“Early 90’s Lil’ Kim bravado mixed with the insightful, emotionally resonant lyrics of a Jean Grae... a rap label’s dream”
Bio
“Hua Li’s newest record is a full display of self-assertiveness.”
Hua Li’s project has often worked the fruitful tension between opposing forces, whether being mixed-race, bisexual, or overtly political and softly vulnerable. Now the “half-Chinese, half-militant, half-rapper of your heart” is back with ripe fruit falls but not in your mouth, her most ambitious and personal record to date. Playing between hazy R&B, hip-hop, jazz and electronic, Hua Li’s sophomore LP takes the imaginary garden as a proxy for cultivating home. With complex vocal arrangements, lush production by Alex Thibault (aka Gloze), and big, vibrant mixing by TNGHT’s Lunice, ripe fruit is a private confessional on a loud-ass record.
Following 2019’s Dynasty and 2020’s critically acclaimed Yellow Crane EP, ripe fruit is characteristically libertine. Textured and sensual, the Montreal multi hyphenate balances her rich, waveforming tone with danceable, electronic signatures. The rapper is fierce and frequently funny, erupting from gauzy runs to deliver a quick uppercut that stings. With hooky, addictive features by Ambrose Getz and Darkus Millon, ripe fruit is an intimate record of healing, with Montreal’s nightlife at its heart.
An artful collaborator, Hua Li co-wrote and performed on Gayance's 2023 Polaris short-listed album, Masquerade, and is the touring DJ for Inuk electro-pop throat singer, Riit. Her charismatic stage show has taken her around the world, including tours with Cadence Weapon and Fat Tony (serving as the former’s touring DJ), to Reykjavik’s Secret Solstice Festival, the Montreal International Jazz Festival, and Pride Toronto.
Luminous and compelling, Hua Li shows it takes tenderness to let things ripen, and guts to let things die. In-between is a kind of rapture that begs to be savoured.
“A culmination of revelations… the result is a record where Hua Li comes through bolder, clearer and more confident.”
The New Album - Out now
RIPE FRUIT REMIXED
Hua Li’s 2024 sophomore record ripe fruit falls but not in your mouth is an intimate record of healing, with Montreal’s nightlife at its heart. “There’s that feeling we all know as city kids, of loving the party and hating the party. It’s definitely my crying at the club record,” says Hua Li. ripe fruit remixed pushes this intention further by tapping four of Montreal’s most beloved DJs and producers to bring the songs of ripe fruit even deeper into the dance club. Gayance’s “Part Time Muses” and Martyn Bootyspoon’s “In the Fall” bring their love of UK Garage and Broken Beat to the electronic R&B energy of the original album tracks, delivering the kind of the internationally appealing club music they are both known for. Legend of the Montreal street dance community and Fool’s Gold veteran, Shash’U flips the emotionally raw “Innsbruck” into textural footwork fantasy, and stalwart of Montreal’s underground party scene Speakman takes a decidedly experimental approach to his remix of “In the Fall” for a portal into Montreal’s thriving world of illegal raves with their pounding, dark, techno aesthetics.