Umu: Hi everyone, my name is Umu, and I'm Reacttothek's channel creator.
Henry: What's up, Reacttothek?
This is Henry from Classical Musicians. React.
Today, Umu and I are going to be reacting to Lay's 'Lit'.
Umu: Apologies for getting to this so late,
I was waiting for a fellow Chinese reactor on this channel to be available,
and so finally Henry's and my schedule lined up.
Henry: Yeah, we're going to do 'Lit'-
in Chinese, this word means lotus, it's pronounced lián (莲), like lián huā (lotus blossom).
And I don't know what it has to do with being lit,
but I hear it's got a crazy music video,
and I'm going to try my best to pick up the Chinese with the...
limited understanding I have.
Ready? Ready? Ready? All right, let's get this (3, 2, 1 in Chinese)-
(Spongebob transition)
Umu: I don't think I even remember how to count to three in Chinese. Wait-
(1, 2, 3 in Chinese)
(and that was when Umu knew... she messed up)
(3, 2, 1 in Chinese)
(laughing in minimal brain function)
Pronunciation level: -100.
Henry: Okay, we're in (Chinese), let's go!
This is the imperial palace.
(interested) Oh, okay! This is...
(singing along a little)
Umu: Ooh, he's screwed.
Henry: That's cool! They have...
Peking opera-style singing.
Umu: Oh, chills! That gong!
(satisfied) Oh, yeah.
Henry: That was a lotus.
(laughing) So spooky!
Umu: Cool!
The thing about traditional Asian music is they often don't have a set time signature,
so it starts off improv-esque, and then,
slowly moves into, like, a pop music groove.
(Henry, now apparently the mayor of Hype Town)
(progressively grooving more and more)
(experiencing hype delirium) Oh, this is so cool!
(Umu vocalizing the backing strings)
(referring to the strings) Pentatonic scale...
(continues to vocalize)
Music Theory Note: A pentatonic scale (what traditional Chinese music is based off of) uses only five notes instead of eight.
It's like playing only the black keys on a piano.
(jaw-dropping levels of vibes)
Umu: (peaking out the mic) OH MY GOD, THAT BASS!
Henry: (in shock) Yes, you are. You're very lit.
Umu: This production is insane! It's sparse, but insane.
Oh, that rhythmic change was nice,
I'm gonna go back and listen to that again.
(you know it's That Good when they haven't said anything for a solid twenty seconds straight)
(smiling in hype) This...
(vocalizing the rap rhythm)
(clapping to the beat to hear where the rap falls)
(the quietest, most awe-filled "holy shit" in existence)
(excited gasp)
(laughing) I'm speechless!
(mimicking the background synth)
(this could not be any more satisfying, and yet, here we are)
Ooh, woodwind.
Oh my god.
(once wasn't enough) Ohhhh, my god.
(visibly shaken) What?!
(giving up on words)
Henry: This is really extra,
but this was freaking awesome.
Oh my god, that trap flow was so good too!
Damn, what a - what a massive production they put on.
Seriously, that's like some of the coolest - coolest-sounding, legit Chinese rap that I've ever-
(laughing) I mean, most of it was honestly English.
Um, some of the verses were in Chinese,
but it didn't sound really forced.
It was like... man.
So cool. So cool.
(mimicking the chorus) "I am LIT!"
I don't know how that has to do with lián.
Maybe it's, like, a dialect pronunciation?
(lip trills)
So cool.
Yeah, the Chinese he uses is not really complicated,
it's all pretty conversational,
and the - the translations that I saw through the English captions are all pretty-
(tongue click)
spot (on).
But I love how, like, stylistically fitting it was?
It wasn't all like - it didn't at all feel like it was forcing the Chinese into a rap verse.
Well, I mean, okay - no, it did, it did.
It definitely forced the Chinese into the rap verse because you can't have the Chinese intonations,
but it felt like the music was able to carry,
and it wasn't - it wasn't forced into a certain rhythmic pattern
from the Chinese intonation.
Like, you could - he created what kind of rhythm he wanted to,
wanted to speak or perform,
and then he fit the Chinese to it.
Rap is - rap is an African American art form,
So you can't exactly expect Chinese to just fit the same kinds-
the exact same kinds of flow?
Uh, by flow, I mean, like, vocal rhythms?
And yeah, (the flow won't fit the same) vocal rhythms as English will,
(laughing) because we don't have the same language?
But I think he does a good job of fitting the Chinese syllables
into the rhythm he's going for,
because it sounds really really cool.
Umu: This is one of those songs that,
maybe we have five instruments total going at the same time?
You know,
vocal percussion, bass, the traditional Chinese instrument...
Maybe even four (instruments in total).
Maybe some eerie synth in the back.
Recently, I took a world music class,
and for my final report I decided to study, uh, Chinese traditional music,
because I'm half Chinese,
and I feel so incredibly removed from my culture because I grew up here,
and my grandparents never spoke Chinese to my dad.
So,
I don't have any language or cultural ties to my ethnicity.
I wanted to, you know, learn more about China's style of music,
and I learned more about the instrumentals,
and, of course, I forgot the name of the instrument that is used
(laughing)
in this, uh, song!
But, it's just - it amazes me so much, this song,
is that how much interest and how much impact it has
with just, you know, four different instruments,
and I think that's through - I think it's a lot through rhythm and pitch.
Because in the verses,
it seemed like how he wanted to convey energy
(imitating the changing pitch in the song) was a lot where he was iN HIS REGISTER, you know?
Or, I guess, dynamic level too.
Um, it's like (gravelly) speaking down here.
(raising voice) And then, when he wanted to amp up the energy,
he would go up here and (loud gibberish)!
You know, the rhythms would speed up, and his - the inflection would go higher,
And there are so many moments and rhythms where we have-
(clapping for brain to work)
We call this, like, just hitting on every beat, uh,
(counting) these are quarter notes, and then when you double that, (the) speed is-
(vocalizing subdivisions) eighth notes,
(continuing to vocalize) sixteenth notes are..
(vocalizing 16th notes)
(breakneck-speed subdividing)
That's, like, 32nd notes, right? So you can go faster and faster that way,
and then there's also when we're clapping back at this tempo,
(vocalizing triplet rhythms)
You go "one, two, three, one, two, three" instead of one-
(switching between duple "one, two" and triple "one, two, three" within the same amount of time)
So he moved between triple and duple, and then a lot of times we go to syncopation,
so instead of going "one, two, three, four," (on the beat only), he went-
(vocalizing on the beat after the clap, or the "off beat")
It's the rhythms in between the (macro beats).
(who needs words when you can just clap) These ones.
And so, a lot of times he combined like a triple with a syncopation (entrance), and so it'd be like-
(entering in on the off beat and vocalizing in triplet rhythms)
You know, like, a lot of things that would be hard to rap along with because they are so complex.
And that - that, um, mixture of something catchy of like (vocalizes)!
With like (vocalizes less catchy but cool rhythms), you know, stuff like that, like,
(vibe hand gestures)
is the perfect way to keep our attention locked.
(revisiting MV) 2:18, three, two, one!
(noting) And now, we don't have any percussion at this part.
That rhythm right there!
(vocalizes along to the rap a little)
(starts syncopated and moves to triplet rhythms)
(when you listen for it, it hits even harder)
Oh, (referring to the new percussive element)
That was cool - we, uh, kinda used some sort of, um, acoustic percussion,
uh, metal-like sound, that used as a transition to go into a trap hi-hat.
That was pretty cool (counting back in).
(excitedly vocalizing to the rap)
(peak satisfaction) Oh, that verse!
That was cool, because to end that phrase,
we had the percussion line up exactly,
um, in unison with what - the rhythms Lay was spittin'!!
Okay, I think - I think it's about time to call Henry.
Umu: What instrument is that?
(Henry vocalizes)
Henry: That's a guzheng, it's like a plucked - best translation we have is a zither.
Like slither but (with a) z.
Umu: Okay, 'cause-
Henry: No, it's a - I think it's a guz-
ah, well, I don't know, it could be a guzheng or a pipa (Chinese lute).
(laughing) I'm not sure.
Umu: Ah, pipa!!!!
(basically reciting from a textbook) Short-necked plucked lute that came to China around Central Asia around the 7th century,
the instrument has since undergone many changes, notably a shift from a horizontal plank position to an upright one, the name of the-
(all of this is basically nifty instrument history)
representing forward and backward plucking movement, however, today is no longer played with a plectrum, but with false nails attached to the fingers.
(done with the spiel) Okay, so that's if it's a pipa.
Henry: I think - I think it's a pipa. I think it's actually a pipa, because
guzheng, you - you press and you can - you play and you can press down the string to tune it.
Umu: Is that the "laid it down on the ground and then you're-"
Henry: You pluck it, and you can - you can bend the string in there, like-
(mimicking guzheng manual pitch shifts)
But pipa, you hear a lot of the repeated notes, because you use all your nails like-
(vocalizing pipa sounds)
Those are all threaded, I think, because they're really clean.
Yeah, uh, it's a pipa, it's a pipa.
Umu: (laughing) And if he's wrong, people are welcome to correct us.
Henry: Please, I'm not smart.
But, so-
Umu: No, I was SO in awe of that!
Henry: It was so good - this whole production value was, like, screaming China Power right here,
(laughing) you could - they have - they paid for a dragon!
Do you see that?
Umu: That was beautiful.
Henry: It was a good looking dragon, too. It wasn't just like some, like, Puff The Magic (Dragon)-looking...
(laughing)
Umu: Right.
(Henry's still on the dragon thing)
Umu: No, I think - yeah, it's a beautiful joint of cultures,
um, with, so yeah:
trap and hip hop influences, along with...
EDM (electronic dance music) structure, I feel like? Um...
Because there's so many drops?
Henry: I mean yeah, the bridge, there's so many breaks. Yeah, and they went half time, too.
it was like same tempo, but it felt more like (imitating half time drop)
When he was going, "I am LIT!"
Yeah, yeah, and then, of course, with, um, multiple Chinese traditional instruments.
Not only the pipa (?) but we had some you know, maybe the gong, we had some-
Henry: There was like a low-
Umu: Yeah, there's also-
Henry: The big drums - there's like a low woodwind or a medium woodwind, that's a xiao?
I think that's what it's called,
the closest you might hear is like - it's that's woodwind sound,
that airy woodwind sound that you hear in Naruto music?
It's, like, the closest (instrument) some of our fans might be familiar with?
Uh, in Japanese, it's called a shakuhachi,
But it's a similar instrument in China called xiao. It's like a standing (recorder gesture)-
(it's similar, like how Korea has the gayageum which is similar to a guzheng)
flute.
I have one-
(zones out mid-sentence)
I'll be right back.
(cue the Umu applause)
I can't play it, but I can bring it.
(Umu imitates the Spongebob transition)
Henry: I can take a video later of it with my actual camera too.
(laughing), Um, it's really long.
Umu: It's huge!
(laughing in instrument show and tell) That's it, see y'all!
The tuning is a little wacky, but it has that kind of breathy sound, and this is a xiao!
Umu: Add the vibrato in (makes xiao sounds).
Henry: Yeah, no, it's a really - it's a really cool sound, I really like it, um...
And I'm pretty sure that's what I was hearing in the music video.
I did - I did look up while I was filming too,
I wanted to know why he was saying "lit"
when the Chinese character is not lit?
Umu: Yeah, lotus.
Henry: It means lotus and it's pronounced lián as in lián huā,
So I looked up - I figured, it probably has to do with like ancient pronunciation?
Because he's got this whole setting of, like,
dynasty, you know?
Umu: Mhm, mhm!
Henry: And, um, a lot of the old Chinese phonetic,
or old Chinese pronunciation, is closer to Cantonese?
Umu: Mhm.
Henry: And I looked up the Cantonese pronunciation and I think it's "lin".
L-I-N, short, and like a low tone?
Which sounds a little bit more like "lit", because it's kind of, like, cut off?
(says it again)
So, I think that makes more sense.
Umu: Hmm!
Henry: You know? If it's based off of like old Chinese pronunciation or Cantonese, it's "lin".
And they're also using traditional characters,
Umu: Right.
Henry: throughout the lyrics, so-
Umu: Combination of meanings.
Henry: That makes more sense, when it's - when you pair it with that.
I have to check out the rest of the album to see, like,
how they play in the rest of the themes, but this was
(hyped) aaaaawesome.
Umu: It was!!!
Hurray!
Henry: So cool.
Umu: Yeah! Thanks so much for watching, everyone, um,
Henry: Yeah, let us know your thoughts below!
Umu: Yeah, mhm.
Henry: What did you think of it? Do you think it was lit?
Do you think it shows positive - like, positive potential for more hip hop,
uh, good hip hop in Chinese music?
Umu: Let us know in the comments,
we're looking forward to seeing what you guys have to say about this song,
and what - if you agree/disagree with our opinions!
So yay! Thanks so much, thanks for watching! We'll see you guys-
Henry: Peace out, guys!
Umu: Bye!