Well, it’s last post of the year!!
I’m off to the family’s big Asian dinner as always.
Sadly, no fireworks T.T [watch last year’s here]
Well, it’s last post of the year!!
I’m off to the family’s big Asian dinner as always.
Sadly, no fireworks T.T [watch last year’s here]
Well, I’ve found it easier to narrow down the number of albums for this Top100 Albums of the Decade, than to narrow my list of songs to 100. LOL I have around 350 songs at the moment. This is gonna be difficult… and also in every possible language xD
Anyway, I’m sure that I had to take out some albums to include other albums. It was all a very difficult process to figure out what to include… going from “do I really have to take this song out?” to “OMG, I really love all these songs from this artist!!! Which one should I choose!- So please, bear with me, and comment what to add.
At the moment I’m listening to a Rap/Hip-Hop Mixtape in Chinese [download link here], but here’s the thing about Rap. It does nothing for me if I can’t understand it. I don’t understand Chinese (Mandarin or Chinese or Hakka or Shanghainese or Taiwanese, etc), so while I’m listening to this mixtape, I can’t connect — this doesn’t happen in other genres. At least doesn’t happen to me. I can still find a way to connect to the music.
Then there’s the whole “I don’t like Rap or Hip-Hop,” it’s not like I hate the genre — I don’t — it’s just too much bitches and hoes for me to sit down and listen. If I go through the over 300 artists in my iPod (over 600 albums), I can only find Eminem, Lauryn Hill, Dr. Dre and Sal ‘N Pepa (though just one or two tracks by the last two). What does that say about me? I really like Lauryn Hill’s album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill… I also listen to Erykah Badu, The Fugees and I also own a Wyclef album xD I tried listening to Kanye and Lil Wayne, but couldn’t stand them…
Anyway, I ran into this blog (now, not active) that talks a little bit about Hip-Hop in China — DonTing08 — The blog contains some interesting posts on the music scene, the song of the week and Hip-Hop culture. In one of the posts, the author gives her thoughts on an article on the New York Times titled “Now Hip-Hop, Too, Is Made in China.” In a response, the author quotes;
Concerning the current state of Chinese hip hop in the mainstream I agree with Brendan. Jay Chou’s appearance on CCTV’s 新年晚会 sums it up quite nicely. It’s garbage and so is most of the underground hip hop. Why? Because most Chinese hip hop fans only listen to the music of a rap record but are oblivious to the lyrical content, which does not allow them to understand hip hop culture comprehensively. Naturally a Chinese kid, who does not speak English and tries to make a rap song that sounds just like the one he just heard at MIX (Beijing’s most popular hip hop club) will say “Make it rain” without knowing that the phrase entails poring dollar bills on a stripper.
and then writes;
The audience has no understanding of the development of Hip Hop and the music industry in general to appreciate the significance of pop-rap and Jay Chou as compared to In3. The paragraphs on In3 and Jay Chou are also too sparse. Also, unlike the article suggests, I’ve read nothing to suggest that Jay Chou considers himself to be a rapper now and I do not think Jay Chou and In3 fans are mutually exclusive.
I also hardly think that Jay Chou considers himself a rapper, and any of his fans that consider him a rapper should think about it a little more. I think Jay Chou’s strength lies in his Zhongguo Feng style songs, at least for me. I don’t really care about his more R&B tracks that are supposed to be danceable.
However, I do enjoy LeeHom’s music. I never would have imagined that Hip-Hop and Rap could combine with Beijing Opera. LOL I really dig the whole combination, and it’s the main reason I listen to him. I doubt I would if he were just doing straight Hip-Hop, or straight R&B.
On an unrelated topic, but similar nonetheless~ AfterEllen.com wonders about female rappers on the post titled Women rappers stay under the radar. And yeah, you hardly see any female rappers out there… at least on the radio or MTV. You only need to see what’s the target market for Hip-Hop (or any genre) music nowadays — young people. Rappers sing about bitches, hoes and bling because rappers are the new rock stars. Teenage boys grow up wanting to get their own entourage and have their own bitches and hoes. Everything in the music industry has become banal… Rock, Rap, Pop and Punk~~~ no one is safe. LOL
Anyway, you can’t have a female rapper singing about bitches and hoes, so the industry just doesn’t bother with it. Rap music is overly macho, while the Pop music scene suffers from the gayness of it all. You get dozens of females solo pop stars, over-sexualized lolitas in skimpy innocent outfits, while the guys are just as easily labeled with the “GAY” tag.
Music is an effed up business.
Shameless Jay Chou plug here. I know Jay Chou has a very divisive, shall we call it fan front? There’s those who LURV him, and then there’s those who hate him, but let’s not talk about that.
I really dig his most Chinese-styled songs, and Fa Ru Xue seems to be one of my favorite Jay songs, the La Er La part at the end is my favorite hahaha. Anyway!
I found this most fascinating post on Yu’s hair. I mean, how can you begin to look away when the post begins with these words.
This is perhaps the most important blog entry you will read all year. With today’s entry, things really come to a head. No, it’s not about fictitious capital and its role in the current financial meltdown. It’s bigger than that. It’s about Aoi Yu’s hairline.
It is the most fascinating post on hair I’ve ever read, and it had to be courtesy of click opera.
Reuters is reporting that Jay Chou has been cast as Kato (previously played by Bruce Lee on the series) on the new movie adaptation of the Green Hornet written and played by none other than Seth Rogen (Pineapple Express, Funny People) – really? LOL
I said it! Asian invasion!!! xD
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The Lima Film Festival began today!
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VMA Nominees Announced!
Normally, I would’ve done a different post for this, but I’ve lost my interest on MTV.
Can’t blame me, can you?
Womanizer… video of the year? – oh the sadness. Alongside Spears~~~ Eminem with We Made You, Beyonce with Single Ladies, Kanye and Lady Gaga. – REALLY??? I should really make a Look Back on 2008 Videos, I mean… there should be better, MUCH BETTER music videos than those.
Lady Gaga for the win, even though I didn’t really dig any of it. <- that’s a prediction.
Two days ago I found an interesting post on Chinese Celebrities When They Were Young~~~
Cutest thing~~ like EVER. Here’s Bibi!! Almost exactly as she is now, isn’t she??
On that post, you’ll see some familiar faces like Zhang Ziyi (who hasn’t changed a bit), Jolin Tsai, Bridgette Lin, Vivian Hsu… is that Ella Chen (???), Jet Li, Tony Leung, Andy Lau, Nicholas Tse… and even Yao Ming!
But check after the break for some of the photos for Faye Wong, Jay Chou, Leehom, and Maggie Cheung – with a Japanese bonus… *tsk tsk*
and Chinese in general.
Taking example of Julz’ K-pop YouTube list – But then MTV Iggy is not as cool, LOL – I decided to make a 12-song playlist in YouTube… mainly because I didn’t wanna upload anything here. Plus, as much as I love my cassette playlists via MixWit~~~ watching videos is way cooler.
The thing is, you gotta watch ALL the videos, and watch them in order because there’s a reason for me putting the songs in that order. LOL’ It’s the vibe. The videos I chose are cool to watch, music is great.
Hope that you enjoy them. And I am looking for more Chinese musicians and groups… out of this world music. Not simply pop. That’s a reason I didn’t name it MandoPop or Cpop list. ;P – Music like Faye Wong who is still not back, though Fayenatics are abuzz~~~
[iframe width=”560″ height=”315″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PL577C724FFC4EC7DC&hl=en_US”]
Did you know MTV had a ‘world’ ish brand now?
MTV Iggy – which always ends up as MT Biggy when I say it. T.T
Is that part of the answer to my demands? Also… why not pimp JPop? Is it because MTV Japan exists?
ALSO, why is BaiLing there… O.ox *sighs*
I managed to see BoA there, as well as Jay Chou… Nicky Lee, Lee-Hom Wang~~ Wondergirls, 2PM? But you know what, why don’t I leave you with a playlist Julyssa herself made for sharing~~~
To sort of close the month~~~ she doesn’t allow embedding, but hopefully you’ll be able to click on this link.
PS: We have a full-month worth of posts!!! xD
Esta es la traducción de inglés -> español del artículo que escribí para YAM 003 titulado “Too Foreign for your Own Good. Please Sing in English” en el que hablo de los más recientes lanzamientos de artistas de no habla inglesa estrenando material en el idioma para entrar en el mercado.
Como el artículo es un poco largo, pueden leerlo después del break.