Ghetto Superstar
MC HotDog
A rapper must surely drive a flashy car and be surrounded by hot model babes. Right?
Well, Taiwan’s MC HotDog self-deprecatingly takes apart that stereotype in the title track which is dense with wordplay and puns. As he claims: “The crappy songs I write are not at all fan te xi/Still living with my mum, she cooks fan tai xi (rice that is too watery)”. “Fan te xi” is likely a reference to Jay Chou’s hit 2001 album Fantasy.
The flashes of humour and cheekiness liven up this collection of singles that he released between 2009 and this year, often with other collaborators. Rocker Chang Chen-yue lends a hand on three tracks including the party dance-pop number High High Life.
No Breakfast For Hip-Hoppers with fellow rapper Soft Lipa is a sly riposte to Crowd Lu’s Rock ’n’ Roll Style in which Lu proclaimed that eating breakfast every morning was a rock ’n’ roll thing to do. MC HotDog fires off: “What does eating breakfast have to do with rock ’n’ roll/I’ve cracked my head and can’t come up with a thing/So, so I’ve decided to declare one thing, which is, not eating breakfast is a very hip-hop thing.”
Breakfast or no, this 17-track offering, inclusive of short audio skits, should fill you right up.

Sexy, Free & Single
Super Junior
You never know what you are going to get with each Super Junior album, in terms of their line-up, that is.
With Kangin having completed his military service, the K-pop supergroup is now 10-strong on its sixth album.
Sound-wise, SuJu bank on their usual mix of dance numbers and ballads, except the material is decidedly less strong here.
The title track is merely serviceable, no match for the insanely catchy Mr. Simple off their 2011 album of the same name.
It appears that the reason for the existence of a track with a name like Sexy, Free & Single is merely to have an excuse to have the lads lounging about topless on the cover of the album.
Then again, since when have K-pop groups needed a reason to play the sexy card?
(ST)