传 Biography
Hung Bolo
They tell you to be on the lookout. They’re right.
Hung Bolo didn’t stumble into the arts. He was born into a legacy of struggle. His birthday falls on November 18th, the anniversary of the Battle of Vertières, the day Haiti defeated one of the most powerful armies on earth and became the first free Black republic in history. He comes from that soil and that bloodline: descended from a revolutionary journalist who fought with a pen, and from a long line of warriors, fighters and generals who fought with everything else.
His father was an instructor at one of the first MMA schools in America, so the mat was his first playground. Judo taught him how to fall. Taekwondo taught him how to strike. Early on, he learned how to take a hit and get back up.
His parents were brilliant immigrants whose hard work opened doors to privileged rooms and comfortable futures. Like Ken in Street Fighter, he could have stayed comfortable. He chose the training hall instead. He chose the rigor, the discipline, the suffering and the glory of a warrior’s life over an easy one, and he hasn’t looked back.
The Fighter
That choice led him into the heart of Southern Chinese kung fu. Hung Bolo became an international kung fu grand champion in both fighting and forms, a distinction that asks for both the grit to win in the ring and the precision to stand alone on the stage.
In 2007, he faced Hung Lok Man, celebrated in Hong Kong kung fu magazines as “The Prince of Kung Fu,” and won. He still speaks of that match with deep respect for the man across from him.
Today he is one of the very few masters of the Hung Fut Pai system and a disciple of Grandmaster Tai Yim. A Black man from Haiti carrying an ancient Chinese lineage, he didn’t borrow the culture. He was welcomed into it, trained in it, bled for it, and now works to help preserve it, without ever losing who he is.
He speaks five languages and studied Mandarin for years. He lives at the crossroads: Caribbean and Asian, street and temple, scripture and battlefield, rhythm and combat.
The Name
Hung is the family name of the Hung Fut style, of which he is a master and inheritor. Traditionally, and especially in Hong Kong, many masters take on the family style name “Hung” when they become masters. It marks them as official inheritors and members of the Hung kung fu family line, which began with Hung Hei-gun, the founder of Hung Gar, and continues through the many Hung grandmasters of the Hung Fut system.
Bolo carries layered meanings. In many languages, a bolo is a weapon. To law enforcement it’s a warning: Be On the Look Out. And in Chinese, the characters themselves carry his faith.
- Hung洪
- The family name of the Hung kung fu line, from Hung Hei-gun, founder of Hung Gar, to the grandmasters of Hung Fut. Taken by masters as official inheritors. He is a master and inheritor.
- Bo波
- Wave.
- Lo罗
- Fishing. The net cast into the water, an essential image of his Christian faith.
- Bolo
- A weapon in many languages. To law enforcement, a warning: Be On the Look Out. To martial arts fans, a legend: Bolo Yeung, whose calm menace and iron presence Hung Bolo has always identified with.
Put them together and you get a man who is charming until the moment calls for something else. Dangerous by nature, disciplined by tradition.
The Sound
For Hung Bolo, Rap Is A Martial Art is more than a tagline. It’s a philosophy.
His style is eclectic and his own. Chinese melodies, Caribbean bounce and raw urban hip hop meet in one sound. His bars move like combinations: dense rhyme schemes, tongue twisters that flow like footwork, and wordplay that sets up the finish three lines before it lands.
You don’t just hear his verses. You spar with them.
Along the way, he’s been fortunate to work alongside some of the sharpest lyricists in the game. He has collaborated with Cory Gunz, who has given his work high praise; Chris Rivers, son of the legendary Big Pun; A.F.R.O., one of the most gifted lyricists of this era; and MC Jin, the most notable Chinese rapper of all time.
Cory Gunz reacts to Hung Bolo Coming soon