Band Interview: Higher Brothers Celebrates Chinese Culture Through Rap

PUBLISHED June 9th, 2019 06:00 am | UPDATED July 23rd, 2024 06:16 pm

The Chengdu hip-hop rap quartet Higher Brothers has been making waves since 2016, notorious for their witty lyrics and songs that proudly promote Chinese pride, such as “Made in China”, “Black Cab”, and “WeChat”. Soon after the release of their second album Five Stars, these guys were in town for the Skechers Sundown Festival 2019, where we caught up with them – MaSiWei, DZknow, Psy.P, and Melo – about their future plans and aspiration for China’s hip-hop scene.

Which is the best place in China for hip-hop?

Melo: Chengdu, because we are from Chengdu.

What other Chinese rappers should we listen to?

MSW: Our brother TSP, who we brought with us for the festival.

If you were not the Higher Brothers, what would you be doing now?

DZknow: I’d be working for an insurance company.

Melo: Artist.

MSW: Policeman.

Psy.P: I’d probably be a bad guy.

When you perform in other countries like America or Singapore, how’s the reception different?

MSW: Some places are more shy, some are more crazy, some more energetic, but our fans are always amazing no matter where they are.

Do you have many memorable experiences when performing?

MSW: We just came from Taipei, and there was an earthquake in the evening. By night time we were performing on stage.

You guys were at the Sundown Festival in Singapore earlier. Saw anyone you might want to collaborate with?

MSW: We saw Bobby from iKON and Show Me The Money. He’s cool. We’d think about working with him.

You’ve worked with ScHoolboy Q and Soulja boy for Five Stars. How does feel like working with them?

MSW: It’s like a dream. These are all people we grew up listening to, and to collaborate with them for songs is very surreal.

You have a big following on social media. How does social media play a whole in reaching out to audience.

MSW: We just keep it real, and show them who we are in real life.

What upcoming projects are you working on upcoming?

We might be working on our own album this year, mei ge ren dan du the album, and heyday cloud’s 88rising album, we did one last year, but this is the second edition.

What’s it about?

About our lives, our experiences, and our believes.

When you’re not in the studio, what do you guys do?

DZKnow: I play games and watch television. Super Mario is fun. It’s more or less the same for all of us.

Keep up with Higher Brothers’ latest tracks and events on Facebook and Instagram.