I’ve heard a lot of foreigners, especially people from the States, make fun of the kids who hang out in Hsimending and C.K.S. Memorial Hall, wearing their hip hop uniforms and practicing their moves. I’ve heard people say they have no idea what this American subculture is really all about, and are just cheap imitators.
I beg to disagree. I think these people have raised hip hop fashion and dance to the level of a high art. Their ability to create and maintain an image is FLAWLESS. I’ve found their dance moves to also be crisply executed and even beautiful. I think these kids quite rightfully take a lot of pride in their fashion and dance moves, and deserve a lot of respect for it.
I much prefer the Taiwanese hip hop culture to America’s! In America, it’s all tied up with politics and race and class and ideology and machismo. In Taiwan, it’s simply about the Japanese aesthetic ideal of creating an image or a sensation, and maintaining it flawlessly. It’s living art! Which would you rather YOU kids grew up with?
The Taiwanese are great at copying stuff. Bugger all use at making anything up themselves though.
They are copying a style. They are not creating anything. There is safety in the heard and that’s why they gather together I mean did you guys ever go out in your disco duds and strut yourself around trying to get attention? No probably not.
Excellent point WanderingDave. I think people who say “Taiwan doesn’t have its own culture” really don’t understand waht ‘culture’ is.
Brian
[quote=“Bu Lai En”]Excellent point WanderingDave. I think people who say “Taiwan doesn’t have its own culture” really don’t understand waht ‘culture’ is.
Brian[/quote]
Spot on ! Who needs Jay-Z, Sizzler (or whatever his name is), Outkast, and all that crowd when the invention and innovation is just dripping off these Taiwanese kids. I just can’t wait to see what they copy next !
“ROC, we’re runnin’ this rap shit” as Jap-Z would put it.
Based upon what i’ve seen, i find that very difficult to believe - maybe you’ve seen some dancers i haven’t, but all the dancers i’ve seen here lack full body control and have difficulty incorporating their hips, butts, and shoulders into their moves so that, though one may be able to consider their moves “crisp”, they certainly aren’t fluid. If they were back in the US, all of the ones i’ve seen would get the gong within 15 seconds…