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Video: Hong Kong Slam Jam with MC Yan

LMF's core member MC Yan goes to the streets of Hong Kong for a session of slam poetry
 

It's not an exaggeration to say that MC Yan is the godfather of Chinese hip hop. When he returned to Hong Kong in the early 1990s, after living for seven years in Paris, he became one of the first people to rap in Cantonese, taking advantage of the language's natural richness and capacity for wordplay.

In 1993, he joined LMF, a group of musicians and MCs whose hard-edged lyrics excoriated Hong Kong's government and raised questions about the city's post-colonial identity. In 1998, LMF released its first album, which went on to sell more than 100,000 copies, a rare feat in a music industry dominated by major-label Cantopop idols.

After LMF disbanded in 2003, MC Yan followed his own path, working on conceptual art projects and music in his studio near Sha Tau Kok. He's still deeply involved in Hong Kong's fledgling hip hop scene, collaborating with underground MCs like Ghost Style. Mainstream hip hop groups like FAMA give MC Yan and LMF credit for inspiring them.

MC Yan is also behind Hong Kong's first internet radio, Radio Dada, clothing line Ning Si Bu Qu, and the world's furthest grafitti tag.

Find out more about LMF and their reunion tour at What's that sound? LMF.

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This is what H2 (Hip Hop) started as in the States—street poetry. Viewing only the current mainstream output of the musical / cultural genre obviously tells a different story. Yet, watching MC Yen as he translated the streets of Hong Kong really touched a core in me personally and many people I know who viewed today’s CNN post of ‘Hong Kong Slam Jam’. This is atypical of what I am familiar with from CNN, but was refreshing, informative and highly creative. I hope to see more content like this (from different parts of the world) on CNN.
this is great. you need to publish more stuff like this.

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