Bus Driver In Beijing

 

From New York, off-kilter hip hop Busdriver played the new Yu Gong Yi Shan on Zhang Zizhong Road on Friday October 12. “Intelligent, if wacky, lyrics and music,” said the flyer and the man known to his mother as Regan Farquhar delivered. A good show of Chinese hip hop fans is perhaps explained by the fact that there's a bit of a hip hop craze sweeping Beijing right now. Several city gyms, including my local, Evolution Fitness, offer hip hop classes. Most of the students are young women who seem to prefer an emerging uniform of khaki pants and tight black t-shirts, kind of like 1990s Irish metal fans who'd strut their stuff at town-hall discos.  

Two local acts opened for Bus Driver: the Beijing Live Hip Hop Experience and the Red Hand Jazz Band the RMB70 door. Hats off to promoters YGTWO for the show and for the decent turnout. How come he managed to do it cheaper than last week’s scattered NO CH festival? They charged RMB100 but never really seemed to hit the nail on the head with a mix of Scandinavian electronic and folk avant garde.