It’s always good discovering new music. It’s even better when the music you’ve discovered is made by a man named after a juicy sausage wrapped in a soft bun. Quite possibly topped with mustard. Ketchup. Maybe even a pickle or some chilli. Enter MC Hotdog.
Like sweet, tasty fast food for the ears, MC Hotdog has been one of Taiwan’s biggest popstars for over a decade and has been dubbed the godfather of Chinese hip-hop amongst fans and peers alike.
He rose to fame in 2001 after selling over 220,000 records from releasing a collection of mini-CDs and has since gone on to be one of Asia’s highest selling artists.
His latest record Ghetto Superstar received critical acclaim last year, winning Album of the Year at the Golden Indie Music Awards, whilst hits such as High High Life and Leave have made him a huge star, even receiving attention in the western world.
The 36-year-old toured the USA in 2004 with rock musician Chang Chen-yue, whom MC Hotdog collaborated with him on I Want Money which featured on Chen-yue’s album Goodbye a year later.
MC Hotdog’s music has also had large levels of success with brands too with I Love Taiwanese Girls providing the soundtrack to a commercial for Kuang Chuan Tea Time, whilst earlier this year saw him teaming up with PokerStars for catchy hit Poker Star.
The song, which reflects his time on the road playing cards on the tour bus, is taken from his upcoming album and includes a stylish video which has been viewed over 200,000 times on YouTube.
His involvement with the brand was to promote the Macau Poker Cup’s Red Dragon Main Event, and offered fans the chance to play alongside their music hero with the opportunity to battle it out for over TWD $19million in prize money.
“I enjoy poker,” the Taipei-native said. “I love the competitive mind sport aspect of the game.”
But of course he has a little less competition when it comes to his music; MC Hotdog is the number one flavour.
His upcoming album, featuring Poker Star, is highly anticipated as the superstar looks to follow up hit album Ghetto Superstar, as well his collaboration with Hong Kong Canadian Edison Chen Super Brothers, an album in which the titles were all directly related to Super Mario.
Whilst MC Hotdog may not be huge in the Western world, it’s certainly worth a taste of his records. Hip-hop spans the globe, each country serving up something different, whether that be Belgium’s Stromae, France’s Booba, or Brazil’s Marcelo D2, it’s always a fresh look on a genre that become quite tiresome with the charts clustered with the same formats. MC Hotdog can well and truly be added to that list, representing Asian hip-hop and a sub-genre that should well and truly be given a listen.
