In the 6th year of rap variety, how does the ＂comprehensive N generation＂ glow with freshness and creativity ｜ Dialogue with Zuo Jin, the general director of ＂China Rap Summit＂
Author | Chestnut
When did the rap culture in China begin to awaken?
Most people will answer without hesitation: that summer in 2017.
On June 24th, 2017,Iqiyi broadcasted the first issue of "Hip-hop in China", and since then, it has brought China rap from "underground" to "above ground"..
In the following four years, iQiyi continued to exert its strength in the variety of rap, with the series "China New Rap" from 2018 to 2020 and "Youth Rap Plan" in 2021. However, from the data, everyone still remembers the first year of "Hip-hop in China". However, the popularity of the program is getting worse year by year, and the Douban score of China New Rap 2020 even hit a record low, only 4.4 points.
At present, "China Rap Summit" has been launched for three times, and the broadcast volume and discussion degree are still increasing. According to the veege list, "China Rap Summit" is not only the first in the variety show index list in the first half of 2022, but also the first in the variety show index list in the first half of 2022.
This means that,"China Rap Summit" is likely to become the first "explosive" sound ensemble in the depressed variety market in 2022.After six years of rap variety, it is also at stake to make a turnaround.
Zuo Jin, the general director of China Rap Summit, told the unicorn,"From the creator’s point of view, we are not thinking about making an explosion and what kind of market we want to occupy. What I think more about is how we can bring the content of this project to the audience in an innovative mode. "
What we want to realize when we implement the program "China Rap Summit" is to bring the audience a quality and original stage and beautiful and widely circulated music works. These are what the audience really needs and yearns for, and they are also the key to the program’s sustainability.
After six years of broadcasting,Rap variety must face up to aesthetic fatigue
The biggest fear of a comprehensive N-generation program is that the audience will feel weak about the program.
In 2017, the Douban score of "Hip Hop in China" was 7.1, and more than 59,000 people evaluated the program. Four years later, China New Rap 2021 scored only 4.4 on Douban, with only 16,000 raters. So in 2021, Iqiyi, Mango TV and bilibili all started to develop new rap variety, in order to cultivate more new rap forces.
From 2017 to 2020, rap variety shows are mostly conducted in the form of selected programs. These "rap talent shows" have unearthed many excellent rapper. For example, KEY.L Liu Cong, Gem, Bridgebridge, TizzyT, Wan Nida Vinida, etc.
This year, "China Rap Summit" has innovated the competition system of rap programs, increased the appreciation and competitiveness of the programs by the mode of competition, and made each program a thrilling battle.
The first two periods of 1v1 confrontation, the third period of 2v2 confrontation, and then 3v3 confrontation with the brand, with the progress of the program, the competition situation will become more and more fierce.
Zuo Jin, the general director, said, "After the program was broadcast, we launched the registration of the kick-off competition on the Internet. In the next few issues, the program will soon usher in a recruitment competition. We invited 12 players who kicked the pavilion, first conducted a round of strong internal confrontation, and finally selected 6 rappers who were qualified to kick the pavilion to challenge the 24 rappers in the main stadium. "
In addition to the brand-new competition system, China Rap Summit also made a new breakthrough in dance beauty.
In previous years, the design of rap variety venues loved to take the heavy industrial metal wind. In the freestyle link of Hip Hop in China, the whole stage was designed as an old station warehouse. The stacking of props such as dead trees, paint buckets, broken cars and broken fans makes the stage style more wild and hip-hop.
The beautiful dance design of China Rap Summit,In addition to the original industrial wind, a more atmospheric LED light show is added.. General director Zuo Jin introduced,The main concept of the stage of China Rap Summit is a power station.. The idea of designing a power station means that China rap is powerful and can continuously deliver electricity to the Chinese music scene.
In addition, "China Rap Summit" alsoAn off-site commentary seat was added, and Wilber Pan, Chi and Wang Meng were invited as commentators.. After Wang Meng appeared, the barrage floated by, "My ears are rulers". The fresh explanation form and the Olympic champion who is very fresh to Harbin Circle can greatly stimulate the audience’s enthusiasm for discussion.
However, just as the idol trainee market has insufficient talent reserves due to frequent variety shows, the annual "rap draft" will also make the talent in the rap market in short supply. Round after round, the program will inevitably become more and more boring.
In choosing rapper, "China Rap Summit" is also constantly breaking down the platform barrier. Zuo Jin, the general director, said that when the program invited contestants, it considered inviting rapper who came out of rap variety shows on other platforms.
Gai, the champion of Hip-hop in China, Ai Ge, KeyNG and Li Jialong, the champion of China New Rap Champion, Capper, the champion of Youth Rap Planning, and Good Morning, the champion of Rap Listen to Me, all gathered in China Rap Summit. Even Brother OG, a judge of rap programs such as Hip Hop in China, New Rap in China and New Rap Generation, once again came to the show to participate in the competition.
Although the list of 24 rappers in China Rap Summit was announced, many netizens saw these familiar rappers’ names, saying that the program was "rapper braving the wind and waves", "Old rap in China" and "I can’t forget this night in Harbin".
However, due to the great changes in the usual competition system, the concept of dance beauty and the link design of China Rap Summit, people’s doubts that China Rap Summit is "old wine in an old pot" gradually disappeared after the third program was broadcast.
Race with "anxiety":Self-cultivation of variety artists
As the "first person to eat crabs" in rap variety, Iqiyi will naturally focus all eyes on this platform when people mention rap.
"A bunch of people are waiting to see what you can achieve and how you can innovate in the industry." Zuo Jin, the general director, said that high attention has certain advantages and will also bring certain pressure.As an annual S+ level music variety project, iQiyi wants to stick to the rap variety, so it must break through the repetitiveness of the N-generation. Conversely, the production team will also put the rap variety in the position of S+ to expand more possibilities in the track.
Because the rapper on the market is indeed in a saturated state. The lack of newcomers is in urgent need of a cycle pause to make the development of rap variety more healthy.Iqiyi’s rap variety has been selected, cultivated and summarized, and what kind of formal framework will it break through next year is also a question that the team of China Rap Summit is thinking about.
Different from the previous tutorial system selection rules, this year’s "China Rap Summit" changed the program intoA Chinese rap Rapper’s competition program allows the audience to see more diverse rap music in Chinese music and a very real reality show..
After the third program was launched, some netizens commented: In the first round of 1v1, Ai Ge lost to Brother Dog by a big score. The answer I gave at that time was-"There are always moments when the touch that affects your decision is a moment. When that moment is in place, your decision is completed, and Brother Dog gave me such a touch."
At the beginning of the year, Mango TV and TVB jointly created "Sound Without Stop", although the popularity on the Internet was not as good as expected, it opened up a new idea for sound synthesis production.
All major platforms have tried the sound synthesis of band type, band type, musical type and original communication type. Nowadays, the audience’s view of the sound synthesizer is no longer limited to just singing itself. Zuo Jin, the general director, said that she also likes the program "The Sound is Endless" very much. The sound is endless, which is the cut of Chinese and Hong Kong music and brings a great surprise to the industry.
"Sound Without Stop" divides the sound synthesis field into more sub-tracks, which has also become the direction of joint efforts of all sound synthesizers.
Specific to rap variety,This season’s "China Rap Summit" has also begun to explore many sub-sectors such as national style rap, electronic rap, band rap, etc., and rapper’ rap stage has also integrated these styles.
After the first program was broadcast, Liu Cong’s new song "Breeze Tune" quickly made the QQ music soaring list and the fast-shaking list, and Wang Yitai’s "Pride" directly put the band on the rap stage, with a barrage as if it came to "Summer of the Band". In the third program, Don’t be afraid of getting old, which was jointly performed by Wang Yitai and Ai Ge, soared to the top three in the Netease cloud music hot search list, the top two in the new song list and the hottest video on the stage.
In addition, although "China Rap Summit" also encountered some practical difficulties in the recording process. The original plan of the program was to start recording in March 2022. However, due to the epidemic prevention and control policies in various places, the program production team had to stay in Shanghai.
It also took some time to determine the list of 24 rapper before recording. Zuo Jin, the general director, said that she was very anxious every day after April. Because the program could not be recorded for a long time, the idea of broadcasting in the early summer file in May came to an end. Even if we don’t record it, the whole project may go bankrupt.
Until the beginning of May, the production team finally finalized the final recording location, time and the list of participating rapper. The production team, including some artists, took 16 hours to drive from Shanghai to Shandong Film and Television Base, recorded the first issue in early June, and successfully broadcast the content of the pilot film on June 25th.
"But when the program officially started recording, I immediately felt that all the efforts made this year were worthwhile." General director Zuo Jin said.
"From 0 to 6":How can rap variety continue?
At the beginning of the pilot film "China Rap Summit", firstly, a short film with animation and explanation was used to carefully introduce the development history of China rap culture to the audience.
In the short film, there are not only several rap variety shows made by iQiyi, but also two rap programs produced by Mango TV and bilibili, Rap Listen to Me and Rap New Generation. The fans in Harbin circle have a high recognition of this short film. Although the China rap variety show has been going on for the sixth year, it was not until this short film came out that China rap was really combed from beginning to end under the camera.
As a rap variety with the title of "Comprehensive N Generation" and the first rap variety that set off Chinese rap in China, China Rap Summit always seems to have a sense of mission."China Rap Summit" wants to bring rapper who are in the peak stage together and build another peak.
"China Rap Summit" should not only be a rap variety, but also make Chinese rap have a higher position in the Chinese music scene.
In the second issue of "China Summit", the rapper played the last match on the 1v1 stage, and they sang a kung fu song "Generation", which made the audience under the stage red-eyed. The lyrics say, "Some have become history, some have become corners, some have become stars, and some have followed suit. This is our generation, when we leave and bury all the albums together. "
General director Zuo Jin said, "In recent years, it can be clearly felt that rap culture has driven consumption.In recent years, many club in Shanghai have started to do rap themes. When you go to the club on weekends, you can see all the young people who like to rap. In the past, these places did more electronic music. "There are many rapper, which will set the performance venue of live house in club around the country, which indirectly drives consumption.
Rap may still be a minority, unpopular and "dirty" music in the eyes of some people. But actually,Through the constantly changing and innovative rap variety in the past six years, rap culture is driving and changing the musical taste of a group of young people.
A major mission of China Rap Summit is to gather the top rappers in China and provide a platform for them to make songs and stage, so that rap lovers and pan-music audiences in the market can see that there have always been a group of serious rappers in the Chinese music scene. I hope everyone can recognize their original ability.
Let the public still have expectations for the rap culture, which is the key to the sustainable development of China Rap Summit.
Rap variety from the first year of sudden emergence, to the middle four years of decreasing popularity, and then to seek a breakthrough in the sixth year. The existing problems are not only that the old rapper and the new rapper are not connected, it is difficult for rap to break through the inherent circle and turn the heat into national popularity, but also that the audience is tired of the stage competitive variety.
These problems also need to be faced and solved by China Rap New Peak, and the market is still waiting for it to "stir up" the summer file.