You down with P-R-C? Yeah, you know me!
It’s been a while since the People’s Republic raised the proverbial roof with an off-the-chains yet strictly on-message rap track offering a stilted, flagrantly establishmentarian take on current events, but thankfully the wait has come to an end.
“Get those foreign armies outta town,” roars a new music video by the patriotic Chinese rap group CD Rev, the illest rappers in the game (who aren’t above slandering the very notion of democracy with groan-worthy slant rhymes, that is).
The rap video, overlaid with clips of protesters clashing with police and breaking into Hong Kong’s legislative offices, is being shared by Chinese state media on its overseas and domestic social media accounts.
“Hey democracy! Once I heard you be found in the Middle East, people were throwing bombs across the city streets,” runs a sample line from the mostly English-language rap.
“If that’s what you want sorry I can’t agree, get those foreign armies outta town then we can talk about it.”
Eleven weeks of demonstrations have seen millions of people take to Hong Kong’s streets in the biggest challenge to China’s rule of the semi-autonomous city since its 1997 handover from Britain.
In turn, Beijing has intensified its rhetoric — decrying the “terrorist-like” actions of a violent hardcore minority among protesters — while accusing Western governments of inciting the pro-democracy rallies.
Indeed, in one particularly feisty line, CD Rev warn of Chinese troops “all gathering in Shenzhen, waiting for command to wipe out terrorists if needed.”
Not helping matters is US President Donald Trump, who is featured in the song noting in typically clueless fashion that “there’s probably something happening with Hong Kong” (“probably”? seriously?) before adding “Hong Kong is a part of China.”
It is not the first time Beijing has used rap as a vehicle for propaganda.
In March China’s official news agency, Xinhua, released a sonic monument to poorly vetted synonyms rap song to celebrate the annual meeting of the country’s rubber-stamp parliament and top political advisory body.
And CD Rev previously worked with the Communist Youth League to release This is China — a party-approved song bursting with national pride.
But rap isn’t the only medium state media seem intent on desecrating, with state broadcaster CCTV upping the ante over the weekend with a poem decrying Hong Kong’s protesters written in the style of a famous poem by Martin Niemoller describing the rise of Nazism.
Real classy, guys.
