Chinese hip hop group Higher Brothers are back with a new album and world tour

Higher Brothers are not only the biggest hip hop artists in China, they’re also the first Chinese rap crew to make a splash internationally.

This won’t come as a surprise to anyone who caught their blistering performance at Hong Kong’s Clockenflap music festival in 2017, as the four-man Chengdu trap outfit are charismatic performers, with an onstage mixture of slick moves and clowning that looks entirely unforced.

Grounded in and clearly enamoured of US hip hop culture, they also adhere to rap’s golden rule of keeping it real by writing lyrics that intimately reflect their own culture. They return to Hong Kong for their biggest ever headline show in the city, at Kitec on March 27, followed by a 16-date tour of the US, with a further six shows in Europe to follow later in the year.

“We love performing in Hong Kong; it’s one of our favourite cities,” says MaSiWei, 26, the band’s unofficial leader. “We always have a good time.”

Higher Brothers last toured North America in early 2018 and the experience of playing in the home of hip hop clearly left a big impression.