Hong Kong’s youth have responded overwhelmingly to the message of Yan and his band–named LMF, or LazyMuthaF—a, whose disdain for authority and outrage at socal injustice have struck a nerve. LMF’s second album, “Lazy Clan,” has sold nearly 50,000 CDs since its release last year. It’s a big break from the slick, teeny-bopper “Cantopop” that dominates the music industry in Hong Kong. LMF’s gritty, angry ballads give voice to the darker side of life in this teeming city of 6.8 million–and have sold mostly by word of mouth. The group’s two CDs have received virtually no airplay on the city’s radio stations, which are squeamish about swear words, even in English.
LMF’s success is due partly to good timing. Since the handover to China in 1997, Hong Kong has been hit by economic problems and, for the first time in decades, widespread social protests. Young people face rising unemployment and uncertainty about their future. The 18 members of LMF can relate. Unable to get a production contract, they scraped together $12,000 themselves to burn their first CD. Called “Ghetto Boys,” it chronicles the pimps, child molesters, racketeers, junkies and triads that infest the thousands of low-income housing tenements on the outskirts of Hong Kong. “Lazy Clan” is an angry indictment of politicians who play down the social crisis: “Why you still coming out to talk up Hong Kong/What you want is that people obey what you say/But we who are cast out would not agree/The more we talk, the more we rage.”
Yan, a.k.a. Chan Kwok Yan, was not always so political. He moved to France at 18, enrolled in a university and eventually earned an M.F.A. in visual art. In 1995 he returned to Hong Kong and joined the fragmented underground music scene. Over time, several bands coalesced into one, driven together by common backgrounds and shared feelings of alienation from the major record labels, which, says Yan, “wouldn’t even look at us.”
That’s not the case anymore. Warner Music produced LMF’s second CD, and analysts now expect music companies to start signing up other hip-hop bands in Hong Kong. Two years ago, during one of LMF’s first concerts, Yan cursed the Hong Kong Coliseum for forcing fans to stay seated. The show was instantly canceled, and security guards rushed the stage. These days, the band’s fans are cursing along with him, and Asian music is getting edgy.
