eating dogs tour

I was just made aware of the “Eating Dogs Tour”. It’s a tour 5 Graf Writers, 3 DJs, 2 Bboys (Dance breakers they say), and 1 MC who will travel through Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong. To quote the description: "They will all wander in the clubs and the streets to heighten the Asian’s awareness of their hip hop culture and their arts”

Ok, yeah that’s cool- spread hiphop culture. But for some reason I have beef with the whole way it’s marketed. I’m not saying these artists are wack and I’m not saying it’s bad for them to be going through China and doing their thing (I totally support that, and it’ll be good to have some European hiphop heads come through), I just hope they had nothing to do with the marketing and they have the right attitude about it.

I might be concocting all this in my head, but it really seems like they feel like they have some duty educate the Asian people about what hiphop really is. First of all what business do people from France and the UK (yes I know their scene old and well established) who are ALSO appropriating hiphop culture from the US, have educating people on what’s real? I’m sure Hiphop in France and the UK is different from Hiphop in the US, so why can’t hiphop in Asia be different? Ok, I guess re-reading the excerpt it’s not that offensive but… then there’s the whole “eating dog” thing. How are you going to have an eating dogs tour and leave korea out of it? Nah but for real, it seems like they had to use a name that puts them in a superior “more civilized than thou” position. How common is eating dogs in the cities they’re traveling to? Not very common at all, unless of course you go to a Korean restaurant.

I guess I’m going off on this rant because in my travels throughout China, there was always some foreigner I would meet along the way that thought it was his duty to “educate” the “Chinese people” about “REAL hiphop”. Half the time these people have absolutely no skill in what they claim to do (MC, DJ, etc.). Despite this, a lot of Chinese people will look up to them and they will easily get gigs/jobs because they are viewed as more hiphop than their local Chinese counterparts (who are often a lot better than the foreigner). I think sometimes this detracts from the independent development of the scene- the development of new styles, and the development of hiphop culture that is relevant to the people there. What is real hiphop? is what I say hiphop more real than what you say real hiphop is? Is American hiphop realer than any other country’s hiphop? If something real hiphop in the states, can hiphop heads in other countries only be considered real if they’re doing the same thing? Or is that just biting?

One of my project goals is to find out how people in asia understand hiphop, what hiphop means to them, how they are redefining hiphop, how they are making hiphop relevant to their lives, and how hiphop is changing their lives. Still I can’t deny that I have my own bias when I see asian people all thugged out, claiming to be hiphop. But maybe they grew up in the ghetto- someone said ghettoes are the same everywhere, so maybe the ghetto thug culture is real to them, how would I know? I think hiphop is different for everyone so I feel that I have no right to barge in and tell people what hiphop really is- especially me, a kid who grew up in upper-middle class white suburbia. Am I even keepin’ it real?

But yeah, let’s take a look on the brighter side. On my trip I’ve seen the amazing things that hiphop is capable of, it really brings people together. Take a look at the break borders video I mentioned in my last post: people from Japan, Australia, and America all come together because of b-boying. I have met so many people this year just because we share the love of hiphop, and they’ll even offer me to stay at their houses after knowing me for a few hours. People I’ve never met or just met will go out of their way to give me contact information to help me out on my project. Hiphop makes people travel- most of the dancers, DJs, writers, MCs I’ve met all traveled outside of their city/country because of hiphop. Hiphop even teaches people English- in korea, I’ve met a few hiphop heads who haven’t completed a high school education, but they can speak English fairly well – from listening to hiphop and meeting foreigners through hiphop. hiphop is a wonderful thing and should be spread around everywhere… does being real really matter in the end? To quote DJ Kool Herc: “lt ain’t about keeping real, it’s about keeping it right.”