2017 was a landmark year for Chinese hip-hop and in many ways the genre has finally arrived on the national stage.
Previously underground acts have found themselves catapulted to global celebrity, and with culture vultures from Kris Wu to iQiyi clamoring to get a piece of the action, rap is fast becoming something close to mainstream.
Now, with 2018 well under way, yet another new force has swaggered onto the country’s hip-hop scene from unlikely quarters. Yes, dear readers, we are talking about the Guangdong People’s Political Consultative Conference which has just dropped what is sure to go down in history as an immutable addition to the hip-hop canon: ‘Guangdong Zhengxie Freestyle.’
This hot new track from the provincial advisory body shamelessly bites beats from David McCallum and Dr. Dre, overlaid with fiery bars like “Socialist consultative democracy is charming,” and “Isn’t wearing a safety helmet while doing manual labor stylish?”
The song was released to summarize the key achievements of the consultative conference over the last five years, and is surely set to become an anthem among the nation’s youth. After all, what can be cooler or more current than lyrics extolling the spirit of the 19th Party Congress or the triumphant facilities upgrade of 45 rural health centers across the province?
Though the track certainly doesn’t lack in lyrical earnestness, we do feel obliged to note that it falls short of the benchmark-setting production standards of the Karl Marx hip-hop homage extolled by the People’s Daily back in 2016.
We can only hope that the trend of patriotic Chinese rap music continues, if for no other reason that it might provide some cover from an encroaching crackdown on the genre that seems to be lurking in the wings.
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