MODERN SICHUAN FOOD w/ CHINESE RAPPER BOHAN Food | Fung Bros

My vocals, they be laying deeper than a pocket. And every time I come, you know how I rock it. What's going on, everybody? Welcome to the very first edition of Fumbro City Talks. We have a very special Jala edition today with my man, Bohan Phoenix. Yo, it's your boy, Bohan Phoenix, man. You know what I'm saying? Today on Fumbro City Talks, it's all about contemporary Chinese culture. Bohan, to me, you are a modern Chinese rapper. Let's get into it. What's going on, guys? We are here at one of the trendiest Chinese noodle spots in the entire city of New York, the Tang. Hi, my name is Lee. Welcome to the Tang. Tang is more like a contemporary Chinese noodle bar that combines traditional and our own creative twist on it. The first dish we have is Dan Dan Mian. We call it DDM at the Tang. But we actually mix it with parmesan cheese to create a better texture. So the second dish, we call it sizzling noodles, You Po Mian. We call it sizzling because after you pour the oil, the sizzling sound on the top is a little aggressive. Our third dish is called drunk noodles, Zui Mian. So it's one of our most popular dish at the Tang. Last noodle dish today is the mala beef noodles. We made our own mala beef soup with beef bones on top. That's the fried beef shanks. The new pork buns we have at the Tang. We fry the pork buns on the outside. We put pork belly inside and top with scallions, spicy mayo, and pickled cabbages. Garlic pork dumplings. It's a pork and chive dumplings. And we put garlic, chili oil, and scallions on top. Nutty tofu. We use central eggs mixed with long hot pepper with scallions. For sesame paste tofu, we make our own sesame paste. We even put a little bit of parmesan cheese to make the paste thicker. The whole philosophy at the Tang is to create something that people never created before. But still, we really respect the authenticity of traditional Chinese dish. All right, so we're in the back of the Tang right now. It feels like China. First things first, we gotta get into this. That's what I'm saying. Let's eat something. You know, I kind of cut pork out of my diet, but it's back here now. We got pork on the chopsticks now. But yeah, this is one of my favorite dishes of all time. It's a little different. The way they made it is to dosu. It's the Sichuan way. They make it super spicy. But this is real refreshing right now. You just mixed up the dan dan mian. If you're Chinese, you put vinegar in your noodle. I'm saying so, boy. You know what I'm saying? I'm out here. You know what I'm saying? The ma la beef. Oh, that just melts in your mouth. Yeah. I love the way that it was like crispy. A little crispy on the outside, but it's seared on the inside. Yo, I gotta go. Let me get half this little egg. Hat's coming off. Shirt's coming off. You know what I mean? Oh man. It's definitely hot out here. I gotta try the shiomai, man. Because this is a kanto thing. The shiomai. That is a kanto thing. If you guys don't know, this man, Bohan, is a very talented rapper. Just overall artist. One, two, three. Three, two, one. It's your boy, Bohan. Yeah. A lot of people don't think that those two words, contemporary and Chinese, belong together. It's a new concept. I feel like contemporary is much more a word that you associate with like contemporary Japan or something like that. Contemporary America. Crazy because it was almost like with the oriental look, the only thing that was modern in America was Koreans. So I was like, yo, you saying that to be contemporary and modern and be trendy, I have to be Korean? I can't be Chinese? I tell people all the time when they ask me like, name me some people that didn't break through through some sort of action. That's Chinese one. I can't name one. Up until maybe a few years ago when Jay Chou did a movie with Seth Rogen. Yeah, but nobody remembers him. Nobody knows who he is even. You know what I'm saying? People thought that was a dude from Harold and Kumar. For kids who don't have that situation where, you know, their stepdad is American or something like that, what advice can you give them to even get engaged with the American culture? Treat everyone on an individual basis. Black, white, Asian, Spanish, whatever. If the person's nice to you, that's the language you're speaking. You're speaking the language of love. We got to take it to the studio. We're heading back to Bushwick, Brooklyn. All right, Bohan, we're headed to Brooklyn right now. Yeah. Where all the true artists live. Yeah. Right? Musically, like how do you hone in on what it is like you do best as an artist or what your sound is? Everything starts off by imitation. Everything. The only way it started making sense for me to keep doing music was when I started to ask myself, because I was like rapping only in English, right? I got to New York. I went to Apollo in Harlem, performed six times. Never got booed off. I was like, damn, why am I competing with everybody when I'm my own individual person? So I was like, hmm, what do I have to offer? Then I realized, you know what? Why don't I just add a little of my identity in there and see if it works or not, you know? So I started rapping a little bit of Chinese here and there. So I think the advice is add yourself in there because everyone else can be a carbon copy, you know? Yeah, for sure. For you. So Bohan, that No Hooks video just dropped. Dang, yo, they call it DZ Thick Chigga. All right, so here we go. Bohan Felix about to kick me 16. This is some real MC type stuff. I was 11 back in 03. Yeah, fresh off the plane from the overseas. Oh, I'm blessed in the year of the monkey. Talk a little bit about the melodic flow because you kind of have some sing-songy elements in there that are almost like chants. Yeah, actually, I probably got it from Cole. I was a big J. Cole fan. Because Cole does that. Yeah, he does a lot of it. So I mean, what can people expect from you for this next year, man? I feel like, you know. Man, we got some new music coming next week. Man, I want to own fast cars. That's not for you. I need me a house, maybe two. That's not for you. Look at me rock about a hundred chains. That's not for you. Kind of directly addressing some of the things your own people, other people may sometimes say. Sometimes it's more like criticism from their own people than other people. Because I think that other people are just like, sometimes they're just like, yeah, I wonder when y'all start doing it, get on the train. And then people are like, why are you getting on that train? We're not supposed to be on that train. And everybody else is like, man, we were kind of waiting to see when you guys were going to have one. This man is leaving for China. Yeah, a whole year, baby. For a full year and two days. What's the tour called? JALA Asia World Tour, baby. You already know this. Because for people who don't know what JALA means. Man, listen, man, JALA means extra spicy. You know what I'm saying? Because Chengdu is the spice capital of China. It might as well be the spice capital of the world. God damn it. So JALA means extra spicy, but it's really an attitude you keep with you. You know what I'm saying? To push yourself. All right, you guys. We see y'all in China or we see you in New York. You feel me? It's City Talk with David Vaughn and Bohan Phoenix. You know what I mean? And that's a wrap. Listen, follow me on Instagram at Champagne Papi. All right. Until next time. This was FUNBRO City Talks, the first edition. JALA edition. JALA edition, man. Until next time. I'm here with Bohan Phoenix and we're out.