Many a video by foreigners about Hong Kong misses the mark or worse (note recent examples by an ignorant blogger and a sleazy pick-up artist.)
Fortunately, this YouTube clip featuring the rap-stylings of a couple of white guys from the United States shows some sincere appreciation for the city’s culture, and some pretty on-point Cantonese.
Titled What Up HK, the song is by group “The Gwai Lou Show”. “Gwai Lou”, which literally translates to “ghost man”, is Cantonese slang for white men.
Since appearing online last week, it’s been doing the rounds on social media, winning praise from the city’s netizens and racking up quite a view count, (some 60,000 on YouTube and 163,000 on Facebook).
In the music video — which was filmed in Utah — the group rap about how much they miss Hong Kong and can’t wait to go back.
Despite a few self-effacing lyrics like “we aren’t Chinese, because you hear the weird accent” and “we didn’t live in Hong Kong very long, so we can’t speak very fast,” many Hongkongers have praised the group for their near-perfect pronunciation of the local language.
Discussing the positive response to the video, one of its stars Ban Chai (real name Jared Eyring) called the feedback “amazing”.
“The reaction has been everything I could ever dream of!” he told Coconuts HK via message.
Ban Chai — a student from Arizona who’s currently studying business and marketing in California — said he and his friends started The Gwai Lou Show in 2010 to share their love for Cantonese culture and connect speakers of the language around the world.
He said he first visited Hong Kong as a volunteer with a church in 2007 and, over two years, picked up the language and submerged himself in the local culture.
Despite not having been back since leaving in 2009, Ban Chai said he and his friends had long wanted to write a song about their love for the city. Penning What Up HKtook two weeks, he said.
“Cantonese will always have a special place in my heart,” he said.
Ban Chai said that he had no immediate plans to return just yet, but hoped one day to perform What Up HK live in the city.
In the meantime, he said he’d continue to miss everything about the place, from the hotpot, steamed fish and shrimp and Hong Kong-style French toast, to the people, the views from the Peak, Chinglish, and even the announcements made on the MTR.
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