Zhou Yan (born March 22, 1988), known as "GAI", is a Chinese rapper, singer, and songwriter. He achieved a meteoric rise from a contestant on a rap show to become the most successful hip hop stars in China today, and is partially responsible for the rise of the genre itself.
GAI | |||||||
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| Born | (1987-03-22) March 22, 1987 (age 35) Yibin, Sichuan, China | ||||||
| Nationality | People's Republic of China | ||||||
| Occupation | Rapper, Singer, songwriter | ||||||
| Employer | GO$H | ||||||
| Known for | Rap, Hipop | ||||||
| Spouse | Wang Siran | ||||||
| Partner | Bridge | ||||||
| Children | Youyou | ||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 周延 | ||||||
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| Musical career | |||||||
| Also known as | GAI | ||||||
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| Labels | GOSH Music, Door Music | ||||||
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Musical artist | |||||||
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His stage name GAI is a childhood nickname meaning "lid" that he was given because of his bowl cut.[1]
In his early days as an underground rapper, GAI was leading his music label GO$H!, a local label in Chongqing, China. He is one of the few Chinese rappers actively producing trap and Gangsta rap. He helped create a type of Trap music called "C-Trap". His famous songs include "Gangsta" (2015), "Empty Fort Strategy" (2016), "Hot Pot Soup" (2017).
In 2017, GAI's music career began to boom after attending iQiyi's Hip-Hop reality show The Rap of China, and winning the contest.
In 2018, he married his girlfriend Wang Siran.
In the 4th and final season of The Rap of China in 2020, GAI appeared as one of the four producers leading a team of aspiring rappers. He was the only person on the show to appear as both a contestant and a producer.
GAI was born in prefectural level city of Yibin, Sichuan. His father was an accountant at a coal mine. At 10 years old his family moved to Weiyuan so his older sister could attend a better school.[1] He became a gangster at age 13 due to school bullying; and he was put into a youth detention center at the age of 16. After he stabbed the son of the director of the Local Tax Department during a gang fight, Gai's parents moved him to Chongqing to avoid further conflicts. He attempted to join the army but failed the health exam and instead attended Chongqing Water Resources and Electric Engineering College.
After graduating college in Chongqing, Gai began to make a living by performing as a club singer, DJ or MC. He then later resigned from these positions to focus on his rap career.
Underground Career
As an underground rapper, GAI joined a Chongqing native gangsta rap group, "Brass Knuckle Gang" (also known as B.K.G). At this time, his song "Gangsta" (lit: "Black Society"), became a major hit in the Chinese underground hip hop circle. The lyrics contain a great deal of controversy in terms of social values because of the description of the true gangster life in China. The music video was removed by the Chinese government within days after the initial release for violating "core socialist values".
Although this music video was banned by Chinese government, people can still watch it on YouTube; the video has over 7 million views on channel Zhong TV
GAI also participated in Sing! China, a music reality show on Zhejiang Television, by his real name, but was eliminated in the first round.
GAI participated The Rap of China in summer 2017. He was chosen by producer MC HotDog and Chang Chen-yue by singing his song Hot Pot Soup, and later joined their team.
By collaborating with Jackson Wang (Papillon (2017)), GAI reached the final stage, competing against other famous rappers such as AfterJourney, PG One and Jony J. Gai eventually tied the vote with PG One and the two shared the championship.
Gai later became a producer on the 2020 season of Rap Of China, joining Jane Zhang, Kris Wu and Wilber Pan in the producer's seat. Gai was also a mentor on the 2021 season. He is currently competing in the 2022 season of Rap Of China, which is the All Star Season featuring popular rappers from the previous seasons.
GAI joined the cast of Call Me By Fire as a contestant in 2021.
GAI's music is deeply influenced by his early life, Chinese history and Wuxia stories. He combined trap, Chinese Style Music and his dialect rapping forming the genre, which is widely known as "C-Trap". In his early rap life, his lyrics often describe the violence, sex, drugs and lives at the bottom part of Chinese society. When he started to transform from underground rapper to a mainstream rapper during The Rap of China in 2017, his choice of lyrics began to shift more into Chinese philosophy and Chinese culture. He was credited as an innovator and trailblazer of Chinese Hip-Hop music.
GAI often references Chongqing, and with Bridge has popularized the catchphrase "This is Fog City!" [pronounced "less voo doo!"] (i.e. Chongqing). For example, he has a song named "Chongqing Soul".
His music is notable for extensive use of his native Neijiang dialect, which is actually closer to Zigong dialect than Chongqing dialect.
For example, his song "Itinerant Monk" (a rap version of Cui Jian's famous song "Fake Monk") converts some Standard Mandarin lyrics to Sichuanese influenced Standard Chinese:
Standard Mandarin: ("But don't know who I am")
Sichuanese: (where is pronounced ngo and as la)
"Trash Talk" (2018); pinyin: Lā jī huà
"Hot Pot Soup" (2017); pinyin: Huǒguō dǐ liào
"BKG" (2015); pinyin: Qiǎng bì
"Gangster" (the title itself is Sichuan dialect); (2015); pinyin: Chāo shèhuì
Ren Yi Li Zhi Xin (2016)
"GAIn" (2017)
Singer / I Am a Singer (歌手 / 我是歌手) | |||||||||||||||||
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Names in Bold indicate the winning singer, while Italics indicate the runner-up singer. Singers are listed based on their original season appearances, returning singers (who participated in seasons 5 or 8) are not repeated.
Singers participated in groups are listed in parenthesis. Initial singers first listed in order of official announcement, followed by Substitute/Challenge Singers in order of appearance. ∆ Substitute Singer ∇ Challenger/National's Recommended Singer/Surprise Challenger ƒ Finalist singer н Hosting singer † Withdrew (but have performed Return Performance) ‡ Withdrew § Non-contestant (Eliminated without ever performing Breakouts) | |||||||||||||||||
GAI on Sina Weibo (in Chinese)
Gai's channel on YouTube
GOSH's channel on YouTube
GAI on Instagram