Li Yuchun is a mentor on the reality show Rap for Youth. BILIBILI
Rap is no stranger to negative stereotypes, but this entertainment medium, much like all artistic attempts, is at its core a means of human expression.
对于说唱的负面刻板印象并不少见,但如同所有艺术尝试一样,这种娱乐媒介归根结底都是一种人类的表达形式。
Rapper Chen Jinnan is an example of one artist who exemplifies this. Chen made her stage debut on the reality show Rap for Youth on the video sharing site Bilibili and made headlines for her song Malice From the World.
说唱歌手陈近南就是这样一个例子。陈近南在视频分享网站哔哩哔哩一档真人秀节目《说唱新世代》首次登台,并因其歌曲《来自世界的恶意》上了头条。
In the song, she rapped: “There are rumors about me going around the campus. They say that I am a girl with a problem, but nobody cares if I am sick … I woke up during the middle of the night and started crying endlessly. This is not my fault, but how can I prove myself? I feel the world is full of malice.”
在这首歌里,她如此说唱道:“学校里流传着关于我的各种争议,说我是问题少女,没人关心我是否生病……在夜晚惊醒又开始漫长的哭泣,这不是我的问题,我要该向谁证明?我终于感到来自世界的恶意。”
Chen said that she wrote the song last year after receiving a message from a fan who was studying in Canada, was battling severe depression and had been ignored by her parents and schoolmates.
陈近南称,收到一位粉丝来信后,她在去年写下了这首歌。这位粉丝在加拿大留学,患有严重抑郁症,但她的父母和同学都对其视而不见。
“No one understood just how severe her depression was, and she was considered a problem. I shared my own story with her in the hope of offering her encouragement,” Chen told China Daily.
“没人理解她的抑郁症有多严重,别人都觉得她是个麻烦。我和她分享了自己的故事,希望能带给她力量,”陈近南在接受《中国日报》采访时表示。
Another rapper who appeared on the show is accomplished rapper TangoZ, who expresses his love for his hometown of Hangzhou – his “heaven on Earth” – and raps in the dialect.
节目中另一位说唱歌手是才华横溢的钟祺(TangoZ),他用方言说唱来表达自己对家乡杭州—— 他的“人间天堂”—— 的热爱。
“The rate of Wu dialect erosion is high. It’s not like Sichuan, Chongqing or Guangzhou,” he told independent media platform RADII China. “A lot of people would go learn certain dialects because they love Higher Brothers, so I want to make Wu dialect rap a bit better on this path as well.”
“吴语流失度很高,和川渝以及广州的情况不同,”他在接受独立媒体平台RADII China采访时表示。“很多人因为喜欢说唱组合‘更高兄弟’而学某种方言,所以我也想让吴语说唱在这条路上走得更好。”
Just as Li Yuchun, a mentor on the reality show, pointed out, rapping is not defined by anger and provocation. “A lot of people think that Diss – disrespect or disparage – is the only definition of rap. But on this show, I’m touched and proud of the fact that you can express love and kindness through music writing and rapping,” she said.
就像导师李宇春在节目中所指出的那样,说唱不是愤怒和挑衅的代名词。“很多人以为Diss(即不尊重或贬低),是说唱的唯一定义。但在这个节目中,大家通过音乐创作和说唱传达出了爱和善意,令我感动又骄傲。”
Actually, rapping, for most performers, is a way to express opinions and let their voices be heard. If you dive deep into it, you’ll find that “it’s beautiful, stemming from the soul, derived from poetry and ancient folk tunes”, wrote Hannah George on the website Soundigest. “It’s a diary ... someone’s life on display for the world to enjoy, grieve with or be inspired by.”
实际上,对于大多表演者而言,说唱是一种表达观点、让他们的声音被听到的方式。在深入了解后,你就会发现“说唱很美,它源于灵魂,源于诗歌和古老的民间小调”,汉娜·乔治在Soundigest网站上如此写道。“它是一本日记……展现了一个人的生活,让全世界共同欣赏、悲伤、受到鼓舞。”