Rap Artist Dallas Waldo Released Film Documentary #WaldoLostInTaiwan

The mini-doc #WaldoLostInTaiwan stresses the importance of family and identity in Dallas Waldo’s eight year tenure in Taiwan.

Dallas Waldo is a Canadian rap artist who lived and performed in Taiwan for nearly a decade using the Mandarin moniker 阿龍. 

In this heartwarming film, be prepared to go deep into the life of Dallas Waldo, a bilingual rap artist who performed on screens and stages across Asia while based in Taipei.

Waldo knew the land, language and culture like a local. In 2014, he had great success promoting Mandarin hip hop culture after founding the world’s first Mandarin acapella rap battle league in Taipei, Diss RBL (Rap Battle League). And what followed thereafter was a riveting 7-year professional career that had Waldo performing for festival crowds of 10000 people and hosting TV shows in Thailand.

Essentially the godfather of battle rap in Taiwan, along with Diss RBL, Waldo also organized Iron Mic and Underground 8 Mile from China. As a result, Dallas has numerous collaborations with Chinese artists, including the Rap of China champion 艾熱AIR. 

During the pandemic, Waldo returned to Canada to reunite with his parents after discovering his mother was diagnosed with stage 3 lung cancer. Despite the pandemic and incessant lockdowns that were rampant in Canada, Waldo left a COVID-free Taiwan to be with his mother and father in these tough times.

Released as part of ‘Dialogue With Asia Series’ by Taiwan Fest Ontario in August 2021, the film portrays an audacious interpretation of a rap artist’s creative life in Taiwan. What comes next may just be the beginning of an interesting life propelled from having lived expressively and without contrition. For such amazement, we can’t wait to see more of what lies ahead for Dallas Waldo.   

Watch the film here.

More recently 2021/202: Ontario, Canada

After completing a Music Business program at Humber College in 2021, Dallas was hired to be a project manager for an arts organization in British Columbia. Currently, Waldo and the team are working towards an international festival that will celebrate Chinese-language artists in North America.

Dallas has also been busy making new music back in Canada with artists on both sides of the globe. Currently, Waldo has an EP and a few singles in the works. The problem is, however, that Waldo currently has no studio within 50km in his hometown of Norfolk, Ontario. Lockdowns have also complicated progress. With things opening up slowly in 2022, Dallas finally booked studio recording time at Jukasa Studios on the Indigenous reserve of Six Nations in February.

Times in Taiwan

Dallas is known for his intimacy with the local language and culture in Taiwan. In 2018, he released “台灣是我家 Taiwan Is My Home” with the Turkish entertainment icon 吳鳳.

In 2019, Waldo followed up with Ear Food: a satirical bass-heavy collection of brainwashing bangers with metaphorical titles drawing inspiration from the Chinese classic novel Golden Plum Vase 金瓶梅. The lead single “Stinky Tofu” features an intro from the legendary MC Stretch—the official MC of Tomorrowland and good friend of Dallas Waldo. The intriguing music video, which was directed and edited by Waldo as well, was shared by multiple aggregate pages on Facebook and toppled 300,000 views in total. The EP was released with Umami Records based in Singapore.

Dallas began appearing regularly on Taiwanese television in 2014. For five years Waldo represented Canada on the hit TV show 二分之一強, known for witty humour, high energy, outbursts of freestyling and a striking resemblance to Superman. Waldo’s fluent Mandarin skills coupled with honest reflections eventually elevated him to the position of television host. Waldo hosted 20 episodes of his own show, Busy Connect, on ELTA in 2018. That same year, Dallas also hosted the official after-video for Creamfields Guangzhou where he interviewed numerous Top 100 DJs including Danny Avila, Don Diablo, Vini Vici and more.

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