On the last season of the popular Chinese reality series The Rap Of China, Singaporean hip-hop artist ShiGGa Shay wowed audiences when he performed ‘BO BEH ZAO’ with Taiwanese rapper E.so. This season, ShiGGa Shay upgrades from one-off guest to full-fledged contestant, as one of 10 non-Chinese participants.
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Other notable overseas talent included Elva Su from Malaysia, and three winners from The Rap of China - Overseas Young Blood auditions held in New York City: Rapeter, Majin, and Castle$.
After being one of 72 contestants out of 600 who made it through the first round, ShiGGa Shay continued to impress the show’s mentors - Chang Chen-yue, MC HotDog, renowned Canadian-born Korean singer TABLO, Fan Chengcheng, and WoWkie Da, among others - in subsequent episodes. In the second round, ShiGGa Shay earned a coveted Top 41 spot with a convincing 5-2 win over his opponent.
He even managed to drop in a sly shoutout to his homeland with his lyrics, “From Wuxi to Nanyang, let me bring you around Singapore.” Beyond his verbal dexterity and stage presence, sparks also flew after his sizzling performance with Jessie, which elicited screams backstage and cheeky teases from WoWkie Da due the “romantic” tone of the duet.
Unfortunately, this is where the Singaporean’s Cinderella run ends, because on The Rap of China’s 1 June episode, where contestants faced off in a 2v2 showdown, ShiGGa Shay was eliminated. Nevertheless, ShiGGa Shay's impressive stint in the Chinese music industry has obviously left a lasting impression on viewers, and earned the rapper a brand new following in a massive market.
New episodes of The Rap of China airs every Saturday evening on iQIYI.
