MC Yan (b. 1971, Hong Kong) is the face of Hong Kong's hip-hop and street graffiti scene. He was one of the earliest trailblazers in the urban artscape, crowning him with the title of ‘the Godfather’. His pursuit for art and freedom began when he travelled to France to study art in 1990. During his 7 years in France, he was exposed to hip hop and graffiti as an underground art form and inevitably fell in love with it. Upon Yan’s return in 1997, he founded the first local graffiti group, CEA, and joined the local hip-hop group, LMF, whilst the alternative culture proliferated throughout the city.
Yan was featured in the Ming Pao Culture Museum with his works inspired by another prominent graffiti artist based in Hong Kong, the Kowloon Emperor. He embraced the theme and cleverly reworked some of the Kowloon Emperor’s previous works with his own added twist.
Yan was featured in the Ming Pao Culture Museum with his works inspired by another prominent graffiti artist based in Hong Kong, the Kowloon Emperor. He embraced the theme and cleverly reworked some of the Kowloon Emperor’s previous works with his own added twist.