The Skills to Pay the Bills

Hang Liu ’09 knows how to break it down. The Holworthy frosh left WHRB’s freestyle rap battle last Friday with something every rapper wants to take home to his crib: victory.

With the vocal support of some friends and his proctor, Liu overcame three challengers and an at-times hostile crowd in head-to-head dis dishes on a large makeshift stage in Massive Records on Mass. Ave.

But despite his lyric-spitting prowess, the NYC native isn’t all about battling. “I like much more just writing and performing my own songs,” he says. “I’m going to start recording in the Harvard studios soon and hopefully do a couple of collaborations.”

But Liu wasn’t always such a B-Rabbit Smith. “I was a pretty nerdy kid. I actually memorized every lyric to every Temptations song,” he says, laughing. “I’m still pretty nerdy.”

Liu’s roommate, Landon S. Dickey ’09, speaking in regular old non-rhyming prose, attests to Hang’s dedication to the art. “Hip-hop is his life and that’s why he’s so good at it,” Dickey says. “Any time I hear him rapping he’s always spitting something new and original.” Fo’ sho’, yo.