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The Godfather of Chinese Hip-Hop: Building a Culture & Resisting Empire · UK Column Radio

0:01
Hello and welcome to another episode of the Silk and Steel
0:04
podcast. Today we will continue our
0:07
conversation with the godfather of Chinese Hip hop, Detroit
0:12
Showtime AKA Dana Burton, who has been of my friend for a long
0:16
time and and guest on my show many times.
0:20
But today I want to ask him, I want to ask you, Dana, about how
0:27
you actually became the godfather of Chinese hip hop,
0:31
you know, from a young man straight out of Detroit.
0:36
How did you became this ambassador of black American
0:40
culture to China? Thank you, thank you for having
0:45
me on the show. Peace and blessings, love and
0:47
light. This is Showtime from the
0:49
almighty Iron Mike, reporting live from the City of Dreams and
0:53
the Belly of the Beast. Shanghai, China and yeah, how
0:58
did I become the godfather? Chinese hip hop.
1:02
I would say that it's a very interesting title.
1:05
It's a title that I'm kind of haphazard about embracing.
1:11
It's kind of stuck with me definitely in the Western media
1:14
that comes up over and over again.
1:16
I think one of the first time someone put that label on me was
1:19
Shanghai Daily. Shanghai Daily did a story about
1:23
me and it said Godfather of hip hop.
1:25
A couple of blog sites, I know Jeff Chang in 2007, he did an an
1:30
article about hip hop, global hip hop in foreign foreign
1:35
policy magazine and I was heavily featured.
1:37
I was the the lead story and, and it talked about sort of me
1:42
being a hip hop mogul and a lot of shows they put that, that,
1:48
that title Godfather of Chinese Hip Hop.
1:50
And I was, I've thought about this a bit because I'm, I'm a
1:53
humble guy. I actually don't need any
1:54
titles. I don't mind being called
1:56
Showtime, but it's my nickname. My friends call me Dana.
2:00
I'm really at peace with that. I'm, I'm, I'm really good with
2:03
that. I'm cool with that.
2:05
But yeah, and, and, and a title like that, it is just, it's, it
2:13
encompasses a lot man, saying you're the godfather of
2:16
anything. So you can imagine what, what
2:19
that would entail. But but you know, to be to be
2:23
honest, in my heart of hearts, after 25 years living in the
2:27
peoples of public or China, I'm just so blessed and fortunate
2:32
through this hip hop community that I've become an actual
2:35
godfather. I have a goddaughter and I just
2:38
celebrated her 5th birthday. And there's nothing more
2:42
precious and important to me than that role as a literal
2:45
godfather. And it was through hip hop that
2:50
I became, you know, the godfather of a baby girl.
2:54
Her name is Yonsei, named after Beyoncé.
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But be, you know, the names just that would be aren't that
3:01
auspicious in China. So they changed it to Yonsei,
3:07
kind of like Louis Vuitton, like the same Beyoncé.
3:11
So yeah, I don't. Yeah.
3:13
But that anyway. What a blessing.
3:16
What a joy. I've had the opportunity to
3:19
impact so many people's lives through my love and passion of
3:23
hip hop. And I remember when, when you
3:27
came to China and you put the, the tweet, or you put the tweet
3:30
up like I'm, I'm hanging out with the godfather of, of hip
3:34
hop in China. And then somebody immediately
3:37
the first response was like, he's not the godfather.
3:40
You don't know what you're talking about.
3:41
Then I had to stop and think, it's OK if I'm not the
3:44
godfather, who is the godfather? Who is it?
3:48
Let me know after all these years in hip hop, who's more of
3:51
an OG than me, who's been on the scene longer than me, who's had
3:55
a more impact? I wanted to know honestly.
3:57
So I, I put into rock AI, who's the godfather?
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And sure enough, it was me. So, and I wanted to, you know,
4:06
kind of flex on the on the young man, but that'd be a little bit
4:09
too much. But, but it does come up as me.
4:12
I did look on some other AI searches and I wasn't the first
4:16
one to get mentioned. And a couple of them, some
4:19
didn't mention me. And I asked them, I said, how
4:20
are you going to leave me off the list?
4:21
And they said, Oh yeah, we can't forget about you.
4:24
But you're not going to find too many people that have have
4:29
dedicated, you know, 2026 years of their life in hip hop in
4:34
China. They just don't exist.
4:36
There's a handful of guys from B boys from DJs most of the people
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they've, they've, they've, you know, fallen off to the wayside.
4:44
But I came in 1999. I jumped off the plane I I
4:48
hooked up with some promoters online.
4:51
It was a kid from New York named Tito.
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He worked by the name of DJ Shivez and DJ App and he was
4:57
studying at Fudan University moonlighting DJ and he hooked up
5:00
with the local DJ in Shanghai V nuts.
5:03
And somehow after researching on the Internet and not being able
5:07
to find anything about hip hop in China, I found like one
5:11
random poster that had a phone number on it.
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So I connected with the guy in China said I was coming to, I
5:16
was coming to teach at Shanghai high school at the International
5:20
School to teach history and, and, and English.
5:25
And I knew I loved hip hop and, and there was an opening in
5:27
China. It really hadn't developed yet.
5:29
So this would be my calling. Call these guys up.
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The second night in Shanghai, I was at the nightclub hanging out
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and and got introduced to this small community, the core
5:40
committee in Shanghai of hip hop lovers or mostly dancers and
5:46
then a DJ. And we couldn't find any
5:48
rappers. And for the next two years I was
5:50
promoting and rapping and trying to, you know, find rappers and
5:53
develop the rap scene. I founded the Iron Mic in 2002.
5:57
This is a freestyle rap battle and and I founded that before
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the rap battle craze was even big in the United States, before
6:05
Eight mile movie even came out when it was a really underground
6:08
thing. And I've been doing it for 26
6:10
years, the longest running rap battle in the world.
6:13
And it expanded into a bit of an empire.
6:15
But even beyond the Iron Mike and, and the rap battle that I'm
6:20
most famous for, I've just always been a bit of a
6:23
philanthropist and an investor in the hip hop community and
6:26
just devoted A tremendous amount of time and resources, whatever
6:30
business that I was involved in, you know, I had some really cool
6:34
windfalls. I was, I was an advertising, a
6:37
high end luxury brand advertiser for over a decade.
6:40
And it, it, it, it allowed me the opportunity to, to have the
6:43
resources to kind of fund as well, you know, occasional
6:47
opportunities to, to have corporate brands fund a lot of
6:51
my different events and activities.
6:52
So I was the party guy, always throwing events to the tune of,
6:58
you know, I started Iron Mike in an in a shopping mall in
7:01
Shanghai with a group of friends.
7:03
It was a free event. I think about 607 hundred kids
7:06
showed up, no tickets. We got a little sponsorship to
7:09
help cover cover the cost. I was so broke I could barely
7:13
pay my rent. At the end of the battle, we had
7:15
10 guys from across the country. I didn't have enough money to
7:18
either. I gave him a ticket.
7:19
It said 1000 RMB prize money. I didn't even have the money to
7:23
pay them. They have to wait so I can pay
7:25
them later. That's how poor I was living out
7:27
of a A1 bedroom apartment, trying to, to build this dream.
7:31
But it evolved from that event to doing other cities and 2030
7:37
cities a year to to, you know, ultimately getting sponsorship
7:41
and doing 116 shows and 60 cities in a year and blowing up
7:47
to have my own agency where I'm managing 400 events a year.
7:50
So very few people have travelled as far and wide as I
7:54
had, as I have off of hip hop in China.
7:58
And it's just, yeah, open up an entire universe of people and
8:02
stories that I want to get into you with with you today.
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I have this video that they've made.
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It's all in Chinese. No one knows about me in the
8:10
West. I'm not existent because it's
8:13
China. And you know, who cares about
8:14
what's happening in China? We don't want to know what's
8:16
going on over there, especially if they're doing something cool
8:19
and, and, and innovative and fun and it may look a little bit
8:23
better than what we're doing. We don't want to leak that
8:25
secret. But they have this video and I
8:28
think maybe I could try to narrate it and if you have some
8:31
questions, we can get through it.
8:37
So that's the rap of China came out 2016.
8:41
And you see Eminem here, Detroit is just instrumental in in the
8:45
hip hop scene in China. He's the biggest rapper.
8:49
And so battle rap really drove the the hip hop community based
8:53
off of my rap battle. And so that is the whispers that
8:57
you, that is you. That is me heading out, posting
9:01
in front of some graffiti. Just classic traditional B boys
9:04
fans vibing out, amazing graffiti scene in China.
9:09
Mind blowing. There was a lot of graffiti on
9:11
the streets of Beijing and Guangzhou and a lot of these
9:14
artists that you know have blown up.
9:16
But the street art is phenomenal all across the country.
9:19
I've, I've even done graffiti battles early on, nationwide
9:22
graffiti battles. But yeah, those guys are the
9:25
quick flash of these rappers that are all mega celebrities
9:27
now. They got their start with the
9:29
higher Mike and I came in 1999 to a party that kind of look
9:33
like this, these, you know, underground clubs and venues,
9:37
blazing MCS, Johnny Blaze from New York.
9:43
I'll stop on that. Actually, Johnny Blaze, I wonder
9:50
if I can go back. Yeah.
9:52
So Johnny Blaze, really interesting story.
9:55
He was my first sponsor for the Iron Mike.
9:58
There we go. That ticket, that's the classic
10:00
ticket. I was talking about that.
10:01
So Blazing MC contest. So before was the Iron Mike, it
10:05
was Blazing MCS and it says Johnny Blaze.
10:08
Patrick Ying is amazing story. Patrick Ying is a Shanghainese
10:13
clothing manufacturer, and he went to New York around around
10:18
8687, around the time, yeah, right around before the, the,
10:25
the LA Olympics. So he goes to New York, he moves
10:29
New York. Who's America?
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A young guy. He knows manufacturing.
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He sees the Olympics and he gets the idea, why don't I make some
10:35
T-shirts for the Olympics? And he makes all these bootleg
10:38
T-shirts and he makes a ton of money.
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And that's how he started his manufacturing company in in New
10:44
York. And he hooked up with the early
10:47
New York Fashion icons, these Jean wear like these guys that
10:52
were doing jeans, Sir Benny Miles.
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So he hooked up with Sir Benny Miles with the manufacturer for
10:59
him doing the jeans. This is around the time of Cross
11:03
Colors. Kyle Kanai and Patrick got in
11:05
the game doing clothes for those guys.
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He kind of fell out with Sir Benny Miles.
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And then he he got the brilliant idea to start his own hip hop
11:15
fashion brand in New York. And so he started Johnny Blaze,
11:18
the Chinese guy from Shanghai starts this hip hop brand and he
11:22
got all, he was the first one to get all of the rappers, all the
11:28
hardcore rappers in New York to do an advertisement for his
11:31
clothing brand at a time. Nowadays you'll never be able to
11:34
get all those rappers for one brand because they all have
11:38
their own brand. But he got Wu Tang Clan, he got
11:41
Mobb Deep, he got Guru, he got he got everyone that was hot in
11:47
in in New York, we're all Fat Joe.
11:50
Maybe Fat Joe didn't do it because there was he got nothing
11:53
man, all these people because the name was really hot.
11:56
Johnny Blaze was, was booming at that time because I think Fat
12:00
Joe had a song and he he pioneered these hoodies, these
12:05
really thick hoodies that were really useful in New York
12:08
because because there was, there was suitable for the
12:10
environment, the denim jeans. And he went on to have a very
12:15
successful career. He had a vertical company where
12:17
he did, he hired up the designers manufactured in
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Shanghai direct from factory to to distributor.
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And he found out a way how to do mass distribution.
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He did deals with like JC Penney's and and Walmart.
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So he was, he was doing huge numbers volume and unlike many
12:36
of the other brands that you own the brand, but you actually sold
12:42
it to a manufacturing clothing company and this big
12:45
manufacturing clothing company that had all these supplier
12:48
companies and you wasted a lot of money.
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Patrick became a multi millionaire, 7 million, you
12:54
know, easy a year. He could do like 35 million in a
12:57
year. He was doing NBA numbers just
12:59
off of clothing and took a lot of it.
13:01
He was my first sponsor and I met him on the streets of
13:03
Shanghai throwing a hip hop party.
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One of his designers came to the party, was looking for models
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and he got some of my people, you know, to model and I hooked
13:12
up with him and I wanted to find out about this clothing brand.
13:15
I met Patrick. I told him I was doing a battle
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and he said how much to sponsor. I said $1000.
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I don't know what I was doing. I don't know how much signage
13:22
is. Sponsorship is like when he
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asked me on the spot, I didn't have a figure.
13:26
I just had $1000 and he literally went into his pocket
13:29
and start pulling out cash and just threw it on the table and
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he said, hey man, you can't get anything for $1000 in New York.
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And he gave me the clothes and and that's how we got our first
13:38
sponsorship and how the original rap battle started.
13:43
Wow. What a story.
13:47
So yeah, let's pick it back up. Let's see.
13:49
We got Johnny Blaze and this was the venue, actually this little
13:53
venue where we did the rap battle.
13:55
It says Pop MC in the back. It's just like a performance
13:59
hall and in a shopping mall. It's a very famous shopping mall
14:02
that's quite endearing to the people in, in, in Shanghai.
14:06
It's called Yasin Shinko Guanja and it's one of the first kind
14:11
of modern shopping malls. You know, of course we got
14:15
Doctor Gia, the, the famous historical, you know, a shopping
14:20
mall from the 1920s and 30's, the big old art Deco style
14:24
building. But this was like a modern
14:27
commercial westernized shopping mall.
14:30
And it was the, you know, first that kind of youth shopping mall
14:34
at the time for people in the in the 80s and 90s.
14:37
And we did it there and it was a free space.
14:41
It was a pure event. The champion was MC Weber from
14:45
Beijing, Wong Bo. Well, this incredible MC from
14:50
from the streets, from the Hootong, from the ghettos of of
14:54
Beijing, a guy who I was able to make a friendship with and
14:57
connect and build with him. And there was just a, a wild
15:01
time, you know, back in those days.
15:03
So this was raw, uncut, unfiltered.
15:05
We got a Yingstar, many classic battles.
15:08
A lot of Beijing were Shanghai rivalry.
15:12
This is 2013, when it's really hard to blow up in the crowds
15:16
are getting big thousand 2000 people come to see rap battles.
15:20
I will. Oh yeah, he got big.
15:26
He got big because he got featured in CCTV.
15:29
You know, he got invited to perform.
15:31
Where did she go? Where did I?
15:33
I Our eyes. Right after this, right there.
15:37
Yeah, yeah, he's a, he's, he's big, got feature on like the
15:41
Chinese state media. And because he's a he's a
15:43
Uyghur, he's a Wiggle rapper from Xinjiang.
15:48
Boom, Shu Shu boom. He also lived in Xinjiang.
15:54
But everybody, everyone was big. Everyone you're seeing is really
15:57
huge in China. You know, Volvo blew up.
16:01
They all went on the rap of China and they got management
16:04
from a really large company, you know, very well connected and
16:10
become very commercialized and and mainstream.
16:12
What does it mean to me everything that.
16:27
I love they say you are cultural pioneer.
16:30
You are really the pioneer in this space.
16:33
Iron Mike opened a lot of doors for all these prospective young
16:38
rappers who went later when to become to big times in the rap
16:43
of China when that was featured on on Chinese television and and
16:46
the rap went went mainstream. Respect, respect.
16:53
Right back at you, brother. That's how I got it from being
16:55
and there was no one, there was a glass ceiling of rap, so no
17:01
one thought rap could, could even be mainstream in China.
17:05
The rock'n'roll scene had established themselves and even
17:08
they were like gatekeepers. They said that there was some
17:11
kind of Gray cloud over hip hop and rap and people weren't
17:15
really getting platformed. And so for years, decades, no
17:19
one would invest in in a hip hop scene.
17:21
And I did a lot of work to bring the rappers that inspired me
17:26
from my hometown in Detroit to bring them to China so they
17:30
could connect and link up. You know, we're with the rappers
17:33
over here and experience China to be that bridge.
17:37
So people like Royce, the five 9 was a partner with Eminem.
17:42
You know, only got to have a, you know, a duet album with
17:46
Eminem brought him over legendary MC Grammy nominated
17:50
work with guys like Jay Electronica, who also is a he's
17:53
a Detroit MCJ Electronica. A lot of people don't know he
17:56
got to start like really rap career coming from Louisiana in
18:00
Detroit. So you know his DJs from Detroit
18:04
and he's connected to a lot of my people back home in the D
18:07
Jessica Care Moore, famous poet, poet laureate from Detroit
18:11
rapper poet, poet rapper 1st and Marv 1.
18:16
So countless dies. He's been bringing them over MC
18:18
Supernatural freestyle King. Just just different over the
18:21
years. DJs and rappers and being a
18:23
bridge and just doing cool stuff.
18:26
Just this tons of cool stuff. All kind of events, interactive
18:30
events, tours, music licensing with TV shows.
18:36
It's, it's, it's been a long career of, of always just
18:40
excitement and fun and it's you're.
18:42
You're a legend man, you're a legend.
18:44
I'm very proud to call to call you friend now I I am friend
18:50
with the godfather of Chinese hip hop and I really appreciate
18:54
it that you Dana really is very humble in real life and he took
18:58
me to show me the real Shanghai away from all the tourist spot.
19:03
You want to continue to showcase the places we've been I'm.
19:06
Still, I don't have tons of pictures we can talk about.
19:09
I got some video. Yeah, I think that.
19:11
So after we, we left because the first show we just talked about
19:15
literally 2 blocks. We were barely on two blocks and
19:18
we, we saw all these things and we spent a whole hour talking
19:21
about that. But we left from Kondingloo and
19:24
Yampingloo and I took a little detour like we should have
19:28
turned left on. I think it's Kondingloo, no Yom
19:35
Pinglu. We should have just turned left
19:36
on Yom Pinglu and we would have went straight to our
19:38
destination. We went NA little bit and then
19:41
turned left and that's how I got lost and we looped around.
19:44
So from where we walked to where we ended up, we walked about two
19:47
miles and adding up. For my audience.
19:50
For my audience, we are talking about the first day I met Dana
19:54
in Shanghai when he took me around on the ground all the his
19:59
favorite walking route in Shanghai.
20:01
Because Dana love to walk in the city and, and, and China and
20:05
then Chinese city are very walkable and like they're
20:08
designed. They have very wide pedestrian
20:11
sidewalks. And so we walk everywhere.
20:13
The the the first day we walk a long, long way.
20:18
It was a good exercise. And we got to see a lot of
20:21
things you might have missed if you were just in Shanghai, like
20:24
just going to all the tourist places.
20:27
Yeah. Yeah, so we we had our stroll.
20:30
We got to really enjoy the streets and see the layers of
20:33
history in the different buildings, the architecture,
20:36
share some stories, catch up, pay attention to how people live
20:39
their everyday life. That's one of the things that I
20:43
would do when I was on tours, when I said I did 116 shows in
20:49
60 cities. I probably only went to like 30
20:51
of them, but every time I would go to a city, we would have a
20:54
nice budget. I would go and scope out the
20:57
city first. I would go on to Thursday and I
21:02
would book the hotel for all the artists that were flying in.
21:05
So and I wanted to pick the nicest hotel that that's
21:09
affordable and and a nice place that can quickly get to the
21:12
venue. So I would have a budget to
21:14
drive around the whole city and explore all these cities in
21:17
China as well walk around. So I, I picked up that habit
21:21
from going to school at Michigan State, a large campus, second
21:24
largest campus in America, just just walking everywhere.
21:28
So I'm a big Walker. So we walked two aisles before
21:31
we got to that new district that we hung out.
21:35
It's called 98 Creativity Park. And they're a bunch of, you
21:39
know, nice Swank clubs and bars and lounges.
21:44
And, you know, prior to that we had saw so many cafes.
21:49
You know, Shanghai has the world's most cafes.
21:53
No one has more cafes, coffee bars, spaces than Shanghai right
21:58
now. Something ridiculous.
22:00
It's a ridiculous figure. I was kind of blown away, this
22:02
number one in the world, but this kind of another creative
22:06
space where you can chill. People are sitting out with the
22:09
canopies with the canopy tops, you know, under the sun, having
22:13
some drinks, chat. And we went by Revolution
22:16
cocktail, really famous place and, and, and started by a
22:20
friend of mine, Jill from France, who also kind of got the
22:23
whole idea and concept from our, our hip hop parties.
22:26
The whole club is based off a club called Pegasus.
22:30
I was the first one to do hip hop parties at Pegasus, you
22:34
know, back in our mid 2000s. And he took that and turned it
22:37
into a whole basically an entire brand that there was replicated
22:43
across China. And what we're going to see
22:44
later, some of the venues and the videos I'll show you is all
22:48
of these hip hop brands that have turned into, you know,
22:50
nightclub brands across the country.
22:52
But this is the point after you walked and you had something to
22:55
do, you had to do an interview. And it was a really interesting
22:58
moment because, all right, you got to do an interview.
23:02
I live at the north of the the north of the city.
23:05
Your place is kind of in the South.
23:07
We're already in the middle. And I was planning to take you
23:09
around and show you more because we hadn't really done anything
23:12
yet. It's going to get crazy.
23:13
So I'm like, I'll just stay downtown.
23:15
You go do your interview at the hotel, come back and meet me.
23:18
And, you know, I look at you. You look at me, and I'm like,
23:22
all right, You know, you got to get a taxi.
23:24
And you're like, yeah, OK, got to get a taxi.
23:26
And this is kind of like this moment.
23:28
I'm like, yeah, bro, you got to get a taxi.
23:31
And you're like, all right, grab a taxi.
23:32
Let me raise my hand. I'm like, huh, you're not going
23:36
to get a taxi in Shanghai if you raise your hand.
23:38
No one's like, that's what I realize.
23:40
You're not like the Chinese anymore, or at least not the
23:44
modern. You know, the last, the last
23:47
Chinese. I'm the ancient traditional
23:50
Chinese time traveling from back in 1980s China.
23:56
Like I'm not the modern Chinese of 9/20/25 in Shanghai.
24:00
So I don't know all the latest technology, all the gadgets, all
24:04
the APPS. So I had to rely on locals like
24:08
Dana to get me updated, you know, to upgrade, to get the get
24:12
the 2025 upgrade. So, so go ahead, Dana.
24:17
So, yeah, I think that's when, you know, that's an important
24:22
point because Shanghai is the future.
24:24
It is. It is like living in the future.
24:26
And most people come here and don't really, they don't
24:29
understand how the system works because they're not living on
24:32
this kind of system. And your phone's not set up.
24:35
But once you're tapped in and locked in, it is so convenient.
24:38
It's it's, it's amazing, but you got to have beauty.
24:43
For for my excuse, I because back in 2019, which is the last
24:49
time I spent significant time in China, back then WeChat and
24:53
Alipay didn't allow foreign bank cards to be associated with.
24:59
So back then I had to go use my auntie's bank account to
25:04
associate with my WeChat. And the problem is when I try to
25:08
call DD, use the DD app, which is a Chinese rideshare app DD
25:12
actually bought out China Uber. So now DD is the biggest
25:16
rideshare app in China. So back in 2019 when I tried to
25:20
use DD app from WeChat, it it tried it first asked me for
25:27
facial recognition and obviously didn't work because my WeChat
25:33
account was associated with my auntie's bank account and my
25:37
face is does not look 100% match my auntie's.
25:41
So I couldn't use DD back then and and.
25:44
And so now 2025 is different because China has changed the
25:48
rule. So now you can associate foreign
25:52
bank cards, credit card with WeChat and Alipay and as long as
25:57
you have verified your WeChat or Alipay account meaning you have
26:02
putting in passport information so they verify you are real
26:06
person. Then you will be able to use
26:09
them to pay and use mini apps inside WeChat and the alipay
26:13
like like Didi. And also you requires you to
26:18
have a Chinese phone number. So if you bought a SIM card at
26:21
the airport, then then you are all set.
26:24
You can, you can because there's a DD, they still need a Chinese
26:27
phone number. So the DD driver can call you on
26:30
a Chinese phone number. So, so I, I, I just did not
26:33
know. But thank you, Dana for setting
26:35
me straight. Well, it it was, we had a little
26:40
adventure. It took like 45 minutes for us
26:43
to figure out how to connect. Everything reconnected.
26:45
But we finally got it, you know, got you on the DD so you could
26:49
get a taxi. And then somehow I think the GP,
26:53
like maybe the VPN was on, so the DD came to pick you up, but
26:58
I went to a different location. So we took 45 minutes.
27:01
We finally thought we'd like we got it.
27:03
Let's get into this. Because you're trying to rush to
27:05
do an interview. You got an important interview
27:07
you got to do online. So you're rushing back to the
27:10
hotel and the DD. We're like, where is the DD?
27:12
Like what is going on is the nightmare.
27:14
That's another thing I realized is a lot of the DD drivers, I
27:17
think they're also very new, like a lot of them are like not
27:20
Shanghai locals. So I actually don't know the
27:23
streets. So they depends on heavily on G
27:26
on not the GPS, but the Chinese, the the navigation system.
27:32
So navigation system, tell, tell them where to go.
27:35
And because I think I had my VPN turned on, so my navigation
27:39
system was really funky. So he pointed the DD to a like
27:43
a, a place that's really, really far away.
27:45
We thought we could walk, but we couldn't.
27:48
And, and, but yeah, it took us 45 minutes to finally you told
27:52
me, you know what? Just cancel that DD order and
27:55
get another one. And, and we were able to do that
27:57
finally. Yeah.
27:59
Yeah, so, you know, we're trying to rush the DD is is all over
28:03
the place. We're walking on the map and we
28:06
didn't know that it was because it works all the time.
28:08
I've never had the problem, but I've never had, you know, to to
28:12
go through the changes you had. So with the VPN on, it's a
28:16
different location. We couldn't find it.
28:18
I finally, you know, called called a taxi.
28:21
But that's a really good point, Kyle, like I've seen this
28:23
transformation first hand back in the day when I first arrived.
28:28
The taxis actually have would have plexiglass like and like if
28:33
the, the, the, the stores in the in the hood in, in Detroit where
28:36
the, the, the grocery stores or the local store has a plexiglass
28:40
wall where it would keep keeping them safe.
28:43
The, the taxi drivers actually had a whole plexiglass wall
28:47
around their, their, their seat. And you know, those days are
28:51
gone. But the drivers in Shanghai,
28:55
when you would tell them where you want to go, they always just
28:57
wanted the cross street. They don't want your address.
29:00
Just tell me the cross street. And by memory they knew every
29:04
single cross street in the city. It was amazing.
29:07
These guys were so sharp and they knew every Rd.
29:10
Nowadays you can forget it. Like they do not know any
29:14
streets, they don't know where they're going.
29:16
It's RGP. It's RGPSII told them the exact
29:19
cross street. They're like no, no, no, the the
29:21
the navigation system tell me to go there.
29:24
I'm like, Oh my God. And it was really frustrating
29:27
because apparently a lot of the DD drivers are new.
29:31
They're not from Shanghai, so they exclusively rely on the
29:35
navigation system and they cannot navigate without it.
29:39
If you tell them an address, they would not know how to get
29:41
there. Yeah.
29:42
So that was was our struggle that evening.
29:47
So yeah, we finally got in a taxi.
29:49
And then because Shanghai has such incredible Internet, I walk
29:55
around, I'm, I'm on my 5G Internet at home.
29:59
I don't even, I don't even know how to calculate this stuff.
30:01
I have like 1000 MPBS. It's, it's, it's twice the speed
30:07
of, of what most people have in the United States for like 1/6
30:11
of the cost. And I'm like, you know, you're
30:14
doing, you're trying to get to the hotel.
30:16
Why don't you just do the interview and the taxi?
30:18
This is Shanghai, man. Just just put it on stop on your
30:21
VPN and sure enough, you were able to to connect in the taxi
30:25
as we're flying through the streets.
30:28
We got back to the hotel. You did your interview.
30:31
I had a nice break and then it was on to.
30:34
So basically to give you an overview of the nightlife in
30:37
Shanghai and the first club that we went to, it's called Owner's
30:43
Circle, OC Owner's Circle Owner's Club.
30:46
And I want to direct people. I don't, I don't have enough to
30:50
show you guys about that club, but it's fascinating.
30:53
I did a really good tweet. So check out my tweets at
30:56
Detroit Showtime on Twitter and look up Carl or look up owner
31:00
circle. I did a a breakdown of that club
31:03
and the history and it's really cool visuals of me hanging out
31:06
there. But the club has a amazing
31:09
history and it's got an iron mic connection.
31:12
The the owner of the club 1 is Joe, one is Jason.
31:16
Joe is from Wuhan. Jason is from from Taipei.
31:19
Joe used to be a battle rapper. He he you know, he was in the
31:22
Iron Mike. He used to be AB boy and a
31:24
battle rapper. And he ended up hooking up with
31:27
this guy from from Taiwan. And they put out a hit record
31:30
probably 1520 years ago and blew up and you know, got a nice
31:36
following and then started their own franchise or nightclubs.
31:40
And so that was like my first taking me to a proper nightclub.
31:44
And we only have to see half of it.
31:46
We went into the lounge side and I remember that you were really
31:49
impressed. But I felt like, man, you know,
31:51
I felt like I didn't really roll out the carpet enough because it
31:55
wasn't allow you to. I have to describe the scene
31:58
like I really, at that moment, I really wish I had a camera
32:02
because we kind of like the door opens and I'm like, I feel like
32:08
I just walk into like a decadent opium den or something.
32:13
And they have the audience like lounges lying everywhere and
32:17
full of baddies. There would really be a guy and
32:20
there would be like two or three baddies surrounding them.
32:24
I feel like I was in a rap video, you know, like like this
32:27
is this literally like I like I'm walking into a rap video.
32:32
So I next day, that's why next day I went to DJI Flag store in
32:36
Shanghai. I got myself ADJI Pocket 3.
32:39
So I will not miss scenes like that.
32:43
Yeah, I think, you know, because I, I'm so used to being in so
32:50
many spectacular venues. I've been in so many.
32:54
So I'm just like, you know, I it's hard for me to understand
32:59
that most people are exposed to this.
33:01
There aren't a lot of clubs like the clubs that we have in China.
33:04
I'll give you one example. I'll show this the last video
33:07
with the blue lights. Yeah.
33:12
So this is like a futuristic club lounge.
33:16
They've made it into like an old tan dynasty theme.
33:20
But there's lights and all kind of three, you know, visuals
33:23
everywhere. It's just, it's just, it's just
33:26
mesmerizing. And this is actually a
33:28
restaurant and a bar and there are people performing lives and
33:32
they've got the projection screens to kind of take you
33:34
back. People are all dressed up like
33:36
the Tan Dynasty. So man, there's so many, so many
33:40
venues like that. But the place we went to was on
33:42
a circle. And what was really cool about
33:44
on a Circle I, it really dawned on me because I just went there
33:48
the other night, is that this club has a lot of plants there.
33:53
There's a lot of plant life in the club.
33:55
There's plants all over the place, all over where your
33:58
lounges. They've got like a waterfall on
34:02
the, the balcony. They got the sunroof waterfall
34:06
and it's kind of just like airy and refreshing.
34:08
So it's like a tropical hip hop paradise.
34:10
And just like you said, you walk in, they got like an ice cream
34:13
bar at the back and people are chilling and then there's hookah
34:17
everywhere, people smoking a hookah.
34:19
So I just went there actually right after our interview, right
34:25
after our interview that night, our last one for the first
34:27
episode. I just went out to get a
34:29
breather. That's my favorite place to go.
34:30
It's like the lounge shield place.
34:32
And this is what I saw if you go to the to the video with the
34:35
dude with his with his back. So that's, that's the kind of
34:51
experience you get just on a random night.
34:53
It's kind of like, what do they call that?
34:56
The, the, the flash mob. I'm just sitting there and this
34:59
guy just starts singing opera, you know, out of nowhere.
35:04
I'm at the bar just trying to, you know, enjoy a little hookah.
35:08
There's another one I put with the trees.
35:58
This, this is the reason why I said I wish I had a a camera
36:04
with me because I just people wouldn't believe me if I tell
36:08
them. There are places like this in
36:09
China, in Shanghai, you know, like seeing is believing, but
36:14
you know, it's really amazing stuff.
36:16
And I'm just I'm just sitting at the hookah bar, man.
36:18
I'm out of my own business. Like what is going on?
36:22
But yeah, man. So that was the first, the first
36:26
place. So sorry.
36:28
You know, we you didn't get to experience the opera and we were
36:31
just in and out. I wanted to show you.
36:33
We just came in, took a look, met a couple friends again, like
36:39
it's like every everywhere I'm going.
36:42
It's kind of like the Iron Mike alumni, the DJ at the at the the
36:46
bar. That's my man.
36:48
He used to tour with me when, when, when I was doing those,
36:50
those Weibull tours in 2007, DJ big one.
36:54
So he's spinning there the onus from, you know, rap battle guy,
36:58
the people doing the hoosh, the hookah business.
37:00
My friend is, is he's, you know, providing the hookah service.
37:04
He used to be a rapper too. So you're going to hear a lot of
37:08
stories just connected to the hip hop community.
37:12
It's it's been incredible the network that was built and, and,
37:15
and the type of people that I've met and what they're what
37:18
they're into. These guys.
37:19
You know, he's he's got a hip hop bar and he's got like really
37:24
talented soprano opera singers just popping up singing for
37:29
people. Like these guys are top notch.
37:32
And just like you said, this is the kind of entertainment that
37:34
we get. And then you saw the sign,
37:35
right? You're really mesmerized by the
37:37
sign on on the bar. Remember that?
37:41
The sign. Yeah.
37:43
Yeah, yeah. Well, I so there's a sign that
37:46
says what is it? It's a reminder it's illegal for
37:52
gambling. What is it?
37:54
Gambling, drugs and prostitution on the premises.
37:58
But later people told me that's actually the standard side at
38:02
the lot of hotel clubs and lounges that that that's the.
38:06
Police. Police warning side I saw the
38:09
one behind the bar and I took a picture because I, you know, I
38:12
that was new to for me and but I, you know, like this is kind
38:17
of places people like this kind of clubs with very fun
38:23
atmosphere. People just don't associate that
38:25
with China because, you know, people have been so brainwashed
38:29
by Cold War propaganda to think China is this authoritarian
38:34
hellhole where everyone is just like being work like slaves.
38:39
You know, there's no, no room for fun, right.
38:42
But like, you took me to some really fun places where people
38:46
lift their hair down and enjoy themselves.
38:48
Yeah. Totally.
38:51
And so the next place we went to was we went to Fushing Park and
38:56
tried to get all up in your screen, but that Fushing Park
38:58
or. That's.
39:01
A different place, yeah, that's it, That's it.
39:03
So we went to Fushing Park, quite historical place with a
39:09
lot of historical significance and history.
39:14
And the 1st place we went, but they got to check out Twitter
39:17
because you got the the Twitter photo up.
39:19
But the first place that we went was let me.
39:21
See if we can find it You you keep talking.
39:23
I'm going to try to look for it on my Twitter feed.
39:26
Yeah, the first place who we went to was I said, I said I got
39:29
a surprise for you, Carl. I got to take you to something
39:32
really cool. We got to get this moment.
39:34
You know, we're in this park and it's on the right of this this
39:37
photo on the left is it used to be a map, this massive KTV and
39:43
they turned it into what's called in Zions, I think.
39:46
What does it mean into nothing serious.
39:49
That's what it stands for. It's just this massive 6 story
39:53
building in in the middle of a serene pushing park all in one
39:57
place. And then yeah, so right there we
40:01
got Carl and Carl. So right in the park across from
40:05
the club is this massive statue of Marx and Ingles.
40:09
And we got Carl Marx and Carl John.
40:14
I think it's like, you know, it's almost like midnight around
40:17
his times getting late, you know, pushing it.
40:21
And there's like 1 lone brother, African brother the city on the
40:26
side of us. He's on his phone and and pitch
40:29
black in the middle of the night.
40:30
He's just us strolling through this park and this park benches,
40:34
people just hanging out peacefully.
40:36
No one's worried about anything. And across the street, you pick
40:42
up the story from What happens after you Are Here I.
40:44
Mean like the, the, the, the a lot of young people were just
40:48
like relaxing and chilling in the park after partying at the
40:52
club. And, you know, I just thought it
40:54
was it was funny that the, you know, Marks and angles are
40:59
looking straight at the big giant Story 3 three story
41:04
building. That's like multi level clubbing
41:08
and and everything is not incongruent at all because this
41:11
is Shanghai, China, you know, like everything just coexisted.
41:15
You have the Marx angle statue on one hand and that the the
41:19
very young party crowd that goes into this three story.
41:25
Is this three story or or or or multi story?
41:29
Yes, 6464. Yeah, yeah.
41:35
So, so like you can see, like there's some people just hang
41:37
out in the front, but but inside there's more people and you got
41:41
you, you know, you got me VIP access to like all different
41:45
levels. And then it was, it was nice.
41:47
It was, it was definitely something different.
41:50
Yeah, so OK, tell them walk them through like us walking up to
41:56
the entrance and going in and from the top down.
42:00
Give me the whole experience from your eyes.
42:04
You remember how he walked up in?
42:06
There it was all blur to me now, but I remember there's like
42:09
there's a different theme on each floor.
42:12
Like there's a, it's almost like, you know, you go to like
42:16
haunted house on Halloween, you know, like there's like a
42:19
different theme room you go into and, and they have different
42:25
type of music, like a different style of partying.
42:30
But and a lot of young people, very young people, you know,
42:33
like teeny boppers, we're talking about like early 20s and
42:35
stuff like that, yeah. Yeah, yeah.
42:39
So basically when you, when you pull up at the venue, there's
42:43
you know, it's packed out from, there's a lot of people all
42:45
outside and you got to wait in line in the queue and you go
42:51
through and there's all the security.
42:53
And in fact, being at Disney World, how the queue is all set
42:56
up with the turnstiles and everything.
42:59
And you, you have to get a bracelet and buy a package.
43:03
Usually you get the people get like for like 300 RMB, you pay
43:09
and you get access to all of the floors like an amusement park.
43:12
It's like the Universal ticket where you can go into all of the
43:16
clubs with this ticket and get a, you know, a drink with your,
43:19
with your ticket price. But we put like, I just walked
43:22
up and then one of the homies, one of my one of my handlers was
43:25
outside was like, get in here and he just walks in for years.
43:29
I didn't even know you had to pay.
43:30
I didn't know people were paying that much to get in.
43:34
So the homie gets us in, give us our bracelets, pushes us through
43:38
the line, and then we start at the top and we just go from
43:42
floor to floor. And basically it's a massive
43:47
shopping mall. And on each floor there are
43:50
multiple clubs and each club is a different kind of theme.
43:54
So you may we started at the top at the hip hop club where all
43:59
the local celebrities go. Edison Chant is hanging out,
44:02
Jackson Wong, they're all, you know, pulling up to the club,
44:05
hanging out there. Then then we go to the next
44:08
level. There's like an underground
44:09
techno club, there's the student dive bar kind of thing.
44:14
There's a place with like upscale cocktails, a shisha
44:17
lounge. And so you go through this whole
44:20
universe and there are people, you know, falling in stumps
44:23
everywhere. Like it's, it's just full of
44:25
energy, full of movement, people going up down different groups.
44:29
It's it's really a partygoers dream.
44:32
They, they figured out the secret to to like club hop in
44:36
instead of week. Well, we're on.
44:39
Our weekday nights too, I think. It was a Sunday night.
44:43
Yeah, it was, it was still crowded.
44:46
His hat. So.
44:49
And again, it was like that, like you didn't know all this
44:52
because I, I don't even go out that, you know, I don't go out
44:55
that much anymore just to take out my friends.
44:58
But it is surreal because every club I'm bumping into someone
45:02
that it's always like an Iron Mike connection.
45:06
We were at that first club at the top, you know, the DJ that
45:09
was spinning. I was one of my homies.
45:10
He used to, you know, to spend at the Battles.
45:14
And then when we finally got to, I kind of wanted to cap the
45:18
night off with, you know, the best experience I could.
45:21
I could give you this large, spacious venue that's sort of
45:26
like a mixture between KTV, karaoke bar, nightclub,
45:32
restaurant, live stage, theater, everything all combined in one.
45:37
It's it's like a mini amphitheater, one of the biggest
45:40
performance stages and LED screens and lighting show in in
45:44
all of China. It
46:07
was a pretty exhilarating experience.
46:09
It was a good way to to cap off the, the evening.
46:16
You know, this the, the stage is just spectacular.
46:18
When my friend performs on that stage, he says it's, it's almost
46:22
like being shot out of a cabin. The feeling when he when he gets
46:27
on stage and then the gentleman on stage is that's my good
46:31
brother, Wink. He has got a he's, he's in his
46:35
60s now. Not going to put his whole age
46:38
out there, but he is in his 60s and he, you know, he moved to
46:46
China in 19. He moved to Hong Kong in 1992.
46:50
He's one of the first, first and longest living African Americans
46:57
in China. And it's really me and him.
47:00
I've been in the mainland longer than him.
47:01
He moved in 2005, but he moved to Hong Kong in 92 and then
47:06
moved to the mainland. He's from Pennsylvania, Vast and
47:11
Pettis, incredible human beings, saxophone players, singer.
47:16
And so they're playing all the, you know, all the jazz, all the
47:18
good tunes. We had you doing the YMCA?
47:23
If I could, I really want to put that video up, but I can't.
47:27
It's slow now, but you doing the YMCA dance.
47:30
But a lot of the tools that we know our generation.
47:33
Did you see Khan busting the move?
47:36
See, the brother has soul, got rhythm and just chilling out.
47:40
And, you know, some of the guests that were there, like my
47:43
friend week, he was entertaining the band for Jim.
47:47
Jim is kind of like the Taylor Swift of China.
47:51
Her band was there, you know, just hanging out, connecting.
47:55
They were up front. But yeah, that was a cool
47:57
nightcap from a whole day of of several miles of walking and
48:02
talking, bar hopping and and, and just my first time getting
48:08
to know Karl Dodd in the flesh in person.
48:11
You're, you're making me miss in Shanghai, man, I miss, I miss
48:16
hang out with you in Shanghai already.
48:21
Part of the reason I wanted to show you, you know, such a good
48:24
time was I remember, you see, the truth is about Shanghai.
48:29
Shanghai is one of the most hated cities in China.
48:34
It's hated and loved like it's, it is like everyone can't stand
48:39
Shanghai. They feel it's too pretentious,
48:41
it's too expensive. But at the same time, there's
48:44
like a, a level of jealousy because you know, Shanghai, you
48:49
know, is doing so well. So it's always this love hate
48:52
thing with Shanghai. I, I'm very familiar with it.
48:55
There's a, a phase in my life where I really wanted to get out
48:58
the city. Even though I lived here, I, I
49:01
was just on the low and I enjoyed going to other cities
49:04
and traveling to China and spent more time, you know, living in
49:07
other places and just being quiet.
49:10
But I know on your Twitter, I think there was like a, a survey
49:14
or questionnaire or they asked you your favorite places in
49:17
China or your least place you'd like.
49:20
And it was something about Shanghai.
49:21
Then you you've made comments. I used to share it on Shanghai
49:25
all the time on Twitter, but I told Dana now that I have
49:29
actually experienced in Shanghai, I'm not going to shit
49:31
on Shanghai anymore. Shanghai is fantastic.
49:34
Shanghai is great. Any any last words, last
49:39
comments you want to make to my audience?
49:42
A couple things I wanted to talk about got a bit on my mind that
49:46
are related to to the whole experience.
49:51
You know, you, you talked about in the last episode, you were
49:55
asking me about like, you know, why I came to China and with my
49:58
experiences, like as a black person.
50:01
Just recently I was at a venue, it's called Chair Club.
50:05
It was a chair Club. It's it's a music bar.
50:08
And I bumped into a bunch of African American friends.
50:12
There's also a group now in Shanghai where black Americans
50:16
get together on almost like a monthly, bi monthly basis.
50:20
We share stories and have camaraderie.
50:22
But this particular night, I bumped into a gentleman.
50:25
One brother was from Texas. Another guy was from Saint
50:29
Louis. You know, the guy from Texas was
50:32
a drummer. The guy from Saint Louis was a
50:35
singer. There's a guy, I think he's from
50:37
North Carolina or the South, also a singer.
50:42
And there was another gentleman from Detroit that sees a
50:46
football out here. And I was there hanging out.
50:49
I actually came out to meet up with a bunch of old friends for
50:52
who had also lifers who had came to China in the the late 90s,
50:56
just happened to go out with them and then bump into these
50:59
cats. And we were talking about how
51:02
happy we are to be in China. And we all had the similar
51:05
experience of, you know, even though right now as the economy
51:10
is still still extremely strong and still growing and expanding,
51:15
it's not growing at the, you know, the, the rate that it used
51:18
to. So it's it, it doesn't feel the
51:21
same as the heyday that many of us experienced with where things
51:25
are just out of control. But we are still so happy and
51:28
grateful to be here. And it's that common, that
51:32
common thread like this is again, people from Texas, Saint
51:35
Louis, and it's the same story. They're all just, we just don't
51:39
miss the violence, the, the violence that that is so
51:42
normalized that we're subjected to as black men that, that those
51:47
guys working in entertainment, going to a lounge or a club have
51:50
to face that you have to face every day on the street.
51:53
It's the same thing. The brother from Detroit, and
51:56
what's interesting about the young brother from Detroit, very
51:58
similar to me, it wasn't like he just came from the straight
52:02
poverty and came from the hood. We both grew up in the, in some
52:06
really tough parts of Detroit, but we slowly moved to the
52:09
suburbs. We've lived in the most affluent
52:12
communities in the United States.
52:15
This guy was, we were both living in West Bloomfield
52:18
because family moved to Novi. So it's not like we're, we're
52:21
comparing not just the poverty and dark side of, of, of
52:25
America, the urban underbelly. We live in the suburbs and, and
52:29
even that lifestyle doesn't compare to, to what you
52:33
experienced. This untran, untran God, this
52:37
safety, we say in China, untran God, the sense of safety.
52:41
And you know, this, this term I'm learning the, the Xiao Kao
52:46
Shihui, this, this, this ancient Chinese idea of a peaceful
52:51
society, a harmonious society, that, that, that the government
52:56
and citizens work really hard to preserve.
52:59
And it's a quality of life that I wish more people would have an
53:05
opportunity to live and understand.
53:07
And one of the reasons I want to be on your show and I want to
53:10
talk more, it's not even to brag about the lifestyle or the
53:13
lifestyle that I live. Like I could, I could show you
53:16
all kind of crazy stuff about how incredible things are.
53:20
One of the reasons. And I don't like to flash or
53:22
flaw it. You know, the things that I have
53:25
that that's the way I was raised and growing up in Detroit.
53:28
But the big thing for me is I know that right now my
53:33
government is waging a war on China.
53:36
And it is a relentless, brutal war.
53:39
And I've seen the war plans and I understand what is taking
53:43
place right outside of Shanghai, right in the the Pacific Ocean,
53:48
in the South China Sea with all these U.S. troops, the US, they
53:54
do these exercises right outside of China and they're crashing
53:58
planes and helicopters and nuclear submarines into the sea
54:01
all the time. And they're weaponizing and
54:05
stirring up all kinds of chaos and havoc in the region right
54:09
now. It's never been in my, in my
54:11
experience in China, it's never been this tense and volatile
54:15
with all of the disruption that they're doing in South Korea, in
54:19
Japan. And I just want to raise the
54:23
consciousness of Americans to know that this war in China is
54:27
real and we need to do something as American citizens to stop it.
54:31
And I don't want to be a part of it because as it's, as it's, you
54:35
know, the eve of veteran's day in America.
54:38
And I looked at the photo of my grand, my grandfather who served
54:42
in World War 2 and he served in the Korean War.
54:46
And I remember the stories that he told me and I'll never
54:49
forget, you know, black Americans were sent overseas to
54:54
slaughter Asian people. My grandfather told me directly.
54:58
And it was very interesting the way that he put it.
55:01
And I'll never forget it. You know, he kind of projected
55:05
and deflected what he was a part of.
55:07
He said. He said, you know, the white man
55:10
was committing terrible crimes, horrible crimes against
55:14
humanity. And really he was trying to find
55:17
some kind of justification for what he was participating in,
55:21
what he witnessed and saw himself that that, you know, my,
55:25
my own flesh and blood was sent by the American empire to
55:30
slaughter Asian people. And I think that most people in
55:35
America don't understand that history.
55:37
We don't we we think about the countless lives that we lost,
55:41
but we don't think about the lives that were slaughtered.
55:43
And what I know is the history hasn't ended.
55:48
The same mentality the same. This is an ancient history guys.
55:52
This is one generation ago. And there are still 39,000
55:58
troops in South Korea, like 60,000 troops in Japan.
56:02
And even, and most of those troops they they're sending to
56:06
to do the slaughter and be cannon fodders.
56:09
Many of them are from the poverty draft.
56:12
I knew that because I lived through it.
56:14
I, I, I told you I went through a 95% student body black school
56:20
in South side of Chicago, Kingwood.
56:23
I would remember the art the US military recruiters will
56:26
regularly come to our school. And he was straight up telling
56:31
us, he said, like, guys, join the military is your best chance
56:36
to get out of the ghetto. That's that's how how he
56:39
presented it. And then they sent these people,
56:42
They sent these marginalized kids from inner cities and they
56:50
go to the front lines in East Asia to be the Canon fathers for
56:55
the Empire, right? And And so it still goes on that
56:59
that still goes on today. It's not the The history hasn't
57:02
ended. It has not stopped I I remember
57:04
throwing parties in Hong Kong and I'm living my best life.
57:08
Sponsored by Johnny Blaze throwing a hip hop party at club
57:11
in mid mid 2000s. And the naval ship docks at the
57:16
Hong Kong harbor can't dock anymore and American soldiers
57:20
get off the ships and come to my party.
57:22
There were all these young men from Detroit and they were so
57:25
happy to see me, so happy to find a hip hop party in China.
57:29
And they were getting off the ship, these young hard men with
57:33
Detroit tattoos on their hands and on their neck.
57:36
And we partied all night and I knew these brothers were already
57:40
war-torn veterans from the streets of Detroit.
57:43
And they were going to be sent off to fight in West Asia in in
57:48
Iraq and, you know, in Central Asia, Afghanistan.
57:51
And what people don't realize right now is our government is
57:55
gearing up to send them to East Asia.
57:58
And what they want to do and what I want to stop, they want
58:01
to blow up the hip hop party. They want to blow up hip hop.
58:04
They want to all the clubs and all these wonderful things that
58:07
I'm showing you. The reason they demonize China
58:10
is because they're going to drop nuclear bombs here.
58:13
They're going to they're going to try to decimate and destroy
58:15
all of this and we have to stop it.
58:17
So I would much rather instead of you guys, you know, joining
58:22
the military and taking orders to bomb and destroy and death
58:25
desecrate people, I want to invite you to join the party.
58:29
So come on over, join the party in China, join with us, build
58:32
with the people, connect with them first hand so you know what
58:36
you're getting into. So you don't have to go through
58:38
what my grandfather went through and had the courage to tell me
58:41
that they actually did, which was mass, you know, massive
58:45
slaughter of people in in Korea and, and throughout East Asia.
58:49
And so I think on that note, please for your for your
58:53
viewers, give me a follow on Twitter.
58:56
I'm really trying to get step up my voice and connect with more
58:59
people, trying to get on the show more, share more stories.
59:03
But it's Detroit Showtime and Twitter.
59:05
Give me a follow. Check out my tweets and thank
59:09
you again for having me on the show.
59:10
And we still got Part 3 because we didn't get it today too, so.
59:13
OK, thank you very much, Dana for making your time to talk to
59:18
us. And everybody follow Dana on
59:21
Twitter. I will also have his social
59:25
media links in the description below.
59:27
Make sure to give him a follow. And thank you everyone.
59:30
And also click like. Click like and subscribe on the
59:35
channel. Thanks everyone for tuning in.
59:38
Until next time, Dana, Dana will be back as we're friends and
59:43
there's so much we have to talk about, about life, about life in
59:47
China, etcetera. So, so look, look forward to
59:50
that and peace. Peace.