The Vinyl Word

It was love. They twiddled their knobs and teased each other across the turntables, holding each other and releasing another flood of sound. Hip hop met dance music at Room 18 early yesterday morning and it was an interesting mix. Marriage? Too soon to say.

DJ Chozie, back from China for a Ministry of Sound tour, tag-teamed with Taipei hip-hop kingpin J4 for a one-hour jam that spanned 20 years of electronica to include everything from Motown classics to a slamming remix of Prodigy's Smack My Bitch Up. It was eclectic and energetic and the crowd showed its appreciation with a mild mosh.

Musically, Taiwan turns its ear more toward Japan and the US than it does Europe, which could explain the recent overwhelming popularity of hip hop music in Taipei, where the sounds of ghetto angst are often translated into fashionistas waddling around Ximending in baggy pants, oversize shirts and gold chains.

It's a long way from the projects, but hip hop has arrived in Taipei and is the major new vibe in many bars and clubs, as well as being the background beat to countless mainstream advertisements and promotions.

The hip-hop beat is king at TU and Room 18 on Wednesdays, 151 on Thursdays, Plush on Fridays and Bacchus on Saturdays, all clubs that play rocking house music on the weekends as well.

LUXY is the latest to jump on the hip-hop bandwagon with its new monthly party tonight, The G-Thang. Motto: "It's a ghetto thing, it's a gang thing, it's a G-Thang." Dj James, Noodle and E-Turn will be taking their turns to turn it up with a mix of old and new school and R 'n' B.

One of the busiest hip-hop DJs in Town is J4. "I've been playing hip hop for 10 years from scratch and it's only now they're [the public] starting to listen. I don't know what they like, I just know what I love. Unlike some DJs who change around their sound, I just wanna play my flava," J4 says.

"We all learn from New York and America but we wanna make it more local, like through my work with MC Hotdog, it's from the hood, local, gangsters, hip hop, maybe we should not call it that, maybe we should give it a Chinese name ...."

But not everyone thinks hip hop is the biggest thing on the planet and about to blow away dance music on the club scene.

"We can all pray that it doesn't. A lot of what's called hip hop is boring, repetitive and there are no innovations. I don't notice much difference between the DJs here at the moment. It's not even hip hop, most of it's R 'n' B anyway," says promoter Dominik ("It's my goal for people to know just my first name") of Bliss

productions.

"There's way more Chinese returning from America after finishing their studies and that coincides with high school and university, where it's in and they help to make it popular. There's also a bit of that LA-style thing."

J4 says he's also aware that hip hop's sudden rise locally could be more style than substance, but will carry on playing anyway. "Hip hop's like a fashion here in Asia. But I think hip hop's cultural as well. It's not just a `buy the T-shirt' thing. I think its good that it's popular because no one knew about it before, but now they do and they love it."

For now, the betting is, just like everywhere else, hip hop is here to stay and it will be squeezing into dance music territory at most local clubs for the foreseeable future. It sounded good the other night when Chozie and J4 were putting it down.