Most of the time, Chen Xukai wears a business-casual polo shirt, which culturally is seen as a quiet badge of prosperity in southern China. Even recently, when he performed on stage at Galaxy Macau, he wore it along with modest accessories like sunglasses and a beaded bracelet on both wrists.
He raps in Mandarin, Cantonese, and Hakka. The crowd constantly sprayed water at him—it was a pool party, after all, and thousands had converged from across Asia, craving a glimpse of this Huizhou-born phenomenon. Or maybe you know him better by his stage name: SKAI ISYOURGOD, aka 揽佬 (Lan Lao).
The event was even christened in the name of his famous track “Blueprint Supreme”—a ceremony that proves his meteoric rise has crossed from algorithmic virality into real-world spectacle.
From the moment he stepped onstage, SKAI ISYOURGOD was strikingly chill.
When asked how to describe his own music style, the hip hop sensation answers in short, slow sentences, dissecting his music style with a self-deprecating shrug: he calls it “shit.” Behind this laid-back persona, though, lies a sly humor—not exaggerated to entertain, but emanating from his own private amusement. “Old songs are like raw shit; now it’s sophisticated ones,” he says.
In an interview with Mothership Nova, SKAI explained the meaning behind his stage name: “SKAI” is a phonetic echo of his Chinese name, Chen Xukai, and “ISYOURGOD” expresses a deliberate craziness and a playful claim to mystery. He keeps certain things under wraps; until recently, his real name remained officially unconfirmed. But in mid-2025, a Bilibili clip surfaced showing him in a campus singing contest, prompting confirmation that his real name is indeed Chen Xukai (陈序垲).
His breakout came in 2024 with the album 八方来财—translated loosely as Stacks From All Sides. Three songs from that album went viral globally, including the namesake track, “Karma Code,” and “Blueprint Supreme.” They first caught wind on Douyin before migrating overseas onto TikTok.
The songs were unusual. Playful but reflective, full of references to southern folk beliefs, feng shui masters, and everyday markers of Guangdong affluence. “I sent a tea set to my uncle,” he raps in “Blueprint Supreme,” a line that listeners recognized instantly as both mundane and comic.
By late 2024 into early 2025, those tracks had spilled onto international social media feeds. Western listeners, many unfamiliar with Chinese hip hop, suddenly found themselves replaying verses in Hakka and Cantonese. Online, “八方来财” even acquired a misheard nickname: “sushi don’t lie.”
The viral surge has translated into record-breaking numbers. This July, SKAI officially surpassed Jay Chou as the most-streamed Chinese-language artist on Spotify—a watershed moment never before achieved by a mainland Chinese singer. He hit over 4 million monthly listeners—a figure that overtook Jay Chou’s count. His breakout hit “八方来财” has accrued tens of millions of streams.
Aside from the meme effect, part of the appeal is SKAI’s ability to balance the hyper-local with the global. His production borrows from Memphis rap and trap, with skittering hi-hats, heavy bass, and ominous synths. Yet the imagery is firmly rooted in southern China, featuring karaoke rooms, jade ornaments, and silver arowanas swimming in household ponds. Where many rappers boast of cars and champagne, SKAI raps about entrepreneurs consulting feng shui masters to protect their ventures.
For all the attention, SKAI himself projects indifference. When RADII asked him how fame has changed him, he joked that nothing has changed and he still just “eats, sleeps, and jerks off.” Yet his career has moved quickly. This summer, he embarked on his first world tour, with stops in Hong Kong, Sydney, Singapore, and London. Festival organizers across Asia have extended invitations. Onstage, he maintains the same languid posture, but the audiences—thousands strong—suggest he has become something far more than a meme.
What’s next? He tells us that “once I’ve rested enough, I’ll write [more] songs.” Or, in other words—his own words—“nothing complicated.”
Cover image via Instagram/@skaiisyourgod.
