It 's a sunny afternoon at Modern Sky , one of China 's most popular outdoor music festivals , and 21-year-old rapper Yu Jialang is making his first appearance . Hands held high , excited fans crowd the stage to cheer for Yu , who describes himself as `` the baddest boy '' from his neighborhood , as he busts rhymes in Chinese . `` I make good stuff but I never imitate . Let me tell you a lil ' something about the hood I come from . Listen up . '' Yu is a Beijing university student majoring in drama and film literature , but his true passion is hip-hop . He wants to become one of China 's few professional rappers . `` Everyone I know , who 's really into rap music , will try to be a rapper , '' he says . `` It just feels natural for us to start rapping , to have the urge to make our own music . '' Yu grew up in Dingfuzhuang , a small village that has become part of Beijing 's urban sprawl -- a topic that informs his lyrics . `` Where I come from , there ai n't no kind elderly playing chess in ( the ) cool shade , '' he rhymes in one song . `` Only gamblers playing poker and bag-snatching thieves . '' Growing fan base . Yu has been playing gigs at local clubs since beginning of the year and has built up a fan base among young Beijingers . He also volunteers for a popular hip-hop radio show , `` Xi Ha Gong Yuan '' ( the park ) , where he make occasional appearances , and promotes his music through Chinese social media platforms like Weibo and Wechat . Started by DJs Kong Lingqi 'Def Jef ' and Wes Chen in 2006 , the radio show has been actively promoting hip-hop culture in China and holds gigs to provide stages for local rappers to perform . This year , they teamed up with the organizers of Modern Sky to set up a stage especially for hip-hop artists . China 's music festivals are usually dominated by rock bands and folk singers . U.S. rappers like Eminem and 50 Cent have been popular since early 2000s but it was only after the Beijing Olympics in 2008 that home-grown hip-hop found a fan base . In 2008 , Beijing-based rap group In3 brought hip-hop to public attention with their `` Beijing Welcomes You Back , '' a song dedicated to the Olympics . With its catchy rhymes and lyrics , the song went viral online soon after it was released . Individuality . College student Wang Dazhe , 20 , has been fan of hip-hop music since high school and was Yu 's back-up act at the festival . Wang says rap has become more popular among Chinese youth in recent years because his generation has been raised to pursue individuality . The genre allows them to express their emotions more directly than their elders . `` When I was in high school , I wanted to be different , '' says Wang . `` And hip-hop music is stimulating , it made me feel excited though I did n't understand much of the lyrics . '' He first listened to legendary U.S. rapper Tupac Shakur . Now his latest favorite is Los Angeles-based Kendrick Lamar . But compared to U.S. rappers , Wang says he prefers Chinese artists . `` Chinese rap shares a similar form with hip-hop in the U.S. , but they 're quite different . Hip-hop in the U.S. now is more about entertainment . '' `` Chinese rappers tend to tell stories of their everyday life , which I 'm more emotionally attached to . '' At the festival , crowd favorites were about city life -- the demolition of a historic building to a traditional local cuisine . In cities like Chengdu in China 's southwest , where residents prefer to use dialect rather than standard Mandarin , rappers use their local tongue . Underground genre . Kong believes hip-hop is getting bigger in China , with rap communities forming in cities across the country : . `` It 's very much like hip-hop in the early 90s in the States where you have a lot of people that like the music and a lot of people that are making the music . '' But unlike Chinese rock music , which enjoys tremendous mainstream popularity and huge commercial success , hip-hop still remains very much an underground genre . As Kong points out , its popularity has n't really translated into record deals and profits , especially for young artists like Yu . `` Record companies ( and ) music festivals , they do n't know hip-hop and they 're not ready to gamble on hip-hop , '' Chen says , `` Because of that , the artists struggle . '' Yu , who 's in his last year of college , is willing to take a chance that the market for Chinese rap will blossom . `` While mainstream rappers , like Eminem , have a huge fan base . Underground rappers can also make a good living , '' he says . But he also knows it 's going to be an uphill battle . `` I can just focus on making music and leave the rest to time and destiny . '' Likewise , Kong and Chen are optimistic about the future of Chinese hip-hop . They believe there will be more opportunities for rappers and more people to enjoy the music , with the new stage at the Modern Sky festival just the start . `` We had the smallest stage , with the biggest crowd . ''
Yu Jialang is one of China 's emerging home-grown rappers . Fans say hip-hop allows a younger generation to express their individuality . Lyrics are often about social problems and city life . An underground genre , there is little money to be made .