Taiwanese hip hop music started in the early 1990s, popularized by the early
hip hop trio
L.A. Boyz
L.A. Boyz was a Taiwanese pop/rap group composed of brothers Jeff Huang (黃立成, Huang Licheng) and Stanley Huang (黃立行, Huang Lixing), and their cousin Steven Lin (林智文) formed circa 1991. They are considered to be the first rap ...
.
A distinctive style of rap emerged using
Taiwanese Hokkien
Taiwanese Hokkien () (; Tâi-lô: ''Tâi-uân-uē''), also known as Taigi/Taigu (; Pe̍h-ōe-jī/Tâi-lô: ''Tâi-gí / Tâi-gú''), Taiwanese, Taiwanese Minnan, Hoklo and Holo, is a variety of the Hokkien language spoken natively by about 70% ...
as opposed to the
Mandarin Chinese
Mandarin (; ) is a group of Chinese (Sinitic) dialects that are natively spoken across most of northern and southwestern China. The group includes the Beijing dialect, the basis of the phonology of Standard Chinese, the official language of ...
used in
Mandopop
Mandopop or Mandapop refers to Standard Chinese, Mandarin popular music. The genre has its origin in the jazz-influenced popular music of 1930s Shanghai known as Shidaiqu; with later influences coming from Japanese enka, Hong Kong's Cantopop, Ta ...
.
Cultural context
A mid-70s movement titled the Modern Folksong Movement sought to reclaim hip hop for the Taiwanese people. Artists such as Yang Xian and Li Shuangz inspired a new generation of localization of music which strove to strip away the years of American cultural imperialism. This movement paved the way for more Taiwan-specific music and allowed for new Taiwanese to take from local traditions and language and create their own national music.
Early years: Harlem Yu
The first Mandarin rap song was performed by singer-songwriter
Harlem Yu
Harlem Yu (; born 28 July 1961) is a Taiwanese singer-songwriter, television host and businessman. He is particularly well-known for singing the theme song, ''Qing Fei De Yi'', for the 2001 television drama, '' Meteor Garden''. He made a cameo i ...
in
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 ...
, who is known for being one of the first artists to experiment with
R&B 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 ...
in the
Mandopop
Mandopop or Mandapop refers to Standard Chinese, Mandarin popular music. The genre has its origin in the jazz-influenced popular music of 1930s Shanghai known as Shidaiqu; with later influences coming from Japanese enka, Hong Kong's Cantopop, Ta ...
music industry in the early 1980s, which was parallel to the early New York 1980s rap songs.
1990s: L.A. Boyz
L.A. Boyz
L.A. Boyz was a Taiwanese pop/rap group composed of brothers Jeff Huang (黃立成, Huang Licheng) and Stanley Huang (黃立行, Huang Lixing), and their cousin Steven Lin (林智文) formed circa 1991. They are considered to be the first rap ...
is a Taiwanese pop/rap group composed of two brothers and their cousin. They were raised 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
, also known by the shorthand form , is a Japanese mass media publishing company founded on October 1, 1966. The company publishes mainly physical home media on compact discs, including music, films and TV shows and video games. It is affiliate ...
, in Taiwan.
They released 10 albums, starting from their first, ''SHIAM!'' which sold more than 130,000 copies in 1992. Their second album, released the same year, was similarly received. The group was very successful in the 1990s until their break-up. They are credited for starting the trend that would spread into Taiwan and the rest of the Mandarin-speaking world.
2000s to 2010s
In 2001,
MC HotDog
MCHotDog (; born April 10, 1978) is a Taiwanese rap artist known for his use of explicit lyrics in his songs.
In 2001, his four mini-CDs sold over 220,000 copies. In 2004, he toured with Chang Chen-yue in the North American Kill Kitty tour. In 2 ...
arrived in the Taiwanese market. He is known for his use of
explicit lyrics
Advisory (abbreviated PAL) is a warning label introduced by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 1985 and adopted by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) in 2011. It is placed on audio recordings in recognition of profan ...
in his songs. He is known for his two famous hits, "" (My Life) and "" (The Korean Invasion).
In 2002,
Dwagie Tseng Kuan-jung (, ), professionally known as Dwagie (), is a Taiwanese rapper, best known for using Taiwanese in his performances. His first solo album, ''Lotus from the Tongue'' (舌粲蓮花, 2002), was billed as the first full rap album in the ...
released ''Lotus from the Tongue'' (), regarded as the first full rap album in the Chinese-speaking world.
[ Republished as ]
Since then, many Taiwanese rappers have emerged, including
Jae Chong
Jae Chong (born January 8, 1972) is a musician and producer known for his works in the Asian music scene. He has written and produced for many artists such as L.A. Boyz, Stanley Huang, and more recently Aziatix and Royal Pirates.
Career
Cho ...
,
MachiLeo WangSoft Lipa and
Nine One One. Women are a minority in Taiwanese hip-hop. Meredith Schweig wrote in 2010 that "there are no professional female MCs on the island" other than
Miss Ko
Miss Ko is a Taiwanese-American singer-songwriter and rapper signed to Universal Music Group. Ko has released three studio albums and is the winner of Best New Artist of 24th Golden Melody Award in Taiwan, the first rapper/hip-hop artist to w ...
, who was regarded as a "newcomer" at the time.
2018-Present
The moment that the
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 ...
granted an award to both Leo Wang and Soft Lipa announced the official arrival of Taiwanese hip-hop into the mainstream. In addition to being recognized in general pop-music circles, in 2021,
MTV
MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...
received a subsidy from the
Ministry of Culture Ministry of Culture may refer to:
*Ministry of Tourism, Cultural Affairs, Youth and Sports (Albania)
*Ministry of Culture (Algeria)
*Ministry of Culture (Argentina)
* Minister for the Arts (Australia)
*Ministry of Culture (Azerbaijan)
* Ministry of ...
's Film, Television and Pop Music Industry Bureau to produce "The Rappers". The judges were Dwagie, Kumachen, Razor Jiang, and Leo Wang. This show is aiming to broaden the audience for Taiwanese hip-hop, and season 2 is set to premiere in January 2022.
The future of Taiwanese hip-hop appears to be promising, and there are many talented musicians working hard in this industry. However, with the development of the Internet today, topicality and traffic-flows are no less important than whether the content of the work is high-quality, and marketing has become a new concern for rappers.
The Four major Taiwanese rap labels
1. Kung Fu Entertainment.(人人有功練)
Founded by Dwagie in 2003. In the beginning, it was a community of friends gathering to promote hip-hop culture. Its regular members include Dwagie, JY, RPG, BR, Kumachan, and Professor H, all of whom are engaged in music production, performances, teaching, and cultural promotion.
2. KAO!INK.(顏社)
Founded in July 2005, KAO!INK’s Founder Dila Pang, aimed to promote Chinese rap music and create a brand new rap hip-hop music label in Taiwan. KAO!INK has since cultivated many rappers through various means, including Soft Lipa, Gordon, DJ Didilong, Jerry Li, DJ JIN.
3. AINOKO ENTERTAINMENT.(混血兒娛樂 )
Co-founded by 911 and Right Eye in 2015. It has been successful in recruiting artists such as Monkey, 187 INK and others who have worked together in the past, but has also signed up various artists from the new generation of hip-hop groups like: Cocky Boyz, Cautun Boyz and BCW. AINOKO ENTERTAINMENT continues the "Taichung Love" inherited by the predecessor TTM, and also allows the vitality of Taichung hip-hop to continue to spread.
4. True color.(本色音樂)
Established in 2004, It was co-founded by George, and the singer A-Yue. True Color promotes itself as being a champion for Chinese hip-hop pop music. Some of the members which they work for include MC HotDog, and MJ116 (also individually as E.SO, Kenzy, and Muta). In 2015, True color formed a group of its artists together to begin a world tour, and after the world tour, True Color felt that it had contributed to the expansion of the influence of hip-hop within the mainstream music industry of Taiwan.
Artists
*
L.A. Boyz
L.A. Boyz was a Taiwanese pop/rap group composed of brothers Jeff Huang (黃立成, Huang Licheng) and Stanley Huang (黃立行, Huang Lixing), and their cousin Steven Lin (林智文) formed circa 1991. They are considered to be the first rap ...
*
Jerry Lo
*
JY
*
MC HotDog
MCHotDog (; born April 10, 1978) is a Taiwanese rap artist known for his use of explicit lyrics in his songs.
In 2001, his four mini-CDs sold over 220,000 copies. In 2004, he toured with Chang Chen-yue in the North American Kill Kitty tour. In 2 ...
*
TriPoets 參劈
*
Caotun Boyz
Caotun Township, formerly transliterated as Tsaotun Township, is an urban township in the northwest of Nantou County, Taiwan. It is the largest township in Taiwan by population.
History
The area was historically known as ''Chháu-ê-tun'' () wit ...
*
Cocky Boyz
Cocky may mean:
* boldly or brashly self-confident
* Australian slang for cockatoo
* Australian and New Zealand slang for farmer
* Cocky (mascot), the mascot for the University of South Carolina athletics teams, a stylised gamecock
* ''Cocky'' (al ...
Soft Lipa*
GorDoN
Gordon may refer to:
People
* Gordon (given name), a masculine given name, including list of persons and fictional characters
* Gordon (surname), the surname
* Gordon (slave), escaped to a Union Army camp during the U.S. Civil War
* Clan Gordon, ...
*
Kuljelje Salevelev
*
DJ MR.GIN
*
Donbay
*
Dwagie Tseng Kuan-jung (, ), professionally known as Dwagie (), is a Taiwanese rapper, best known for using Taiwanese in his performances. His first solo album, ''Lotus from the Tongue'' (舌粲蓮花, 2002), was billed as the first full rap album in the ...
*
Machi
*
Manchuker
*
MJ116
*
911
911 or 9/11 may refer to:
Dates
* AD 911
* 911 BC
* September 11
** 9/11, the September 11 attacks of 2001
** 11 de Septiembre, Chilean coup d'état in 1973 that outed the democratically elected Salvador Allende
* November 9
Numbers
* 91 ...
*
Miss Ko
Miss Ko is a Taiwanese-American singer-songwriter and rapper signed to Universal Music Group. Ko has released three studio albums and is the winner of Best New Artist of 24th Golden Melody Award in Taiwan, the first rapper/hip-hop artist to w ...
*
Jay Chou
Jay Chou ( zh, t=周杰倫, s=周杰伦, poj=Chiu Kia̍t-lûn, p=Zhōu Jiélún, first=t, w=Chou Chieh-lun; born January 18, 1979) is a Taiwanese singer, songwriter, record producer, rapper, actor, and television personality. Dubbed the " King ...
Leo Wang
See also
*
Music of Taiwan
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 ...
References
{{hiphop