Remember when rap used to be like, battles, *dudes* in hoodies spitting rhymes in circles, DJs scratching, luxury sedans, guns, designer labels, and a lot of male posturing? That's still mostly the case, albeit with less scratching. But after three decades, hip hop is slowly shifting with the ascent of non-traditional rappers - females, non-blacks, homosexuals, transgender individuals, and mental cases like Lil B. At least in the world ruled by Pitchfork and VICE… Naturally, much of this new wave of hip-hop comes from that ever-innovative place called NYC. Thanks to artists like Zebra Katz, Mykki Blanco, Santigold, and A$AP Mob, we have several colorful new strains of hip hop. Some of these rappers, like Zebra Katz and A$AP Rocky work with high-end designers like Alexander Wang and Rick Owens, and their work offers something different from the same stale hip hop clichés of guns, hoes, and dope. Just listen to A$AP Ferg's verse on the "Work" remix – it's pretty out there and creative for a somewhat mainstream hip hop banger. Enter MC Gita, a character from this new wave of rap that recently moved to Shanghai. With bright pink hair, she looks like a cross between an anime character and someone from the movie Hackers. Born and raised in Oakland, CA, she moved to New York for several years before landing in Shanghai at age 23 to work on music and more importantly, develop herself. She's out here working on a project, not quite a mixtape but not quite an album, some of which is produced by Shanghai-based producer Conrank. After five months here, we sat down with her in a noisy, decrepit arcade in Changning district to talk about her experience here.

SmSh: To start off, for those who don't know you, who are you and where are you from?

Well, my name is Gabriella but I go by Gita and I do alternative rap and hip hop. I’m originally from the Bay, I lived in New York for 3.5 years, and now I’m in Shanghai, China.

SmSh: What is alternative rap?

Alternative is like a new link. It’s not cliché rap. It's artists like M.I.A, Santigold, Mykki Blanco, people like that.

SmSh: Do you think the next era of New York rap could be more “alternative rappers”, like gay rappers, transgender rappers?

I don’t really like to look at individuals who date the same sex as "gay rappers", or call something "transgender rap." I don’t like to categorize like that. I like to include people who do rap. If that’s what you do that’s what you do. So I think that the next wave could be very interesting. Cause we don’t do turntable scratching and battle nights in New York like how it used to be. It’s a very different time right now, and I would say it’s experimenting and progressing. But you have a lot of OG people in the game who call the shots, and question the young people that are coming up like “what are ya’ll doing?” “Why does he look like he’s wearing a dress” “What’s going on? I’m not down with this.” There’s a wave right now that’s budding. Right now it’s A$AP, Mykki Blanco, Zebra Katz…myself somewhere in there.

SmSh: In New York there’s so many different pockets of cool shit happening, like vogueing, A$AP, indie bands, etc. But here it’s kinda like everything is lumped together as just “electro music”, like people put Diplo and Night Slugs into the same category. Why is that?

Well I think what happens is, there’s so many pockets of collectives in New York because all these kids grew up together, and there’s history in New York. There’s a culture in New York. There’s a lot of cultural freedom. Back in the day, it was like Jay-Z, Foxy Brown, Little Kim, Notorious B.I.G., they all kinda grew up together, knowing about each other and the boroughs. Half the kids in GHE20G0TH1K, they went to the same high school, hung out when they were growing up, and listened to the same music. I don’t know what’s going on here with the kids because I haven’t met any kids that can tell me about this. That’s what’s great about Shanghai, because we can grow something.

SmSh: Why are you optimistic?

Because I feel like people are bored with just going to London, and going to places that already are music cities. Like you said, Berlin, LA, The Bay… People shouldn’t just wanna be in one city all the time. Go to places you’ve never even heard of. Why can’t you go to India, South Africa, West Africa, Tunisia?

SmSh: These places you mentioned all have a long music history. Shanghai did a while ago but not in the last 50–60 years. There isn’t that strong local music culture. Can it still evolve into something?

Well kids here are dressing hip-hop. I walk into certain stores and they’re playing A$AP music. That seeps into people here. It’s going to affect the generation to come and the people now. And when you have individuals like myself, and people like Mykki Blanco coming, and my friends that I’d like to come here, that’s going to affect what’s going to happen here. Hopefully.

SmSh: I’ve heard people from NYC say they don’t have places like Shelter and Arkham in New York anymore, is that true?

Yeah they’re shutting it down. They’re limiting that underground feel. There’s no more claiming an empty warehouse, or parties in a secret location. People don't even go up to Uptown and Harlem to feel a real hip-hop show; that’s dead.

SmSh: So where are the real hip-hop shows in NY?

Downtown. SOB's, Webster Hall, and occasional parties that get set up in galleries. Gallery parties are getting big. Fashion is starting to accept hip-hop even more. It always has, but now more designers are working with rappers, having them open for their collection and be a part of that world. Rick Owens, Alexander Wang, A$AP…

SmSh: Would you recommend Shanghai to other musicians, in places like New York and London, who are sick of what’s going on where they are?

Asia’s not for everybody. I’m someone who’s always enjoyed the culture. My family’s very diverse. My father is a martial artist, my extended family is Filipino, and I’ve been surrounded by Asian culture and influences. I like it. For someone who appreciates Asian culture, yeah, I recommend it. But being here is an experience and a challenge. You have to be prepared for the challenge of not being around your family.

SmSh: Why Shanghai?

Shanghai is one of those places…I could have gone to London but I felt like everyone I knew in New York was going to London. Shanghai is a really untapped place, and it’s going to grow into something big, eventually. In order to do that, you have to take that risk.

SmSh: Do you think some of this comes from being a bigger fish in a smaller sea? Obviously there’s a ton of competition in New York, here there’s maybe ten or twenty rappers here in Shanghai.

Some people have questioned me like that, like “so do you think you’re just gonna like blow up? Are you gonna like, take over China???” But I’m just here to work on me, to better myself as a person and that’s going to affect my music. I’m not penetrating the goddamn Chinese market [laughs]. I came out here because I needed the experience. People coming from where I come from, Oakland, don’t have these experiences because of fear. Fear prevents people from venturing out of their comfort zone.

SmSh: Which is ironic because Oakland is way scarier than Shanghai.

It’s very scary. The gun violence, it’s far more dangerous than New York. Here, I’m not here to become big, but it is a part of the legacy. It’s like “wow, Gita went to Shanghai. That was a dope era.” To progress a genre, you have to take risks and do different things that are odd and strange.

SmSh: You really think Shanghai is gonna blow up?

I think it’s gonna be a hotspot to make music and to perform. The festivals will grow and bring hot acts every year. I think it’s gonna grow, I feel positive.

SmSh: What can people expect from your show on Saturday?

A lot of new material and some tracks from my previous project Escaping The Dream World. I'll have dancers too.

SmSh: What was your best show ever?

It’s hard because I count a lot of my shows as my best shows. Probably the first time I performed at GHE20G0TH1K, with Mykki Blanco and A$AP Ferg. I had a fur coat on, a mink, and everyone that night was like “oh my fucking god…you rapping in that mink coat..” That was one of the dopest nights I’ve ever had.

SmSh: For people who don’t know about GHE20G0TH1K [Ed: pronounced "ghetto gothic"], what is it?

It’s a place [in New York] that’s not bottles and models, like the typical party or club in NYC. It’s not somewhere you go to be snobby. You go there for great music and the experience. And you go there and you meet all the people that you need to meet that are about their shit, that do creative shit. They are there at that night. That’s the water hole. In NYC you don’t find a lot of dope parties, but that’s one of the dopest. In New York you have a lot of parties with champagne and hot girls from modeling agencies getting paid by the hour to make the club look good. It’s not like that, you’re gonna hear new music from new artists coming out. You’re actually gonna witness some people on the come up.

SmSh: What do you do in between albums to stay relevant?

I feel like quality over quantity is important. It’s not about having a billion followers and a fanbase that’s constantly on your timeline, reassuring you that “we’re here for you.” Some people oversaturate themselves by constantly dropping music all of the time. You need to let yourself grow. Sometimes in this business, growing and the word development is looked at as “that’s not good,” but for the actual artist and creative individuals, that’s so important. Since I’ve come to Shanghai for five months, I feel like I’ve grown so much.

SmSh: How?

I would sum it up as this - being in New York, you tend to get caught up in what everyone else is doing, and sometimes that can affect your psyche, and like “what am I doing? maybe I should be doing something else,” whereas out here is more like, very quiet, very mellow. So to me, that allowed me to immerse myself and understand that I’m on the right track evolving as an artist. What I did in 2012 is not gonna sound like what I’m doing this year.

SmSh: So this is your second show in China, but you’ve been here five months so it’s not like you’re just out here trying to do a bunch of shows.

Some people have hit me up but I’m kinda hard to find, I’m just minding my own business. I’m not like “fuck with me you know I got it." MC Gita performs this Saturday, Feb 22nd at Arkham with support from Downstate, R3, and ADO8. Ticket price is 50rmb. Check out her tunes on her Soundcloud page.