Vava (rapper)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mao Yanqi (Chinese: 毛衍七; born 29 October 1995),[1] professionally known as Vava, is a Chinese rapper from Ya'an, Sichuan, China.[2] She has been called China's Rihanna.[3] Her English stage name Vava is synonym for "doll" in Chinese (Chinese: 娃娃; pinyin: Wawa), chosen as she had a "baby face" when she was little.[4]

Mao Yanqi
毛衍七
VaVa2017.jpg
Mao at a performance in 2019.
Born29 October 1995
Ya'an, Sichuan
NationalityChina
OccupationSinger, Rapper
Years active2017-Present


Childhood/Early Career[]

Mao Yanqi was raised in a single parent household[5] after the death of her father.[6] While her mother worked far away from home,[1] her grandmother helped to care for her.[citation needed] At the age of 16 she chose to leave school and focus on developing her talents as a performer.[2] She traveled around performing in local bars near her home in Chengdu.[4] Later, she began to travel around China performing.[4] She met hip-hop producer Double G in Shenzhen city, and joined his team based in Shanghai.[2]

Rise to Fame[]

Vava rose to fame from her performance on the first season of the iQiyi television show The Rap of China. This show helped to bring underground rappers into the spotlight.[7] During the season she rapped in both chinese and Mandarin Sichuan dialects.[2] In the second round, she performed “Life’s a Struggle” but changed the lyrics to match her own childhood experiences.[1] She was the only female to reach the top four.[2]

She released her first album “21” on October 6, 2017.[citation needed] One song from the album, "My New Swag" (我的新衣) was featured in the 2018 film Crazy Rich Asians.[8] Vava was also featured in "New World" by Krewella.[9][10] She had a modeling contract with American designer Alexander Wang[6] and the sportswear brand Kappa.[1]

In 2018, the Chinese government blocked hip-hop culture and actors with tattoos from appearing television.[11][12] As a result, VaVa was removed from a television show named Happy Camp.[13] She said being off TV gave her time to focus on making music.[4]

Her second album, "毛衍七", was released on November 6, 2019.[14] VaVa signed with Warner Music China in August, 2019.[3][15]

Chinese Hip-Hop[]

While Vava was influenced by Rihanna (from Barbados) and Little Simz (From England), her biggest musical influence as a child was Jay Chou.[4] VaVa is a strong advocate for incorporating more Chinese influences in Chinese hip-hop and rap.[4] In her popular song “My New Swag” she used several traditional Chinese instruments: pipa (琵琶), erhu (二胡), suona (唢呐), ban lei (Chinese clave), and gongs.[5] She also incorporated a short piece from a Peking opera, Selling Water, during the bridge,[16] sung by opera singer Wang Qianqian.[17]

Discography[]

21 (2017)[]

No.TitleTranslated titleLength
1."U Should Know My Name (Intro)"U Should Know My Name (Intro)1:14
2."Ego (feat. Blow Fever & Lexie)"Ego (feat. Blow Fever & Lexie)3:16
3."我的新衣 (feat. Ty. & 王倩倩)"My New Swag (feat. Ty. & Nina Wang)4:05
4."網紅"Internet Celebrity3:52
5."Get It On The Floor"Get It On The Floor3:08
6."Happy Everyday"Happy Everyday3:16
7."Life's a Struggle"Life's a Struggle3:50
8."讓 (feat. Evis Wy)"U Make Me (feat. Evis Wy)3:33
9."Rap Star"Rap Star3:58
10."Back In My Zone"Back In My Zone3:29
11."On My Way (Outro)"On My Way (Outro)1:26
Total length:35:05

21 Part II (2018)[]

No.TitleTranslated titleLength
1."找朋友"Find Friends3:04
2."One (feat. Lexie Liu)"One (feat. Lexie Liu)3:08
3."Jump out of the window (feat. Evis Wy)"Jump out of the window (feat. Evis Wy)3:19
4."说唱大帝 (feat. Kozay)"Rap Emperor3:31
5."玻尿酸"Hyaluronic4:00
Total length:17:03

毛衍七 (2019)[]

No.TitleTranslated titleLength
1."Intro" 1:23
2."D.I.W.D" 3:19
3."Rainbow" 3:17
4."所以说 (feat. 李大奔 & 王子)"So...? (feat. Benzo & Zi)3:36
5."Friends" 3:58
6."Lie" 3:05
7."Higher Than You" 3:10
8."梦中情人 (feat. 满舒克)"Dream Lover (feat. Young Jack)3:48
9."QUEEN IS BACK" 2:58
10."4" 3:25
Total length:31:59

Vow (2020)[]

No.TitleLength
1."23:40 (Can't Commit)"2:52
2."Never Mind"1:43
3."The Weekend"2:46
4."Paper Passion"2:25
5."Man in a Ghost Town"2:47
Total length:12:35

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Verberg, Gabi. "The Women Changing the Chinese Rap Scene: Top 3 Most Popular Female Rappers of China". Retrieved 2020-04-01.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e "China's hip-hop queen makes her mark on Crazy Rich Asians". South China Morning Post. 2018-08-21. Retrieved 2020-04-01.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b "Chinese Rapper Vava Signs to Warner Music China". Billboard. 2019-08-09. Retrieved 2020-04-01.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f "VaVa: The Chinese rapper on her difficult childhood, Chinese hip-hop and government censorship". Esquire SG. Retrieved 2019-10-18.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b Montgomery, William (2019-05-27). "Analysis and Utilization of Hip-Hop Techniques in Classical Music". LSU Doctoral Dissertations.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b Sullivan, Jonathan; Zhao, Yupei (2019-12-17). "Rappers as Knights-Errant: Classic Allusions in the Mainstreaming of Chinese Rap". Popular Music and Society. 0: 1–18. doi:10.1080/03007766.2019.1704476. ISSN 0300-7766.
  7. ^ bureau, Beijing (2017-09-13). "Hip-hop takes centre stage in China". BBC News. Retrieved 2020-04-01.
  8. ^ "You'll Want To Listen To All Of These Amazing Songs From 'Crazy Rich Asians' On Repeat". Bustle. Retrieved 2020-04-01.
  9. ^ "Krewella & Yellow Claw – New World (feat. Vava)". www.apelzin.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 2020-04-01.
  10. ^ Bhavani, Divya Kala (2018-12-31). "Live for the night with Krewella". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2020-04-01.
  11. ^ "China Has Banned Hip-Hop Culture and Tattoos From TV Shows". Time. Retrieved 2020-04-01.
  12. ^ 安东 (2018-01-19). "总局提出节目嘉宾标准:格调低纹身嘻哈文化不用|歌手|李泉|广电总局_新浪娱乐_新浪网". ent.sina.com.cn. Retrieved 2020-04-01.
  13. ^ "太惨了，这一期《快乐大本营》把vava的镜头剪光了-腾讯网". new.qq.com. Retrieved 2020-04-01.
  14. ^ 毛衍七, retrieved 2020-04-01
  15. ^ "Vava Signs to Warner Music China - Warner Music Group Official Blog". Warner Music Group Official Website. Retrieved 2020-04-01.
  16. ^ 彭嘉彬 (2017-10-27). "【一首歌】VaVa《我的新衣》嘻哈加京劇 最強跨界合作". 香港01 (in Chinese). Retrieved 2020-04-01.
  17. ^ "The Chinese rappers showing the world how cool China is". South China Morning Post. 2018-03-03. Retrieved 2020-04-01.
Retrieved from ""