Tao Lifestyle & M.I.A.

So sweet, David attended his dad's media event for the release of his new book. Tao Dawei said that he wrote the book to let ppl know that fame of a celebrity is only shortlived, its what u do with yr life that matters. Btw David looked like wearing A&F tee, god do I really haf to post on DT forum as I promised?????? Sound so trivial now. Can anyone verify that really is A&F?
Anyway Shangri-la & Great Leap compares both David's & Lee Hom's albums which kinda trivial too cos the 2 albums r so different, what there's to compare. Oso Lee Hom's 'hip hop infused with oriental sounds' is neither new nor edgy. It's really nice but just candy pop & Lee Hom's credential as a hip hop artist is sorely lacking. You want real outstanding, cutting edge east-west fusion in hip hop, then listen to M.I.A. from Sri Lanka.
When her first hit 'Galang' ignited the Brit dance chart, M.I.A. said, "Nobody wants to be dancing to political songs. Every bit of music out there that's making into the mainstream is really about nothing. I wanted to see if I could write songs about something important and make it sound like nothing. and it kind of worked. It sounds like a pop song, but if you really listen to the lyrics, its about what I see on the telly and news and what's going on." Sounded like David rite? Black Tangerine & Ghost may not be as fresh & edgy as Galang but carried the same philosophy.
I just feel if Lee Hom wanna be taken seriously as a hip hop artist, he has to be more raw and explosive in his music. His brand of hip hop while very creative is bland & lacks the pulsating street creed of Galang & Sunflower. If you listen to M.I.A and then Lee Hom, you will find that chinese hip hop is still stuck somewhere in the 90s. I dun mean to offend Lee Hom fans but chinese fans need to be real & understand chinese hip hop cannot advance unless there is more criticism and less praise. M.I.A. also said she is the 'flip side' of Norah Jones, haha, the girl is real cute considering Norah is part Indian. There must be a chinese M.I.A somewhere out there waiting to be discovered in China's vast population.


A nicer writeup of David below:
Tao Zhe - A change of style
At the beginning of this month, Taiwan singer Tao Zhe released his latest album "Times of Peace and Prosperity." Within only a week, it had sold 900,000 copies in Asia, to surpass even the efforts of Jay Chow and Lee Hong Wong. Critics believe that this 35-year-old singer is approaching pop music from a unique angle, which divides him from his more obtuse peers.
It took Tao Zhe nearly two years to complete his new album "Times of Peace and Prosperity," which he says is aimed at satirizing the present pop climate. For Tao Zhe, pop music today is too commercialized and has become rotten thanks to its quest simply to entertain. Tao Zhe considers that it's his responsibility to wake up Asia's music fans, which he attempts to do on his new album with a serious change of style. Tao Zhe says that whereas before his music was grey, now it comes in the extremes of black or white. On the other hand, his lyrical style can be quite abstruse, with deeper meanings found beneath seemingly superficial love songs.
That was Ghost, a song which ponders the weighty subject of humanity.
"Love Me or Love Him" is apparently a song describing a triangular relationship, although on a personal level Tao Zhe says that he prefers a simple love life. The lives of modern people are increasingly complicated, and this musician hopes that his life, love and career could be as simple as possible; as you might expect during times of peace and prosperity.
Ever since his childhood, Tao Zhe has found it hard to get on with his mother, a Peking Opera performer. It's therefore quite surprising to find a song on this album composed specifically for his mother, although its subject matter suitably tells of the difficult relations between Tao Zhe and his mother. Interestingly, this song has its origins in the composition of one of Tao Zhe's fans, who posted his effort on the singer's official website. Originally it was a fairly rudimentary love song about this fan and his girlfriend. Tao Zhe was however instantly touched by its refrain and decided to recompose the piece for his new album.
If one of the reasons for the conflict between Tao Zhe and his mother was the different musical paths that they have chosen, this son has now greatly changed his attitude to his mother's preferred music, Peking Opera. When he was young, he could barely understand this traditional Chinese art form and even hated to hear it. But now he is becoming more and more aware that this music is a precious treasure of the Chinese race, and should be appreciated accordingly. In his latest album, he even creates a song which makes use of elements from Peking Opera. Indeed, the song's name, "Susan Says" is derived from a famous aria of this traditional opera. So let me leave you today with this unique song from Tao Zhe.