API Rappers, Interracial Dating & The Garden of Good & Wevils…

So I have a theory. And it is HELLA f*ckin’ long…

It relates directly to my life as the product of an interracial marriage (Japanese-Amerikan daddy & a Scottish/German/Native-Amerikan mama) and as a Hip-Hoppa (MC/DJ) raised working-class in the Eastbay (Richmond, CA) of the “Hip-Hop generation.”

I was at “Peoples’ Park” in Berzerkeley, CA last weekend with some homies for “Hip-Hop in the Park,” and it was quite the spectacle. After kicking it by a circle of diverse, fresh ta death B-Boys and a lineup that included Clyde Carson (of The Team), Mystic, Kiwi (of Native Guns) and Geologic (of Blue Scholars), the stage was being taken down and a cipher began in the crowd. I noticed a bunch of bunch of things here that made me both extremely happy and extremely frustrated.

The first thing I noticed was a Nigerian-Amerikan kid (about my own age) I had met through a friend earlier, absolutely destroying the mic device (someone brought a small boombox/PA and had beats playing). His flow was both powerful and effortless at the same time and it made me do my “I-smell-urine-face.” Another kid with long dreads (no he wasn’t white, even though we were in Berkeley) stepped to the mic and proceeded to get his shine on, kicking a more “spiritual” rap about finding oneness and using his 3rd eye to guide him. All of a sudden, out of nowhere comes a White kid dressed head to toe in what looked to be his best Malice-(of-the-Clipse) impression, and began screaming into the microphone about how hard of an emcee he was and how he “lyrically murders everyone.” White men (including some of my own beloved family members) take up a lot of space sometimes, without questioning for a second that they are in someone else’s “home.” (ie: ‘Member that time you went to a Japanese restaurant and those Cal Berkeley whiteboys were doing “Sake Bombs,” hooting and hollering at the top of their lungs while others tried to enjoy their meals??? You ‘member.)

Hip-Hop expression, and in particular “Rap,” music (the combination of the DJ/producer and Emcee creating syncopated audio) has historically been a vehicle for Black and Brown men to express their truest emotions as a response to poverty and oppression. Just as indignation (being “red-face” pissed-off) does not wear well on white Amerikans in regular walks of life (ie: a white guy angrily stating that minorities are taking all the jobs; (in)directly implying that those jobs are reserved specifically for him and people like him), it especially does not wear well in the realm of Hip-Hop music. Hearing a white emcee rhyme about how hard and angry he is, is not a contradiction to oppression in ANY sense (unless he was raised dirt-f*cking-poor around people of color, which contradicts certain stereotypes, but it’s still a slippery-ass slope and that dude could always write a book about his life and sell a bazillion copies). When this kid came into the cipher, he did not do it with respect or responsibility, but with a feeling of entitlement and a chip on is shoulder that made him feel the need to prove how “down,” he was. I think everyone in the area felt embarrassed and/or disgusted with/for him. “Pass the mic cuzcuz…”

H.E.R. “INTERRACIAL DATING”

If Hip-Hop, as Common so eloquently put it so many years ago, is a “H.E.R.,” there is little doubt in my mind that “SHE,” is a working-class Black Amerikan woman with some Caribbean and Latin ancestry. In the same way that people can question interracial dating; when a person who is not of the people who created Hip-Hop (ie: Black & Puerto Rican kids in the Bronx) is “dating H.E.R.,” questions will undoubtedly arise (ESPECIALLY if the person is not of “H.E.R.” same class background). The thing that makes the whole “Hip-Hop as a woman,” analogy kind of go to sh*t, is the fact that she has NO choice as to who “dates” H.E.R.

While Asian Pacific Amerikans were not around during its inception, there have been a plethora of contributions to the culture on our part. While Turntablism/Scratching/DJing was invented by DJs Grand Wizard Theodore, Grand Master Flash, Kool Herc and carried on by INCREDIBLE DJs like the X-excutioners, there is little doubt in most Hip-Hoppas’ minds that this “element,” of Hip-Hop is largely dominated by Pilipino-Amerikans today (Q-Bert, Yogafrog, Kid Koala (Chinese), Shortkut, etc.). Asian heritage producers like Soundtrakk (Lupe Fiasco), DJ Honda (Mos Def, Blackthought) Dan the Automator (Del, Lupe, Heiro, J5) and Chops (Kanye West, Raekwon, Paul Wall) have been putting together bangin’ beats since I was “knee-high to a caterpillars’ toenail.” Graffiti artists from all over Asia and their diaspora here in Amerika have contributed vastly to the world of “street art,” and Hip-Hop’s spray-paint-counter-culture. B-Boy/Girls of API (Asian Pacific Islander) heritage have been repping for a LONG time in Hip-Hop with true respect and reverance for the artform.

ASIAN PACIFIC AMERIKAN RAPPERS
This brings us back to emceeing (aka the “Voice,” of Hip-Hop expression). It is my personal belief that one of two things happen (or a combination of a bit of both) when an Emcee of API descent takes up the mic, and BOTH have EVERYTHING to do with our history in this country.

Scenario #1:

We contradict oppressive stereotypes by reclaiming a voice that has been stolen from us through emasculation, colonization, appropriation and institutionalized racism, following in our Black/Brown brothers’ and sisters’ footsteps. We use the realm of Hip-Hop expression to honestly express ourselves, contribute to the art form and stand as allies in solidarity with our sisters’ and brothers of color to combat oppression in all its forms.

Scenario #2:

We “step inside someone else’s ‘home’ without an invitation, without removing our shoes,” make asses of ourselves and never question it for a second. We maintain the status of “model minority,” by taking the same oppressor route as entitled, non-thinking whites and appropriate a culture that we did not create, contributing further to the ongoing institutionalized oppression of African/Latin heritage people who are being targeted for destruction.

AN EXPLAN(ASIAN) FOR IT ALL

Scenario #1:

I personally know many Asian Pacific Amerikans who possess knowledge of self and are highly politicized. The common bond I share with most of these folks is that they are usually (but not always) raised working-class around diverse groups of people. This is an incredible advantage but also an incredible disadvantage. It is an advantage because of the privilege that comes with not having any particular group shrouded in “mystery.” Having close personal relationships with many different kinds of people is the hugest gift someone can access because of the way it socializes you away from the world of television’s propoganda (ie: Black people being arrested on ‘Cops,’ Asian/Latinos nowhere to be seen but on channels where ZERO English is spoken, White people EVERYWHERE else, in roles as diverse as “Rambo,” to ‘Ross’ and ‘Chandler’ on “Friends.”). My close relationships with brothers and sisters from other groups “of color,” have provided invaluable insight to myself AND them, in the ways we can support and care about each other. My close relationships with white folks have also allowed me to realize fully, that the TRUE ENEMY of people of color is not necessarily people who are “white,” but the concept of “whiteness,” itself as an identity.

DO NOT GET ME WRONG. Being raised working-class leaves MOST people at an incredible DISadvantage. Because of the internalized anger at, and (many times) eventual ACCEPTANCE that the world is unfair, lives are lost and thrown away EVERY SINGLE F*CKING DAY. This acceptance leads to drug and alcohol dependency, theft, violence, murder, suicide and/or incarceration. It can also lead many times to the exact OPPOSITE affect of the “advantages” I have fore mentioned, leaving people believing that they are alone, isolated and disconnected from humanity – left to fend for themselves in an endless cycle of apathy and self-destruction.

Asian/PI folks must remember that we are by and large, a “3rd World” people. We were the first group to have laws made specifically to keep us from immigrating here (“Chinese Exclusion Act”), the only group of people on the planet to have nuclear weapons used on/against us (TWICE: Hiroshima/Nagasaki), Amerikans of Asian ancestry had their constitutional rights shredded and were incarcerated for their ethnic backgrounds (“Farewell to Manzanaar”), and our (GINORMOUS/DIVERSE) group of brothers and sisters have been colonized up the arse (Ghandi, LapuLapu, HoChiMihn: Holla if ya hear me!) since Alexander “the Great” marched from Europe to Asia. (F*ck your couch Colin “why-do-we-have-the-same-nomenclature” Farrel. “Alexander” was 5 hours of HOT garbage, blud.)

My API Amerikan Hip-Hoppa brothers and sisters who know their her/histories and do not buy into the myth of our role as the “model-minority,” posses an incredibly unique take on a country that has been largely racialized through a Black/White paradigm. Amerikans of Asian & Latino heritage view the U.S. through a lens that is neither “Black” nor “White.” Asians and Latinos are in some (and/or many) ways able to escape forms of institutionalized racism that Black Amerikans face on a daily basis (ie: Fair-skinned Asians and Latinos who are able to pass as “White” being less likely to be the victim of police brutality). But while Black Amerikans are treated as “2nd-class Amerikans,” Amerikans of Asian and Latino ancestry are not generally accepted by Amerikans (or the rest of the world for that matter) as true “Amerikans.” (I just said “Amerikans,” like 67 times. =P)

Using Hip-Hop as an instrument to give voice to the working-class API-Amerikan experience is a direct contradiction to racist stereotypes that we are not Amerikan. If the MC is male, it contradicts the racist notion that we Asian men are weak-willed, quiet, submissive, a coward (“yellow”), or that we exist at all. Our INVISIBILITY itself(!) is challenged outright. It is a direct contradiction to our role as the “model minority,” in that it expresses the way “class-ism” under capitalist oppression has affected our physical and psychological wellbeing and that we are NOT (as a ginormous/diverse group of Amerikans) benefiting under the current power structure. It is my personal belief that if you are an Asian Pacific Islander Hip-Hoppa, and being an ally to our Black & Brown brothers and sisters is nowhere in your mind, YOU ARE NOT HIP-HOP (mahf*ckin’ period - straight up and down).When Asian Pacific Amerikans use Hip-Hop in this way, with the underlying objective being the obliteration of ALL racist/classist stereotypes/oppression, “scenario #1” is in FULL-EFFECT and somewhere an Angel (of API descent) in heaven gets its wings. =D

Scenario #2:

*SIGH…
This is the part of the “game” that breaks my heart on a daily f*cking basis.

Amerikan “classism” (the oppression of people who are not wealthy) is uglier than being stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic after eating a bran muffin and drinking two large cups of coffee… =T (“Bubble-guts” aka “the sharts” does NOT go.)

Don’t stop reading this entry Hip-Hop lovers, but I HELLA LOVE Green Day (yes, the eastbay punk rock band). One thing they have brought to my attention is that there are a good number of white and/or middle class folks who are not only politicized, but DO NOT want to be set-up by Amerika to be oppressors. There ARE actually people who are born into places of privilege who DON’T want that privilege (crazy, I know!).

Let me set it straight that I am NOT for one second, asking any person of color to feel sorry for “white” people, or to give them props for not buying into the bullsh*t. I know personally that the majority of P.O.C. have explicitly and implicitly gone through too much grief, humiliation and hurt (on a daily basis) to even consider that and that IS NOT what I am asking you to hear. The point I want to bring to the table is that our API (and Black/Latino) brothers and sisters who were raised in white suburbia were UNDOUBTEDLY made to have a hard time and to feel outcaste in some way. As I have been privileged enough to know through my personal experience, both working-class AND middle-class life, the difference I have seen between these two walks of life is that OPPRESSION HAS A KINDER FACE IN MIDDLE-CLASS AMERIKA. I am not saying that I wish I could have been raised in a homogenous, sterile, low-brow, community on ridalin, because that doesn’t sound like a particularly “fabulous” childhood. But at the same time, I REALLY could have done without the possibility of my schools closing, getting robbed by neighborhood gangs walking home, and seeing my peers go to jail and/or die.

Here’s my point…and please remember that this is my PERSONAL opinion and ANYONE can feel free to disagree with me.

The voice of Hip-Hop aka ‘Emceeing’ in its purest, most original form (even if you disagree, please try to consider this possibility) MIGHT not be the place for suburban, middle-class, Asian Amerika to figure out its problems and search its soul. I feel personally in this arena, there to be too much of a disconnect between the fore mentioned group and the poor/working-class Black & Latino Amerikans who created emceeing and Hip-Hop culture itself. (ie: “The Joy Luck Club,” by my SHERO Amy Tan GOES, but if she made a rap album about her mama escaping an arranged marriage to a wealthy merchant’s son in China to come to the U.S., Hip-Hop probably woulda been like: “…the f*ck???”)

I believe that “scenario #2” happens most frequently within the API Hip-Hoppa community when middle and/or upper-class API Amerikans who are trying to find themselves, step into “Hip-Hop’s home,” carrying with them the baggage of feeling unaccepted and invisible from a White, suburban upbringing. These feelings of isolation and invisibility are prevalent and authentic because of racism and classism, but if poor/working-class Asian Pacific Amerikans have to enter the realm of Hip-Hop with a deep love and respect in order to gain true entry, Black and Latino Hip-Hoppas will (in my own experience) have even more trouble recognizing a middle and/or owning-class Asian Pacific Amerikan emcee AT ALL.

Due to racism and classism, emceeing (and breakdancing) is an element of Hip-Hop that does not require the accumulation of a lot of money. DJs/producers need a good amount of money for music, computer programs, turntables/CDJs, “serato,” etc. Graffitti artists must spend ludicrous amounts of cash for spray paint, materials, supplies and canvases (unless they keepin’ it gully like the olden days and bombing public and/or private property). Emceeing or “Rapping,” is one aspect of Hip-Hop that poor/working-class Black and Latino youth can access at ANY time in ANY place. While more and more middle-class Amerikans of all ethnic backgrounds are buying turntables and MPCs, rhyming is the one thing that has always been an equal playing field.

It is for this reason that I, along with most raised working-class Hip-Hoppas I know, are NOT quick to run to the store to purchase a rap CD made by an emcee who was is not Black or Latino and was raised middle/upper-class (ESPECIALLY if they are Anglo – see my experience at People’s Park).

THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND WEVILS
Try for a second (as I attempt to close this LONG-ass entry) to think of Hip-Hop as a HUGE garden filled with all different kinds of flowers, fruits, vegetables, flora and fauna of all types. The soil is incredibly fertile and when tended to properly, flowers, fruit and vegetation produce and bloom rapidy. However; as in any garden there are weeds siphoning off water away from the fruit bearing foliage. There are insects, wevils, rats, and other pests that are trying to survive and progress, but unfortunately their progression means the digression and eventual destruction of the garden. (Keep following me, don’t get lost!)

DON’T GET IT TWISTED. I think the majority of Hip-Hop has both a ton of “GOOD,” and some “WEVIL,” in ‘em. While someone like (my “swagadocio” HERO) Lil Wayne rapping about how much money and women he has, isn’t exaclty “liberating” to anybody, the way he does it and the VASTLY intelligent wordplay he uses does a few “liberating” things:

1. He contradicts racist stereotypes that young, Black men with tattoos/dreadlocks from poor/working-class neighborhoods (the 5th ward in NO, LA) will never amount to anything and be poor for the rest of their lives. “B*tch I’m paid, that’s all I gotta say…”

2. He may encourage ghetto-youth that don’t connect with White, Middle-Class teachers or “conscious,” rappers to read books, become educated and expand their knowledge of diction, the English language and their vocabluaries. “Quick-Draw Mcgraw, I went to art school…”

3. His ability to disassociate “the street,” being “hard,” and/or being of “the hood,” with having limited intelligence, just might change the perceptions of ANYONE who listens.

Stunna pop a bottle, baby peel us a blunt
Lets eat and talk about all them n—az we cut
But…you know what? Lets not f–k up our lunch
Thats real sh-t if you ever seen such.
Church.

On the other hand…
While Asian Pacific Amerikan males have been emasculated and face oppressive stereotypes on a daily basis, WE MUST NEVER FORGET that Black Amerikan men were at one point (not very long ago) LITERALLY emascualted, lynched, castrated, murdered, brutalized, kidnapped and enslaved; and up until 1964 (that was and hour ago TODAY, if you think of Amerikan history in relation to how old the earth is), didn’t have any rights in Amerika.

It is my personal frame of reference that if an API Amerikan of any class/ethnic background wishes to participate in Hip-Hop culture/music/expression, we must make a concentrated effort to not be “WEVILS,” in this beautiful garden. We need to plant seeds and tend to our (small, yet amazing) portion of the garden, with love, care and respect, making sure to not trample on anyone else’s blossoms (ESPECIALLY the one’s who created the damn garden to begin with!).

CLOSING (”Shut ‘Em Down”)
I AM IN NO WAY CLAIMING TO BE SOME OMNIPOTENT API HIP-HOP JUDGE AND/OR JURY. I have, due to racism and classism, oppression and privilege, participated willingly AND unwillingly in both “scenario #1″ AND “scenario #2.” I have at times ridden the fine line (particulary in my youth in Richmond public schools), as a partial “wevil,” when it came to this beautiful expression. What I CAN say for sure, is that TODAY, I ALWAYS make concentrated efforts to not be a “wevil” in this (not-so-secret) Garden, and that I keep the destruction of racism/classism, sexism, homophobia and ALL oppression at the forefront of my mind and in my music. I am working everyday to chip away at the feelings from racism/classism, that I have to look and act “tough,” “cool,” “hard,” etc. From the ages of 12-21, these feelings were warranted and those actions in many ways necessary (ie: kids who didn’t posses that “edge” were terrorized psychologically and physically, never had relationships with women, and were consistently preyed upon on a daily basis) but I am beginning to realize fully that this “suit of armor” no longer serves me in the way it once did.

If you read this the entire way through, I’d sincerely like to thank you for caring enough about and respecting the opinion of an Asian Pacific Amerikan Hip-Hoppa. This expression/music/culture saved my life in too many ways to name, and I love H.E.R. like a sister/lover/mother from now until forever. I only pray that this essay can serve as a testament to my undying respect and adoration for Hip-Hop and its UNLIMITED potential. I’d like to end this by quoting one of my HEROS. Saul Williams is pretty much the reason I ever started writing in the first place, and I continue to look to his poetry/prose/rhymes as a compass to my audio-sonic future. This passage is something I think about EVERYTIME I pick up a pen to write a rhyme and it goes a lil sumpin like this…

Most emcees are also concerned about telling their own coming of age stories. Their voices are easily likened to the voices of young poets, often contemplative and introspective to the point of questioning their reality, upbringing, and the society that bore them. Yet, where a special form of attention is paid to crafting a poem or a prayer, it is seldom the same sort of attention used in writing a rhyme. The braggadocio aspects of emceeing are a distinguishing factor. Part of the unique power of hip-hop is its internal sense of competition. Every emcee is automatically pitted against the others. The competitive nature of the art helps create an environment where most are concerned about displaying their skills while at the same time putting down the skills or abilities of others. As in any gladiator-like sport, those involved are most concerned about not leaving themselves vulnerable on any given side. It is this factor that serves to distinguish the emcee form the poet. Whereas an emcee may see displaying his or her vulnerabilities as a weakness, a poet will often see the ability to display vulnerability as a strength. It is when the careful balance between the two is found that hip-hop is at its most powerful…

-Saul Williams

IN DEBT TO H.E.R. FOREVER,
Colin Masashi Ehara aka MC SENBEI aka DJ C+

p.s. This essay could have been 3X(Krazy) as long if I had gone deeper into white Hip-Hoppas and Asian Pacific Amerikan WOMEN Hip-Hoppas. That’ll mos definitely come later. Stay tuned beautiful people.

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