Watch: Instagram Live Chat on Black Lives Matter and Asian Communities

In partnership with Black Livity China, RADII is hosting a live chat on our Instagram between hip hop artists Bohan Phoenix and MC Tingbudong this weekend.

Since the start of the latest Black Lives Matter protests in the US and around the world, discussion has swirled for weeks in both the media and on online platforms in mainland China.

Within the country’s hip hop community — which many feel owes its success to the genre’s origins in Black culture — reactions have varied widely. Some of the most famous rappers from China have been largely silent on the issue, while others have been passionately outspoken. And beyond the world of hip hop, the movement has raised many questions around Asian communities’ support of Black Lives Matter.

Born in Hubei province in China and raised in New York, Bohan Phoenix is an acclaimed bilingual rapper who has worked with the likes of Higher Brothers and Vava. MC Tingbudong (aka Jamel Mims) is a Washington DC-born rapper, poet and activist who became a key part of the late ’00s Beijing hip hop scene after spending a year in the Chinese capital through a Fulbright scholarship.

The discussion will be about the Black Lives Matter movement and Asian communities around the world, and how public figures as well as everyday people can be better allies in the movement.

Tune in on July 12, 2020 at 9am Eastern Standard Time (or July 12 at 9pm Beijing Standard Time) to watch the chat live on our Instagram.