I remember seeing Mountain Brothers' "Galaxies" video on
Yo! MTV Raps (not the OG version, but the short-lived revival) back in '98 or '99.
Three Chinese dudes from Philly walking through a grocery store and playing
mahjong while flipping buttery rhymes ("My mass is critical, raps Invisibl like
Skratch Piklz and X-Men/ Gettin fem's confessin'/ Expressin’ predilection for
sex and affection when I finesse them") over a laid-back, jazzy groove
that has yet to cease making my head nod. It was one of my first times hearing
Asian Americans rap, and doing it well at that.
I went and picked up their "Self Vol. 1" and it quickly became one of my favorite albums. I'd play it for friends and they’d flip: "Nah they can't be Chinese, they’re dope!" as if race somehow hindered someone's ability to put words together. It was always that same reaction, maybe because, though they embraced it, they didn’t wear their ethnic identity on their shirt the way Eminem did his trailer park spaghetti stain. But now 10 years later, Asian Americans—as well as everyone across the globe—are increasingly embracing and making hip-hop music, rendering the ignorant "He doesn’t sound [insert race here]!" statement obsolete.
While Asian American rap cats rarely drift mainstream (coincidentally, Chops, former producer/emcee from Mountain Brothers, now produces hits for Young Jeezy, Lil' Wayne, Bun B and others), they've been holding it down on the underground circuit for years, way before I was on my late Friday night channel flip loser steez .
For those who haven’t been following the scene, DJ Phatrick, former DJ for Native Guns, recently dropped the "Asian American Hip Hop for Dummies" mixtape--a compilation of his mixes from Apex Express, a radio show which airs Thursday evenings at 7 p.m. on KPFA 94.1 in the Bay Area and streams online at www.kpfa.org. He co-hosts and co-produces The Pretty Buoyant Show segment with Adriel Luis of spoken word group iLL-Literacy, which airs the first Thursday of each month.
(Click-clack the image to see tracklisting.)
The mix features names most hip-hop heads will instantly recognize: Visionaries, Lyrics Born, Dan the Automator, Typical Cats, and Jin, with whole mixes devoted to Native Guns and Blue Scholars. (If none of these names sound familiar, pick up the mix and write yourself a late pass!) Also on the mix are some lesser-knowns, such as Jupitersciples, an LA-based Korean hip-hop group fashioned in the Project Blowed fast rap style, and Skim, who Phatrick touts as "one of the dopest female emcees, period."
While Phatrick acknowledges that the mix is a little too West Coast-centric, he plans to put out more volumes "which hopefully represent a broader range of API hip hop, geographically and ethnically," he says.
School yourself and order the mix at: http://www.myspace.com/djphatrick.
Posted by Zoneil at May 16, 2008 12:52 AM
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Nice mix! Love me some Native Guns
More co-option of black culture.
I have to admit that although the music may be good its hard to find some embrace if the group that is makin' hip hop seemingly is allergic to black people. They're seen as "biting the style" not actual embracers of hip hop no matter how well they spit venom. Especially to someone like me who has been all hip hop since the late 70's...at least you have to hang with some brothas or its a "minstrel act"
Real talk
Moe
i don't think it says anywhere in this post, or in the cd that this mixtape is "allergic to black people." in fact, it states it very clear that this mixtape is to showcase asian american hip hop artists, the few that are out there. that is the mixtape's focus. if you cared enough to learn about the individual artists that are featured on the cd, you'll know that they have been influenced by some great hip hop artists, that are african american. and they do pay their respect to them.
if hip hop is an art form to recognize the struggle, then i think moe, you are dismissing what it means to be asian american, and getting sucked into the belief that asian americans have nothing to "complain" about, which is why the "venom" they spit does not feel real to you.
in a nutshell, i can see what you're saying, but i don't agree with it. you hear all the time that hip hop should be universal. but obviously there are people out there that don't buy that. so does that mean only black people are entitled to these form of art? hip hop? b-boying? i think there's a problem of adopting a culture, and not giving it the recognition that it deserves, but i also think that there's a problem when we try to put ownership on something. this is mine, and that is yours.
To all I want you to hear the godfather of Hip Hop and what he thinks about it crossing culture lines. TO ALL YOU HIP HOP LOVERS LISTEN CLOSELY, OF ALL RACES.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=563eLRk3lts
These Japanese dudes wrecked it at a black event
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sqx6EJ1pog&feature=related
Look at all the elements of Hip Hop in this classic video what happened to this culture?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zg-I-jkn4zc
hilty & bosch are freaking amazing. it would be unfair to say that they're biting the style rather than embracing hip hop, or in this case, locking.
Locking was the first dancing style incorporated into Hip Hop. The funny thing is that it didnt come from the South Bronx, or the East coast for that matter. I know many of you hyphen readers are from the bay area, the birthplace of locking.
Whe an Asian dude goes to the legenadary Apollo and commands the respect of the most brutal audience in the world you know his talents is unquestionable and their is a tolerance for Asians in Hip Hop, check out my man Takahiro
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mfd7lfOYEjI
another classic hit fom Mantronnix, real hip hop
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wk2Arb_Z-8M
http://www.crunchyroll.com/media-172635/Se7en-and-Amerie-2.html
amerie abd se7en in the studio
I like this guy, you should all check him out, he was the star in that movie, Akira Hip Hop Shop.
http://www.taiyona.com/
Anyone see the new NAS video, and how this video apples to the Asian american community
http://www.8asians.com/2008/06/09/chink-nigger/#comments