Last month’s Annie Who fashion show featured the human beat box Butterscotch as the night’s entertainment. A quick definition of a human beat box is someone who uses their mouth as a musical instrument. Beat boxes emerged during the early days of Hip Hop music and have remained something of a novelty.

Skilled beat boxers often wow crowds by making unbelievable sounds and can recreate entire songs using just their mouth. The best can convincingly mimic instruments and sing vocals at the same time! (more…)

In what promises to be an exciting show as well as a good look at contemporary Chinese Hip Hop, the Fringe Club hosts ‘Beat In Vision Vol.3′ on Saturday, May 22nd.

Organized by top street wear clothing store Loading, and local Hip Hop crew the Justice League, the night features Dumdue, one of the most talented Hip Hop groups to emerge from China. (more…)

Six years and many tattoos later, L.M.F. are back! Since the group disbanded in 2003, there hasn’t been another band to shake up the Cantopop machine in quite the same way.

LMF, with their street slang and uncut language, offered a sharp rebuke to the squeaky-clean, manufactured idol scene where singers are chosen more for their looks rather than their musical ability. With their debut in 1998, LMF by contrast, were raw, unpolished and an immediate sensation. (more…)

The upcoming “Beat in Vision” show at The Fringe Club on Saturday night promises a little something for everyone. At the top of the bill is Critical, an accomplished M.C. from Sweden who is active in the European Hip Hop scene. Second in line is The Justice League comprised of MastaMic and Big Sammy, two promising talents in Hong Kong’s Hip Hop underground. D.J. Tinho, the 2007 Hong Kong DMC champion will also be lending his support.

As if that wasn’t enough, the flier also mentions the inclusion of Ninemo, an indie Electro-Rock band, and Feel of All, a Hong Kong Punk band. That’s an awful lot of music for a $100 HKD cover charge that includes one beer! (more…)

Three Hong Kong Hip Hop crews: SangFan, 85UP2, and Rhyme Flow Army will be performing at a launch for new-school headphone brand Aerial 7 this Sunday. The event is free and takes place at Loading, one of the city’s better street-wear stores, located in Tsim Sha Tsui.

For those who were curious after reading our recent Hong Kong Hip Hop History post, now’s your chance to check out what’s happening in local Hip Hop live! (more…)

An email a few months back got me thinking about the local Hip Hop scene. To this day, people are still curious what Hong Kong Hip Hop is like.

For a dense urban landscape similar to New York, you’d think that Hip Hop would be a natural fit. However, with some exceptions included below, Hong Kong seems to have a grasp of the swagger, but not the soul of the music. (more…)

This makes the fourth time that top beatboxer Killa Kela is set to perform in Hong Kong. If you haven’t yet caught one of his shows, Killa Kela produces elaborate, almost orchestral routines using only his mouth!

For his Summer 2009 tour, Kela teams up with Andy Knowles, an accomplished drummer who plays with the band Franz Ferdinand, as well as London based d.j. Skelektrik. Adding a drummer and a d.j. will likely increase the complexity of the show he can stage.

Want a sample of Killa Kela’s skills? (more…)

French artist L1ES ONE has been active in Hong Kong for several years now. His art is rooted in graffiti, but often ventures into other territory. On Wednesday, July 29th, he’ll be opening a show of new work titled “DR1PS & BUBBLES” at the private club M1NT in Sheung Wan.

L1ES ONE is particularly good at tailoring his art to different spaces. Curious what his previous exhibitions looked like? (more…)

D.J. Craze and D.J. Klever, two world renowned turntablists, hit Volar last Thursday night. Turntablists are sort of like musically gifted hackers. Instead of using a record player (called a turntable,) for what it was intended – to playback music, they use it more like an instrument.

The techniques they practice include scratching and beat juggling. The result is that they create music from music.

In their repertoire there’s even a famous scratch that was named after the Transformers. (It resembles the sound that occurs when they change from cars into robots!) The best turntablists can produce fantastic improvisation-filled performances.

However, I’m usually skeptical of turntablists as party d.j.s. Sometimes they get too used to crowds standing around and watching, and don’t understand the dynamics of a dance floor. At times they tend to get too technical and lose the non-d.j.s in the audience.

How did D.J. Klever and Craze hold up? (more…)

I ran into my friend M.C. Yan on Thursday night and he was excited to tell me about a new project he’s been working on called Radio Dada. Yan is one of the pioneers of Hip Hop in Hong Kong. He’s helped popularize the concepts behind the culture and is well known as a graffiti artist and rapper. Yan was also a member of the now defunct group, L.M.F.

Friday night I bumped into him again, and since we were right next door, he gave me a tour of the new station he’s just launched. (more…)