One of China’s best-known rappers, Wang Hao, also known as PG One, has become a target of public criticism for lyrics deemed sexist and proamoting drug use.
The 24-year-old rapper came under fire on Jan. 4 after Chinese official media highlighted lyrics from his 2015 song “Christmas Eve,” in which he uses obscene language to boast about forcing himself on a woman.
In the song, he also raps “sleeping in the day, shouting at night, pure white powder walking on the board.”
The China’s Women’s News, which is published by the All-China Women’s Association, accused PG One of “instigating drug use among youths and publicly insulting women,” calling the lyrics “essentially offensive to women.”
The Communist Youth League also made a post on its official social media account to criticize the song for “encouraging teenagers to use drugs” and “insulting women.” He would have violated the law if the “white powder” lyric is true, the organization added.
Though the rapper later apologized on social media, saying he would remove any offensive songs from the internet and promised to promote “positive energy” in his future work, it was not enough to ease the public voice of criticism.
Already, the rapper has been removed from The Rap of China concert tour, the wildly popular hip-hop reality show on which PG One rose to fame. In addition, his advertising contracts have also been terminated.
The Rap of China accumulated a stunning 2.94 billion online views, shining a light on China’s emerging hip-hop culture. However, insiders believe that the development of hip-hop music might have a hard time in China because of this matter.
The lyrics might place hip-hop culture under strict censorship in China, the insiders added.