America is known as the “land of opportunity,” and people from all around the world admire the supposed equality of U.S. society. Foreigners come searching for the “American dream,” wanting to take advantage of America’s system of “achieving the impossible.” But when one looks at the struggles immigrants had to go through upon arriving in America, one must question if equality has always been an American ethic.
The first Chinese immigrated to the United States during the gold rush in 1848-49 in California, but had no chance to profit from the gold. The Chinese worked as storekeepers, market gardeners, and launderers and grouped together with other Chinese immigrants to form what is now known as Chinatown. Even though the Chinese seemed to be situated, Chinese settlement in the U.S. was not easy. The Chinese would always be willing to work for lower wages, which made the white workers unhappy because it dragged down the pay scale. The westerners also portrayed the Chinese culture and customs – the language, the queues the Chinese men wore, and the food – as strange. The underlying tension between the Chinese and the westerners turned into violence in October of 1871 when two policemen were killed trying to intervene in a gang fight (Spence 212). The unhappy westerners smashed through the Chinatown in Los Angeles, looting shops, burning houses, and beating up any Chinese they found. To make matters worst, in 1882 President Chester A. Arthur signed a bill that “suspended” Chinese immigration for ten years. The bill forced all the Chinese in the U.S. to obtain special registration certificates and banned them from obtaining citizenship. In 1888, President Grover Cleveland proclaimed the Chinese as “an element ignorant of our constitution and laws, impossible of assimilation with our people, and dangerous to our peace and warfare” (Spence 215).
It has been 160 years since the first Chinese arrived in America and a lot has changed since then, but just as the early Chinese immigrants suffered discrimination when they came to America, Asian Americans are still now discriminated against in the popular music industry. When one looks at the faces in this industry, Caucasians, African Americans, and Hispanics are ubiquitous; Asian Americans are highly under-rated and absent. Asian Americans are stars in sports, movies, television, and classical music, but not in popular music. Some say that the racial stereotype of the studious geek holds Asians back from advancing in the popular music industry because Asians are expected to play violin and know kung fu. According to the 2006 Census, Asians make up 4.4% of the population with 13.1 million people, and yet zero are represented on the Billboard’s Mainstream Top 40. Music journalist Oliver Wang describes how the low percentage of the Asian American population in the United States doesn’t set up a big enough market for an aspiring Asian American artist to reach the top (Navarro). But why is it that an Asian American artist has to have only Asian fans?
There have been Asian American artists that have made an impact in the music scene, but very few have risen above the “underground” status. The Mountain Brothers are three Asian rappers from Philadelphia who won the Sprite sponsored Rhymes for the Mind Contest. They went on to record a radio ad for a Sprite commercial and a few commercials for Nike, but the group had creative differences with their label and ended the relationship in 2003. Another Asian hip hop group that got national attention is the Far East Movement whose track Round Round was featured in The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. There are also numerous mixed raced Asian Americans in the mainstream music industry like Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park, Nicole Scherzinger of the Pussycat Dolls, R&B singer Cassie, and Allan Pineda Lindo (a.k.a Apl.de.ap) of The Black Eyed Peas, a popular group known for representing Asian culture. The Black Eyed Peas have released a few songs in Tagalog including the hit Bebot and The Apl Song, a song that speaks about Filipino history and the struggles Filipinos go through in America.
It seems as if the roster of Asian Americans signed to major labels tilts heavily toward mixed Asians because of their exotic appeal and the goal of targeting different groups. Paul Kim, a Korean singer who was a contestant on “American Idol,” wrote on his Myspace “I was told over and over again by countless label execs that if it weren’t for me being Asian, I would’ve been signed yesterday” (Navarro). Similar to Kim’s experience, Prohgress of the hip hop group Far East Movement was asked “Would it be easier if you were black or white?” and he responded “Of course it would be a lot easier because there is a track record for black or white artists, [but] for an Asian artist, especially in America, you don’t have a track record…. Like any business, a lot of labels say how can we invest in something that we don’t know any history in?” (Far East Movement)
One of the most well known Asian-American artists, who has opened up many doors, is 26-year-old Jin Au-Yeung. Jin was born and raised in Miami to April and Joe Au-Yeung, two Chinese immigrants from Hong Kong. Jin was introduced to hip hop in the 6th grade when he first heard LL Cool J’s “Momma Said Knock You Out” and after that, he was hooked. He started listening to artists like Nas, Jay-Z, Wu-Tang Clan, and Mobb Deep and began to freestyle (improvised rhyming) in the 8th grade. Jin ended up becoming notorious for being the “Chinese kid that be freestyling and battling all the time” (AsiaFinest). Growing up and even till this day, opponents always pull the race card on Jin, but he would use the stereotype to his benefit by saying things like “Yeah I’m Chinese/Now you understand it/I’m the reason why your little sister’s eyes are slanted” (Liu). His creative style and hard-hitting rhymes quickly made him a fan favorite and after high school, Jin decided to pursue his passion and make a career from rhyming.
Jin’s family owned and operated their own restaurant, but despite their hard work and determination the restaurant business was not as successful as they dreamed of. At the age of 20, Jin realized that he was not advancing his career in Miami so he and his family decided to relocate to New York. Jin quickly began to make a name for himself by dominating open mic battles and selling his CDs on the street. It was through his hustle in New York that he got connected with his manager Kamel of Crafty Plugz. In 2001, Jin landed a spot on BET’s Freestyle Friday on the show 106 and Park, where he won seven weeks in a row and was inducted into the hall of fame. It was during this time that Jin acquired national attention and on his last week on the show he announced he signed a deal with Ruff Ryders, making him the first solo Asian-American rapper signed to a major label. Jin would later release one album with Ruff Ryders called “The Rest is History” and his first single was a song called Learn Chinese. In the hook he repeated “Y’all gonna learn Chinese/When the pumps come out, y’all gonna speak Chinese.”
Jin spoke Cantonese on numerous songs on the album and continued to represent his Chinese culture; “The Rest is History” peaked on the charts at 54. Due to some misunderstandings and disagreements, Jin departed from Ruff Ryders after the release of his first album and continued his career independently. He later landed a spot in the movie 2 Fast 2 Furious playing the role of a car mechanic named Jimmy. He would continue releasing records and battling. The biggest battle Jin has won so far was the 50k power summit freestyle contest which he won back to back years in 2004 and 2005; it was at these battles that Jin gained the nickname 100 Grand Jin (AsiaFinest). In 2007, Jin released his latest album “ABC,” in which he raps in Cantonese and talks about his experiences as an American-born Chinese. Jin has had a solid career in the state, but has had to overcome a lot of frustrating obstacles. He recently moved to Hong Kong to expand his fan base while reconnecting with his family roots.
Tons of American artists like Britney Spears and Brian McKnight will extend their tours across seas to Asian countries because they have numerous Asian fans, but if an Asian artist from a foreign country would come to America, most of the people that would support the Asian artist are Asian people. Most Americans are comfortable with their own culture and are intimidated or scared of other cultures and reject them. This rejection does not allow a market to grow in America for Asian artists, whether they are American or not. Americans have learned to accept music from different cultures such as Reggae, Latin, African, Brazilian, and Afro-Caribbean – but not Asian. Berklee College of Music, the world’s largest music school, offers numerous courses on world music including Afro Latin Rhythms, World Music Ensemble, a Middle Eastern Ensemble, and a Brazilian Rhythms class, but it does not offer one course on Asian music.*** It is subliminal, but Asian culture is discriminated against in music, in schools, and in the media overall. An artist like Jin who represents Asian culture can influence other minorities to be proud of who they are. If more people would open up their minds and hearts to different cultures, someday we can have the equality that many people have died fighting for.
***Editors’ Note: Professor Alan LeVines has begun teaching a course in Japanese music since this article was originally written in Spring 2009.
Bibliography
“AsiaFinest Jin The Emcee.” Jan 2007 AsiaFinest.com. 15 Dec. 2008 <http://www.asiafinest.com/chinese/jin.htm>.
“Far East Movement – Azn Lifestyles TV.” Nov. 2008. YouTube.com. 15 Dec. 2008 <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTEXdXJrx8s>.
Liu, Woo Ling. “Home Boy.” Sep. 2008 Time. 16 Dec. 2008 <http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1843883,00.html>.
Navarro, Mireya. “Missing: Asian-American Pop Stars.” 4 March 2007. International Herald Tribune. 16 Dec. 2008 <http://www.iht.com/article/2007/03/04/news/singer.php?page=1>.
Spence, Jonathan. The Search for Modern China. New York: Norton, 1990.
Kevin Luu is from Las Vegas, NV, and is majoring in Music Production and Engineering and Music Synthesis.
