About the Band

KOU CHOU CHING

Having taken their name from a Taiwanese phrase dealing with the hard labor of the harvest season, this group directly shows off its dedication to Taiwan roots music. fishLIN and Fan Chiang who met while competing at street festivals make up the core of the crew. These two rappers became fast friends and joined forces over their love for Taiwan. With the help of DJ j. little who scratches over their Chinese, Taiwanese, Hakka and Hoklo lyrics and suona players Achino and Yobo who add an acoustic folk dimension to the sound, KOU CHOU CHING become complete and successful in creating a distint Taiwanese hip hop sound that pays homage to its native island of Taiwan.

Members:

fishLIN - MC
Fan Chiang - MC
j. little - DJ
Achino - Suona
Yobo - Suona

Links:

KOU CHOU CHING’s Myspace
KOU CHOU CHING’s Website
KOU CHOU CHING’s Blog
KOU CHOU CHING on Island of Sound

Taiwanese CDs

KOU CHOU CHING
FuKe

CD Album - TW007 $10.99

TRACK LIST:

  1. Intro
  2. Tiu Tiu Ssu Hsiang Chi (F.Jasonshu)
  3. Hong Bao Culture (F.LOC)
  4. Confluent People
  5. Skit
  6. Energumen(Intro)
  7. Energumen(F.Jasonshu & Ianl)
  8. Hou Chui Tao
  9. Your Name Is TAIWANESE!!
  10. Against Nature(F.Volvix)
  11. Outro

PACIFICTION REVIEW:

Among the hip hop scene in the West there is an undeniable fascination with the Orient which occasionally is as in-your-face as the Wu-Tang Clan's kung fu theme and concept album Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) or the more meditative Asian philosophy and martial arts inspired Arsonists track "Language Arts" which samples the Japanese koto. In Asia we find a fascination with hip hop culture as well, but not many groups think to look at their own roots and use them within the urban based sound. With the release of FuKe by the unique Taiwanese hip hop crew KOU CHOU CHING, the East is finally getting some revenge!

FuKe features MCs fishLIN and Fan Chiang spitting binglan flavored rhymes in the island's myriad languages of Taiwanese, Chinese, Hakka and Hoklo over samples as diverse as Chinese opera and classical music as well as Taiwanese folk songs and oldies. The recordings also feature acoustic sounds from the souna or Chinese oboe and occasional live drum tracks which gives the album a brighter more festive feel. The music is always rooted in Taiwan while the lyrics approach the humor of late night talk radio and karaoke bar conversation yet the tone is kept serious enough to let you know they are breaking cultural barriers as well as generational gaps. When you listen to KOU CHOU CHING you hear real Asian hip hop using the sounds of their ancestors.

OTHER CDs BY THIS BAND

KOU CHOU CHING
KOU!!! It's Coming Out!

Double CD Albummore info $17.99