'让我介绍一个哥们儿'
July 26, 2013 1:14 PM   Subscribe

Xiaoou is a Norwegian artist who raps in Mandarin Chinese about income inequality in China, his love for Beijing, and going through a breakup.
posted by klue (8 comments total) 18 users marked this as a favorite
 
Here's a 2012 interview with him.
posted by cashman at 2:05 PM on July 26, 2013


I was digging on that same interview! It gives good context for his character and where he's coming from. Would love to read a more in-depth piece, too.

What an interesting world we live in.
posted by batmonkey at 2:08 PM on July 26, 2013


Big in China is the new Big in Japan.
posted by three blind mice at 3:32 PM on July 26, 2013 [1 favorite]


From the article: "Where was the video from 'Nage Nage Laowai' filmed? It didn't look like Beijing.
It was shot in Brisbane, Australia. I lived there for a while, and it was filmed in the backyard where I lived."

Okay, that explains a lot. The video had me wondering "Where the heck in Beijing are there backyards or palm trees like that?" Had me wondering if it was shot somewhere in southern China.

His Mandarin is quite good. Is he pronouncing things like 边 as bi-an on purpose? Is it a rap style?
posted by jiawen at 8:17 PM on July 26, 2013 [1 favorite]


Wow, pretty surreal. I don't know Mandarin but his raps sound good.
posted by ChuckRamone at 8:39 PM on July 26, 2013


Is he pronouncing things like 边 as bi-an on purpose? Is it a rap style?

Probably. You'll notice how the rhymes wouldn't have worked otherwise.
posted by klue at 12:28 AM on July 27, 2013


I'm Norwegian, and one of the innate Norwegian superpowers is detection of a Norwegian accent in other languages. I don't speak a word of Mandarin, but I can't really listen to this, because his Norwegian accent bothers me so much. It's definitely from the south east of Norway, probably Oslo, possibly center-east Oslo.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 1:05 AM on July 27, 2013 [3 favorites]


(The mix of an obvious Norwegian intonation with a language I don't understand at all also makes me worry I've just had a stroke)
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 1:07 AM on July 27, 2013 [1 favorite]


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