MastaMic: Freestyle King
MastaMic burst on to the scene in 2005, making a name for himself with his tongue-in-cheek rhymes and his freestlye skills. Since then he’s released a few mixtapes, an album, and launched his own record label. He tells Andrea Lo about Cantonese hip-hop, and why he did a courtesy rap for the MTR.
HK Magazine: How did you get into rap?
MastaMic: I’ve liked hip-hop for a long time. I’m 26 now, and when I was in high school Hong Kong didn’t have a lot of people doing hip-hop. I didn’t start until around 2005 when I studied in China, and some friends were doing it. It inspired me: you don’t need people to teach you how to do it.
HK: Who are your influences?
MM: [When I was younger] I listened to a lot of old school stuff—Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, Gang Starr, Wu-Tang and Tupac. There are too many.
HK: Do you mostly freestyle, or rap written lyrics?
MM: It’s hard to separate the two and say, “Today I am only going to do freestyle.” I’m known for forgetting lyrics. If that happens when I’m on stage, then I’ll get
some freestyle stuff in there. I think it is an MC’s basic form of respect, to freestyle when they are asked to. You just can’t lie and say it’s freestyle when the lyrics were written beforehand.
HK: How would you describe Hong Kong’s hip-hop scene?
MM: I don’t really think there is one. DJ events tend to be with techno or electro music. There also aren’t many local rappers. In terms of an established hip-hop scene, there’s still some way to go.
HK: Can Cantonese rap succeed?
MM: Cantonese rap today still hasn’t fully utilized the beauty of the language.
In the US, rap has tons of metaphors. In Hong Kong, mainstream rap lyrics are a bit straightforward. I think there should be more exploration of the Chinese language, and seeing how that can combine with rap.
HK: Why did you do the MTR courtesy rap?
MM: Mainly, because MTR paid me well. But also I felt like it was an interesting project. If they wanted me to write something really boring I wouldn’t have done it. But I was able to use my own style—be sarcastic and poke fun at people a little. I like being able to push the limits.