Chinese American rapper and hip hop star on his rise and why he turned down The Rap of China – twice
Bohan Phoenix has been asked to appear on hit reality show The Rap of China twice now, but he says he is focused on forging his own unique bilingual sound from his new base in Chengdu, where he moved to from Brooklyn last year
During one notable performance in the US, Bohan Phoenix raps over a simple drum beat when he suddenly switches from English to Mandarin. Surprised looks spread across the faces in the crowd as the rapper, wearing a knowing smile, delivers his lines with a downward drawl, hyping up the crowd.
Scenes such as this were common during his live shows in the US, but the 25-year-old Chinese-American rapper named Bohan Leng does not only perform in the States. Last year, he grew tired of travelling between the US and China for gigs and recording sessions, and decided to relocate from Brooklyn to Chengdu, in Sichuan province, where his extended family lives.
The move was well timed. Hip hop exploded in popularity across China last year due to the runaway success of the reality TV show The Rap of China – an American Idol-like show which pitted aspiring rappers against each other.
With hip hop now suddenly popular across China, Leng saw his booking requests surge – and he didn’t even appear on the show. “It gave me a lot more opportunities to perform. It created so much demand for hip hop in China. It made me a lot of money. It helped me settle back into China, at least financially.”
The producers of The Rap of China invited Bohan to appear on seasons one and two of the show, but Leng turned them down. “That’s not how I want to have a dialogue with the rest of the world. If you go on the show, you’re edited in all kinds of ways. This is my life – I’m not going to hand it over to these guys,” he says.
