Straight outta Xinjiang

Over summer, the second season of the popular online reality show The Rap of China, said to have been viewed more than 800 million times, has ensured that the voices of Xinjiang rappers could be heard in many more corners of the internet. Reinforcing that marketing power, anecdotes and snippets of news about them have been the daily staple of social media chitchat, thus swelling even more the ranks of those who have switched on to Xinjiang rap.

For this feature story China Daily talked with a handful of Xinjiang rappers who were among the most outstanding performers in this year's The Rap of China and to the people who have helped Xinjiang hip-hop music find its voice. They include Air, Chen Jiashen, Duo Lei, Ma Jun and Nawukere.

Chen, 26, whose stage name is After Journey, finished third in last year's The Rap of China and since then has been busy touring and producing a new album as well as singing for movies and modeling for magazines.

In May he and another Xinjiang rapper, Huang Xu, joined forces to make their first foray into the West, playing in five cities in the US, including Boston, New York and Chicago. In addition, the pair attended several concerts as audience members, which helped them gain an appreciation of the current state of hip-hop and rap in the country.

"The rappers sang in various languages, including Chinese, and there was a huge range of themes," Chen says.

"Hip-hop music is very open to different cultures, which is one reason that it has grown so fast in Xinjiang."