Chinese Music Blog

HotDog is back! After four years of (recording) silence, Taiwan’s godfather of rap has returned to the scene with a full-length album (his first) and a vengeance; with this album, MC HotDog has proven himself to be everything Machi wish they were (except black) and then some. With beats that range from dance-pop style through rock to G-funk-influenced, a strong sense of humor, and definitely improved flow, Wake Up should, if there is any justice, see HotDog finally become the star he has always deserved to be.

In fact, I am so enamored of this album that I am going to go out on a limb here and publicly announce that I think, for my money, Wake Up will stand the test of time and rank in the top five Chinese-language albums of the year. In fact, barring any unexpected surprises I can’t imagine anyone other than Jay Chou or Stanley Huang being able to challenge this.

Now, to the content. Throughout the 17 tracks here, HotDog references acts and stars as varied as Jay, Shin, Queen (yes, that Queen, the Bohemian Rhapsody one), The Verve, Wang Lee-hom, David Tao, Machi, Patty Hou, Lin Chih-ling, and even himself, giving shout-outs, mocking, quoting lyrics, sampling, and twisting lyrics to his own nefarious ends. The skits, honestly, are a bit crap, but they’re a minor part – Intro and Chi-Ling Skit (sic) are standouts of those, however. Musically there’s nary a spot of crapness to be seen, though. The music itself is solid and varied, and HotDog’s flow and lyrics remain strong throughout, going from hardcore growl-style rapping to more melodic, lyrical flow, and never taking himself overly seriously (the pit that so many Chinese wannabe rappers fall into).

I was planning here to rattle off a list of recommended tracks, but that would be almost the entire album. The absolute pick of the crop, in my opinion, would be Encore (which quite noticably borrows from The Verve’s 1997 track Bittersweet Symphony), Welcome to Our Party (which is undoubtedly destined for clubs around Taiwan), and I Love TW Girls (guest starring Chang Chen-yue in one of his two vocal appearances on the album). Also worth an honorary mention are I Grew Up at TU, an ode to a well-known Taipei hip-hop club and to the macking skills of black men (yes, I’m serious. Thankfully HotDog’s not.), I Love Tiger Bitch, A-yue’s second appearance, and Annoying Life, a sequel to HotDog’s biggest previous single of the same Chinese name (我的生活).

The only problems with the album are the weakness of a couple of the skits, a personal lack of liking of Ma-Chu Song, and that he could really do with quoting himself less often, or at least quoting from Let Me Rap (Rang Wo Lai Rap, 让我来Rap) and My Life (Wo de Shenghuo, 我的生活) less often.

My conclusion? Buy this album. Now. If you have even the slightest appreciation of rap, you will not regret it.

For a sample, YouTube has the video for I Love TW Girls right here. Enjoy.