Vava (rapper)

Mao Yanqi (Chinese: 毛衍七; born 29 October 1995),[1] professionally known as Vava, is a Chinese rapper from Ya'an, Sichuan, China.[2] She has been called China's Rihanna.[3] She chose the English name Vava because it sounds like "baby" in Chinese (Chinese: 娃娃; pinyin: Wawa), as she had a "baby face" when she was little.[4]

Vava in 2017

Childhood/Early Career

Mao Yanqi was raised in a single parent household[5] after the death of her father.[6] While her mother worked far away from home,[1] her grandmother helped to care for her. At the age of 16 she chose to leave school and focus on developing her talents as a performer.[2] She traveled around performing in local bars near her home in Chengdu.[4] Later, she began to travel around China performing.[4] She met hip-hop producer Double G in Shenzhen city, and joined his team based in Shanghai.[2]

Rise to Fame

Vava rose to fame from her performance on the first season of the iQiyi television show The Rap of China. This show helped to bring underground rappers into the spotlight.[7] During the season she rapped in both Mandarin and Sichuan dialects.[2] In the second round, she performed “Life’s a Struggle” but changed the lyrics to match her own childhood experiences.[1] She was the only female to reach the top four.[2]

She released her first album “21” on October 6, 2017.[8] One song from the album, "My New Swag" (我的新衣) was featured in the 2018 film Crazy Rich Asians.[9] Vava was also featured in "New World" by Krewella.[10][11] She had a modeling contract with American designer Alexander Wang[6] and the sportswear brand Kappa.[1]

In 2018, the Chinese government blocked hip-hop culture and actors with tattoos from appearing television.[12][13] As a result, VaVa was removed from a television show named Happy Camp.[14] She said being off TV gave her time to focus on making music.[4]

Her second album, "毛衍七", was released on November 6, 2019.[15] VaVa signed with Warner Music China in August, 2019.[3][16]

Chinese Hip-Hop

While Vava was influenced by Rihanna (from Barbados) and Little Simz (From England), her biggest musical influence as a child was Jay Chou.[4] VaVa is a strong advocate for incorporating more Chinese influences in Chinese hip-hop and rap.[4] In her popular song “My New Swag” she used several traditional Chinese instruments: The ban lei (Chinese clave), gongs, and a guzheng (Chinese zither).[5] She also incorporated a short piece from a Peking opera, Selling Water, during the bridge,[17] sung by opera singer Wang Qianqian.[18]

Along with other Mainland pop culture figures, VaVa has spoken against pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, saying that she feels that Hong Kong will always be a part of China on her social media pages.[6]

Discography

21 (2017)
No.TitleTranslated titleLength
1."U Should Know My Name (Intro)"U Should Know My Name (Intro)1:14
2."Ego (feat. Blow Fever & Lexie)"Ego (feat. Blow Fever & Lexie)3:16
3."我的新衣 (feat. Ty. & 王倩倩)"My New Swag (feat. Ty. & Nina Wang)4:05
4."網紅"Internet Celebrity3:52
5."Get It On The Floor"Get It On The Floor3:08
6."Happy Everyday"Happy Everyday3:16
7."Life's a Struggle"Life's a Struggle3:50
8."讓 (feat. Evis Wy)"U Make Me (feat. Evis Wy)3:33
9."Rap Star"Rap Star3:58
10."Back In My Zone"Back In My Zone3:29
11."On My Way (Outro)"On My Way (Outro)1:26
Total length:35:05

21 Part II (2018)
No.TitleTranslated titleLength
1."找朋友"Find Friends3:04
2."One (feat. Lexie Liu)"One (feat. Lexie Liu)3:08
3."Jump out of the window (feat. Evis Wy)"Jump out of the window (feat. Evis Wy)3:19
4."说唱大帝 (feat. Kozay)"Rap Emperor3:31
5."玻尿酸"Hyaluronic4:00
Total length:17:03

毛衍七 (2019)
No.TitleLength
1."Intro"1:23
2."D.I.W.D"3:19
3."Rainbow"3:17
4."所以说 (feat. 李大奔 & 王子)"3:36
5."Friends"3:58
6."Lie"3:05
7."Higher Than You"3:10
8."梦中情人 (feat. 满舒克)"3:48
9."QUEEN IS BACK"2:58
10."4"3:25
Total length:31:59

Vow (2020)
No.TitleLength
1."23:40 (Can't Commit)"2:52
2."Never Mind"1:43
3."The Weekend"2:46
4."Paper Passion"2:25
5."Man in a Ghost Town"2:47
Total length:12:35
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References
  1. Verberg, Gabi. "The Women Changing the Chinese Rap Scene: Top 3 Most Popular Female Rappers of China". Retrieved 2020-04-01.
  2. "China's hip-hop queen makes her mark on Crazy Rich Asians". South China Morning Post. 2018-08-21. Retrieved 2020-04-01.
  3. "Chinese Rapper Vava Signs to Warner Music China". Billboard. 2019-08-09. Retrieved 2020-04-01.
  4. "VaVa: The Chinese rapper on her difficult childhood, Chinese hip-hop and government censorship". Esquire SG. Retrieved 2019-10-18.
  5. Montgomery, William (2019-05-27). "Analysis and Utilization of Hip-Hop Techniques in Classical Music". LSU Doctoral Dissertations.
  6. Sullivan, Jonathan; Zhao, Yupei (2019-12-17). "Rappers as Knights-Errant: Classic Allusions in the Mainstreaming of Chinese Rap". Popular Music and Society. 0 (0): 1–18. doi:10.1080/03007766.2019.1704476. ISSN 0300-7766.
  7. bureau, Beijing (2017-09-13). "Hip-hop takes centre stage in China". BBC News. Retrieved 2020-04-01.
  8. "VAVA个人专辑《21》全球上线 实力嘻哈燃爆今冬". ent.huanqiu.com. Retrieved 2020-04-01.
  9. "You'll Want To Listen To All Of These Amazing Songs From 'Crazy Rich Asians' On Repeat". Bustle. Retrieved 2020-04-01.
  10. "Krewella & Yellow Claw – New World (feat. Vava)". www.apelzin.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 2020-04-01.
  11. Bhavani, Divya Kala (2018-12-31). "Live for the night with Krewella". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2020-04-01.
  12. "China Has Banned Hip-Hop Culture and Tattoos From TV Shows". Time. Retrieved 2020-04-01.
  13. 安东 (2018-01-19). "总局提出节目嘉宾标准:格调低纹身嘻哈文化不用|歌手|李泉|广电总局_新浪娱乐_新浪网". ent.sina.com.cn. Retrieved 2020-04-01.
  14. "太惨了，这一期《快乐大本营》把vava的镜头剪光了-腾讯网". new.qq.com. Retrieved 2020-04-01.
  15. 毛衍七, retrieved 2020-04-01
  16. "Vava Signs to Warner Music China - Warner Music Group Official Blog". Warner Music Group Official Website. Retrieved 2020-04-01.
  17. 彭嘉彬 (2017-10-27). "【一首歌】VaVa《我的新衣》嘻哈加京劇 最強跨界合作". 香港01 (in Chinese). Retrieved 2020-04-01.
  18. "The Chinese rappers showing the world how cool China is". South China Morning Post. 2018-03-03. Retrieved 2020-04-01.
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