Give me the rap - but without swearing, please

Hip-hop artist touched by death adopts a gentler touch

Six weeks or so ago, the Chinese rapper Ma Jun released a music video for his new song King is Back, which he co-wrote and co-directed. In the video, Ma pays tribute to the rappers of different generations from the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

As he raps in Mandarin, Xinjiang rappers appear with slow-motion clips that highlight the sights of the region, from cities to sprawling deserts and soaring snow-capped mountains.

"If you want to understand the song, you need to watch the video," says Ma, who spent six months traveling throughout Xinjiang early this year to make the video. Within 48 hours of its release on Ma's Sina Weibo account it had been viewed more than 1 million times.

Rapper, songwriter and movie director Ma Jun. Provided to China Daily

"This is more than just a new song for me," Ma says. "It also shows how vibrant Xinjiang's hip-hop scene is. Some of the rappers in the video are no longer active, but they were the ones who laid the foundation for the growth of hip-hop in the region. This song is dedicated to them and the future of Xinjiang hip-hop music."

Wearing a loose red long-sleeved T-shirt, black shorts and a headband, Ma, who lives in Karamay, 300 kilometers northwest of Urumqi, sits in a meeting room in a Beijing office building. For the past few months he has been shuttling between Karamay and Beijing as he has taken part in the second season of the internet reality show The Rap of China, which premiered through the streaming media platform iQiyi in the summer of last year.

Since the first season of The Rap of China, rappers from Xinjiang have come to the attention of huge audiences. Ma was one of them.

The songs he performed in the show - including Max, which refers to his stage name and is a song of self-introduction, and Dong Cheng Xi Jiu (East Meets West), in which he portrays the dynamism of Xinjiang culture - are cleverly crafted amalgams of his Xinjiang heritage and hip-hop music.

At times relying on traditional Xinjiang musical instruments such as the rawap and the dutar, Ma vividly evokes the life, lives and character of the region. These include the pomegranate juice sold at the International Bazaar in Urumqi; Gulnazar and Dilraba, two popular young Chinese actresses from Xinjiang; and the unique cultural role the region plays sitting, as it does, along the ancient Silk Road as China's northwestern doorway to Central and West Asia.

"One of the best things about being in the show is meeting old friends and improvising together," Ma says. "We show off what we have and present Chinese hip-hop music in our own particular way. This isn't about winning; it's about showing people what I think about hip-hop music."

Ma, a member of the Hui ethnic group, was born and raised in Karamay. He came to hip-hop music by way of street dance, which was popular among young people in Xinjiang in the late 1990s. His father, a geological engineer, bought many DVDs of Western movies to learn English, which exposed Ma, then aged 12, to hip-hop music.

One of the movies Ma recalls is the US science-fiction action movie I, Robot, starring Will Smith, who rapped in it. Ma says that though he did not understand the language then, he was attracted to the beat. As a teenager he also used to dream about becoming a movie director, he says.

He formed a hip-hop duo with Xinjiang rapper A-Mac after enrolling to study advertising at North Minzu University in Yinchuan, Ningxia Hui autonomous region, in 2006.

The duo, calling themselves 099X, represented one of Ma's first attempts at performing original hip-hop material and expressing his thoughts on the Western music genre.

"Hip-hop music seems to be full of anger and criticism," Ma says. "But rhyming lyrics with dirty language and unhealthy issues such as violence and drugs is not for me. I can show my attitude with proper words."

He is proud to rap in Chinese because it is profound and conveys myriad meanings with simple words, and it is at the same time witty and philosophical, he says.

He compares xiangsheng, or crosstalk, to rapping, both of which talk about social issues.

"Xiangsheng criticizes with humor, but it does not have to be dirty," Ma says.

He has a 5-year-old boy, he says, and he wants him to enjoy the songs, so is very careful about the language he uses.

In 2010 Ma had his biggest break as a rapper by winning the national freestyle competition, Iron Mic, which was launched in Shanghai in 2000.

Ma was considered a dark horse in the competition, standing out with his rapping minus the bad language.

"It was my first freestyle competition and was a life-changing experience because it made me confident about my music. Hip-hop music is open to different music elements and languages. It's about merging cultures. With my music I want to rap in a fresh way and with a deeper meaning rather than just superficial language."

After Ma graduated from university he gained a master's degree from the Beijing Film Academy, with a major in movie directing.

In 2011 his father-in-law was diagnosed with kidney cancer and Ma returned to Karamay to take care of his family. In July 2013 his father-in-law died, and four months later Ma's son was born.

"Life is a battle," Ma says. "I want my music and movie to be powerful because I have experienced a lot and I have a lot to say."

Before taking part in the second season of The Rap of China, Ma withdrew from the limelight as a rapper but he has continued writing original material.

He was occupied with the Chinese movie Dying to Survive, which was released on June 30 and grossed 150 million yuan ($22.6 million) in its first two days.

Ma worked as the assistant to movie director Wen Muye, a classmate of his at the Beijing Film Academy. The movie is about a pharmaceutical salesman who becomes a folk hero by helping people obtain cheaper cancer medicine.

"I had a real life experience like the one depicted in the movie, because my father-in-law used very expensive medication while he was battling cancer," says Ma, who played the leading role in Wen's movie Battle in 2012.

"My ultimate goal is to direct my own movies, and Dying to Survive raised the bar very high. I want to make movies and music that are thought-provoking and connect with people and real life."

chennan@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily Africa Weekly 10/05/2018 page16)