Sup. You guys can call me Royal. I'm from Vancouver, Canada. I started this blog called Asian Rap Worldwide. This is a site where you can read about Asian rappers, listen to Asian rap songs, watch Asian hip hop music videos.
If you want to be featured send in your MP3s, YouTube videos, and mixtapes. For all other inquiries by all means hit me up through email.
Smoking marijuana is not officially a part of hip hop culture but it is something that is often referenced to in many rap songs. Some rappers such as Bone Thugs N Harmony, Cypress Hill and Ludacris have written songs dedicated to marijuana and getting high.
Soft Lipa is an underground rapper in Taiwan. He quite has a big following in the Mandarin-speaking hip hop community in Taiwan and in Mainland China. Here's a song from Soft Lipa called 煙霧瀰漫 (Haziness). Its a song about marijuana and getting high. Soft Lipa can flow very well in Mandarin. Soft Lipa is definitely someone to watch within the emerging Chinese hip hop community. There will be definitely be more posts on him in the future.
Outside the United States, France is home to one of the biggest hip hop scenes in the world. Assaji is a Lao rapper from France from the rap group OGLC. Here's Assaji dropping deep poetic thoughts in his song Brise. The video provided below features the English translated lyrics of Brise.
Korean rapper Flowsik is out with his new street single HUSTLIN' which is about his rap hustle and grind. Flowsik made this song to express his hustling mentality in the current economic recession in the United States. HUSTLIN' is Flowsik's first self-produced song.
What's good folks? I want to wish all of you a Merry Christmas and happy holidays!! Hope you guys spend time good quality time with your loved ones. It has been a crazy year; let us all hope a better 2009.
Bambu
Filipino rapper Bambu has just released his Crooks & Rooks music video for the holiday season. This song is about giving a positive message to the youth. This song rocks! Crooks & Rooks can be found on Bambu's ...Exact Change... album.
Someone on the Asian Rap Chat posted a really cool Grind Time freestyle battle between two Korean American rappers: Tantrum vs Dumbfoundead. Tantrum is from Union City, California and Dumbfoundead is from the Koreatown/Los Angeles area. The two emcees have very different rapping styles. Tantrum raps very aggressively and Dumbfoundead raps like a witty nerd from another planet (but it definitely delivers). In the battle you'll hear very funny Asian-related references. Both emcees did very well but at the end of the battle, Dumbfoundead was declared the winner by the judges. A definitely must-see battle!
Ryu Black aka MeccaGodzilla is a producer, emcee and a graphic artist from Staten Island, New York. He has a new single that's out called Chun Li featuring Mega Ran, Masia One and DJ Sarasa, which is dedicated to Chun Li from the Street Fighter series. This song uses nostalgic sound-bytes from Chun Li from Street Fighter II: World Warrior. Chun Li is the first single from Ryu Black's album Perfect 天 which will be released in 2009.
Caprice is a rapper from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. His rapping style is largely influenced by Fabolous. Caprice recently released a single called Fantasy Girls featuring Houston rapper, LM. This song was largely inspired and dedicated to the Croatian/Asian model Sofia Legend from Toronto, Canada. The music video of Fantasy Girls features Sofia Legend among other girls from around the world dancing and posing on webcam.
Heartsdales is a Japanese hip hop duo consisting of two sisters: Rum and Jewels. Their sound is a mixture of hip hop and Japanese pop. Rum and Jewels are both fluent in both Japanese and English as the two sisters grew up in Yonkers, New York. In 2001, the two sisters were discovered in an audition television program in Japan. Since then they have released 4 albums: Radioactive (2002), Sugar Shine (2003), Super Star (2005), and their last album Ultra Foxy in (2006). After the release of Ultra Foxy, in the summer of 2006, Heartsdales disbanded and the sisters have pursued their own individual endeavours outside the music industry.
Candy Pop was one of Heartsdales' biggest singles from the Sugar Shine album. Its a boy-meets-girl type of song featuring Japanese rap trio Soul'd Out (consisting of Diggy-MO', Bro. Hi, and Shinnosuke as the DJ). The song is about all the strange and exciting emotions and feelings you get when you meet first meet someone that you are attracted to. The song and music video of Candy Pop might sound cute and innocent but there's quite a bit of sexual innuendo in this song such as "I got too much candy pop in me" and "Hey boy, wanna ride?" and last but definitely not least, "I wanna touch it".
The first time I was introduced to Candy Pop was in 2006. Someone sent me a link to a YouTube video of an Asian girl sucking a highlighter to the background music of Candy Pop. Unfortunately, its no longer available for your viewing pleasure.
Kim Jin Pyo (Korean: 김진표) or more commonly known as "JP", is one of the rappers that helped introduce hip hop to Korea. He was a former member of the groups Novasonic and Panic. He has released 4 albums to date: 列外 (열외) (1998), JP Style (1998), Jp3 (2001), 김진표 Vol 4 (2003) and most recently, Galanty Show in 2008.
Complaint (Korean: 푸념) is a song from Kim Jin Pyo's 1998 album JP Style. It features Drunken Tiger rapping in English and Kim Jin Pyo rapping in Korean. This was one of my favourite songs back in my high school days when I was first introduced to Korean rap. The instrumental beat has a G-funk-esque kind of feel to it and the lyrical flow is just amazing. Back in the day, I used to put this song on repeat. This song brings me to the feeling of nostalgia...
Mountain Brothers Clockwise from Top Left: Styles, Peril-L and Chops
The world is facing tough economic times ahead. The current headline in the news reports that the United States senate voted against the bailing out of the American auto sector. So right now the big three auto makers: Ford, General Motors and Chrysler might file for bankruptcy anytime soon. Oh my... things are going to get real ugly. Bits and pieces of the US economy are falling one after the other like dominoes. I pray that president-elect Barack Obama has a plan to get out of this financial mess.
*Ahem*...now back to your regular scheduled program on Asian Rap Worldwide :)
The Asian American rap group, Mountain Brothers have a song called Paperchase, which is a hip hop slang for chasing after money. This is a conscious rap song about how paperchasing negatively impacts the quality of hip hop. All the (c)rap you hear in the mainstream nowadays is water-downed hip hop. The way the industry is right now, it forces rappers to "sell-out" to sell records. Paperchase can be found on the Mountain Brothers' Self: Volume 1 album.
Manny Pacquiao, the "Pambansang Kamao" of the Philippines with his national flag
Here's some boxing news... Manny Pacquiao from the Philippines shocked the entire world when he defeated "The Golden Boy" Oscar De La Hoya in an 8th round TKO on Saturday December 6, 2008 at the world famous MGM Grand Garden Arena. Prior to the match, Pacquiao was the seen by many as the underdog as he was physically smaller and weighed less compared to a larger and heavier De La Hoya. However, when the match occurred, it was Pacquiao that dominated De La Hoya in round after round with his speed and De La Hoya forfeited the match after the end of the 8th round, resulting in a TKO. This was a huge victory for Manny Pacquiao. Pacquiao is considered a national hero from the Philippines and is currently the world’s No. 1 pound-for-pound boxer.
There is a rap song from the Philipines dedicated to Manny Pacquiao called Pambansang Kamao, which is one of Pacquiao's nick names which means "National Fist" in Tagalog. This song is done by D-Coy, who is one of the more popular rappers in the Philippines from the hip hop group Beatmathics and it features fellow Pinoy rap artists Artstrong, E.S.P, and Nathan J. This song has both Tagalog and English rap.
Clash is a popular rock band from Thailand. They have a song called Rok Pra Jam Tua (Thai: โรคประจำตัว) which is about an awkward situation when a man is caught checking out other girls by his jealous significant other. The song tries to explain that its just male biological wiring but his heart is in the right place. (LOL!) For a rocker, the lead singer Bank has a pretty decent flow when raps. The female featured in this song and music video is Thai singer, Zita Zalai. This song is from the Smooth Clash album released in 2006.
If you want to read the English translation of Rok Pra Jam Tua (or if you want to use the same poetic lines to explain about your "wondering eyes") you can get it here.
m-flo is a unique band which combines Japanese pop with hip hop and R&B. The original band members were Verbal the rapper, Lisa who provided the vocals and DJ Taku who provided the instrumental beats. Verbal is a Zainichi (which means he is an ethnic Korean that lives in Japan), Lisa is of Japanese and Afro-Colombian descent and DJ Taku is Japanese. In 2002, Lisa has left m-flo to pursue her solo career. After Lisa's departure, m-flo began its m-flo loves.... series which is a collaboration series with popular Japanese and Korean singers. m-flo has released 5 albums up to date: Planet Shining (2000), Expo Expo (2001), Astromantic (2004), Beat Space Nine (2005) and Cosmic Color (2007).
Been So Long is one of the earlier hit songs from m-flo. This song is about the pain that is that comes with broken relationship. Been So Long is from m-flo's debut album Planet Shining.
大支 or "Dog G" is a Taiwanese rapper from Tainan, Taiwan. Dog G raps in the Taiwanese Min Nan dialect, which is the native dialect in Taiwan. Dog G is known to be very outspoken for being pro-Taiwanese.
Dog G's most popular and controversial song is called Taiwan Song. In this song, Dog G raps about being proud of his Taiwanese culture and Taiwanese identity. Because of the cultural assertiveness of Taiwan Song, Dog G gained a lot of media exposure in Taiwan and many Taiwanese fans. This song was even mentioned in a Time Magazine article about Taiwan's political situation called What Taiwan Wants. In the article, some of the lyrics of Taiwan Song were translated as "Those without the fear of losing, they are the true spirit of Taiwan; those who don't agree, get out!". This song is from Dog G's Lotus from the Tongue album released in 2002.
Ice-T's newest protege Flowsik drops some heavy lyricism in his song, I'm Nice. This song is featured on Ice-T's myspace. I'm Nice can be found on the Jay Pak Flowsik Mixtape.
周杰伦 or Jay Chou is one of Taiwan's biggest pop superstars. He performs many different genres music and fuses of music such as rock, R&B, pop and rap and Chinese-esque music known as "Zhong Guo Feng". Jay Chou has released 8 studio albums up to date: Jay(2000), Fantasy (2001), Eight Dimensions (2002), Ye Hui Mei (2003), Common Jasmin Orange (2004), November's Chopin (2005), Still Fantasy (2006), On the Run (2007), andCapricorn (2008).
The song Huo Yuan Jia is about a 19th century martial artist from China that became famous by challenging foreign fighters during the time when China fell to foreign powers. This was the theme song to the movie Fearless starring Jet Li which was loosely based on Huo Yuan Jia's life. The song and instrumental is very China-esque. It features Jay Chou rapping and singing in a falsetto voice. The music video is very well done and you can see some scenes from Fearless and see Jay Chou's unique kung fu dance choreography. The song is from Jay Chou's 2006 EP with the same title, Huo Yuan Jia.
Gloc-9 is one of the most popular rappers in the Philippines and he is known for his fast rapping ability and his conscious rap lyrics. He was a former member of the Filipino gangsta rap group Death Threat. Gloc-9 used to perform gangster rap with Death Threat but in his solo career, Gloc-9 has been a conscious rapper. Gloc-9 has 3 solo albums currently released: G9 (2003), Ako Si… (2005), and Diploma (2007).
Simpleng Tao means "Simple Guy" in English. This song is about Gloc-9 expressing his love to his woman. In the song he raps about that he does not have much but he will brag about his love for his woman. Simpleng Tao is from Gloc-9's debut album: G9. This was one of Gloc-9's biggest hit in 2004.
The Urban Xchange is a hip hop group from Singapore that performs a mix of hip hop, R&B and pop. The group itself has 5 members: Trisno, Vanessa, Terry, Munir and Firdaus. They have released two albums: How Did We Get Here? in 2001 and Urban Xchange in 2002 before disbanding.
The song, I Wanna Be Like Jackie Chan is a song about a pipe dream wishing they could be action heroes in kung fu flicks just like Jackie Chan. This song is from the How Did we Get Here? album as well featured in the Asian release of Rush Hour 2 OST.
The Slant Eyed Descendants or SED is an Asian American rap group formed in 1998 by two Asian rappers: Menace and Rebel-E from Los Angeles, California. The name Slant Eyed Descendants comes from the stereotype that Asians have small eyes that "slant". Menace is Okinawan/Japanese and Rebel-E is Korean American. Their style is heavily influenced by west coast gangsta rap. They have released two EPs The Struggle and Snake. They are no longer active in the Asian rap scene.
The song ReBirth is about making a positive changes in oneself amidst the turmoil. Everyone goes through a time period in their life when they feel as if they are walking in darkness and need to get some better direction. Personally, I am really feelin this song because right now I am going through some personal issues myself and this song expresses the thoughts and emotions going through my head.
Both EPs by Slant Eyed Descendants is free for download.
Here is an old interview with MVH and Korean rap group Drunken Tiger from 1999. MVH is a Korean-American TV show that plays Korean music videos and reports updates on the Korean entertainment industry. Both members of Drunken Tiger talked about the obstacles they faced trying to break in to the Korean entertainment industry because most Koreans, at that time largely did not understand what hip hop culture was all about. This interview took place when Drunken Tiger's popularity was skyrocketing after the release of their first album, The Year of the Tiger in 1998.
Congratulations to Filipino rapper, Bambu for being featured as the Artist of the Week on Hip Hip Official on November 05, 2008!
Bambu grew up in the Watts district of Los Angeles, California and he was invovled in "gang-banging" around the early 90s. Gang-banging lead him to a prison sentence for armed robbery. After Bambu got out of jail, he enlisted in the Marine Corps and after he got out, he decided to persue rapping. Bambu became part of a an Asian American rap group known as Native Guns which also included Kiwi and DJ Phatrick. In the inteview Bambu talks about his new solo album called ...Exact Change.... released on September, 11 2008, which is about making a specific change about the current system that is not working for Americans. Bambu also mentions about the youth and student group he is a part of called Kabataang maka-Bayan (KmB) or Pro-People Youth which aims to educate the youth about socio-economic issues in the United States, The Phillipines and the rest of the world.
Jin the MC has a new song called Dor Jea (Chinese: 多謝), which means Thank You in English. In this song, Jin raps about being thankful for his life. Featured in this song is Jaeson Ma, who is also an Asian rapper himself from the rap group Namesake and Corrina, who is singing the chorus. Dor Jea is a promotion for the award-winning movie Bella, which is a movie that deals with the issue of abortion. The lyrics of Dor Jea can be found on the Bella Hong Kong website.
You can also watch the live version of Dor Jea with Jin, Corinna and Jaeson Ma. This live performance was held at the Hong Kong premiere of Bella at HK Time Square.
Music is My Life is a TV show in Canada that features young Canadians talking about how music has touched their lives whether it helped them through bad times or whether it provided the motivation for them to achieve a goal. In this episode, Vietnamese rapper Chuckie Akenz talks about how music has played a integral role in his life. Chuckie Akenz talks about how he related to the music of rappers such as Tupac and DMX. Also Chuckie Akenz gives a glimpse of his upbringing and personal life living in the Jane and Finch community in Toronto. This video was aired on MuchMusic on January 22, 2007.
The song by Chuckie Akenz that was featured in the TV show is also called Music is My Life. This song is about how music was always there for him even through difficult times. This song is the first single of Chuckie Akenz's From the Beginning Album which has not been released yet. Compared to his earlier songs such as You Got Beefand My Heart, this song reflects a much more mature Chuckie Akenz. I like the chorus of the song a lot. The chorus seems Tupac-inspired to me, but nevertheless I think its a very heart-felt chorus. Here are the lyrics to the chorus:
And as the world starts changing/ I feel life rearranging/ How can they know my troubles/ If they can't see my struggle/ And as the world starts changing/ I feel life rearranging/ What gets me through this life/ One thing because music is my life/
CB Mass was a popular rap group in Korea that has disbanded since their last album. It consisted of Choiza, Curbin, and Gaeko. They had three albums released, MassMediah in 2000, MassMatics in 2001 and MassMedia in 2003. Because of a money scandal Curbin is no longer rapping. Now Choiza and Gaeko formed a new Korean rap group named together named Dynamic Duo.
The song 진짜 (pronounced JinJa) or Real in English is a club-banger track from the MassMediah album. Real uses the sample of Cherlyn Lynn's disco classic, Got to be Real for the instrumental. In this music video it features cameo appearances from members of The Movement, which is an alliance of Korean hip hop rappers that Drunken Tiger is a part of.
As reported in Joe Flizzow's blog, Joe had a recent interview in a talk show called Latte@8. In this interview Joe Flizzow talks about how he got into rapping and talks about career with Malaysian rap group, Too Phat. Joe Flizzow also talks about his new record label, Kartel Records and what is in store from his new solo album, The President. The new album will have 15 songs. 10 of the songs will be in English and 5 songs will be in Malay. Bronx rap legend, KRS-One will be featured in the album and also another unnamed Japanese rapper will be featured in The President. The interview ends with a live performance of Joe Flizzow performing Do it Duit.
YG Family is a Korean hip hop rap group consisting of all the members in the YG Entertainment label. The song, 우리는 YG Family (pronounced Oori Nun YG Family) , or in English "We are YG Family" is the first single off the Famillenium album released in 1999. This song features the rappers 1TYM, Jinusean, Perry, and Yang Goon, the founder of YG Entertainment.
I remember seeing this music video sometime back in the year 2000 and I thought, wow, this must be Asian gangsta rap that I'm seeing right now. Back in the year 2000, Asian rap and Asian hip hop was something new. In all honesty though, I thought this was the coolest music video ever. And today though, it still is, to some degree of course. I mean, how more gangsta can this music video get? There's plenty of guns, shooting and killing people and even a gun shootout with the police! Haha. And then add matrix-like special effects to the mix and you have a hit song. Usually the Korean media is extra conservative when it comes to displaying mature subject matter such as this. I am surprised that they allowed this music video to be shown and let this song to be on the music charts. Nevertheless, this is a classic Korean rap song.
One Life One Love is rap song by two Asian rappers: MC Ryuu, a Vietnamese rapper and MC Epikz, a Khmer rapper. This is song is about the two rappers confessing their love to the women in their lives. The song is sampled from One Life One Love by Taiwanese R&B/Pop group Tension. One really cool thing about this song is that there are 4 languages being used in this song namely English, Khmer, Vietnamese and Mandarin Chinese.
Thanks to alexn101 for making the YouTube video with the lyrics of One Life One Love, featuring the little adorable MapleStory sprites. One thing that I must correct is that, that is not a girl singing the chorus as alexn101 points out, its actually a male singer from Tension. The pitch of the voice was changed to give that "Kayne West effect".
Like I Do is an Asian gangsta rap song by Vietnamese rapper, Gee Q from San Diego. In Like I Do, Gee Q raps about the things he has been through in his daily grind. The song's instrumental has a very grimy feel to it and it fits well with the grimy lyrics of the song.
Speaking of Cha-Bu-Duo-ness (I just invented that term) and to further illustrate on MC Hotdog's disgust with the cha bu duo mentality of the Chinese people, I found video that just screams out cha bu duo hip hop. There is drama series about basketball produced in Taiwan called Hot Shot. I don't know anything this drama but whenever one of the basketball team wins, they do a victory dance to taunt the other team called Superman. Yes, I said Superman. Sounds familiar? Wait until you hear the instrumental of Superman . Oh and there is a dance that comes with this song too called the Superman Dance! Excuse me but..... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!
This is a major rip off of Soulja Boy's Crank That and a really, really bad one at that. And to think that there are people that actually like this taunt song really baffles the heck out of me. In this song they prance around while saying "I am Superman" and "You are loser". Oh the irony of it all. Unfortunately NESE, you are also a loser because you can't make original music.
For anyone who wants to read the lyrics or the translation of this ultra crappy song its available here.
Taiwanese rapper, MC Hotdog has released his 5th album on October 2008. His new album called 差不多先生 (pronounced: Cha Bu Duo Xiang Sheng), translated in English as Mr. Almost. This album was one of the most anticipated Chinese hip hop albums in Taiwan and also China.
Mr. Almost, is the title track is MC Hotdog's album. In this song, MC Hotdog uses the phrase 差不多 in almost every line. The term "差不多" (pronounced: cha bu duo) can be translated to English as "good enough". This line of thinking has plagued the Chinese people where they would compromise their effort or quality in whatever they do just because it is "good enough". The name 差不多先生 or "Mr. Almost" was first used by a 20th century Chinese philosopher name of Hu Shi who wrote a story to discourage the Chinese about this line of thinking. MC Hotdog's song Mr. Almost is a tribute to Hu Shi's work, and MC Hotdog addresses the very same issue and mentality that is still affecting the Chinese people today. Mr. Almost is satirical song about a life that revolves around the "good enough" mentality and therefore cuts corners in almost anything and everything just to get things over with to the point where it becomes ridiculous. There is also a funny line where MC Hotdog says he had "good enough" sex many times using a "good enough" position.
Thaitanium is a Thai-American hip hop group and one of Thailand's most popular hip hop acts. Thaitanium or, "Thaitay" as they are commonly known as by their fans, consists of 3 Thai rappers: Khan, Way and Day. To this date they have released 6 albums. AA (2000), Thai Riders (2002), Province 77 OST (2003), Resisting Against da System (2004), Thailand's Most Wanted (2006) and Flipside (2008). Thaitanium also hosted the first ever, Asian Hip Hop Festival in Bangkok, last month in October.
Ta Leung (ทะลึ่ง in Thai) is a club-banger hit from Thaitanium. Although this song is 2 years old, it is still one of the most popular rap songs in Thai hip hop clubs right now. The term Ta Leung in Thai means that you are naughty, in a sexual kind of way. In the context of the music video, you will see that every time one of the rappers from Thaitanium tries to advance at a girl, she starts waving her finger and says "Ta Leung". That is how the term is used in Thailand. This song is on their Thailand's Most Wanted Album.
Meng Wan (命运in Chinese) is a song by Point Blanc, featuring Uncle Real and Hong Kong rapper, MC Yan. This song is in the Cantonese language and it is about making one's own destiny. The instrumental of this song is really cool. It is sampled from one of the old school kung fu movies and has a really nice vintage feel to it. This song can be found on Point Blanc's Straight to the Point CD.
The music video of Meng Wan reminds me about the old kung fu movies. Its about a boy who goes off in a far away temple to train in kung fu. Because the boy trained hard, his kung fu master took a liking to him and that caused another trainee to be jealous of him. And so one day the other jealous trainee pushes the boy and then the boy's locket, which contains his mother's picture, falls to the floor. Fueled by anger, the boy starts fighting his fellow trainee and then the master discovers the two fighting. The master then decides to discipline the boy by making him do chores around the temple and balance rice bowls on his head and hands. In the end of the video, the boy regains the respect of the master and they both bowed to each other to signify that respect. This music video, is a metaphor for our lives. There will be many challenges and obstacles we will face before we can fulfill our destiny.
The Khmer Rap Boyz and KDEP are Khmer rappers from Cambodia. The song Sexy is about their affection for Khmer girls. This is an east-meets-west rap song where they have mixed traditional Khmer music with hip hop beats. I think its very cool and exciting that hip hop is starting to blow up in a country such as Cambodia and they have groups that "keep it real" and still stick to their Khmer roots instead of being a hollow imitation of mainstrean American rappers.
The music video of Sexy was directed by OCM. OCM is a famous music video director in the French Hip Hop industry. In the video you can see glimpses of daily life in Cambodia, which includes beautiful Khmer women and beautiful architecture and as well some social issues such as poverty. There's also a funny staggering drunk at the end of the video.
LS aka "Lyrical Specialist" is Chinese rapper from Chinatown, New York. He gained a lot of exposure when Blender Magazine wrote an article about him called Big Trouble in Little China in April of 2004. The article goes in detail about a shooting incident where he heroically stood up for Jin when someone tried to "punk" Jin inside New York bar. LS ended up being shot in the back with a .40 caliber. Fortunately LS survived the shooting.
The song Still a Chink a socially conscious rap song that deals with the issue of racism and prejudice against Asian-Americans. Although the term "chink" is a derogatory name to discriminate the Chinese, this term has been used to insult Asians or anyone who looks Asian. In this remixed version of Still a Chink, this song is featuring Asian rap superstars: Jin, Shogunna, Snacky Chan, Rookadamus and Young Mac. Jin and and LS are the only Chinese rappers in this song, however the other Asian rappers (who are Korean and Vietnamese) featured in this song face the same stereotypes and are fighting in the same battle.
LS is working on a new mixtape. No word on when it will be officially released or what it is called. You can find LS's myspace at www.myspace.com/lsny1
Flowsik is a Korean rapper from Queens, New York from the Illuminaire Status label. For those who have been following hip hop news, you guys know about Ice-T making headlines back in the summer of 2008 when he said "Fuck Soulja Boy! Eat a dick! This nigga single handedly killed hip hop.” Wow. Talk about controversial. For all you guys that already knew about it, yes, this is old news. What Ice-T meant was that the rappers that are in the limelight nowadays lack the content that makes hip hop exciting and fresh. This is not only Ice-T's view but there is a lot of talk nowadays that hip hop is stagnant. Even Nas said it with his song Hip Hop is Dead. In comes, Flowsik an Asian rapper. Ice-T seems to take a liking to Flowsik and even co-signed him. Whatever that Soulja Boy is missing, Flowsik definately makes up for it.
Here is a clip of Flowsik performing over Nas's classic Represent. This performance was held at the world famous Pyramid Club at the Lower East Side in New York where Ice-T was hosting the "End of the Weak", an open-mic event. If you go to the worldstarhiphop where Flowsik's video is hosted the title says "The Next Jin?". What? They don't even look alike!! Flowsik is Korean and Jin is Chinese. And they don't even rap the same. Ugh. Whatever. As long as Asian rappers can get some limelight and get some recognition that's fine. We all know how the industry treated Jin, being and Asian rapper and all. Let's hope they don't do the same for Flowsik, cuz this cat definately has talent.
Flowsik has a mixtape album out called Jay Pak Flow Sik. You can get it at his myspace at http://www.myspace.com/flowsik.
M.L. (abbreviation for Mutant Lyricst or My Life) is a Filipino rapper who is currently residing in Queens, New York. M.L. migrated to the United States from the Philippines at age 8. He grew up in Brooklyn, New York and he started listening to hip hop music notably, the Wu-Tang Clan and their 36 Chambers LP. As for the name "Mutant Lyricist", it was a name that comes from his love of Marvel and DC comic books.
Catch Me, is a song about M.L.'s grind to make something of himself in the rap industry. In this song M.L. raps about his trials and tribulations he experienced in the rap game. One the lines that stick in my head from Catch Me is: "If you ain't with it, you ain't part of my plan/ That only means one thing, you're part of a scam/" Wow. That line hits pretty hard.
M.L. has a an album released called PHILAMERICA, you can get it at his myspace at www.myspace.com/drebelmusic.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! This is too funny!!! LMAO! What you are about to witness is a promo for a music video called Here We Go by a Korean rapper named KO. I think this video meant to be funny. First of all, this is a huge rip-off from What's My Name by DMX. Secondly, this guy is throwin out N-Bombs like it's second-nature. Thirdly, are you even listening to this lyrics? He says "How can you rap when you skinny?/ 50 ain't skinny, Tupac ain't skinny/". I don't even speak a word of Korean and already know this song is wack. And watch out for the ending, because that is when he explodes from roid rage. Enjoy this one folks...
Just a Friend is a song by the Malaysian hip hop group Too Phat from their Plan B album. The song and instrumental is a tribute to Biz Markie's original 1989 hit with the same name. In this song, Malique tells his story about a girl named "Jenny" that has he known since pre-school. Although it appears that Malique and Jenny are building their future together the song foreshadows another man in Jenny's life. Jenny denies this and reassures Malique that person she was with is "just a friend". Later as the story develops, Malique decides to give Jenny a suprise visit in her college dormitory. And to his surprise he discovers "a fella half naked with my gurl on the couch/ and baby Jenny moaning, uggg uggh aggh and ouch/". Joe Flizzow's rap verse talks about a girl named "Wanda" that he wanted to pursue. When he finally gets with Wanda, he soon discovers that Wanda likes to kiss other girls and that "she's just a friend".
One cool factoid about this song is that Too Phat's version of Just a Friend was released during the same time period as Mario's Just a Friend.
Zeebra aka, the "King of Hip Hop", is a Japanese rapper that helped to pioneer the Japanese hip hop industry. Zeebra first began his rap career with an underground rap group called King Giddra (along with K Dub Shine and DJ Oasis) in 1993. King Giddra was a rap group rapped about socio-economic and political issues in Japan and gained an underground following. 4 years later, Zeebra pursued his solo career in 1997 and has gained mainstream popularity in Japan. He has currently 6 albums released: The Rhyme Animal (1998), Based On A True Story (2000), The First Struggle (2002), Tokyo's Finest (2003), The New Beginning (2006), and World of Music (2007). It is said that Zeebra will release an album called King of Hip Hop sometime in 2008.
Not Your Boyfriend is a male-chauvinistic and misogynistic song which is a common theme in hip hop music. It features Jesse from the Japanese rock band, Rize. Not your Boyfriend was a major hit in Japan in 2007. I like the music video production very much. The music video has a lot of red in it, which symbolizes lust and anger and it is very fitting for this song.
MC Yan, with a LazyMuthaFuckaz toy (photo source: dongting08)
Our friends at dongting08 has released a video interview of MC Yan in his Hong Kong studio. MC Yan is without a doubt, the "godfather" of the Hong Kong hip hop movement and Cantonese rap. His claim-to-fame was when he joined and became the lead rapper for the LMF (LazyMuthaFuckaz) hip hop group in 1998 till after it disbanded in 2003. Still, MC Yan is very active in the Hong Kong hip hop movement.
In this video interview, MC Yan talks about how he got invovled with Hong Kong hip hop and what is the current status of hip hop in Hong Kong. He begins by telling us that he was studying overseas in France for 7 years and returned back to Hong Kong in 1997. He got into the underground rap scene in Hong Kong and formed the first Hong Kong graffiti crew with local graffiti artists in 1994. Since then, Hong Kong hip hop has been gaining popularity, especially among the youth whom needed a voice of expression. However, MC Yan says despite the exploding popularity of groups such as LMF in Hong Kong, the reason why Hong Kong Cantonese rappers are not releasing material as "frequently" as compared to their mainland Chinese rapper counterparts is because rappers in Hong Kong are waiting for a major label record deals. Another factor is that Hong Kong currently leaves no room for new sub-cultures such as hip hop to thrive because the industry do not want to risk promoting hip hop if it does not make any profit. In his own words describing the current status of hip hop in Hong Kong, MC Yan says "Hong Kong has a package of hip hop" meaning hip hop, in its own true essence is being misrepresented in Hong Kong's mainstream media by adding extra frills and gimmicks just to make it more appealing to the masses.
Also in the video interview MC Yan tells us the story behind some of the artworks and designs that he has created. One of MC Yan's designs is marketing t-shirts with a memory stick sewn on the t-shirt. Stored inside the memory stick is music, videos and pictures which is a fresh new concept on selling music and bypassing the music industry. He also introduces his own label 宁死不屈 (Ning Si Bu Qu) which means "Death before dishonor" in Mandarin. By all means, check this video interview out.
Every now and then, we all need some comic relief...
Just the other day, of my friends sent a me a link over IM of this video on YouTube. To my surprise it was a music video parody of Thai Ngo and Khanh Ngo's Vietnamese Gang by some white guys.I laughed really hard when I first saw it because it was absolutely hilarious!! Never in my life I would never imagine white guys making a music video of Vietnamese Gang and secondly, I would never imagine them throwing in random things in the music video such as a guy eating a sandwich, necklace chains of shoes and teddy bears, and bananas. Heck, you even got to give these guys mad props for even lip-syncing the Vietnamese part by Khanh Nho. This is an extremely funny video hahaha. If you don't find this video funny, something is seriously wrong with you...
I caught up with the guys at Turtle Neck Visual and they gave me a short interview about their music video:
ROYAL: What's up Turtle Neck Visual?
SCORPION: Hey whats up! Thanks for posting our video and interviewing us.
ROYAL:Tell us how did you get the name Turtle Neck Visual. What's the story behind it? SCORPION: Actually that name is based off of our alter ego characters. You'll have to wait for that music video to be posted in November. It's our first original song... It should explain the name.
ROYAL: Where you guys from? SCORPION: Liu here is actually from Spain despite his Asian appearance. I, Scorpion, am from Sao Paulo, Brazil.
ROYAL: How did you first hear about Vietnamese Gang? SCORPION: Shout out to Barney and Tre, some of our Asian friends, for exposing us to some awesome Asian rap artists about 6 years ago such as Thai, Khanh Nho, and Jinusean and we've been hooked since.
ROYAL: Tell us why did you decide to make a music video of Vietnamese Gang? SCORPION: We wanted to practice our video making skills with some of our favorite music. This song in particular has a dark, heavy sound. The comedic touch was a good contrast to the dark sound. We also realized how impressed our friends were as we recited the Vietnamese lyrics, however poor the pronunciation... Really we just love music and making people laugh.
ROYAL: LOL why is one of the guys eating a sandwich in the video?
SCORPION: Haha, a classic scene! Gangstas cannot neglect the importance of nutrition... We actually don't know why. It started as a pre-shoot snack but was then incorporated into the scene. Turned out to be a hilarious addition to a hardcore rap video.
ROYAL: You also feature bananas in your video and slapped some guy with it. What's with the bananas in the video?
SCORPION: Bananas... that fellow we slapped represents intolerance to comedy, to music, to new ideas. Anybody thats too close-minded needs to be banana-slapped so that they see how ridiculous they are. And a banana robbery is kind of a protest to all the senseless violence and greed. lol, maybe we just wanted to be funny and we really weren't thinking that deeply.
ROYAL: Also, tell us about what other video you have in the works from your video production company? SCORPION: We have some original songs soon to be released. Also some collaborations with local comedians and hip hop artists. And of course more fan-videos to songs that already exist. Definitely more asian songs will become videos.
ROYAL: Where can we find more of your videos? SCORPION: Right now the only place is on youtube.com/turtleneckvisual. Hopefully our website will be up and running soon. In the meantime check out our Mortal Kombat video and patiently wait for more!
ROYAL: Anything else you want to say to the audience reading this from Asian Rap Worldwide? SCORPION: Thanks for your time and we appreciate anyone who gives our videos a chance. We're just here trying to spread the love of music and comedy through the power of video making.
ROYAL: Thank you, your video was a blast. We wish you guys all the best.
The 100K Battle is a contest where MCs get to rap on beats (all together worth 100K) produced by 22 of the greatest hip hop producers in the rap game such a as 9th Wonder, Alchemist, DJ Babu, DJ Khalil, Focus..., and Rick Rock just to name a few. This is a chance for any MC who wants some recognition, wishing they could get on a hot beat by a world-famous producer. Due to the overwhelming popularity of the 100K battle and new contestants participating, the Wake Up Show (the hosts of the 100K Battle) has extended their end date for the contest.
For all you aspiring Asian rappers who wish they can get on a hot beat, and want the world to listen to your rapping skills, this is your chance. Go sign up at ursession.com, download a beat, rap over it, and upload it on the website. If you get enough fan votes, then the song could be featured on the Wake Up Show and you could win $5,000. If you are feelin Roscoe Umali's entry Beast, (beat produced by Focus...) by all means vote for him.
Here is a clip of the second half of the 100K Battle's Top Ten Invitational Cypher where Roscoe Umali, among the other top 9 MCs of the competition participate in a freestyle cypher, live at the 106 Power FM radio station. Also, there is another Pinoy freestyling in this Top Ten Invitational Cypher who goes by the name of Ant Chedda, who is part of a group called City Lights.
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Asian Hip Hop Connect Vol. 2
Asian Hip Hop Connect Vol. 1
