About a week ago, a story of cross-cultural discontent emerged, pitting China and Sweden against each other in an unexpected and unnecessary staredown.
A Chinese man and his parents arrived at a hotel in Stockholm after midnight, long before they’d be allowed to check in to their room. Their request to sleep in the lobby was denied, and when they refused to leave, police were called. The resulting footage of the family overacting on the street outside went viral both in China and overseas (viral enough for China’s government to step in, demanding an apology from Sweden for having “severely endangered the life” of its citizens, and citing a violation of “basic human rights”).
Things then got stirred up by a satirical TV show in Sweden deciding to issue a “visitors’ guide” to the country for Chinese tourists, with such tips as “don’t take a shit in public” (and uploaded it to Youku, out of context — watch the full segment on YouTube here). The show also included a map that didn’t feature Taiwan. Naturally, certain sections of the Chinese internet went into meltdown, while the Chinese Foreign Ministry condemned what it called “discrimination, prejudice and provocation” by the show.
But the situation has taken a much more laughable turn now that CD REV — China’s most internationally ridiculed rap group — has stepped in to drop a diss track against the nation of Sweden. In English.
The track comes from CD REV member Pissy (we couldn’t make this up). He starts out with a recap of the events not unlike our own first paragraph up top. But when he sets his eyes on his target, Pissy can no longer hold it in, and the rap quickly devolves into hardcore gangsta lyrical mayhem:
You don’t know how to treat your guests / None of us would do the same to the guests we have
It could be pointed out that many hotels in China have a mandatory policy of refusing foreigners altogether, not having the capability to legally document guests without a Mainland Chinese citizen ID.
Then, there are economic threats:
We can choose to refuse your Swedish brands / and never on a trip to your Sweden again (sic)
And a rousing hook:
Hey Sweden, hey Sweden / Where the f*ck is your civilization? / Hey Sweden, hey Sweden / what’s wrong with you, what is your problem? / Hey Sweden, hey Sweden / How could you be so rude without a reason? / Hey Sweden, hey Sweden / You ’bout to feel the power of the Chinese nation
Pissy then inexplicably caps it off with this bar, the likes of which the rap game has never seen:
You know what? Tibet and Taiwan belong to China, b*tch
(Here’s a write-up we did on CD REV that’s not as tinged with scorn and derision:)
Absolute fire on the mic, right here. Maybe Pissy was inspired by all the beef in the air recently between Eminem and Machine Gun Kelly. But we can only imagine that the constitutional monarchy of Sweden must be shaking in its collective boots as it tries to scrape together a retort to this rhythmic battering. We’re just speculating, but this diss track might very well be a key reason why Sweden’s Prime Minister Stefan Löfven was ousted earlier today in a vote of no confidence. When you’re up against the best, you need a Prime Minister with notebooks full of flows.
Anyway. This has been Swedish-Chinese-hotel-rap-beef news. Tune in next time.
You might also like:
Cover image: Jon Flobrant on Unsplash
