Lowbrow aesthetics aren't designed—they naturally emerge from poverty
He explains lowbrow aesthetics not as a style strategy but as something naturally weathered into being by poverty—the way ancient Greek temple columns fade and become beautiful over centuries.
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Poverty in his childhood taught him to welcome loss
Ren Ke (仁科) recalls being a "rich local kid" until elementary school, when his father's businesses—a karaoke bar, hair salon, and tea restaurant—failed in sequence. His own grilled meat stall folded within two months after he kept giving free food to friends. This boom-and-bust pattern shaped his later "unambitious" creative mindset: he never expected music to earn money or make him a rock star, just enjoyed making it.
— Ren KePicture someone always too late to be born, and panic fades
Around age 17, Ren Ke conceived of a fictional person named Mr. X (X先生)—someone who always missed every era, forever waiting to be born, never arriving even before the universe ended. He applies this thought experiment to himself: perhaps he's the person who "never gets an album out," but that's not failure, just not his turn yet. This coherent worldview let him spend years selling books and singing in Guangzhou with zero commercial expectations while maintaining emotional stability.
— Ren KeNo sales training, but he made over 100 yuan a day
After arriving in Guangzhou to meet A Mao (阿茂), Ren Ke made money selling pirated books—clearing over 100 yuan on day one, faster than A Mao's bootleg CD business. He refused A Mao's pirated records and tried selling ties but found it "more shameful than selling pirated books." He describes himself as "overconfident" and "lucky," even reserving stall space for philosophy by Freud and Nietzsche that barely sold, reasoning that "someone eventually buys everything."
— Ren KeThey pushed the unplugged format to its logical extreme
During their record shop era, they invited Zhou Yunpeng (周云蓬)—who was accepting an award—to play an "unplugged" set. Zhou expected typical unplugged: speakers but no effects. Instead he arrived to find they literally had no PA system, only speakers for playback—genuine a cappella plus acoustic guitar. Zhou nearly fell apart but still performed and sold albums. This poverty characterized their early tours: sound equipment stolen by audience members to charge phones, PA and monitor mixed on one channel, lights never changing once all night.
— Ren KeAesthetics don't get installed—they're naturally worn into being
Luo Yongzao (罗永浩) proposes a theory: humans don't initially see peeling paint and cracks as beautiful—that was stuff needing immediate repair. But after decades of weathering accumulate, people suddenly notice rough surfaces have intrinsic beauty. Ancient Greek temple columns started painted but only became the gray-white we know today after centuries of finish loss. Ren Ke agrees and adds that plastic buckets and salon signs have "touch" with his real experience—authentic lived texture, not a style strategy grafted afterward.
— Luo YonghaoOne forgotten poster becomes their most iconic visual symbol
Wu Tiao Ren (五条人) wanted a striking logo like Rolling Stone's tongue. Designer Hu Zi (胡子) drew over 30 options but nothing clicked. The solution came from a poster Hu Zi had painted for a previous tour—a plastic bag caught in wind like a sunset above workers, captioned with "Tomorrow's sun will rise for you." Ren saw it and realized: why not just use this as the logo? One plastic bag became the band's most recognizable visual identity.
— Ren KeOne defiant song choice makes the whole country smile
A Mao (阿茂) initially refused The Summer of Bands entirely. Ren spent two hours on an emotional "guilt trip" call convincing him to perform. By late-night taping, both were exhausted in the wings—even the backing band urged A Mao not to take risks, worried about job security. Ren chose the most "frivolous" track deliberately, thinking they'd bomb fast and be eliminated anyway. Instead that spite-chosen song made the whole country laugh, becoming one of the show's most viral moments.
— Ren KePost-fame fans nearly drove him into the ocean
At an Alaya (阿拉雅) beachside show that sold thousands of tickets, at the post-show party, 40-50 fans chased Ren Ke for autographs and photos, pushing him deeper toward the water until crew extracted him into a car. He says that's when he finally understood why celebrities like Leslie Cheung and Andy Lau complained about crowds—he'd briefly tasted "Four Heavenly Kings" problems himself. Since then he wears plain masks and hats, bought expensive ones then kept losing them, so switched to cheap ones.
— Ren KeIn their own words · checked verbatim
There's this person who's had it a bit worse than us. Like you, born right now—you'd miss every era. I was thinking, what if there was such a person? And I decided: this person, Mr. X. Mr. X missed every era, and right until the universe ended, he never got born.
但是有一个人 比我们稍稍惨一点 比如你在这个时候出生 他错过了任何时代 我当时在想 有这么一个人 但我是选择王的 这个人叫X先生 X先生错过了任何时代 一直到宇宙 他都没出生
Ren Ke1:02:24
I just sold books—that's all. Made over 100 yuan on my first day. I thought, wow, this money's so easy to make. God, I was dead broke then, 350 yuan a month.
我就卖那个 卖书 我第一天就挣了100多块钱 我在想太好挣了这个钱 天哪 我当时在背条钱 一月350
Ren Ke1:04:24
Never expected that once he showed up we wouldn't even have speakers—just the music playback one. Nothing at all. No, I mean—we had zero live performance equipment. That's truly unplugged.
没想到他来了以后 我们连音箱都没有 只有播歌的音箱 什么都没有 不 只有没有演出的设备 就是真正的不插电
Ren Ke1:33:54
But when this accumulates over time, one day people suddenly realize this broken, worn-down thing has a kind of natural beauty. And that's when the aesthetics emerge. It was never designed to begin with.
但是这个东西积累多了以后 大家突然有一天发现 这个残破的东西有一种 自然的美感 于是从美学上这个才产生了 它一开始不是设计出来的
Luo Yonghao1:53:35
I loved Ruling Stone so much—their logo was incredibly striking back then. That tongue.
因为我很喜欢Ruling Stone 那个时候Ruling Stone的logo是非常炸的 大舌头
Ren Ke2:00:36
If I played that other song and flopped, I'd still be eliminated but have to go back and keep making music with this band. But if I chose this one, we'd all go down happy together, and then go back and reflect. Except I never imagined the whole nation would go down happy with us.
我如果演了那首歌 演得不好 也被淘汰 我回去还要跟这帮乐队 一起搞音乐 然后我选了这首的话 大家一起死得痛快 然后回去还感慨 但没想到全国人民都痛快
Ren Ke3:00:05
I was chased by about 40 to 50 people. Nearly torn to shreds by fans—nearly—then I almost ended up swimming out into deep ocean.
我被大概四十到五十个人 一直追着 差点被粉丝撕裂 差点 然后我就差点往海的深处游了
Ren Ke3:03:06
Figures
| Record shop and band startup capital | 6,000 yuan (four-person co-investment) | 1:30:28 |
| Guangzhou shared apartment rent | 350 yuan/month | 1:20:25 |
| First album production cost | over 10,000 yuan | 1:43:30 |
| Logo design proposals | 30+ | 2:00:36 |
| Taiwan award prize for Guangdong Girl | 100,000 yuan | 1:52:35 |
| Monthly income per person from bootleg CD sales | approximately 80-100 yuan | 1:08:24 |
Glossary
- Mr. X
- A fictional character Ren Ke imagined to represent someone who perpetually arrives too late for any era and never gets born
- The Time Train
- A thought experiment where your future self travels back to the present to reconcile with your past
- Dylan Spirit
- Bob Dylan's approach of spontaneously disrupting arrangements in live performance and refusing to repeat yourself
How to listen
Entrepreneurs and content creators interested in indie music ecosystems, grassroots aesthetics, and unexpected viral fame—plus longtime Wu Tiao Ren (五条人) fans.
The opening hour discusses handsomeness and first-love details with low information density—skip ahead to the sections about selling records and forming the band.