I came across this wonderful video that features some unintentional sociological commentary on how certain types of electronic music constitutes “low class”, or what the narrator calls 土嗨 (tu3 hai1).
土 (tu3) is a common descriptor/prefix that signifies something to be very low class, uncouth, or from the countryside. For example, 土豪 (tu3 hao2) is a term used to describe people from China that got rich overnight, as a result becoming very wealthy but behaving in a uncouth/vulgar manner.
嗨 (hai1) is a homonym of “high” and is used as slang for “partying” or “having a good time”. Put them together, and 土嗨 becomes a derogatory term describing “low class” people having a good time — specifically the kind of music they listen to while partying.
In this video, the narrator offers a simplified taxonomy on the origins and evolution of electronic music, it’s entry into China, and the ways which derivative forms continue to propagate locally. At the end, he offers certain tips on avoiding becoming 土嗨.
Rich sociological discourse ensues as the narrator describes how social backgrounds, dispositions, and musical taste intersect as people attempt to use music to distinguish between in- and out-groups (my Sociology people will recall the works of Pierre Bourdieu here). 土嗨 is 土 not because the music is objectively bad. In the video, the narrator identifies some musical attributes like having a clear 4/4 time signature with the kick sample landing on each downbeat, but this is fairly common in most pop music genres.
No. 土嗨 is 土 because of the people that it is associated with: people that are perceived to be of low social class, unable to distinguish “good music” from “bad music”, the latter requiring more physiological, emotional, and financial investment to learn and acquire. Music that is 土嗨 is “too simple” and its listeners might even be criticized to be “sometimes naive” for not being exposed to the “g00d stuff” that is adequately sophisticated. In this case, the groups with the privilege of musical education, and time and resources to expose oneself to the finer things in life, typically involve backgrounds that are middle-class, financially comfortable, and cosmopolitan.
To quote Bourdieu, “Principles of division, inextricably logical and sociological, function within and for the purposes of struggle between social groups.” (1984, p. 481)
In producing concepts of 土嗨 versus cool electronic music, one social group produces principles upon which other social groups are judged against. In our classification struggle, we reproduce class struggle.
Closer to home, the same discursive struggles occur too, albeit with different terms and groups of people. Among musicians, music lovers, and music industry people, many of us are guilty of poking fun at genres like 慢摇(man4 yao2), “Ah Beng Techno”, certain genres of rock (“Rock Kapak” and “sentimental rock”), or heck, even Top40s, to be rather uncool or worthy of critique. I am guilty of this as well! Why? Too basic? Too noisy? Or “too popular with a group of people that I don’t want to be associated with”?
And in a very Bourdieuan fashion, the point of this discussion is to make explicit the ways which discourses of class distinction make their way into not only cultural commentary, but in more intimate forms of pleasure and music-listening. And the next time you feel excluded or put down by others for listening to a certain kind of music, you have every right to call them out as a bunch of bloody snobs, because nobody should have a monopoly over your musical enjoyment.
