MOJO IN CHINA

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I-Emerge

admin | 31 July, 2006 15:20

Since 2002, I-Emerge has been active in the turntablist community as Head Professor at the Scratch DJ Academy (founded by the late Jam Master Jay, big shoutouts to Daddy Dog!!!) and member of the 5th Platoon. I-Emerge has won more championship titles in three years than any other DJ has accumulated in a lifetime.

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Asia Weather Is Messed Up, Son!

admin | 31 July, 2006 11:38

Living in Shanghai, with the 黄梅天 and the typhoons (台风) and the heat... all I gotta say is the weather is crazy here.

Went to weather.com, checked the temp. It's 93 F here, but ell me how with the humidity it feels like 101 F outside.

Asia Weather Is Messed Up, Son!

The humidity is just plain great, you can just stand outside and just start sweating. Your sweat glands move more than you do and you turn into a perspiration shower. Between the fumes and pollution... Taking a shower makes you feel like you are stripping layers of China off you. It's maddness.

Some places in China have decent air ventillation, but most don't. So you could be hotter in your own shaded covered home than being out in the sun. Messed up, yeah?
China has four hotspots... aka China's four furnaces: Nanjing (my old home!!), Nanchan, Chongqing and Wuhan. I never been to Nanchan, Chongqing or Wuhan... But Nanjing... Damn... It's this burning sensation that rips through your skull when you are over there.

Shanghai (2 1/2 hours from Nanjing on the fast train) is lucky cause we have water. (Hence Shang "上" - on, Hai "海" - sea)
Nanjing = concrete + buildings, which give Nanjing that perfect "furnace" temperature for the summer! Who likes baked humans?

Anyway, I am looking forward to September. I mean, ladies wearing less and outside barbecues are great... but I turn into a wet sponge with glasses when I am out here... No good...

Details, details, details

admin | 28 July, 2006 13:01

If I ran a translation company... I'd be damned if I didn't have folks with perfect langauge skills. Then again, nobody's perfect... But in my opinion on your website, all you got is your "面子" (face) and if you are a legit company out to make some big deals with big translations and big money, your game has to be tight. The following is a company that's getting there...

I feel sort of bad for this company... and it's real. They are ALMOST there, but... ehhh... you be the judge. Below is a following example of China at work.

I present...

WONDERFUL TRANSLATION!!

(I wish a lot of websites, posters and brochures around China would stop biting other people's pictures and changing them to make them their own. Madd tacky. Keep it real!)

10 Wonders of New China

admin | 26 July, 2006 10:37

China, as we all know, is on the come up. Here are some structures to show you what'a up next in China's architecture and what to look out for over the next decade... Presenting... The 10 Wonders of the New China

Shanghai World Finanical Center

(BTW, I've seen the construction site for this building with pictures of this structure. I think its in Pudong.)

I haven't lifted a weight in months

admin | 25 July, 2006 19:45

It's been a long time sine i have lifted a weight at a gym, and finally, I am getting my self together to actually get up and join a gym. I don't feel fat, I actually feel small...

I thought this was something that would bug me out when I was maybe 14-16 (I played American football in HS back then.), but nope, at 24. When your gf starts saying that you are getting too skinny, that's a problem...

It's common knowledge that in China, foreigners living here lose an average of 10 pounds while women gain 10 punds when they arrive in China. This could be genetics, this could be choices of food, or the difference in lifestyles for these two genders in this country.

Personally, I walk a lot, but don't do much to be skinny... I guess my heart is good, but I am losing mass out here...

So I've been looking at these gyms around here in Shanghai, and i am trying to firgure out. Here are some that are located in Shanghai...

China DMC 2007

admin | 24 July, 2006 13:38

Black Eyed Peas and Back to the Roots V 2.0 pics and vids coming soon. This will quench your thirst...

Back to the Roots Block Party V 2.0 pics by DJVibe.com

Mini-review by Shanghaiist.com

SmartShanghai pics

Black People's Toothpaste

admin | 22 July, 2006 14:01

My co-worker Eric picked up a free sample of this stuff from the street and brought it by the office. I saw it by his desk and I had to take a look. I've seen this brand before, but not up close, only on TV.

My boss David swung by and was kind of surprised by the package. He asked a valid question, "Why is there a black man on that toothpaste box?" I had to answer. "It's Black People's Toopaste. That's the official name."

黑人牙膏, hei-ren-ya-gao, black people tooth paste

David, thought this was weird, I've already seen this toothpaste throughout my two years all together in China, and yeah, it's weird. Why would there be a toothpaste called Black People's Toothpaste. I mean, what are we trying to say here? Black people's skin is so dark that it makes their teeth looker whiter? What is going on???

Anyway, David found an interesting site that even makes this situation even weirder and it goes into the toothpaste's original name... (What would've "Darlie" been back in the day??/ Think long and hard about it my little Sociology majors...) Check it out... http://www.toothpasteworld.com/specials.htm

China is strange to me in some ways and the color of people's skin can sometimes be an issue. China boasts on its "non-racism", but it's still around.

For me, the issue of race and skin color is stranmge for me, because for a black person, I am light. For example, and this happens with half the people I meet for the first time, I tell them I am black. The'll say, in Chinese, "No, you don't look that black." I'll ask what do you mean, and they'll say, "You just aren't that dark." I start to laugh and tell them again that black people, like Chinese, come in many different shades, but I am still black.

So that's a snippet of my black perspective of China. If you want to read more about Black people in China (all are doing their thang, might I add) , check out AfroShanghai.com.

Right now, I am gearing up for tonight's Back to the Roots Block Party V2 @ Blue Ice Club. BE THERE!!!

Notes from the Underground: Weekend Preview + BTTRBP

admin | 21 July, 2006 16:51

What's up Shanghai people (from the lao wai to the lao zhong's)... check out what's poppin this weekend, with a lil' sumpin' sumpin' about tomorrow's Back to the Roots show from Shanghaiist.com.

'Nuff respect to Aric Queen, GigShanghai's Wen Jiabao. I caught you in SH, man!

I LOVE MY MOM!!! WHAT???

MoJo's DJVibe.com Interview with World-famous Beatjunkies' DJ SHORTKUT

admin | 21 July, 2006 09:36

DJVibe.com is is curently filming a documentary on Hip-Hop in China. Besides filming local hip-hop acts, they also catch hip-hop celebs stopping by the Great Asian Tiger for a visit. The following is an interview and show with Beatjunkies superstar DJ Shortkut, hosted by yours truly. Turn up your speakers, chillax, and dig the vibe...

For more on the Grandmaster DJ Shortkut, check out http://www.myspace.com/djshortkut

"Who are the "World-famous Beatjunkies???" www.beatjunkies.com

For more dope videos like these, check out www.djvibe.com

Shoutouts to Graham and Jason...

"THEY SHOULD HAVE NEVER GAVE YOU PEOPLE MONEY!!!"

This interview was filmed at The Lab and Club Pegasus.

Chinese Language Vs. The World

admin | 20 July, 2006 10:08

So I speak Chinese. Big deal. Or is it?... Here's my story.

I started to learn Chinese because I wanted to try something different. An escape from the romance languages (I studied Latin for two years and Spanish for three). Besides trying something different, I had a lot of Chinese friends in high school, all American Born Chinese (ABCs). I had black friends, white friends, spanish, non-Chinese Asian friends... But the Chinese at my high school always treated me like I was one of the gang although physically, I was really different.

We would hang out in Chinatown (the ones in Manhattan AND Brooklyn), head to Times Square, run show in the cafeteria. it was fun times. They called me the "Blackanese".

Anyway, I'll save that one for another post, back to the language. I started taking Chinese in 2000, having never studied it, not know how China was different than Korea, which is different than Japan (cause it all sounded and looked the same to me, IT WAS ASIA!).

I studied at Middlebury College... Middlebury College Chinese Department...

I got my @$$ handed to me everyday for a year and by the time I left Midd, I was fluent. I started with D's and slowly moved up to B's, finally translated Tang Dynasty poetry. The man that got me started. John Berninghausen. Teacher Berninghausen or 白老师 made the Chinese department out of sweat, post Cultural Revolution China knowledge, and a team of amazing professors (Gregory Chiang-RIP, Thomas Moran, Xu Weihe, Carrie Reed, Wang Youhui)... And there's always the native teachers I've had that visited all the way from China to teach us the language (and spoke no english while in the middle of "farm town", Vermont!!) Niu Huimin and Su Bin.

When I took first year Chinese in 2000, my class size was about 15, in Fall 2004 (after my graduation from Midd) that first year Chinese class grew to 60.

On that note, I want to get into some articles from Time Magazine, written by some Midd Alumni on the populalrity of the Chinese language.

Get Ahead, Learn Mandarin by Austin Ramzy

Language Barriers by Austin Ramzy

A Humbling Education by Susan Jakes

For the geographically challenged...

admin | 18 July, 2006 18:39

Party Root the to Back (?China backwards Is)

admin | 18 July, 2006 17:49

"HEY LADY, GET YOUR FREAKIN' UMBRELLA OUTTA MY WAY!"

I like that name backwards...

So I was asked to go to Tianjin this Friday to MC. Some richies in Tianjin caught a whiff of my video in Tianjin and wanted me to return with the rhymes and the beats but I can't... Number one, I ain't got DSK with me, so that's a no-no and Number 2 I got some business I have to handle out here in Shanghai. And number three, they telling me this in REALLY short notice. Short notice. Short notice. Short notice.

In China, people like telling you to work with them on this or that something couldn't work out in short notice, at the last minute. Like my life is so filled with nothing that I will have the time to just drop on by and do whatever you need when you want it... uh-un, no sir. They wanted me to come up on Friday, Saturday's my show. The show on Saturday is something I've prepared for the last month when we had our FIRST Back to the Roots show, where we got ready for that 2 weeks before that show, SO technically I've been gearing up for this Friday's show for about 6 weeks.

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A little something about China I found on CNN

admin | 18 July, 2006 11:15

China economy keeps powering ahead

Yes, we all know China is growing a lot. And on that note, I took a fun pic on China from my camera:

A temple, a crane, and skyscrapers... Welcome to China.

I Detest Dumplings

admin | 17 July, 2006 09:31

I woke up at 4am. I didn't go for a run, I had a case of the runs.

I woke up at 4am. I didn't take Parker out for a walk, I took myself for a walk to the bathroom.

I woke up at 4am with 拉肚子(la du zi), something I haven't experienced since I first arrived into China.

I had some pretty decent tasting dumplings last night. Kyle hooked it up and it wasn't bad... at the time. Hours later, at the convenient time of 4am on a work night, 拉肚子set in.

When you are in China, and you eat Chinese food, the repurcussions of the food don't hit you until hours later, when you least expect it and during the time you least want it to happen. You feel like you are going to die for a good 30 mins, except you are in your bathroom feeling like all your internal organs are coming out. Graphic? Just wait till I tell you what the name means...

拉 - la - hot (this is an incorrect translation, the 拉 here actually stands for "to pull" or for "running", which could be related to the runs. What I ALSO found is that 拉 can mean "to excrete"... Jeez, I like hot better... thank you Kai for the help.)

肚子 - duzi - stomach

Yes, this is exactly what it feels like... You can't really translate that into English folks, its on some China ish.

拉肚子isn't anyone's fault except yours. Kyle had the same stuff as I did, and he held it all in like a champion, while I lost sleep, broke the seal, and had an uncomfortable (VERY) early morning.

I think any human being living in China must expereince a 拉肚子session once every four to six months. It's the way of life, it reminds you why people hang out in livingrooms and bedrooms, and not in bathrooms in China...

7:33PM

admin | 16 July, 2006 19:38

Another day at the Lab. Right now I'm working on an MC Show here happening in one month. I hope to get quite a few mc's to come through for a day of freestyling, battling and performance. A true dedication to rap and a mini-celebration of hip-hop.

It's hard to get this going because most mc's out here, particularly Shanghai MC's are more into the performance, making money, and battling folks to scar people rather than support and develop the cause.

This next show is supposed to be different. More about community and creating a following, a support, per say, for those MC's out here trying to make it happen in "Dirty Shanghai". But with all the focus on the glitz and glamour in the states, people in China also what a piece of the "bling-bling" pie.

Brining it "Back to the Roots" (per the name of the monthly parties by The Lab) is what we are trying to make with the MC's out here. I just watched the movies "Beef" and "Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme" and that just got me all excited about getting a group of people, local and not, from different countries and different languages out in Shanghai to spit for the people and let the world know that Shanghai indeed has a rap scene.

This, like China's globally reknowned economic development, will all take time.

Any MC's out here reading this, think of this moment in Shanghai as the Bronx in the 70's. Peace and love.

Pics and a vid of Jazzy Jeff and a SPECIAL GUEST...

admin | 14 July, 2006 10:52

Believe it, man.

AND... Mad Skillz...

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Get ready... Tonight... Jeff's gonna make this a night to rememeber...

admin | 13 July, 2006 14:18

New Banner for MoJoinChina.com

admin | 13 July, 2006 11:36

Check the new banner on top of this page!

Shoutouts to Lydia and Jason!!

"Be scared... be very scared..."

Wordsworth and 3D

admin | 12 July, 2006 18:25

Last Saturday's show was poor due to overexcessive pop/hip-hop and lack of rapping, but I don't blame the performers... oh no... I believe its the club's fault. The bosses had to have made these Brooklyn brothas do some dumbness.On some real weak ish, for real. Wordsworth, 3D, if you cats are reading this, come back to China and show us your true skills. One verse just ain't enough. Come to The Lab.

Tang King, MoJo, 3D, Wordsworth, Showtime

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DJ Jazzy Jeff in Shanghai!!!

admin | 12 July, 2006 18:24

"This needs no introduction."

Sensitive Beatbox

admin | 11 July, 2006 20:37

For Katherine...

Feel the power of Canon!!!

Jagermeister Launch at Vegas this Friday +

admin | 11 July, 2006 16:02

Sponsored by my peeps@ Buzz Magazine. Apparently it is a Bikini night and for any lady that walks in there with a bikini gets a 2000 kuai drink card for that night. The party begins around 10:30 11:00.

I'll be at Afuken afterward...

This is strange for me because both parties are very house, drum n' bass type styles... very diff than my norm of hip-hop, but hey, this is what i gotta do to keep up with the times. This is Shanghai. I'm out.

My New Buddy...

admin | 10 July, 2006 14:39

Sexy, ain't she?

It's the new Canon Digital Ixus i Zoom. Got a 1G memory card for thousands of pics and at least 60 mins or video recording. 5 megapixels for extreme sharpness. All kinds of settings that I can't even get into, but I'll let Canon do the talking...

RMB 1860 (approx. USD 230) for camera RMB 280 (approx. USD 35) for 1G memory card.

Yes and I bought it from Buy Now (百脑汇）go to stall 137. make sure u give him my price. If you can go any lower, do it, but 1860 is "the web price." Trust me.

Pics from camera coming soon!

Future Lab Events

admin | 07 July, 2006 09:01

Be on the lookout for Back to the Roots v2. Check it out on the SmartShanghai.com forums...

Also, look out for MC Saturdays, every 3rd Saturday of the month starting August 19 at The Lab.

AMERICA!!!! (finish the song...)

admin | 04 July, 2006 14:59

Freedom isn't free,

It's takes folks like you and me.

And we don't chip in our "buck o'five,"

Who will?...

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!!!

(and I'm still at work... sheesh!)

Bought 100 CD's in Nanjing...

admin | 03 July, 2006 13:35

For RMB 240 (USD 25) Get Jealous... NOW.

calendar

recently...

I-Emerge

Asia Weather Is Messed Up, Son!

Details, details, details

10 Wonders of New China

I haven't lifted a weight in months

China DMC 2007

Black People's Toothpaste

Notes from the Underground: Weekend Preview + BTTRBP

MoJo's DJVibe.com Interview with World-famous Beatjunkies' DJ SHORTKUT

Chinese Language Vs. The World

For the geographically challenged...

Party Root the to Back (?China backwards Is)

A little something about China I found on CNN

I Detest Dumplings

7:33PM

Pics and a vid of Jazzy Jeff and a SPECIAL GUEST...

Get ready... Tonight... Jeff's gonna make this a night to rememeber...

New Banner for MoJoinChina.com

Wordsworth and 3D

DJ Jazzy Jeff in Shanghai!!!

Sensitive Beatbox

Jagermeister Launch at Vegas this Friday +

My New Buddy...

Future Lab Events

AMERICA!!!! (finish the song...)

Bought 100 CD's in Nanjing...

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