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.
Congratulations to "The Fresesh Filipino", Roscoe Umali for making the Artist of the Week in Hip Hop Official on 09/15/2008!! In this video clip, Roscoe tells who he is and he's all about as well as promoting his new released mixtape I love my DJs Volume 2.
For those who want to get the Mixtape CD, you can order it through paypal on Roscoe's mypsace at www.myspace.com/roscoe
Grateful Days is a song by Dragon Ash, a Japanese Nu Metal band which fuses a lot of rock and hip hop elements. This song is about thanksgiving and being grateful for all the blessings we have. In this age of consumerism and "keeping up with the Joneses", we easily take everything we have for granted. Being thankful for what we have also allows us to appreciate life itself, which is the greatest gift of all.
This single was released in 1999, and it features Zeebra, one of Japan's top hip hop rappers and ACO, "The Queen of Japanese Soul", singing the chorus. The sample used to make the instrumental of Grateful Days is from Today by The Smashing Pumpkins.
Thanks to SimkuKeoni for providing the YouTube video with the English translation lyrics.
Vietnamese Rapper, Chuckie Akenz, stars in this short comedy film where he and a friend are peacefully drinking and then escalate to a fight-to-the-death over the last bottle of beer.
According to the YouTube video description, we can expect more action-packed comedic films starring Chuckie Akenz to come :D
我愛台妹, (pronounced: Wo Ai Tai Mei), is Manadrin for "I love Taiwanese Chicks. This song is by the Taiwanese rapper, MC Hotdog and his adoration for girls from Taiwan.
MC Hotdog first started out his rap career in the year 2000, being a social critic and making satirical songs about Taiwanese pop culture about how it is over-run by Korean media and Taiwanese "plastic artists".
Contrary to what people are saying on the internet, or what the English wikipedia entry on MC Hotdog says, the sample of the song is NOT from the Spinner's Ill Be Around. It does sound like it, but the actual sample is from Glenn Frey's The One You Love.
Too Phat, consisting of Malique and Joe Flizzow, is one of the pioneering rap groups that helped to bring hip hop to mainstream Malaysian music. They have achieved amazing success and popularity in Malaysia as well as the rest of Southeast Asia crossing over cultural and language barriers through the message of hip hop.
Their first album Whuttadilly was released in 1999, followed by Plan B released in 2001, their third album 360° was relased in 2003, and Rebirth into Reality in 2006. Malique has released his own solo album, OK in 2008 which is primarily in the Malay lanaguage. Joe Flizzow, the other half of Too Phat has founded his own label called Kartel Records and is expected to release his album The President soon. As of now Joe Flizzow is working on a a deal to collaborate with r&b sensation, Rihanna and legendary Bronx rapper and teacher of hip hop, KRS-One.
Just a lil bit, is from Too Phat's 360° album released in 2003. In in this song, Too Phat and Warren G rap about how hip hop can bring two cultures together. This video was shot in Long Beach, California and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and features the four elements of hip hop, emceeing, break dancing, graffiti, and DJing. The chorus from this song is a spin-off from Warren G's This DJ from the Regulate...G Funk Era album.
DJ Tommy is one of the most sought-after DJs in Hong Kong ever since he won first place in the 1991 Hong Kong DMC Championships. The very next year he represented Hong Kong in the World DMC Finals and was awarded 8th place, 2nd place in the 1996 World Finals, and 6th place in 1997 World Finals. In 1999, DJ Tommy released an EP called Scratch Rider, an LP called Respect For Da Chopstick Hip Hop in 2001, and was a major part of the LazyMuthaFucka (LMF) movement which helped bring hip hop culture to Hong Kong. There are rumors speculating that DJ Tommy will release another album featuring RZA, MC Hotdog, but there are no confirmation on whether if or when it will be released.
In Respect For Da Chopstick Hip Hop, DJ Tommy collaborates with MC K-One from Japan, MC Yan from Hong Kong, and MC Meta and Joosuc from Korea. It is truly amazing to hear the many different languages you can hear in this Asian rap song. Music is truly the universal language and it can overcome any borders!
For all you DJ Tommy fans, here is a clip of DJ Tommy in April 2008 DJing while another MC Raps in Cantonese for the opening ceremony of Juice Shop in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong.
Gee Q is a Vietnamese Rapper from San Diego, California from the record label: Payola Recordz. In How it Goez Down, Gee Q and fellow Vietnamese rapper Thai Ngo, rap about what life is like in their neighborhoods in San Diego and Portland, Oregon.
Gee Q is currently working on a mixtape album with his fellow labelmates from Payola Recordz called Yellowtape Mixtape Vol. 1. There is no official release date yet, but it is scheduled to be released sometime in 2008.
Shogunna is an up and comping Korean rapper from Illuminare Records, representing Flushing, New York a.k.a "Forbidden City". The streets called him "Shogun" and he later changed his name to Shogunna as his emcee name. Shogunna's music reflects his life and experiences in the streets of Forbidden City. If you Ready is a rap song from his Signed 2 the Streets album released in 2007.
Shogunna has a Free Album out for download Called FREE HIP-HOP that you can get from http://www.shogunna.com/
Umalis Bar is an English rap song from the Korean rap group, Drunken Tiger featuring Filipino rapper Roscoe Umali and Micki Eyes. Yes, this song is named after the the same Roscoe Umali from Live it Up who helped produced Drunken Tiger's sophmore album: The Great Rebirth. This is definately one of my favourite songs from Drunken Tiger!
As you guys can see the album cover of The Great Rebirth, you can see there are sperm about to fertilize the microphone. A very clever artistic concept!
This message is for all the supporters of Asian Rap Worldwide who have made all things possible.
Why did I create Asian Rap Worldwide?
I’ll let you guys know where I'm coming from. I made this website (it’s in the early stages right now) because I feel that Asian rappers do not have a strong platform to promote their music and their message. The problem is not racism, the problem is that our own people don't even know that we have artists in our OWN COMMUNITY that they can TOTALLY RELATE TO!! Music is the universal language, it can open up many borders and even black, white, Spanish can even listen to our music, but first and foremost we need to get the word out to our own community. Just like hip hop is for all people all over the world, but it is based in the black community. All black people know black rappers, but not all Asian people know Asian rappers!!
This is where Asian Rap Worldwide comes in. Our mandate is to promote Asian emcees and Asian Rap music from a variety of different ethnicities whether they be Lao, Vietnamese, Thai, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Filipino etc. (Asia is a big continent and I don't need to name every race but you guys get the point). There will be information about Asian rappers and their music and perhaps this can be a starting point where they can network together and collaborate to build a stronger Asian rap community. Like in my interview with Gumby said, not everyone will feel everyone's music, but then again in African American hip hop there are so many genres out there that not everyone listens to the same thing. Some people only listen to artists from the west coast; some only listen to east coast music. Some people only listen to dirty south music. Some only listen to conscious rap. Some people only listen to gangsta rap.
Asian Rap Worldwide will be the new platform for Asian Rappers and aspiring Asian rappers. Yes, and not all of Asian rappers have the same style or rap about the same thing. That is the beauty of it all. Every artist is an individual and they write from their own life experience. Asian Rap Worldwide is where Asian Rappers can promote their music, their albums, and their merchandise and most importantly, get their message out there to our community!
My Heart is a song from Vietnamese rapper, Chuckie Akenz. At first it seems that this song is a love song to a significant other, but it is really a song about his gun. In My Heart he personifies his gun as his lover by telling the story on how he first got acquainted with the gun and Chuckie uses allegorical terms to describe how his gun is like a loyal girlfriend, who stayed with Chuckie until the very end when the police seperated the both of them.
I like how this music video was directed. It first starts out with Chuckie Akenz in jail and it unfolds the story of how he got the gun, what he did with it, how it helped him to get revenge on the people that attacked him, and then while the story unfolds, you see the police slowly trailing where Chuckie's whereabouts and eventually kicking the door and arresting Chuckie and putting him in the position where the story first began. As true to the song, the girl that follows Chuckie Akenz around in the music video is the personification of the gun.
Gumby aka Pryce is an award-winning Lao Rapper from Minneapolis, Minnesota. We at Asian Rap Worldwide are fortunate to catch up with him for an interview.
ROYAL: Tell us how did you got the name Gumby aka Pryce.
GUMBY: I got the Name Gumby off the streets. A long time friend, who is now doing 15 years in jail, was making fun of me and started calling me “Gumby”. Then everyone in the hood caught on. Whenever I got into mischief, the name “Gumby” was always being noticed in our community and that’s how I got the name GUMBY.
As for “Pryce”, that’s my stage name. Gumby is already a trademark name so I choose the name Pryce because every time people want to see me perform, I always say “Name the Pryce (price). You got to pay the Pryce to see me perform!" I call myself Pryce because I look at myself as a valuable person.
ROYAL: How did you get started in rapping?
GUMBY: How I got started rapping was through my neighbors. They were black and they always form a circle around our house and just rap. I was the only Asian in the circle that didn't know how to rap then, but I was watching and studying. I can go on for ever about how I started. Check out my BIO in myspace.com/gumbyakapryce ROYAL: Who are your rap influences?
GUMBY: My influences are range from Run-DMC, LL Cool J, Snoop, 2pac, DMX and now 50 Cent
ROYAL: The beats in your songs are hot! Who does your beats for you?
GUMBY: I have alot of beats that are hot but I have to say the beat from 9999 Roses is my favorite. Doeboy from MA made the beat. All my beats are from a variety of different katz online. They hit me up on my myspace and just want me to rap over their instrumental. So I tell them to send me their hottest beats. All they want is credit on the production. So I get my beats for free! Hahahah can't beat that right?
ROYAL: Who does your music video productions?
GUMBY: Oh, the video production? That will be all me. I invested my money to get a Sony HD xy2100 video camera and I use ILIfe08 and Final cut pro program. I bought a book about the program and also read it plus hands on training at the same time. I started messing with it everyday to the point where I was extremely comfortable using it. I have visions in my head on how the scenes should look like, shoot my own scenes and edit all the videos myself. I guess I'm just gifted with talent man! I'm one in a million or two? Hahhahahhaha but that’s 6 Tusks TV for ya! Check them all out on youtube.com search “gumbyakapryce”
ROYAL: What does "Pheng Nuklang" mean?
GUMBY: Pheng Nuklang is Lao for "Gangsta Music". In that track I had to spit what I know, what I see and what I did from my past experience...
ROYAL: How did you get in touch with Supamon even though you guys from different crews? Are you guys cool together?
GUMBY: Supamon hit me up on myspace and wanted to do a song with me. I found out he was a Lao Crip and I used to bang Lao Bloods back in the day. I had an idea that no one had ever did in the Asian community and told him this how we were gonna do this: I told him to shoot his scene part with his own camera and send the mini DV cassette to me to edit and that’s how we hooked up. As for me, I'm cool with everyone until I hear them talking shit from the side of their mouth about me! Then we got beef. There were rumors circulating around that Supamon was talking shit about me. I don't believe it unless he's man enough to say it to my face. That’s how real men get down. Until then I brush off the haters, they’re mostly bitch made always. Hahahahaa!
ROYAL: Where do you see the rap game taking you in the next 5 years?
GUMBY: I wish I was physic but hopefully it'll take me to retire early. Be set for life off my talents. I just got to have patience and faith. Even if its 5-10 years from now, I am still gonna be in the streets with HIT SONGS and I’m still be gonna be doing the damn thang with new music and videos as I GO. When I hit my goal and that is get that mill, then I'll go into producing my new prodigy. Music is what I love it's in my blood so I can't stop and won't stop. Thats where my talent is at: Entertaining the world!
ROYAL: Who would you like to collab with? Any Asian rappers in particular?
GUMBY: To be honest with you, no one in particular until I see one of them on TV or hit mainstream. Not to sound cocky but I'll only collaborate with any Asian artist chasing the same dream as me. I tried to hit up a few other Asian rappers but I guess they think they are higher then me or think I'm wack, they never hit me back so fuck them. Regardless, with or with out them I'm still doing it big!!!
ROYAL: Any shoutouts you want to give out?
GUMBY: This is hard because if they were in my shoes they probably won't give me a shout out. Real talk! But here's to the katz I know is doing music right: Lil Yank, Relative, SY, Crooked, San Man from L.A.O, Invazn, KT, l.O.G in Laos, Impak, SIP, sunny bono and bird, My bad to whom I forgot.
ROYAL: Are you working on any projects now? Any other projects than rapping?
GUMBY: I'm now working on a DVD project which is a documentary about my music life, with uncut shows with half naked girls popping it. I'll be filming new music videos as I go and I'll be releasing 2 new albums coming out in 2009 at once. One album is all in English and the other album is mixed with Laotian. Also I’m being featured in a movie called Praschan Requiem based out of Paris, France. You can also see the preview on youtube. I’m also investing in EVENTS and doing SHOWS in my hometown and out of states/over sea etc. I am designing my own Clothing line: 6 Tusks. Yep. Mad busy busy man! Work 9-5, take care of my family then hit the studio after work. Do shows on weekends! I get paid 3 ways you feel me?
ROYAL: Where can we get your album and 6 tusks clothing?
GUMBY: Hit me up on myspace.com/gumbyakapryce. So I know they interested and if they are I'll give them the Info.. but you can DL my tracks anywhere you see my profiles at. This is Gumby aka Pryce and I'm OUT!!!
We at Asian Rap Worldwide wish Gumby aka Pryce all the best in his future endevours.
Roscoe Umali aka "The Freshest Filipino" is an up and coming Filipino rapper from Los Angeles, California. He classifies himself as a "throwback emcee" meaning, he uses a lot of the elements of the past and mixes it in with the style of rap that is relevent today. Roscoe Umali does it all: freestyles, battle raps, story telling and club bangers. This summer of 2008 Roscoe had been a frequent guest in the The Wake Up Show on POWER 106 FM, the premier hip hop station in Los Angeles, doing freestyle raps.
Roscoe has worked with well-known artists such as E-40, Talib Kweli, Bobby Valentino, Colby Odonis, Dead Prez, Murphy Lee and I15. He also worked with producers such as World Famous DJ Qbert, DJ Khali, DK ALL DAY, Jellyroll, and DJ Muggs. He has a street album out released in 2007 called I Love My DJs and new album is called The World's Finest and will be out in stores soon.
Live it Up is a summer smash hit single from Roscoe's new album and it features the Bay Area's E-40 and Bobby Valentino singing the hook.
Note: If you're wondering, that is CJ Miles aka "The Most Downloadable Asian on the Net" in the video.
Azian Gangz is another classic Asian gangsta rap song from Vietnamese Rapper, Thai Ngo. The instrumental is straight dope! Along with this song is Thai's rendition of The Game's Westside Story, the Asian version.
Point Blanc, the Malaysian rapper collaborates with Jin on this hot track. In One Day, both Chinese hip hop emcees bring a positive message sharing the things they have accomplished through hip hop and they also talk the importance of family values and sticking to your roots.
This video was directed by Kelvin Anthony, who also directed Ipoh Mali.
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Asian Hip Hop Connect Vol. 2
Asian Hip Hop Connect Vol. 1
