Tedman Lee is a very close friend of mine, we have known each other for a good decade, played in the same band, that I have seen him through days working as a staff at a 4A company to starting up his own company, now having established himself as a music video director, owner of his own brand and is a public figure in Hong Kong’s trap-house/hip hop scene.
This is one of those interviews where I knew we were to sit down for drinks. Despite knowing each other so well, it was after the interview we both exclaimed how great it was and that we have never sat down in discussion upon a topic as such. It was insightful as much as it was fruitful, I would even dare say that having conducting this interview has improved our friendship even more, unexpectedly it was only then when I actually found out that we actually hold very simular values towards all the events of 2019 and how we are planning to tackle what is ahead.
TL : Tedman Lee ME = Andy
ME :
Please introduce yourself
TL :
I am a multimedia creative running my own agency under the name Triple Happiness Club. I started from directing music videos, fashion videos and some brand consultancy for foreign brands wanting to enter HK.
I threw parties and around 2016 I started managing a young artist named Young Queenz and I also started DJing and advising a collective of musicians under the name Wildstyle. Shortly after I then started the clothing brand Private Label and through the label I started injecting more of my values/vision with projects that are more artistic in order to explore different varieties of expression. Now that bigger brands are digging in to a more undergro und tone for their campaigns, they’d seek me out for advice and to work on projects together.
ME :
Would you be able to explain why the big brands have this interest for an underground tone?
TL :
Everything is a Tipping Point (a book by Malcom Gladwell), I think that Hong Kong has reached it’s tipping point, everything takes time and that it is an organic growth. Compared to other cities, Hong Kong as an expensive, commerce based international city, and in a place like this there are a lot of set ways of doing things, and when we pitch something out of the ordinary to clients back in the day they worried about their audience not being able to catch on : too underground too niche. Foreign campaigns come to me with a set of expectations and most of the time I was just there to directly meet their demands.
Lately though, the word that is heard the most from these clients is the word : community. Let’s be honest though : how “community” can a brand get? In order to achieve this, they would need someone like me who is active in community (ies). A community is not just some short term project but instead it’s grown naturally out of a collective of people. This kind of changes the working conditions in the sense that I am no longer just executing under their instructions but I get to add my thoughts and visions in making the projects unique.
I think with social media being as big as it is now with it’s varying crowds, brands then tend to look for representatives on these platforms and it’s effective in the sense that they are able to directly speak and make their influence on these already established communities.
ME :
What do you think of the young audiences that you and your friends/ artists draw? How did you build this crowd?
TL :
It took us time. When we first did our trap-house parties, there were kids that were 14 years old that turned up, having successfully kept them around, we have these older kids that are able to spend money alongside another generation of newcomers, this took us a long time to build.
ME :
What are the differences in doing what you do before and after 2019?
TL :
I can only say that we tend to be more careful with the content we make, but that does not mean the end. As someone much older has told me : When there is unlimited space you can do whatever you want ; but when space is limited that is when one’s wits are really being tested. I think it’s actually fun to create with limitations, it makes it more challenging.
It doesn’t matter where you are, we are always being monitored as long as we are on the internet. If you just let yourself go and do whatever you want, there is the risk you would be upsetting others ; everyone is keeping an eye on one another. To play it smart is what matters.
Culture has always been created or at its strongest under social unrest. Hong Kong post-2019 actually triggered people to start supporting local culture and its products. In the 70-80s there was the disco culture and all these parties introducing gay culture, fashion and music in to HK, back then everyone only valued imports from abroad. Then came the 90-00s when the very commercialised local pop scene dominated and they were in a hurry to rack that cash in. Now, in this post-commercial era it is up for grabs, many local indie bands have been selling out especially with the global pandemic having ground everyone seeking entertainment while being grounded in their own homes or the city itself.
Back to the lack of “space”, many poems we have heard and most national anthems were written during time of war. Now, there are these people that become scared and they would decide to immigrate somewhere else, I think they lack this mentality; but on the flipside, there are those that would think that this might be their prime creative years. Remember there is the need to be patient, everything that is rushed doesn’t last for that long, we are closer to that right timing to be creating and launching projects but whatever that is, it should be enduring and expected to last for a long time.
ME :
What is your advice to citizens here?
TL :
Its an open field, everyone should try their best to pursue what they want. My main focus is to spread more positive energies and help those around me out when they seek advice. You can never guess that something you did might end up having a huge impact on other individuals.
We should never tell people what to do, our job as creatives is to set examples or set an atmosphere for the audience to have it figured out for themselves. Like a painting hanging in a gallery, everyone would view and think of it differently, there is no pleasing everybody.
ME :
What’s wrong with our government in pursuit of developing culture?
TL :
The government just simply needs to listen, to the people and to communities. We seem like we are bound by the traditional thinking of “the old guy is always right”, when I grow old I want to be the guy that listens and not one to be telling people what to do. There is a bit more to listening too, one is to consider these comments being received and have the goal of producing something beyond that in order for people to feel satisfied.
Hong Kong is a beautiful city with architecture that reflects the people’s straight, uniform characteristics and I feel that this a fact that we have ignored, there is also the mis-understanding on the government’s behalf failing to recognizing that the older parts of Hong Kong is what is driving most tourists to come see this city. We have the conditions to keep these relics while also developing these modernised attractions.
It really depends on the people, Hong Kong people are used to not having an identity, people don’t have much of a city pride. If there’s a core value to Hong Kong people is that we have no personality and have always been used to serving the needs of others. People need to learn to love this place first. That’s why I think things are looking a bit better with 2019 having created a small hint of pride and unity.
Reflection
It was a lil’ afterwards that I encountered something personal that was very upsetting. I dealt with it by myself for the longest time until one day I was sitting at Tedman’s studio and was having a chat about what I was feeling and how to be dealing with them, and again: Only then when I found out we hold very simular values and even experiences having grown up.
It was interviewing this buddy I have known for so long that I have discovered how many things are being left out when things are left unmentioned.
For the longest time I thought I was pretty much alone in beliefs for a more united Hong Kong under all this political confusion ; the relationship problems that I encounter as a 34 year old that I think were too immature to express and kept to myself for some time…then VOILA, here is someone that has the same opinions, who has experienced the same feelings and you have been seeing him every other week for the past 10 years without knowing it.
Interviews are interesting in a way that it opens up topics one wouldn’t regularly bring up in day to day conversations, but through doing this practice for the past months it was a window in to some untouched, unquestioned aspects of someone else’s life. I have asked certain questions in the past months with the response : ” that is a good question”, “I don’t think anyone has asked me that before”.
So again, i’ve always turned my work mode on and still expect really proper results. This interview with my buddy Tedman has really changed how I look at interviews, but sadly this should be the last interviewee on my list and I am glad it ended on a high note.
ANDY WAS HERE
ANDY was here 🤓 