Hip-hop makes leaps and bounds Hip-hop singers attend the Listen Up Rap Performance Contest 2016. Wang Tianfang won the competition's Beijing leg.(Photo provided to China Daily)
Young Chinese rappers are writing lyrics in a unique style, telling stories about their daily lives.
It's a weekend evening at the Tango Club, one of Beijing's most popular live houses, and 24-year-old Wang Tianfang is making his first appearance.
In front of over 500 fans holding their hands high, Wang, who wears a loose long hoodie and ripped blue jeans, introduces himself using his stage name, FrankiD, and brings the crowd to its feet as he takes the stage.
"It was the summer in 2013. It was the first time that he skipped his boring job. We are not wild and young any more. If you've got a dream, fight for it," he raps while walking on the stage.
With his original song, Fight For It, which Wang wrote and produced, he won the Beijing leg of the Listen Up Rap Performance Contest 2016.
The contest will be held in four other cities－Shanghai, Xi'an, Wuhan and Shenzhen－before the final competition on March 27 in Shenzhen. The winner of the finale will get a record company contract, a 10,000 yuan ($1,515) award and opportunities to work with veteran rappers, including Taiwan's MC HotDog.
Wang, who was born and grew up in Luohe, a small city in Henan province, fell in love with street dance at 14 and pursued his studies at the Sichuan Conservatory of Music, graduating as a pop music performance major in 2013.
He then came to Beijing and made a living by writing hip-hop songs for singers and groups, including Chinese-South Korean boy band EXO.
"Hip-hop music is the most direct way to express myself. To prepare for the contest, I wrote four and a half songs in 14 days with only one meal a day. That might be the craziest thing I've ever done for hip-hop and I enjoyed it very much," says Wang.
The contest is being conducted by Hip-Hop Fusion, a 10-year-old Shenzhen-based company founded by Li Haiqin, a veteran Chinese hip-hop culture promoter, also known as Come Lee.
The contest is a part of the upcoming Fourth International Hip-Hop Culture Festival, which will be held from March 24 to 27 in Shenzhen, and includes a series of events including a street-dance contest and a Scratch Master Championship DJ contest.
On March 26, the Fifth Hip-Hop Awards China will be held at Shenzhen Futian Sports Park.
Giving details of the event, Li says: "This is the first year that we have added a rap performance contest to the event and we are surprised to see so many talented, young Chinese hip-hop artists."
In his mid-30s, Li, a Shenzhen native, once worked at a State-owned company and lived a stable life.
But his life was changed after traveling to more than 10 cities－from Shenzhen to Beijing－in 2006, and this journey gave birth to a documentary film Hip-Hop in China.
"Hip-hop, like rock music, was considered unhealthy and was seen as linked to drugs and crime," says Li.
"But during the eight-month journey, I made lots of friends, who are passionate about hip-hop and are determined to achieve their dreams."
