Mao Yanqi (; born 29 October 1995), professionally known as Vava, is a Chinese rapper from

Ya'an Ya'an (, Tibetan: Yak-Nga ) is a prefecture-level city in the western part of Sichuan province, China, located just below the Tibetan Plateau. The city is home to Sichuan Agricultural University, the only 211 Project university and the largest ...

Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...

, China. Her English stage name Vava is a synonym for "doll" in Chinese (), chosen as she had a "baby face" when she was little.

Childhood/Early Career

Mao Yanqi was raised in a single parent household after the death of her father. While her mother worked far away from home, her grandmother helped to care for her. At the age of 16 she chose to leave school and focus on developing her talents as a performer. She traveled around performing in local bars near her home in Chengdu. Later, she began to travel around China performing. She met hip-hop producer Double G in

Shenzhen Shenzhen (; ; ; ), also historically known as Sham Chun, is a major sub-provincial city and one of the special economic zones of China. The city is located on the east bank of the Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern province ...

city, and joined his team based in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

Rise to Fame

Vava rose to fame from her performance on the first season of the iQiyi television show ''

The Rap of China ''The Rap of China'' (), formerly known as (), is a Chinese rap competition show produced by iQiyi. The show was carried out in the form of three groups of producers Kris Wu, Will Pan, MC HotDog and Chang Chen-yue judging the performance of the p ...

''. This show helped to bring underground rappers into the spotlight. During the season she rapped in both Mandarin and Sichuan dialects. In the second round, she performed “Life’s a Struggle” but changed the lyrics to match her own childhood experiences. She was the only female to reach the top four. She released her first album “21” on October 6, 2017. One song from the album, "My New Swag" (我的新衣) was featured in the 2018 film ''

Crazy Rich Asians ''Crazy Rich Asians'' is a satirical 2013 romantic comedy novel by Kevin Kwan. Kwan stated that his intention in writing the novel was to "introduce a contemporary Asia to a North American audience". He claimed the novel was loosely based on his ...

''. Vava was also featured in "New World" by

Krewella Krewella is an American electronic dance music band from the Chicago suburb of Northbrook, Illinois, United States, that formed in 2007. Their musical style has been mainly described as EDM, dance-rock, and dance-pop. However, Krewella's style ...

. She had a modeling contract with American designer Alexander Wang and the sportswear brand

Kappa Kappa (uppercase Κ, lowercase κ or cursive ; el, κάππα, ''káppa'') is the 10th letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the voiceless velar plosive sound in Ancient and Modern Greek. In the system of Greek numerals, has a value o ...

. In 2018, the Chinese government blocked hip-hop culture and actors with tattoos from appearing on television. As a result, VaVa was removed from a television show named Happy Camp. She said being off TV gave her time to focus on making music. Her second album, "毛衍七", was released on November 6, 2019. VaVa signed with Warner Music China in August, 2019.

Chinese Hip-Hop

While Vava was influenced by

Rihanna Robyn Rihanna Fenty ( ; born February 20, 1988) is a Barbadian singer, actress, and businesswoman. Born in Saint Michael and raised in Bridgetown, Barbados, Rihanna auditioned for American record producer Evan Rogers who invited her to the ...

(from Barbados) and

Little Simz Simbiatu "Simbi" Abisola Abiola Ajikawo (born 23 February 1994), better known by her stage name Little Simz, is a British rapper, singer and actress. She rose to prominence with the independent release of her first three albums; ''A Curious Tale ...

(From England), her biggest musical influence as a child was

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 ...

. VaVa is a strong advocate for incorporating more Chinese influences in Chinese hip-hop and rap. In her popular song “My New Swag” she used several traditional Chinese instruments: pipa (琵琶), erhu (二胡), suona (唢呐), ban lei (Chinese clave), and

gong A gongFrom Indonesian and ms, gong; jv, ꦒꦺꦴꦁ ; zh, c=鑼, p=luó; ja, , dora; km, គង ; th, ฆ้อง ; vi, cồng chiêng; as, কাঁহ is a percussion instrument originating in East Asia and Southeast Asia. Gongs ...

s. She also incorporated a short piece from a Peking opera, ''Selling Water'', during the bridge, sung by opera singer Wang Qianqian. Along with other Mainland pop culture figures, VaVa has publicly taken a pro-Mainland government stance regarding Hong Kong, supporting police brutality, and has spoken against the pro-democracy protests, stating on her social media pages that she feels that Hong Kong will always be a part of China.

Discography

21 (2017)

21 Part II (2018)

毛衍七 (2019)

Vow (2020)

V-Dynasty, Pt. 1 (2020)

References

{{Authority control 1995 births Living people Chinese women rappers Singers from Sichuan People from Ya'an 21st-century Chinese women singers