“I feel like at its very core, Disgusted Artist is about life,” MC HotDog tells Apple Music about his 2023 album. “When life is really tough, I feel like everyone is actually an artist—me included.” With no features across its 13 tracks, the album is a personal one for the rapper also known as Yao Zhongren. “I was unlucky enough to be quarantined for three months in 2022 in a room I couldn’t leave—like being in jail, really,” Yao says. “The days were long and slow but eventually I discovered that writing songs made the time pass quickly. And because I was stuck there, I had to dig deep in my own mind. Not like previous albums where I’d get bored and a deadline would come and I’d dash something off.” Drawing from his own life and observations of people around him, he tells stories of the ordinary, amplified through sarcasm and hyperbole. “When I write, I feel like before you criticise someone, you first have to look at yourself in the mirror. That feeling is why I think self-mockery is the key to attracting people’s interest,” he says. Yao follows up the nostalgic vibes of 2022’s Mr. Yao’s 8th Grade Syndrome with more old-school boom bap but makes space for forays into autotuned vocals over trap-flavoured beats—with characteristic mockery, of course. Of “Dream Chaser”, a slick fantasy that draws inspiration from the film Inception, he says: “Yeah, there may be some sarcasm to the track. But the starting point was pretty fun. I completed it really quickly, in maybe a few hours one night. I just mumbled random stuff but once everything was in place, I cranked up the autotune…. When you try things you aren’t good at or don’t do very often, sometimes you’ve got to start from a place of fun.” In a clever bit of dream logic, the song draws its Chinese title from a pun on the name of basketball star Draymond Green. Yao namechecks another celebrity for the title of his mid-tempo party jam “John Travolta”: “My albums tend to have one or two songs that are upbeat and danceable. This is one of them. And it’s got three parts—lots of people gripe that too many of my songs only have two parts, so this one’s pretty complete.” Hong Kong culture was a formative influence on the artist in his youth and references to films, TV and music pop up as Easter eggs throughout the album. Yao provides spoilers for the brash, statement-making track “Still My Own Way”: “The snippet of dialogue at the start is from the 1978 Jackie Chan film Snake in the Eagle's Shadow. And the dialogue at the end you probably recognise as spoken by Tony Leung Ka-fai in Island of Greed.” From the music world, a sample from Hong Kong rap-rock crew LMF anchors “Grand Circus”, produced by HK beatmaker Dough-Boy. “We spoke with [LMF guitarist] Davy Chan and he loved the song and was really supportive,” Yao says. “But before the single was released, we got the news of his sudden passing. So Dough-Boy and I salute Davy and LMF because this whole thing feels so sad and wonderful at the same time.” As producer of “Monster”, Dough-Boy was also responsible for turning it into a dance track, Yao says: “When I work with beatmakers, I tell them to ignore what I want and do what they feel is best—and then we go back and forth discussing and revising. I thought I wanted more of a sad jazz hip-hop feel, but Dough-Boy turned it into an upbeat dance track. It was a such a huge contrast but I love it—and I never would have imagined it myself.” Yao’s adaptability to change is apparent on “The Landlord Upstairs”, a late addition to the album and a replacement for “The Tenants Downstairs”, the story of the residents of a building from the perspective of someone jumping off the roof. That track used lines from a panel by cartoonist Zhu Deyong without authorisation, leading Yao to pull the song, apologise (“Mainly from a desire to show respect to an elder but also to bring the whole situation to a more satisfactory conclusion”) and reimagine the scenario. “I got the idea to recreate it as a different story, one that’s still thought-provoking and still expresses what I want to say,” he says. “Lots of young people may want to struggle upwards but are criticised by the older generation for many things. So it has more significance for life today.” Yao’s third recommendation (after “The Landlord Upstairs” and “John Travolta”) is “可夢” [“Kemeng”], which he wrote about a miscarriage: “Loss leaves you hurt and confused at first because you’re so powerless. But all you can do is keep looking forward. The song talks of loss and healing—and the process of hope and starting over.”