Higher Brothers () are a Chinese hip hop group from

Chengdu Chengdu; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ; Chinese postal romanization, previously Romanization of Chinese, romanized as Chengtu. is the capital city of the Chinese province of Sichuan. With a ...

consisting of four members: Masiwei, KnowKnow (formerly DZ Know), Psy.P, and Melo. The

group A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic iden ...

was earliest known for their ghetto-styled songs in

Standard Mandarin Standard Chinese ( zh, s=现代标准汉语, t=現代標準漢語, p=Xiàndài biāozhǔn hànyǔ, l=modern standard Han speech) is a modern Standard language, standard form of Mandarin Chinese that was first codified during the Republic of ...

and

Sichuan Dialect Sichuanese,; Sichuanese Pinyin: ''Si4cuan1hua4''; zh, p=Sìchuānhuà, w=Szŭ4-ch'uan1-hua4 also called Sichuanese Mandarin, is a branch of Southwestern Mandarin spoken mainly in Sichuan and Chongqing, which was part of Sichuan Province fro ...

, such as "Made in China", "Black Cab" and "WeChat".

History

Origins

Higher Brothers are formerly part of the major OG Chinese hip-hop label, Chengdu Rap House (成都说唱会馆), also known as CDC (an abbreviation of Chengdu City), which was formed in the early 2010s, and was succeeded by the name of Chengdu Corporation (成都集团),, with similar affliated members. Melo, who was the earliest member of the Higher Brothers to join the Rap House, who performed in the quadrennial cypher, CDC Cypher 2012, alongside original Rap House members Fat Shady, Sleepy Cat, Kafe.Hu, and Lil White. Meanwhile, Masiwei began rapping around 2013 as the AKA of OG Skippy, releasing three solo mixtapes in 2013, 2014, and 2015. Furthermore, Melo and Psy.P performed as a duo called 天地会 (Tian Di Clan, or TDC), releasing a mixtape in 2015. In 2015, KnowKnow (formerly DZ Know), who had recently arrived from

Nanjing Nanjing or Nanking is the capital of Jiangsu, a province in East China. The city, which is located in the southwestern corner of the province, has 11 districts, an administrative area of , and a population of 9,423,400. Situated in the Yang ...

, released a song with Masiwei and Psy.P called "Haier Brothers" (海尔兄弟) after the old logo of the Chinese electronics company

Haier Haier Group Corporation () is a Chinese multinational home appliances and consumer electronics company headquartered in Qingdao, Shandong. Its Haier Smart Home Company affiliate, of which it owns 35%, designs, develops, manufactures and se ...

, which features a pair of brothers. After the song received a positive reception, the members decided to form a group and name it after the song. Over time, the English form of the name became "Higher Brothers". The group's music is inspired by

50 Cent Curtis James Jackson III (born July 6, 1975), known professionally as 50 Cent, is an American rapper, actor, and television producer. Born in Queens, a borough of New York City, Jackson began pursuing a musical career in 1996. In 1999–2000, ...

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and

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. The quick cycles of media consumerism in China allowed the Higher Brothers to enter the underground Chinese hip-hop scene and explode in popularity within a matter of months, and their international success would soon follow after signing with multinational label 88rising.

88rising and international success

The Higher Brothers joined

88rising 88rising (stylized as 88⬆), formerly known as CXSHXNLY (pronounced "cash only"), is an American record label founded in 2015 by Sean Miyashiro and Jaeson Ma. According to their website, Miyashiro describes it as a "hybrid management, record ...

by the recommendation of

Bohan Phoenix Leng Bohan (born 1992 or 1993), better known by his stage name Bohan Phoenix, is a Chinese-American rapper. Early life Leng was born in Hubei, China, in 1992 or 1993. His mother worked in Shenzhen, and his grandparents took care of him. Leng at ...

in 2016, who was the first Chinese rapper to be signed by 88rising, and had collaborated with the group in numerous occasions. They are managed by Sean Miyashiro and Lana Larkin. Larkin also appeared on a few of their tracks. The group first appeared on 88rising's

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel in 2016 with the song "Black Cab". A video published by 88rising shows prominent hip-hop figures like Kyle, Lil' Yachty, Migos, and

Playboi Carti Jordan Terrell Carter (born September 13, 1995, or 1996), known professionally as Playboi Carti, is an American rapper. Known for his eccentric vocal style and fashion, he is considered an influential figure in modern Hip hop music, hip hop a ...

reacting extremely positively to Higher Brothers' hit music video "Made in China" skyrocketed their popularity and helped push them into the public eye internationally. The video currently has over 22 million views. The Higher Brothers also appeared in both Adidas Originals and Beats by Dre commercials, and were involved in a photo shoot with Russell Westbrook to promote the opening of a Jordan flagship store in Shanghai. Due to the success of songs like "Made in China" and "Franklin", the Higher Brothers embarked on a tour through Asia alongside 88rising artists Joji and

Rich Brian Brian Imanuel Soewarno (born 3 September 1999), known professionally as Rich Brian (formerly Rich Chigga), is an Indonesian rapper. He is known for his viral debut single "Dat Stick, Dat $tick", which was first released in March 2016 on SoundClo ...

in late 2017. In 2018 the group embarked on their North American Tour "Journey to the West", named after their EP of the same name which was released in January 2018. The group released their second album '' Five Stars'' in 2019, and embarked on their worldwide "Wish You Rich" tour starting May 2019. At the end of 2019 the group announced that each member would release a solo album. DZknow released his album ''Mr. Enjoy Da Money'' on December 12, 2019, and also started a street wear brand of the same name. On February 28, 2020, MaSiWei released his solo album ''Prince Charming,'' named after the 1999 movie of the same name. Melo's solo album ''Old Master'' came out in April 2020 and revolved around the theme of paying homage to old guard rappers. Psy.P released his album ''PsyLife.25'' in May 2020, featuring the singles "Chanel", "Tongzilin" and "Bad Habits".

Band members

* MaSiWei (马思唯; ''Mǎ Sīwéi''), also known as Ma

Shi Shi or SHI may refer to: Language * ''Shi'', a Japanese title commonly used as a pronoun * ''Shi'', proposed gender-neutral pronoun * Shi (kana), a kana in Japanese syllabaries * Shi language * ''Shī'', transliteration of Chinese Radical 44 * ...

(马师), group leader , from

Pixian Pidu District (; formerly known as Pi County or Pixian) is a List of administrative divisions of Chengdu, suburban district of the City of Chengdu, Sichuan, China. It presently covers an area of , with a total population of 1,672,025 during the 2 ...

* KnowKnow (丁震; ''Dīng Zhèn''), from

* Psy.P (杨俊逸; ''Yáng Jùnyì''), from Chengdu * Melo (谢宇杰; ''Xiè Yǔjié''), from Chengdu

Discography

Studio albums

Mixtapes

Extended plays

Impact

The Higher Brothers became part of a wider phenomenon in China that ventured from the traditional ways of past generations. For many in the younger generation in China, the cutthroat housing market and job and marriage markets are extremely competitive and present a lot of obstacles for young Chinese. Higher Brothers are the first Chinese rap group to achieve international recognition, rivaling the overseas popularity of Chinese pop stars like

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and

Lay Zhang Zhang Yixing (born Zhang Jiashuai ; ), known professionally as Lay Zhang or simply Lay, is a Chinese singer and actor. After participating in the Chinese talent show ''Star Academy'' in 2005, he became a member of the South Korean-Chinese boy ...

. The group has been able to circumvent Chinese censorship, believed largely due to the unmet need in cultural product of exportable quality. In an older song, Melo rapped "I don't write political hip-hop. But if any politicians try to shut me up, I'll cut off their heads and lay them at their corpses' feet." This line caused him to be brought into the

Chinese public security bureau A public security bureau (PSB; ) of a city or county, or public security department (PSD; ) in a Provinces of China, province or Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the People's Republic of China is a generic term for a police dep ...

for questioning, but he was ultimately released. The Higher Brothers bring energy and crowd involvement into their performances through multilingual integration of their music: speaking to the crowd in mandarin while rapping in English, Mandarin, and Sichuanese. This kind of higher level participation from the crowd was largely unseen in the hip-hop scene during the Higher Brothers' rise, but has since become more prevalent.