WILL HIPHOP BE TOTALLY BANNED FROM TELEVISION CULTURE IN CHINA?
Imagine a world without Drake, Kendrick Lamar or Future? If you live in the U.S., you’ll never have to, but if you’re a resident of the People’s Republic of China, you might not have a choice.The country’s top media regulator, the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television of the People’s Republic of China (SAPPRFT), now “specifically requires that programs should not feature actors with tattoos [or depict] hip hop culture, sub-culture (non-mainstream culture) and dispirited culture (decadent culture). Chinese news outlet Sina, reported the news.Gao Changli, who operates as SAPPRFT’s director of publicity, outlined a list of four commands TV stations can’t violate.
“Absolutely do not use actors whose heart and morality are not aligned with the party and whose morality is not noble,” reads one part of the new demands. “Absolutely do not use actors who are tasteless, vulgar and obscene. “Absolutely do not use actors whose ideological level is low and have no class. Absolutely do not use actors with stains, scandals and problematic moral integrity.”
Now, if you’ve followed hip-hop, or even paid a cursory amount of attention, you already know that, even by abstract definitions, the heavily capitalist leanings of rap culture don’t line-up all that well with the director’s country-prescribed values. So, with that in mind, you won’t be seeing 21 Savage’s “Bank Account” video, or 21, ever, in any of China’s airwaves.
Chinese rappers Mao Yanqi and Wang Hao have already been removed from shows on the country’s TV stations.
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