Although the Chinese rap scene has been fermenting since the early 2000s, in 2017 The Rap of China took the genre mainstream. The hugely popular reality television show – the most expensive ever made, to the tune of £23.7 million – brought Chinese-language rap to the screens of millions of viewers around the country, clocking in more than 2.5 billion views.

The show, hosted by K-Pop idol Kris Wu, took terms like ‘spitting’, ‘dissing’, and ‘freestyling’ to a new and eager audience. The image of Chinese youths clad in streetwear, sporting dreads and chains, and spitting rapidfire lyrics in various dialects of Mandarin, may be unfamiliar to traditional hip hop fans. But for Chinese youth culture, it’s the new normal – and the western world is starting to pay attention.

The question of cultural appropriation that gets asked of white hip hop artists – see the beef between Iggy Azalea and Azealia Banks for one particularly high profile example – has so far passed over the Chinese artists, themselves coming from a culture with a history of white oppression. However, as Chinese rap grows in popularity, so does its controversy. PG One, one of the two winners of The Rap of China and seen as one of the country’s hottest talents, came under fire at the end of last year for rapping lyrics that degraded women and promoted drug use. The government stepped in, cancelling shows, and he was quickly dropped from brand collaborations worth millions.

PG One took to social media to complain about his treatment, attributing his unpopular lyrics to his “early exposure to hip hop culture, which is deeply influenced by black music”. Speaking to Dazed, Bohan Phoenix, a Chinese rapper who has previously lived in the US, calls PG One’s defense “fucked up”. “The dude makes millions of USD in a year off black culture, and then blames his own doings and choices on black culture,” says Bohan, who worries that PG One will have made it harder for other hip hop artists to operate in China. “It’s possible that this one dude ruined the whole party.”

Here’s hoping not, because there are some pretty sick names to watch on the Chinese rap scene. Emerging artists like Higher Brothers are proving that it’s entirely possible to respectfully pay homage to one culture while building something totally new. Here are some of the musical talents creating spectacular sounds for 2018.

HIGHER BROTHERS

Without a doubt the biggest name on the rap scene in China, and set to go global this year with a 2018 North American tour, Higher Brothers are the Sichuanese brethren who are blazing a trail fierier than the spicy food for which their province is famous. The foursome chose their name after the Chinese electronics brand Haier, because they too wanted to be in every household, and the best in any style. That said, their style is pretty specifically trap rap with a raucous, Sichuan flavour – tracks such as “Made in China” and “WeChat” tackle topics specific to urban Chinese youth culture.

The band’s members cite US figures like J Cole, 50 Cent, and Kendrick Lamar as their influences; a special shout out to Lamar appears on the 2017 album Black Cab in the form of the track “Bitch Don’t Kill My Dab”, a trancey, drawly number in which the lyrics switch seamlessly between Sichuanese and English. As familiar as their sounds are to fans of old school 90s hip hop, Higher Brothers are without a doubt mixing the game up with Chinese characteristics.