Earlier this month, Chinese Canadian actor, singer, and model Kris Wu (Wu Yifan) beat Chinese compatriot's Jane Zhang top 10 US iTunes record with "DESERVE". His mellow and melodic hip-hop collaboration with Houston rapper Travis Scott shot to the #1 position on the US iTunes chart, making him the first Chinese artist to achieve this feat. Wu's journey to fame spans four different countries: China (where he was born, and where his star shines the brightest), Canada (he divided his schooling life between Guangzhou and Vancouver), South Korea (where his skills as a performer were honed as the 11th member of popular South Korean-Chinese boy band EXO), and the USA (home to the school of West Coast rap that serves as his primary artistic inspiration).
Besides singing and rapping in Mandarin, he has also starred in several Chinese box office hits such as Somewhere Only We Know (2015), Mr Six (2015), and The Mermaid (2016), as well a number of Hollywood blockbusters like xXx: The Return of Xander Cage (2017) and Luc Besson's Valerian and the City of A Thousand Planets (2017). He is the first non-British global ambassador for Burberry, and the first Chinese actor to attend the prestigious Met Gala. He made Forbes' 30 Under 30 Asian Celebrities list this year, where his bio began with the question "Is there anything Kris Wu can't do?"
In a recent CNN article, Billboard K-pop writer Tamar Herman expounded on his transnational, genre-crossing appeal: "He acts, he sings, and he does each with just the right amount of 'fusion' flair, so-to-speak, that he seems like the perfect crossover candidate". Unlike other East Asian adopters of hip-hop, who often invite accusations of inauthenticity by regurgitating narratives of a life of hard knocks in the hood, Wu's swagger is decontextualized from the narrative conventions of gangster rap. In "JUICE", his second English language single and a key feature on the xXx soundtrack, Wu's overtly aggressive flow (which comes with a relatively unplaceable accent) sees him claiming dominance and street cred in a milieu populated by the young, rich and fancy: "Can’t lose, I got juice/ And they know I do".
"DESERVE", on the other hand, does away with some of the sexist and hypermasculine dynamics that peppered "JUICE" (e.g. 'She shake it, make it jiggle, make it pop/ Drop it low, I’m throwin’ money nonstop'). The verse 'Rollie on my wrist, I'm trynna chill, but still I'm flexin'' sums up Wu's stance on the song: dripping with dough, laidback, but also determined to make an impression. His latest single amounts to a catchy party rap track that doubles as a pickup song: 'Girl, you know that you a freak/ Shawty, you belong with me'.
It makes for a promising start, but one wonders if Wu's time as a judge on Rap of China has narrowed his aesthetic vision. Due to strict government censorship on "politics, drugs, sex, violence, gangsters and explicit language", many mainland Chinese rappers find themselves mostly rapping and bragging about "making it to the top". Regardless of the sonic transition from one English single to another, each Kris Wu music video takes place in a slick and stylish underground milieu populated by fancy rides, sexy video girls, and fashionable designer streetwear. Getting laid, getting rich and showing off are powerful motivations, surely, but you might feel like you what you really deserve is something more.
