when I was in college in New York I was
surrounded by hip-hop my neighbor was
bumping it my over driver was bumping it
all my friends were bumping it and I was
bumping it too but there wasn't any
music from people who looked like me so
whenever I want to bump some stuff from
home I would go tunnel vision on this
YouTube channel called John TV it was
both music videos interviews and
documentaries of rappers in China it was
like a library of Chinese hip-hop before
the world even knew what Chinese hip-hop
was and it was all thanks to this guy
stuff guys in 22 K and I'm the founder
of its own TV John TV is the number one
hip-hop platform outside of China and
we've been around since 2010 so this is
our year number 9 it's crazy I was born
in Taiwan but I never really lived there
when I was 1 I moved to Singapore so I
actually grew up in Singapore until I
was 7 and then I emigrated Canada while
Vancouver Canada when it was 8 years old
I don't really even think I had a lot of
friends like up until I moved to Canada
you know I was kind of like the quiet
kid always in the corner and like a lot
of young kids 22k struggled to figure
out what he wanted to do with his life
nobody thought that I was gonna do
something that was gonna affect somebody
like you know affect someone in the
masses like when I was 1516 my family
actually got into like a lawsuit it was
pretty detrimental like in terms of how
it affected my mom my dad and the whole
family nucleus it was like a ten year
thing I didn't want to be home you know
I just I just be out like because you
know there'd be a lot of fights would be
a lot of you know the whole atmosphere
the whole vibe the family vibe was
pretty it was pretty messed up during
that time so yeah
I I kind of started hanging out with the
wrong crowd
during those years yeah and then you
know one thing led to another and back
then I was like I was like harsh raver
so I was partying a lot and like back
then like in my 20s 9 out of 10 times I
would have been alright I'm there
you know and then I'm like ok this is
getting way too stressful like in terms
of you know my health and my mind and in
2003 one of my best friends was killed
he was killed like I was set up a club
yeah he got he got shot in the head and
yeah like I kind of took his death
pretty hard because I mean I was only 23
at that time so
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during that time like three of my boys
got shot - like one through the head
went through the mouth you know so that
could have been me the crazy thing about
that was that
I still remember at my friend's funeral
right I was the only one actually crying
and that kind of struck a chord with me
you know like after the wake everybody
said Oh what do you guys want to go eat
you know like as it was like no big deal
and I was like and that kind of like
maybe good okay this is kind of weird
you know like this environment that I'm
living in so I just knew I had to I had
to leave you know like I moved to
Shanghai without knowing anyone
I just went you know like two suitcases
I sold my car here I was living downtown
an apartment I got rid of my apartment
and I just moved
in Shanghai 22k started making music
videos for Chinese rappers it combined
his passion for film and his passion for
hip-hop
I studied directing as well as a new
media back then I mean this how you see
in terms of tone TV you know like
graphic design video editing you know
shooting videos and then that was when I
kind of decided to do something that was
more fulfilling after a couple of videos
I'll say a minute I'm gonna just I'm
gonna create a brand I just want to do a
platform and so that's kind of how
everything was started but I think at
that time frame when nobody even knew
about Chinese hip-hop like the best
thing you could do or just keep on
pumping on content like content is key
you know and content is king so yeah
like no breakthroughs just keep on
putting on content and then we're
meeting people like hitting people up
like on Weibo back in the day you know
and just want to like Princeton twerk
it's like back then the surco is so
small that if you were doing hip-hop if
you're doing something positive and the
Chinese hip-hop community like everybody
kind of just like you know comes
together
20:28 started building up John TVs
reputation in China he worked with
members of in town considered the first
hip hop group in China and c-block a rap
group from Changsha
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slowly
John TV expanded outside of China and
soon it was creating content for artists
and publishing them on YouTube in the
early 2019 22k released a video saying
he wanted to suspend the channel
indefinitely the reason he believed John
TV had achieved this goal of promoting
Chinese hip-hop to the rest of the world
you guys just want to give a big shout
out to everyone who's ever watched and
supported platform Tony V tiga sounds
really eating surging and certainty
Julian yeah crazy right right but yeah
we're done right because during those
eight years when he was working on John
TV Chinese hip-hop blew up shows like
the rap of China made hip-hop mainstream
in China it's kind of like American Idol
with all rally and in Chinese the show
got three billion views on IgE and
labels like eighty eight rising brought
Chinese rappers to the rest of the world
22k believed John TV had served his
purpose and he was ready to move on but
right after he released his last video
he received messages from fans showing
their love for John TV and hoping it
would stay on Yoshi needed a new engine
earn to the big guns online no channel
so you're to compete hey I'm Italian
jelly how waged war pen swordsman cheesy
George on TV a wholesome Abbas don't
give it soyeah
we're about to launch a multi brand
store one again two events this year
bringing like some Chinese artists over
to events trying to build a scene up
right
because even though Chinese hip-hop is
baked now John TV was there before it
blew up I think part of what some TV
represents or even hip-hop culture
represents is like that you know you
should always be doing something that
you're passionate about
because I was here for the there was a
higher brother show oh yeah that was a
shoot show yeah so then I guess that
railing would be gone like hip hop has
always been something that was me you
know I started to listen to hip hop like
when I was like like 13 12 like criss
cross was what got me and then I was
dancing I was b-boying
it's always been part of of my
personality so looking back I think
everything happens for a reason I think
now like I have a pretty good
understanding in terms of you know one's
life like ups and downs I think I kind
of just roll with the punches like I
don't really dwell on anything
everything is just like boys go go go
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where did the nickname 22
yeah all right get my name from so might
think so