For the past few years, South London-based artist Jianbo has been tweaking the formula of a sound that pulls from two parallel tributaries: on one hand, the grime, rap, and pirate radio culture that surrounded him growing up south of the Thames, and on the other, threads from his Chinese and Vietnamese background. That’s coalesced into some truly unique releases and it’s all been building up to his upcoming debut project, which is due later this year. Ahead of that, he’s today sharing visuals for new drop “Mongkok Madness” with Kamaal Williams aka Henry Wu.
Producer Sly Diggers based the original beat on a sample from Henry Wu’s “Don’t Want The Regular”, which he made into a demo and sent off to Henry who loved the track and immediately set off to go jam with the pair, recording what ultimately became “Mongkok Madness”. Although their respective heritages lie in different corners of Asia, all three found a lot of common factors and the track grew into a celebration of their backgrounds and how they’ve blended them with their Britishness.
For the video, which was produced and directed by Jianbo’s own production company Dialtone Digital, Jianbo and the team leaned even further into those themes, filming at a famed Chinese restaurant in South London and splashing every frame with nods to Asia’s past, present, and future.
“With ‘Mongkok Madness’ we wanted to create a true Asian culture/lifestyle video,” Jianbo explains. “The link-up between myself—from a mixed Chinese-Vietnamese background and Henry Wu—who’s of Taiwanese heritage—as well as producer Sly Diggers who has Indian roots, meant that honestly speaking, shooting at legendary South London Chinese restaurant and wedding venue Hong Kong City, and then getting the community (and their Hondas!) out for the evening made for a really special, monumental evening. This one was for the culture.”
Ahead of the project’s release later this year, you can catch Jianbo when he headlines a Keep Hush launch event on March 24. Before that, hit play on the video up top and the make sure you add “Mongkok Madness” to all your playlists.
