{"id":929702,"date":"2026-10-12T02:20:19","date_gmt":"2026-10-12T02:20:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/929702\/"},"modified":"2026-10-12T02:20:19","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T02:20:19","slug":"in-pictures-how-hks-gen-z-rappers-are-navigating-their-careers-online","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/929702\/","title":{"rendered":"In Pictures: How HK\u2019s Gen Z rappers are navigating their careers online"},"content":{"rendered":"

Words by James Lee<\/p>\n

Hong Kong\u2019s local rap scene has been going through a dry spell lately. Shows, as with other independent music scenes, have shrunken in size and dropped in frequency since the days of the Covid-19 pandemic, when local subcultures rallied around homegrown talent.<\/p>\n

\"CheeseekitCheeseekit at a rap concert on July 26, 2026. Photo: Kyle Lam\/HKFP.<\/p>\n

\"HKFP<\/a><\/p>\n

\"AA rap concert on July 26, 2026. Photo: Kyle Lam\/HKFP.<\/p>\n

\"AA rap concert on July 26, 2026. Photo: Kyle Lam\/HKFP.<\/p>\n

Whereas promoters could once fill venues such as the now-demolished Star Hall with a capacity of 3,600, it\u2019s now smaller club gigs that are keeping performers\u2019 heads above water \u2014 buoyed, in no small part, by bar sales.<\/p>\n

Cheeseekit, Le Shing, and DRG are part of a slate of young rappers that have cropped up in recent years.<\/p>\n

From promoting their music and dodging toxic online backlash to navigating political sensitivities, visibility and vulnerability are intrinsic parts of an online ecosystem in which these young artists are navigating their careers.<\/p>\n

Mr. Enjoy Da Money<\/p>\n

The three rappers are acutely aware that relying on their art alone is unsustainable. Tedious day jobs \u2014 making deliveries and selling pastries \u2014 are necessary if they want to keep making music in this economy, especially in the early stage of their careers.<\/p>\n

\"LeftLeft to right: Le Shing, Cheeseekit, and DRG, on September 7, 2026. Photo: Kyle Lam\/HKFP.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll hold off getting a job until I can\u2019t afford not to,\u201d says Cheeseekit with a chuckle, only to draw a swift retort from Le Shing: \u201cWe have rent!\u201d<\/p>\n

For his age, Cheeseekit has achieved an uncanny degree of commercial success, having booked shows where he gets paid about as much as a waiter\u2019s monthly salary for just a 15-minute set.<\/p>\n

His nonchalance belies mercantile instinct necessitated by the challenges of working as a musician in Hong Kong, but also offset by a healthy suspicion of materialism.<\/p>\n

\u201cTraditionally, in the world of hip hop, you\u2019d be considered cool if you have lots of money, girls, and chains. But to the rest of the world, that\u2019d be considered crass. You need to repackage that as something like the notion of winning big,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is the brand of money-worship that mainstream society easily accepts.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Cheeseekit,Cheeseekit, on September 7, 2026. Photo: Kyle Lam\/HKFP.<\/p>\n

He says this while wearing a long-sleeved baby-blue baseball tee with the words \u201cMr. Enjoy Da Money\u201d printed on the front \u2013 an item of merchandise from Chengdu rap group Higher Brothers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Taking control of the entire production process can also cut down on costs when cash is tight, with the added benefit of enjoying greater creative control.<\/p>\n

Whereas strict division of labour is more common among mainstream artists backed by major labels, the three artists are directly involved in the processes of beat selection, recording, mixing and mastering, and promotion, making for a highly individualistic do-it-yourself ethic.<\/p>\n

\"AA rap concert on July 26, 2026. Photo: Kyle Lam\/HKFP.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I hear the track, I might decide that I don\u2019t want piano in that part. But by then, the beat might have already been finished for more than a month,\u201d said Cheeseekit, describing the rare occasion that he has participated in a mainstream production.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe overheads are also lower when you do it yourself,\u201d added Le Shing, a member of independent label Yack Studio. This degree of creative control also means it is up to the artists themselves to market their music.<\/p>\n

Taming the algorithm<\/p>\n

\u201cImpressions are easy \u2013 it\u2019s the conversion rate that\u2019s tricky,\u201d Cheeseekit said, referring to the challenge of directing social media users from an Instagram Reel of himself lip-syncing over a lo-fi beat to his artist page on music streaming sites like Spotify.<\/p>\n

Each song that they drop calls for more than a dozen short-form vertical clips that they film and edit themselves, with meticulous attention to Gen Z-style algorithmic appeal. But almost 70 per cent of their time is sunk into marketing and promotion, with the remaining time dedicated to actually making music and performing.<\/p>\n

Compared with the promotional ecosystem in mainland China, Hong Kong\u2019s has some way to go, Cheeseekit said.<\/p>\n

\"DRG,DRG, on September 7, 2026. Photo: Kyle Lam\/HKFP.<\/p>\n

\"DRGDRG at a rap concert on July 26, 2026. Photo: Kyle Lam\/HKFP.<\/p>\n

He has played shows in Guangzhou in the past, where the local scene has built up a reliable, albeit strictly monitored<\/a>, marketing pipeline. It starts from tracking impressions on Douyin \u2014 the Chinese version of TikTok \u2014 to picking the cream of the crop for distribution on streaming sites like QQ Music.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe problem is just that Hong Kong\u2019s market is too small,\u201d he said. Indeed, what could a marketing machine do when there are no acts for them to manage?<\/p>\n

It follows that self-promotion in an increasingly algorithm-mediated social media environment can, at times, discourage the young musicians.<\/p>\n

Taking responsibility<\/p>\n

\u201cHong Kong\u2019s internet culture is just too toxic,\u201d said Le Shing, recalling how another rapper in the scene was relentlessly berated for performing in Mandarin at a festival a few years ago, instead of in Hong Kong\u2019s local language, Cantonese.<\/p>\n

\u201cPerhaps it\u2019s gotten better since then,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\"LeLe Shing, on September 7, 2026. Photo: Kyle Lam\/HKFP.<\/p>\n

Mandarin has long been perceived by Hongkongers as emblematic of broader, at times controversial demographic and socio-political changes in the city. \u201cBut language has never been a limitation\u201d in hip-hop, Cheeseekit said. \u201cWithin the scene, we don\u2019t have any biases against any particular language, though I can\u2019t speak for the listeners.\u201d<\/p>\n

The three musicians, all at 23 years of age, spent their teenage years amid some of Hong Kong\u2019s most turbulent ones, witnessing the city\u2019s 2019 protests and unrest as well as the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

The rappers are no strangers to political polarisation and petty squabbles on social media, but they know better than to get stuck in debates about language politics with anonymous Threads users.<\/p>\n

\"LeLe Shing at a rap concert on July 26, 2026. Photo: Kyle Lam\/HKFP.<\/p>\n

Instead, they view cultural and linguistic diversity as a driver for creative possibilities, and they have already begun looking beyond their mother tongues.<\/p>\n

Recalling a freestyle rap battle in Guangzhou well over a decade ago, Cheeseekit said that code-mixing in Cantonese and Mandarin has always been common in cyphers \u2014 a form of performance where a group of rappers \u201cbattle\u201d with their skills, competing for the approval of the surrounding audience.<\/p>\n

As if to carry on the tradition of hip-hop as a vehicle for criticism and social commentary<\/a>, the artists \u2014 to varying degrees \u2014 insert their own beliefs into their music. But like the rest of the city\u2019s creatives, they know there are risks.<\/p>\n

\"DRG,DRG, on September 7, 2026. Photo: Kyle Lam\/HKFP.<\/p>\n

Caution is non-negotiable, even if the three performers believe mass influence is out of the question, given the genre\u2019s limited reach.<\/p>\n

\u201cFar be it for me to have that effect,\u201d said DRG, who raps over a boom-bap sound reminiscent of \u201990s East Coast hip-hop. His latest releases are named after Cantonese slang terms that have been part of the Hong Kong vernacular for generations such as \u201c\u6fa9\u5aea\u201d (laau2gaau6), meaning messy or chaotic.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we\u2019re aware that whatever we release onto the internet can be seen by the entire world, and you have to take responsibility for whatever happens,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\"AA rap concert on July 26, 2026. Photo: Kyle Lam\/HKFP.<\/p>\n

Safeguard press freedom; keep HKFP free for all readers by supporting our team<\/a><\/p>\n

Support HKFP<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0Policies & Ethics<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0Error\/typo?<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0Contact<\/a>\u00a0 | \u00a0Newsletter<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0Transparency & Annual Report<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Apps<\/a><\/p>\n

Make a one-off donation.\t\t<\/p>\n

\"Google<\/a><\/p>\n

\"hkfp<\/a><\/p>\n

\"hkfp<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Words by James Lee Hong Kong\u2019s local rap scene has been going through a dry spell lately. Shows,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":929703,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[49,48,319348,75,65920,2523,319349,341,37878],"class_list":["post-929702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cheeseekit","tag-entertainment","tag-freedom-of-expression","tag-language","tag-le-shing","tag-music","tag-rap"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/929702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=929702"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/929702\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/929703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=929702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=929702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=929702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}