Rap and hip hop in Taiwan

A story in the Taipei Times today, see link below, does a profile of Witness. Ever heard of him? Will he make it here or over there as a star?

taipeitimes.com/News/feat/ar … 2003057904

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double post, sorry

Haven’t heard his music yet, so I don’t know if he’s really that special, or any different from previous Taiwanese rappers like MC Hot Dog (he gets a mention in the Taipei Times article), Stanley Huang Lixing and his brother who’s in the band Machi. They did something with Missy Elliott, or at least had their picture taken with her.
Most Taiwanese-Chinese rap sounds rather bland and artificial to me, but perhaps that’s because I don’t understand half the words.

nytimages.com/wieck_preview_page_047455

i found it on google, nytimes.com, news service:

This is what he looks like,if link still works:

University of Texas graduate Jeremy “Witness” Huang busts a move with his parents, Susan and Floyd Huang, in their Houston home. Jeremy, an American citizen by birth, returned to his parents’ homeland in Taiwan to make a name for himself in the rap industry. Photo by Kevin Fujii/Houston Chronicle. (NYT Partners) Download 1301K

I’m sorry but this guy sucks. His music is weak and song topics are bland. This is just another one of the many rich ABC’s that came back with dreams of becoming famous.

WE’ll see when his debut DC comes out in October. You are probably right. I don’t think it’s fair to call him a rich ABC, just because his folks emigrated to USA and hold middle-class jobs doesn’t mean he’s a rich ABC. Well, rich compared to Taiwan standards, of course, Just call him a middle-class suburban ABT kid from Houston. Rich is Kennedy Rockefeller rich, middle-class is just me and you.

Let’s see how it CD does. Good chance he won’t get anywhere here. Harlem Yu did pretty good and he was ABC, but for music, I think the Mandoprop crooners do it best for the market here.

Give the guy a chance, aceman!

Um…I know people who know him. I’ve talked to him. I’ve heard his music. I don’t know about this “debut” cd story cuz i know he had a cd out before that bombed. He has a new single out that sucks. He is rich cuz i know he is. Will his new cd sell? Maybe. If you’re abc and you act like a hip-hop thug then you fit the popular image, but that doesn’t mean the music is any good. There are a lot of other better rappers in taiwan.

Harlem Yu an abc??? uh…nope. A good musician, yes. Abc, no.

thanks, aceman, for the update. you met the guy, spoke with him? Do dish!

What did he have to say? What’s he like in person? I have the feeling you’re right, he’ll never make it there or anywhere in ASia. He might have better luck stateside. I wonder why he wants to come back there, he is not even from there? Is he being opportunistic, thinking he can pull a COCO LEE?

I had heard that Harlem Yu was born in the USA. My mistake. Yeh, he is a good and his wife rocks!

One thing about Witness is his name. Witless might be better. For a single performer to call himself WITNESS is pretty strange. a group maybe yes, but a solo act, no way. Maybe he should call himself

N&N.