Rapper Bohan Phoenix and DJ Allyson Toy on hip-hop in China
Sinica Podcast
Kaiser Kuo
4.8 • 676 Ratings
🗓️ 27 August 2020
⏱️ 81 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In a show taped in May, Kaiser chats with New York–based rapper Bohan Phoenix, who has gained audiences in both the U.S. and China, and Allyson Toy, his manager, a Chinese American who has worked on cross-cultural music promotion and lived in Shanghai for a few years before returning to the U.S. in 2018. In a wide-ranging discussion, they look at hip-hop’s development in China, its relationship with African-American culture, and the travails of bridging two worlds as a Chinese-American hip-hop artist.
5:36: An introverted immigrant becoming an American hip-hop artist
21:30: Inclusion and the changing hip-hop landscape in America
23:52: The early days of China’s hip-hop scene
32:54: Rap and racism in China
54:05: There’s no such thing as “Chinese hip-hop”
Recommendations:
Allyson: Asian Not Asian Podcast, hosted by the two New York City–based comedians Fumi Abe and Mic Nguyen.
Bohan: Jay Chou’s third studio album, The Eight Dimensions (八度空间 bā dù kōngjiàn), by Jay Chou.
Kaiser: An article in The Atlantic, titled the Prophecies of Q, by Adrienne LaFrance.
This podcast was edited and produced by Kaiser Kuo and Jason MacRonald.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the cynical podcast. We include discussion of current affairs in China, produced in partnership with SubChina. |
| 0:14.6 | SubChina is simply the best way there is to keep on top of all the important news coming out of China |
| 0:18.5 | with our indispensable daily newsletter, |
| 0:24.0 | website, and growing range of podcasts and videos. |
| 0:29.6 | It's a feast of business, political, and cultural news about a nation that is reshaping the world. |
| 0:34.4 | I'm Kaiser Guo, coming to you today from Sinica's temporary studio in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. |
| 0:38.8 | I am delighted to welcome Bohan Phoenix, a super talented rapper who straddles the worlds of Chinese and American hip-hop and has accomplished the rare feat |
| 0:43.9 | of making a name for himself in both of these markets, often rapping bilingually and |
| 0:48.5 | often about being of two worlds and of neither, something that I have some experience with myself. |
| 0:54.5 | So back before the world changed, Bohan was flying back and forth between New York, |
| 0:59.3 | and the city that he's adopted as its kind of Chinese home, a city that happens also to be |
| 1:03.6 | the rap capital of China, Chengdu and Sichuan province. |
| 1:06.4 | So Bohan, man, it's an honor. |
| 1:08.1 | Welcome to Seneca. |
| 1:09.3 | Thank you so much for having me, Kaiser. |
| 1:11.1 | Yeah, it's great honor. Welcome to Cynica. Thank you so much for having me, Kaiser. Yeah, it's great, man. |
| 1:12.3 | Hell yeah. |
| 1:13.3 | I'm also joined by Allison Toy, who, as it happens, is Bohan's manager, but also definitely |
| 1:17.9 | an artist in her own right, somebody who has deep experience in the music business, |
| 1:21.8 | with a focus on artists who crossed the Pacific in one direction or another. |
| 1:25.3 | She also lived in China for a good stint until 2018. |
| 1:28.7 | Allison joins us from San Francisco. Allison, great to have you on. |
... |
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