On the show this time round is hip-hop extraordinaire and Chicago native Lupe Fiasco.

This was an interview that we recorded some months ago during his stay with us at CHAO in Beijing, we were joined by Philipp Grefer, cofounder of Fake Music Media.

Throughout the interview, we got the chance to speak to Lupe about his creative process and his influences both musically and from his eccentric upbringing. It was the first interview he had accepted in a long time, and we caught him during his trip around China shooting for his new project ‘Beat n Path’.

The project is the first from the new venture Studio SV, a new Los Angeles and Hong Kong-based content development, production and financing company for high-end TV programming - created by Lupe with Bonnie Chan (shout out!) from Hong Kong.

Studio SV's first project will be Beat n Path, a docuseries that follows Fiasco as he drops everything to embark on a cross-cultural journey throughout China. The show will track Fiasco as he follows his dual passions for music and martial arts, practicing with Kung Fu Masters throughout the Middle Kingdom while exploring China's fast-emerging hip-hop scene.

To learn more about Beat’n’Path:

www.studiosv.tv/beatnpath

To learn more about CHAO:

ilovechao.com

Journalist Ananth Krishnan on Economic Growth, Bullet Trains and Tea Estates by CHAO

There’s so much talk in the news today about refugees. Some people embrace them, others reject them, while more still don’t know what to make of some of the most vulnerable people in society. But it’s not a new phenomenon. Almost 30 years ago, when Iraq invade Iran, Camilla Douraghy – a ten year old girl at the time – lost the world as she knew it, and started a new one with her family in Switzerland. She recalls that story against the current geopolitical backdrop and how politics or, more simply, people have shaped her work as a photographer. I’m very humbled to have one her works at my home and, so, I can testify to how it continues to move me in new and unexpected ways. Coincidentally, I sat down for this podcast with Camilla in Basel, the town in Switzerland which became her second childhood home.

When I was growing up, I listened to Rachmaninoff and I listened to Motown. It’s not as strange a pairing as it might seem. The music that came from both was incredible, and in the case of the latter, Motown was not just the sound of “young America”, but the beating rhythm behind the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. How relevant that is today still. In the mix was Susaye Greene, a longtime collaborator of musical greats from Ray Charles to Stevie Wonder. To the wider public, she is perhaps best-known as being the last member of The Supremes, the girl group originally led by Diana Ross that racked up 12 #1 hits. But Susaye is as much a creator as she is a performer. She wrote ‘I Can’t Help It’, the incredible track sung by Michael Jackson on his ‘Off the Wall’ album, as well as ‘Free’, hit single for Deniece Williams. I sat down with Susaye at the Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles, and we had a fantastic time recording this podcast. If you love music, and the way it connects to social history, then listen to our conversation. I think you’ll love it.

Ming Liu writes for some of the best-known titles in journalism: the Financial Times, New York Times and Wall Street Journal. But she’s also published her first novel, a fictional account (based on her non-fictional experiences) on what it means to be a Chinese growing up outside of China, especially at a time when ‘China’ is one of the most important stories of the century. I met up with her at a tram stop in Basel, Switzerland, to explore the key trends both in culture and luxury that are being defined by 1.4 billion Chinese.

In 2018, the world will celebrate what would have been Nelson Mandela’s 100th birthday. Ahead of that milestone, I spoke in Basel with his grandson, Ndaba, who has committed his life to working with Africa’s youth. He talks about losing his own parents to an AIDS-related illness, the impact this has had on him, and how Nelson Mandela’s legacy continues to shape vulnerable societies today.

For this episode, I spoke to the talented Celina Jade - actress, model, singer/songwriter, martial artist, entrepreneur, philanthropist and dear friend.

As the lead actress in Wolf Warrior 2 - a film now well on its way to grossing ¥5 billion in the box office - she was the highlights of what is now China’s most popular movie ever.

She was in Beijing recently to promote the film and I got a chance to sit down with her at the CHAO Cinema Club to catch up on old times, we also covered a wide variety of topics, from growing up in Hong Kong, Ed Sheeran, and her passion for food and the environment.