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Chinese-Canadian superstar Kris Wu on leaving K-pop behind and breaking into the U.S. hip-hop market

Wu opens up about why he left EXO in 2014, and discusses what he's doing now to fulfill his mission of being the first Chinese rapper to bridge the gap between "the east and the west."
CBC Radio ·
Chinese-Canadian actor Kris Wu is styled in Louis Vuitton’s latest Spring/Summer 2019 men’s collection by artistic director Virgil Abloh. (Louis Vuitton)
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Kris Wu is a Chinese-Canadian actor and singer who was in a huge South Korean-Chinese boy band called EXO — one of the biggest K-pop bands of all time. In six years, EXO sold more than 10 million records, not including streams or downloads. 

Even after leaving the band in 2014, Wu continued to become a huge celebrity. He's a judge on a reality TV show called The Rap of China, Louis Vuitton reached out to him to be its latest ambassador, and in 2017 he became the first Chinese artist to reach number one on the U.S. iTunes chart for his song Deserve, featuring Travis Scott. 

Now, Wu has a new mission: to be the first Chinese rapper to bridge the gap between "the east and the west." His debut solo album Antares dropped last week. Wu spoke to q's Tom Power about why he left EXO, and how he's breaking into the U.S. hip-hop market.

Listen to the full conversation with Kris Wu near the top of this page. 

— Produced by ​Saroja Coelho

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