Although b-boying and hip hop dancing has become the dominant form of hip hop in Southeast Asia, every locale has a few crew trying to hold it down for real hip hop music. In Taiwan, the TriPoets (pronounced Zam-P in Chinese) are one of a few underground hip hop crew grinding away for years to master their musical craft and gain respect and a bit of notoriety along the way.

Founded in the summer of 2002, TriPoets consists Teacher Lin, Ill Mo and Shortee. They purposefully pattern themselves after their American Golden Age idols such as Black Moon, Common and A Tribe Called Quest. Subsequently, their music is often jazz-sample based. They rhyme in Mandarin, a language so difficult to rhyme in that it has taken years to find a way to make it sound natural. TriPoets released a mixtape in 2004, “Listen & Speak” and have done performed in Taiwan with such acts as Ice-T, Public Enemy, Supernatural, Toni Blackman and Kero One (San Fran).

Ill Mo took a minute away from finishing his Master’s Thesis (an analysis of Spike Lee’s film “Bamboozled” relative to post-modern black identity issues) to spread some knowledge of Taiwanese hip hop and the essence of TriPoets.

Can you tell us about how hip hop first came into Taiwan?

Mo: It came to Taiwan in many ways. Around late 80′s, influenced by the movies “Flashdance”,”Wild Style” and “Beat Street”, young kids start to b-boy. And big companies such as Coca-Cola started to host big dance competitions. As time went on, the competitions started to generate attention from the record companies and TV shows, so they decided to create pop groups who incorporate a hip hop image and dance moves to attract the young audience.

After that, the most popular group called L.A. Boyz was born, consisted with 3 members born in the U.S, with strong image looking like Kris Kross, they were very successful, who also started a trend for street dance. And then there was Ju Tou Pi, he was a musician who incorporates the technique of sampling and rapping to reflect the political and social issues in Taiwan.

However, none of the above had a clear image of an “MC.” Until the year 2000, MC Hotdog released his first single with the style similar to Eminem, criticizing the pop-music scene in Taiwan, the idea of a rapper became more clear. However, with the strong influence from the early days, the dance aspect of hip hop is still the strongest in Taiwan.

TriPoets – Anaconda (feat MC Hotdog):

I know MC Hotdog was a big deal in hip hop there. Were there any other like him doing their thing in hip hop?

MO: Yes, there are, shout out to my man Dog G. He played an important role to MC Hotdog’s success, also accompany him on a lot of his early works. Dog G released his independent album in mostly Taiwanese, the native language in Taiwan. He is known for his political stand and had been interviewed by many foreign media such as CNN and Time magazine, for that he is strongly supportive of the independence of Taiwan. He is also one of the most influential figures in the hip hop community, especially in the southern Taiwan, in his hometown Tainan City.

Is hip hop in Taiwan mainly represented by music (MCs and producers) or do the other elements also shine (graffiti writing, b-boying, DJing)?

Mo: As we mentioned above, the b-boys and street dance is still the dominant element of hip hop in Taiwan. They can be seen behind pop stars doing dances. It doesn’t matter mainstream or underground, the b-boys are very active in Taiwan. As for DJs, they can be seen in clubs spinning, and graf writers can apply their skills to modern art and designing. Sadly, there are not too many “true” hip hop acts here in Taiwan as far as music is concerned. And that is exactly why we are still doing our thing.

What is the hip hop scene like in Taiwan right now?

Mo: Commericialized. And there are less and less shows and gigs for true hip hop supporters. There are die hard fans for it, but most of the times they are just not enough for the people working hard, fighting to make good music.

How did you first get into hip hop?

Shortee: When I was in junior high school, I first heard of Kris Kross. It caught my attention immediately. And for the events, I first went to the party held by Def Soul (the first organization to promote hip hop parties in Taiwan). Around year 1999, DJ Chicano was spinning, and he is still spinning till now, he is a strong influence in my early days.

Mo: My first hip hop CDs were Biggie’s “Ready to Die”, Snoop and Warren G’s first albums. It was also around my junior high school days. And I also went to Doobiest (the Tribal Streetwear Clothing shop founded by DJ Chicano and his friends), it was the hip hop information center back then with dancers and DJs. And I also went to some of the Def Soul parties as well.

How did TriPoets get together?

Mo: We first met in 1999, when one of our member Teacher Lin received a head position in Hip Hop Culture club in his university. Based on our passion for music and similar taste, we started to write rhymes and perform together. By 2002, the TriPoets was officially formed, after we had accumulate enough works, we released our first underground mixtape, which was also the first underground hip hop/rap music release in Taiwan. From then on we worked even harder to reach better quality, and finally we are putting out our official release in 2008 June through True Color, and the name of the album will be called “The Beginning of Rhymes.” It is our heart and soul in the album, hope the audience can feel our passion for the music.

What is the purpose of your music?

Shortee: To get paid and get laid (just kidding). Seriously, we aim to entertain and educate the audience through the music.

Mo: To incorporate our lives into rhymes, and to show that it is possible to overcome the obstacle of language and affect people with the rhymes. Basically, to make dope rhymes and dope music to touch people like how hip hop moved our hearts.

Tell us about your process of writing songs. Do you start with lyrics or beats? Is it hard to find recording studios there?

Shortee: It happens in both ways. There is no limit to it.

Mo: Thank God for Shortee. He has some equipment in his house where we can record the demos and he does production as well, and True Color has a official studio called Insert, which can provide quality booth and microphone and amp.

Describe your live stage show.

Mo: We tend to interact with the audience while getting our message across. It is very powerful and live. Also, we try to expand on the musical side by collaborating with bands and DJs as well.

What can we expect from your new album?

Shortee: The Golden Age type of hip hop, reminiscent of the good ol’ days, true skills of Mandarin rap and the art of sampling.

Mo: It is doable for listeners, we created the album based on the blueprint of classic hip hop albums, also to pay homage to the forefathers who paved the way in the past, much respect to them.

TriPoets – Used to Love Her:

What plans do TriPoets have for the future?

Shortee: Keep focusing on Mandarin rap skills development, to show that with the Chinese language we can still create dope hip hop music. And just to create dope hip hop music in general for music is the universal language.

Mo: Just to make good hip hop music that can touch people’s souls. And of course we’d like to step outside to Asia or different places of the world. We’re down to collaborate with dope artists all around the world, perhaps we will be doing something with Kero One soon. Hope that we can spread our music around the world. Also, don’t forget to check out “The Beginning of Rhymes” dropping in June 2008. Peace!

mp3: Looking For”

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mp3: “Trumpet Blows”

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