Essentials: MC Yan

Artist and rapper MC Yan is often called the “godfather of Chinese hip-hop,” being credited as one of the first artists to ever rap in Cantonese during his rise to underground notoriety in the early 1990s. His hard-hitting lyrical style has gone after the throat of the Hong Kong government and its restless post-colonial identity, using the richness and unique wordplay of his native language to great effect. Yan currently calls Hong Kong home, but he spends the majority of his calendar traveling and working with other fledgling acts in the underground hip-hop scene, while also keeping tabs on his own label NBSQ. While on the go, Yan, who is an avid sketch artist and graphic arts aficionado, is never without a small arsenal of pens in varying thicknesses and styles, for jotting down notes and drawing sketches in a vintage Moleskine notebook from France. His music proclivities are apparent in the collection as well, as he keeps dialed in to his favorite tunes through his Tunewear-encased iPhone connected to Swirl headphones from Danish audio accessory label AIAIAI. Yan rounds out his accessorial selection with a pair of vintage Ray-Ban sunglasses.

Photography: HYPEBEAST