Chinese hip hop

Chinese hip hop (Chinese: 嘻哈; pinyin xīha) is a relatively new phenomenon in Chinese music. The Chinese term for rap is shuōchàng (Simplified Chinese: 说唱; literally "narrative," actually the name of a traditional genre of narrative singing). Although hip-hop has been around for several decades in the United States and around the world, the hip-hop scene in China is just beginning to blossom; "hip-hop in Beijing emerged around the year 2000, but its roots stretch back to the late 1980s" (Steele, 2006).

The first Chinese song was done by Harlem Yui庾澄庆 of Taiwan in the early 80s which was parallel to the early New York 80s rap songs. In the Early 90s L.A. Boyz brought hip hop scenes of the 90s from the United States to Taiwan which then started the trend that spreads into Taiwan and the rest of the Chinese speaking world. The early Taiwan youth rap group like The Party and TTM were both participate underground and mainstream. In the late 90s Softhard and LMF in Hong Kong,has participate in Chinese hip hop/rap movement but since it was in Cantonese dialect it has not reach that much of publicity in both Taiwan and Mainland China (Mandarin speaking region). Whereas MC HotDog, Da Xi Men, Da Zhi of Taiwan have successfully started the hip hop trend that affect Mainland China.

The hip hop scene in Mainland China, compared to many other Western countries, is still underdeveloped. Artists such as THP Family, Vivi (Haidao), D Evil, Hi Bomb (黑棒), Dragon Tongue (龙门阵) and Yin Tsang (隐藏) are leading the genre and gaining popularity with young people on the Mainland. Notably, Yin Ts'ang was the first group to sign with a record label and release a full album in the mainland (2003), the album was produced and co-written by Mel"Herbie"Kent, a British dj based in China. It also contains China's first Jungle/drum'n'bass track. Other popular artists and groups include Dai Bing, MP4, Kungfoo Impulsion (功夫冲动), Sha Zhou (沙洲), and the now-disbanded LMF. However, Chinese hip hop has not yet become part of China's mainstream popular culture.