MC Yan
MC Yan first hit the local music scene in the 90s with LMF, a hardcore hip-hop project that saw its fair share of controversy thanks to explicit lyrics. Since then, he has been working as an artist promoting the art of graffiti, as well as the French language in Hong Kong. He talks to June Ng about the essence of culture, and a short-cut to learning a foreign language.
My childhood was different. It was a world full of loud 80s disco music and no television. My mom is still a big Boney M. fan.
I have six siblings. My dad inherited a Chinese restaurant from his father. Because of his working hours, I didn’t see him very much. I read a lot of literature at home. Serious stuff. But for me, I just treated it like casual reading.
I’ve been artistic ever since I was a child. Starting from Primary 3, I got straight As in every art subject. Of course, I ignored the rest of the syllabus.
My grades were bad in secondary school. In a way, I can say I’m pure because I’ve never been committed to the education system, so my mind isn’t polluted—I’m not competitive in terms of pursuing knowledge.
My entire generation is results-oriented. This isn’t good when you actually want to acquire real knowledge.
Art doesn’t exist in Hong Kong. Some artists won’t be able to show you a so-called “result” because not all art leads to a tangible outcome. So all the cultural funding goes to drama, because the results there are obvious.