Underground Hip-Hop in Shanghai - Part 3: Venues, Nights

This post is the third of a 4-part series on Rock in Shanghai.  Here are links to other posts in the series: Part 1: DJs, MCs; Part 2: Influences, People; Part 4: Media, Crossover, Brands.

With the lack of live, alternative music venues in Shanghai, underground hip-hop can be found in only a few venues throughout the city.  Currently, the most popular venue for underground hip-hop in Shanghai is Shelter, the underground bomb shelter that has been converted into a bar / club.  The hip-hop music and events for the club are managed by The Lab founder Gary Wang with other events organized by independent Shanghai promoters.

Hip-hop events at Shelter include:

Quality Control: "The Lab crew present a weekly night of real hip-hop, breaks, funk and soul."

A Nu Kind Of Blu: "The Shelter present a night of Jazzy beats, from Miles Davis to Kyoto Jazz Massive, Charlie Parker to Silhouette Brown and Donald Byrd to Jazzanova. Resident DJs Alan, V-Nutz and The Drunk Monk will be joined by guest DJs, live musicians and vocalists." 

Back to the Roots: This semi-regular event is a showcase of the best in turntablism, hip-hop, funk and soul that Shanghai has to offer.  Back to the Roots includes live performances by
The Lab Crew and frequently features special guests, including world famous DJs.

Along with the Shelter, venues that occasionally have hip-hop events include Zhijiang Dream Factory, The Lab, SOURCE, eno and Mural.  For more commercial hip-hop, Shanghai venues include Bonbon, Guandi and Rojam.  In addition, many one-use venues are scattered throughout the city, including small streetwear clothing stores.

Three large scale hip-hop events in Shanghai include Battle of the Year (BOTY), the DMC competition and the Iron Mic Compeition.

BOTY is an annual international bboying (or breakdancing) series that began in 1990. It is a crew as opposed to individual competition. Regional qualifying tournaments, are held worldwide culminating in the BOTY International. The 2008 China BOTY tournament was held in Shanghai on July 19th at the Shanghai Jing An Sports Stadium and organized by Shanghai’s Caster Dance Studio.

DMC is an international competition that searches for the world's best DJ. DJs compete using turntables and records while cutting, scratching, and beat juggling.  The 2008 China DMC championships were held at the Zhijiang Dream Factory.

The Iron Mic Competition is a competition for dueling MCs to compete in freestyle rapping.  The competition was started by long-time Shanghai resident Dana Burton (aka Showtyme) and the 2008 competition will take place in December, with the finals in Beijing.