Invitation To My Dream
4.迷惑 Dazzled
5.墜⼊入情網 Falling In Love
6.⾦金思頓的夢想 Dream of A Kingston Mon
7.愛你我的⼼心 Love You, With All My Heart
8.新捷克搖擺 New Jack Swing
9.天亮以前擁抱以後 Before Dawn, After Embrace
10.Yabbadabbadoo (English)

FANTASY

Label: UFO (Taiwan)
Producer: Wang Chi-ping
Track Listing:
1.Fantasy2.試著去愛(Can We Try)
3.秘密約會
4.愛就是所有(Love Is The Answer)
5.Creeping Up A G Sound (English)
6.夏⽇戀曲(Island Girl)
7.狂戀
8.浪漫的假期
9.因為愛你
10.Funky As I Wanna Be (English)

Phat

Label: UFO (Taiwan)
Producer: Wang Chi-ping
Track Listing:
1.瘋狂聖誕 Phat X'mas (English)
2.最溫暖的祝福 Best Wishes
3.舞林⼤大會 Casualty Of The Dance War (English)
4.快樂新世界 Happy New World
5.給你我的愛 I Want Your Love
6.Crazy⼀一點有什麼不好 Crazy Is All Right
7.你讓我寂寞 You Make Me Lonely (English)
8.愛如何開⼝口 It's Hard To Say I Love You (English)
9.跟你說再⾒見 Rage Against The Dark (English)
10.天使的笑 Angel's Smile

Young Guns

Label: UFO (Taiwan)
Producer: Wang Chi-ping
Track Listing:
1.Young Guns
2.危險⼈人物
3. Another Lonely Night
4.飛夢天堂
5. L.A. People 6.摩登共和國
7.所謂的愛
8.你的⼼心裏可有我
9.⿊黑⽩白講 (Taiwanese)
10.Good-bye Girl (Taiwanese)

R.O.C.K

Label: UFO (Taiwan)
Producer: Wang Chi-ping
Track Listing:
1. ROCK
2. Drummer Boy
3. 愛讓我愉快
4. Man Of The Night
5. 浪漫Christmas
6. 懷念的平安夜Christmas Without You
7. Lucky Star
8. 眼裏的愛Listen To The Love In My Eyes
9. L.A. Rap Rock
10. Heaven Help Me

Pure Energy

Label: UFO (Taiwan)
Producer: Wang Chi-ping
Track Listing:
1.Solar
2.Pure Energy
3.Real Man
4.懸賞愛情
5.⼩小丑和汽
6.I Like It
7.越洋電話
8.Sweet Baby Jessica
9.地球歌

冒險

Label: UFO (Taiwan)
Producer: Wang Chi-ping
Track Listing:
1.Say Hello To The World
2.速⻝⾷食男⼥女
3.Chill
4.成全我愛你
5.⼼心如往常
6.遊戲
7.Jungle Boogie
8.強酸
9.語無倫次
10.Last Dance
11.Sun Sun Baby

Compilations

精選集-跳乎伊爽

Label: UFO (Taiwan)
Track Listing:
1.跳乎伊爽!CLUB-ZOO-MIX (組曲)
2.閃 GO POSSE
3.跳 JUMP
4.⼼心碎洛城 L.A. HEART BREAK
5.交換禮物 MY GIFT TO YOU
6.棒!Baseball, o-lay!
7.⾦金斯頓的夢想 Dream Of A Kingston Mon
8. YA
9. BABY COME TO ME
10.季節的歌 Merry Christmas

精選集-跟你說再⾒見

Label: UFO (Taiwan)
Track Listing:
1.阿嬤的台語歌
2.浪漫的假期 (Korean Version)
3.Crazy⼀一點有什麼不好 Crazy Is All Right
4.夏⽇日戀曲 Island Girl
5.跟你說再⾒見 Rage Against The Dark
6. Fantasy
7.瘋狂聖誕 Phat X'mas
8.試者去愛 Can We Try
9.舞林⼤大會 Casualty Of The Dance War

L.A.Boyz Very Much全紀錄唯⼀一精選

Label:

Sony BMG Sony BMG Music Entertainment was an American record company owned as a 50–50 joint venture between Sony Corporation of America and Bertelsmann. The venture's successor, the revived Sony Music, is wholly owned by Sony, following their buyout o ...

Track Listing:
Disc 1
01.閃
02.BASEBALL O-LAY棒!!
03.⾦金斯頓的夢想
04.夏天
05.Young Guns
06.好兄弟
07.R.O.C.K.
08.速⻝⾷食男⼥女
09.季節的歌
10.My Love Just For You
Disc 2
01.跳
02.THAT’S THE WAY
03.PURE ENERGY
04.⼼心碎洛城
05.DRUMMER BOY
06.REAL MAN
07.YABBADABADOO
08.落⾬雨的晚上
09.愛我好嗎
10.BABY COME TO ME

References

External links

L.A. Boyz Web Page (Geocities)
{{authority control Taiwanese hip hop groups Taiwanese boy bands