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Remember the rapping cat TikTok? Its Chinese creator who beat Jay Chou is set to perform in KL and Sabah from Aug 29 (VIDEO)
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug – If you're an avid TikTok or Douyin user, chances are, you might have consciously or unconsciously heard one or two songs by up-and-coming Chinese rapper Skai Isyourgod.
Hailing from the southern province of Guangdong, Skai Isyourgod or his Mandarin moniker Lǎn Lǎo is currently at the top of his game.
Some of his songs have been trending on social media this year – this includes his half-AI generated rapping cat videos; but he has also overtaken the king of Mandopop Jay Chou on Spotify.
At the time of writing, Skai currently has over five million monthly listeners on Spotify while Jay Chou's monthly listeners are just around 2.9 million on the music streaming platform.
But for Malaysian fans, here's what you want to know – Skai revealed in a recent Instagram post that he will be having three shows here starting this month and continuing to September and November this year.
But before that, here's a brief background on the 'Nin Jiom' rapper who is making waves globally with his catchy colloquial Canto-mix flow and Memphis-rap.
Viral sensation
Skai's big break came after his 2024 album 'Stacks From All Sides', released in August last year which contains at least three hit songs that went viral online such as Karma Code, Blueprint Supreme and Stacks From All Sides.
Blueprint Supreme saw Skai fusing together Mandarin and Cantonese rap while also paying homage to his hometown by sampling off a famous 1957 Cantonese opera, Di Nü Hua which relates to the story of Princess Changping.
Aside from causing trails of dance challenges on both Douyin and TikTok which also saw famous artists joining in the trend such as K-pop groups NCT and Enhypen, the track has also spawned a rather peculiar online challenge of taking selfie videos using chopsticks while jamming to the song.
Similarly to the dance challenges videos, the chopsticks challenge also saw TikTok users taking part in it including Shotaro, a member of another famous South Korean group Riize, whose TikTok post alone has garnered over four million views.
Meanwhile, his Stacks From All Sides track has become an online meme after non-Chinese speakers misheard part of its lyrics as 'sushi don't lie' instead of the famous Chinese phrase zǐ qì dōng lái' which means 'purple air comes from the east' which is also a symbol of good fortune.
And that is not the only famous Chinese phrase that he used in the song as the track's official Mandarin title is called bā fāng lái cái, which means 'may wealth come from all directions' and Skai can also be heard using the phrase colloquially in the chorus simply by rapping 'lái cái', lái' (come wealth, come).
Skai's unique implementation of Chinese phrases in his music doesn't end there as he can also be heard rapping 'God bless you with mountains of gold and silver' and 'God teaches you not to interrupt dragon-tiger fight' in another one of his viral songs titled Karma Code.
Despite the old school Hong Kong gangster vibes in the lyrics – Karma Code has actually resulted in a rather cute TikTok trend where TikTok users can be seen sharing half AI generated videos of their pets, mostly cats, rapping the phrases from the track.
World tour and three Malaysia stops?
Following his shoot to popularity as well as in conjunction with the first year anniversary of his 2024 album 'Stacks From All Sides', Skai is gearing up for a world tour.
Based on his latest Instagram post, Skai will be having not one but three shows in Malaysia, with two of them in KL and one in Sabah.
His first two shows, starting from August 29 will take place in KL while the third on November 1 will be in Sabah.
But so far, only the second show on September 19 has details; it will take place at the renowned Pitt Club KL located at the Life Center in Jalan Sultan Ismail.
Sadly there are no venue or ticket details for the first KL show or the Sabah show apart from the dates.
Aside from Malaysia, Skai will also be touring the UK, France, Australia, Japan, Thailand, Indonesia and Myanmar.
He has already sold out in cities such as London, Auckland, Yangon and Sydney.
Where to start with Skai Isyourgod?
His 2024 album has been well received globally, but Skai's earlier works have quite a range of discography worth checking out, including his 2022 debut album SKAI IS YOUR GOD NO.1 which contains hit tracks such as Lanlao Life and Sample Soul.
He has also dropped a remixed version of his 2024 album in June this year which is titled 'Stacks From All Sides: Fresh Off the Boat'. Here are some suggestions if you're keen on discovering more of his music.
