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Tricia Rose was born and raised in New York City. She spent her childhood in Harlem and the Bronx. She graduated from Yale University where she received a BA in Sociology and then received her Ph.D. from Brown University in the field of American Studies. She has taught at NYU, University of California at Santa Cruz and is now a Professor of Africana Studies at Brown University.
[Dr. Tricia Rose speaking at "State of the Black Union 10th anniversary"]
[Pt. 2]
This book is absolutely f*cking incredible. What I love so much about it is the way in which Dr. Rose’s love of Hip-Hop is so blatantly apparent, while at the same time she never condones blindly supporting every part of the music and culture. She goes to “war” with and against both critics as well as defenders of Hip-Hop, being sure to always problematize both sides’ stances.
The Hip-Hop Wars addresses issues such as, but not limited to:
- Hip-Hop hurts Black people.
- Hip-Hop isn’t sexist because there actually are ‘bitches’ & ‘hos’.
- Hip-Hop causes violence.
Tricia Rose is the distinguished dean of hip hop studies in America. Her recent book not only affirms this grand status but also transforms our understanding of the present and future of hip hop-and race-in America. Rose’s courageous voice and progressive vision are so badly needed at this time!
-Cornell West
Blud. Buy that sh*t.
senbei
[Click Pic for FREE Download!!!]
Across cyberspace, and all up in your interface–it is with technically-advanced pleasureness that we present to you, Pretty Buoyant Society: a hi-octane force of musical extravagance that finds its roots in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and perhaps some corners of America. PBS ambassadors Drizzletron (of iLL-Literacy) and DJ Phatrick serve a first taste entitled “Schizophrenic Love,” a tale of romance so forlorn, the volcanic powers of the lava lady Golda Supernova had to be summoned. Add the eruptive heat from the b-side “Hot Chocolate,” and you have the most delicious download your hard drive will ever coax into its cache.
I met Adriel “Drizzletron” Luis (words) and Patrick “DJ Phatrick” Huang (beats) a couple years ago whilst performing at various APIA/Social Justice/Educational/Non-Profit fundraiser functions, and am a huge fan of them as artists and human beings in general. From their work with iLL-Literacy and Native Guns, to witnessing their love and contribution to youth and artist/activist circles in the Bay Area, I am proud to call the Pretty Buoyant Society, fam-bam.
[PBS - Schizophrenic Love (feat. Golda Supernova)]
Here’s to Asian American men being cool as f*ck without having to say, “I’m an Asian American man and I’m cool as f*ck.”
Pretty Damn Buoyant,
C
p.s.
Whenever I’m finna go off the deep end and need to just cool out for a night and have my mind be in the present (instead of questioning how every second before this moment has privileged and/or oppressed me/loved ones in some way, and what I must do to to fight for a better tomorrow), I FOX with Devil’s Pie. See you there!
[me thinks this is the smartest living man in america]
I recently finished reading Dr. West’s “Hope on a Tightrope,” and may never be the same again. Cornell West’s dedication to love and service of and to his familiy, community, country and world are an example of humanity at its brightest, most flourescent illumination.
[Tavis Smiley asks Dr. West: "Is courage contagious?"]
You can’t lead the people if you don’t love the people. You can’t save the people if you don’t serve the people.
-Cornell West
Be courageous,
Colinresponse
[2Pac - Staring at the World Through My Rearview]
Staring at the world through my rearview
Just looking back at the world, from another level yaknowhatImean?
Starin…Multiple gunshots fill the block, the fun stops
N*ggaz is callin cops, people shot, nobody stop
I wonder when the world stopped caring?
Last night two kids shot while the whole block staring
I will never understand this society, first they try
to murder me, then they lie to me, product of a dying breed
All my homies trying weed, now the little baby’s
crazed raised off Hennesey, tell me will my enemies
flee when they see me? believe me
Even Thugs gotta learn to take it easy, listen
Through the intermissions search your heart for a plan
and we turnin Bad Boys to grown men, it’s on again
I give a holla to my n*ggaz in the darkest corners
Roll a perfect blunt, and let me spark it for ya
One love from a thug n*gga rollin with a posse
full of paranoid drug dealers, to the end my friendI’m seein nothing but my dreams comin true
While I’m starin at the world through my rearview (see)
[repeat 2X](They got me) starin at the world through my rearview
Go on baby scream to God, he can’t hear you
I can feel your heart beatin fast cause it’s time to die (we)
Gettin high, watchin time fly, and all my motherfuckers
[repeat 2X][E.D.I.]
Now you see him, now you don’t, some n*ggaz
be here for the moment, and then they gone, what happened to em?
Well let’s see, it seems to be a mystery
But all I know I never let the money get to me
Stay down like the, truest
Thug Life until I check out this b*tch, I thought you knew this
Who is, gonna catch me when I fall or even care to
While you thinkin I see you lost up in my rearview
Half you, is down with them Outlawz
Outcast, left far, I’m through like southpaws
But still we keep mashin til our dreams come through
Starin at the world through my rearview[Tupac]
Now I was raised as a young black male
In order to get paid, forced to make crack sales
Caught a n*gga so they send me to these overpacked jails
In the cell, countin days in this livin black Hell, do you feel me?
Keys to ignition, use at your discretion
Roll with a twelve gauge pump for protection
N*ggaz hate me in the section from years of chin checkin
Turn to Smith and Wesson war weapons
Heavenly Father I’m a soldier, I’m gettin hotter
cause the world’s gettin colder, baby let me hold ya
Talk to my guns like they fly bitches
All you bustas best to run look at my bitchesNow I know the answers to the question, “do dreams come true?”
Still starin at the world through my rearview (I say)
[repeat 2X](They got me) starin at the world through my rearview
Go on baby scream to God, he can’t hear you
I can feel your heart beatin fast cause it’s time to die
Gettin high, watchin time fly –
and all my motherf*ckers…
[repeat 2X][Khadafi]
Back in the days we hustled for sneakers and beepers
Nine-six for glocks cause fiends hittin up blocks with street sweepers
Bless myself when knowin rules to these streets, somethin I learned
in school, on some Million Man March shit for the peace
True that, only one life to lead, a fast life of greed
Criminally addicted, infested since a seed
We all die, breed bleed like humans, towns run
by young guns, Outlawz and truants, sh*t’s deep
Turn eighteen, burn my will when I go
Burnt my body with my shotty, or chosin my dough
So while you reminiscin all nights out with the crew
Smoke a blunt for me too, I’m starin through your rearview[Tupac]
Hahahaha, you ain’t knowin what we mean by starin through the rearview
So since you ain’t knowin what we mean let me break down understandin
The world, the world is behind us
Once a motherf*cker get an understanding on the game
and what the levels and the rules of the game is
Then the world ain’t no trick no more
The world is a game to be played
So now we lookin at the world, from like, behind us
N*ggaz know what we gotta do, just gotta put our mind to it and do it
It’s all about the papers, money rule the world
B*tches make the world go round
Real n*ggaz do they wanna do, b*tch n*ggaz do what they can…Starin at the world through my rearview
Go on baby scream to God, he can’t hear you
I can feel your heart beatin fast cause it’s time to die
Gettin high, watchin time fly, ya know/and we’ll be staring at the world through my rearview…
The heart gently weeps,
C
[eM, this post is for you. I'm not sure I've ever felt better about myself than I did on this day. You make me feel so strong. Thank you, Maganda.]
As of late, I haven’t had the chance to really write anything but papers on research methods and literature reviews on books by Asian American Studies scholars. In efforts to not leave my brain on a journey to implosion, I decided to use this blog in the way I originally intended – as a therapeutic outlet. Doing my M.A. in Asian American Studies at SFSU has been liberating in a way that is difficult to describe. This is my best effort at that endeavor…
———-
I don’t wanna fit in anymore, I wanna stand out. I know my mama gets it, pretty sure my daddy’s damn proud. Due to all their brilliance I’ve come to know I’m cool cousin. Here’s to my chameleons, I love you – show your true colors.
Model Minority Report Pt 2: Observations From my Ascendance from Working-Class to Middle-Class status
Last week I saw a life-changing film, directed by my dude Tadashi “Tadillac” Nakamura, entitled “A Song For Ourselves.” This movie is a documentary about the life of 60’s revolutionary singer/songwriter Chris Iijima, a Japanese American Sansei (3rd generation like my pops) who was HUGE in the Asian American movement against the war in Vietnam. It struck a chord in me in a way that I’d honestly never felt. It was a enormous contradiction to my internalized racism about my own Japanese Americans people in that he:
a) was vocal in his objection to racism; b) sang beautifully; c) was an educator; d) was open and honest about his feelings and not stoic and reserved; e) was able to remain a revolutionary in a middle-class lifestyle and raise a family; f) married a white woman and had mixed children while never doubting his own self-worth in any way, shape or form. There has been a certain hopelessness (Shikata Ga Nai) I’ve internalized about my Nikkei people being passive and invisible and this film was exactly what I needed to trouble those misconceptions. I texted Tad (the film’s director) that night, congratulating him, sincerely thanking him for documenting Chris’ life, and letting him know that his film made me shed tears for the first time since my Bachan passed away, the day after my wedding last year.
Growing up, my Asian American role models in regards to social justice have primarily been of Filipino, Vietnamese, Indian and/or other Asian heritages whose home countries have historically been colonized and labeled “3rd world” or “underdeveloped.” To see an elder Japanese American who was not only a revolutionary thinker, but an activist and an artist/musician do (a)-(f) eradicated a certain degree of my hopelessness about my people and myself. Through mine eyes, Chris Iijima’s story is a full-on contradiction to racist/essentialist categories of Japanese/Asian American men and people in general.
Growing up working-class and attending the Richmond Public schools as a Japanese-white kid, left me extremely guarded. If you did not figure out how to interact with your peers in a certain way and dress and speak in the local east bay code, you might be subject to ongoing violence and/or humiliation (especially if you were skinny and pale, like yours truly). Hearing that people were going to get jumped after school or that someone I had gone to elementary school with had been shot and killed began to feel eerily normal by the time I reached my teens. The news was always incredibly sad and heartbreaking – but still normal none the less. It was clear to me from a very young age that it was very f*cking tough being an Asian/Anglo kid in the Richmond Public Schools, but it was still MUCH more f*cked up for my Black, Latino and Southeast Asian peers.
As my mother went on to Graduate School for an MSW and my father rose in the ranks at the then Richmond Unified School District, our lives got better and financial burdens began to lessen. While we never moved from our home in the Richmond Annex, I recall coming home from my first year in college and being surprised to see a new computer and the house IKEA’d-out. It felt as if I left home a working-class kid and returned to a middle-class home I didn’t recognize. At this point I was 18 years old and the majority of my identity thus far was based in the fact that YES – I was an East Asian, whiteboy, but I wasn’t “rich” like the other white and/or East Asian kids at my school, had a beautiful girlfriend that dudes were extremely jealous of, was a DJ, had vast knowledge of everything Hip-Hop and was the only player on the JV basketball team who was not of African American heritage. I had carved out a niche that for a skinny, pale Japanese/white kid, looked a lot more fruitful than getting my ass beat in front of cute girls for my Nikes and laughed at like some of my other East Asian and/or Caucasian peers.
These last 8 years since graduation from college have been a “pain + love = growth” (thank you Dr. Tintiangco-Cubales!) experience. I have watched my life get better over time due to my/my family’s access to higher education, whilst still witnessing through work and personal relationships, the struggle, strife, terror, and devastating hopelessness of race and class oppression. I must admit that while I built up a certain intolerance and indignation toward middle-class people, I now have no choice but to think as one of them and understand the difficulties of a new positionality in America. I now live in a large home with my wife, my little brother and his partner, that was once owned by my Bachan (grandmother), and it will someday belong to us. I walk through it today with tremendous feelings of guilt as well as gratitude.
Knowing the her/histories of my peoples, it is not unclear to me why I feel the way I do. Many Asian Americans and Japanese Americans in particular, hold many values regarding hard work and struggling through difficulty without complaint. After leaving the internment camps when WWII ended, my Jichan was a gardener and my Bachan a nurse, both of them working long, difficult hours to purchase a home and put food on the table for my father, aunt and uncle. I recall both my Bachan and father telling me when I was very young, “you don’t take shortcuts, Colin.” Laziness was rarely, if ever, tolerated by either of them as I grew up. Nothing was going to be handed to you, so you’d better be ready to work your ass off.
As for my mother’s (white) side, both of my grandparents were/are very revolutionary people and I continue to feel their large shadows (of love) over me. My grandfather was Christian Minister and a Professor of Liberation Theology at Stanford University. He and/or my grandmother have spoken to and with the following people, just to name a few: Martin Luther King Jr., Fidel Castro, Stephen Biko, Elie Wiesel, Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta. It is wonderful to know that my white relatives played such a role in being allies to oppressed people, but it has also left me with many remnants of white/Protestant guilt, and my own feelings that anything good that comes to me is not deserved and should be going to someone less fortunate. When we moved into our new room upstairs at my late Bachan’s home, I was overcome with guilt and my Pinay wife/partner who was raised poor/working-class was overjoyed and ecstatic. Funny noticing the different ways we internalize sh*t. Our kids are gonna be hella sexy, but possibly f*cked in the head. =P
Asian Pacific American Hip-Hop’s Garden of Good & Wevils Pt. 2: My M.A. thesis on The Formation of Asian American Hip-Hopper/Emcee Identity
A while back, I wrote an essay about Asian American emcees and to make a long story short, I addressed the ways that if an individual is neither Black, Brown or raised poor/working-class, rapping MIGHT not be the place for that person to figure out their identity. My stance hasn’t changed since I wrote this, but my class position has. Making a rap song in my late teens about seeking escapism through drinking and/or drugs because openly showing fear and grief made one a target (and numbing out seemed the only option), was relevant to many other Hip-Hoppers, regardless of their race. Therefore my Hip-Hopper “authenticity” stayed in tact regardless of my Asian/Anglo heritage. Now, as I take strives forward in my identity and understandings of oppression, the music I have created most recently speaks to issues such as homophobia, sexism and internalized Asian American racism. In other words, my honestly expressing myself back then was accepted as ‘authentic” Hip-Hop, and how I honestly express myself today to some, may not be.
I have come to many realizations during my semester and a half studying Asian American history, sociology, Marxism, feminist, queer and ethnic studies theory. One of these realizations is that having the opportunity to examine these things in a space where it is not only unquestioned, but encouraged, is a great privilege. It isn’t breaking news, but there millions of people of all backgrounds who are not only discouraged from thinking about feminism and LGBTQ oppression but are humiliated, jailed and/or even murdered for doing so.
As my life experience continues to shift, I find myself in a space today that asks if emceeing is where I still locate my identity. I am fully aware my perspective may change, but as of today I am doubtful that Hip-Hop needs a middle-class Japanese/Anglo rapper who raps from this privileged space of being able to question heterosexism, homophobia and internalized racism. Half of me believes Hip-Hop does or should have a space for this, half of me believes it does not. One thing I am sure of is that I don’t wish to rap unless I believe 100%, that my appropriation of Hip-Hop as a mixed heritage Asian American male is something that helps Hip-Hop and isn’t taking from it. I love H.E.R. too much to take any part in her destruction.
The second part of questioning my own role in the realm of emceeing is related to the ways in which emcee identity once served in giving me an outlet to find culture. As a mixed heritage person I recall the thrill of finding acceptance in a community. As a young person, being both ethnically ambiguous and raised working-class placed me in a position where I many times felt inauthentic amongst middle and/or upper class monoracial Asian and Anglo Americans. “Hip-Hop, you saved my life…”
My Asian American Studies M.A. Thesis is about The formation of Asian American male Hip-Hopper/Emcee identity. I seek to identify the forces that push and/or pull Asian American males into this identity. I was both pushed and pulled into a Hip-Hopper/Emcee identity due to my class status and the location of where I grew up, how I was racialized by others, how I saw my own people racialized as well as outsider observations of African American masculinity that were predominant in my schools and neighborhood and community. In the process of studying this phenomenon, I am taking note of the forces that push and/or pull an Asian American male (me) out of this identity.
Pain + Love = Growth, indeed.
If I am to delve into this study in the most efficient, pragmatic way possible I will need to strip away any and all hopes or aspirations of caring about whether my subjects like me, my music, and/or my study or not. As a critical researcher in my attempts to illuminate what drives Americans of Asian ancestry into a Hip-Hopper identity, I must be “willing to be hurt.” I am in essence asking my interview subjects, “who are you?” and “why are you doing this?” They may ask the same of me and wonder who I am to question them in any way. The simple answer is: I am no one but somebody who loves Hip-Hop, loves Asian American men (no homo…phobia) and also believes that they are both capable of so much more than we have yet to see.
Pain + Love = Growth, indeed.
“Uncle Tamagotchi” Pt. 2: New thoughts on Michelle Malkin (and being pissed that she is the #1 way people find their way to Colinresponse)
Blud. Everyday when I look at my blog stats, the number one way (white, male, conservative – I’m guessing) people find their way to my blog is when they do a google search for “Michelle Malkin.” A year ago, I wrote a post on people I labeled “Uncle Tamagotchis,” or Asian heritage “Uncle Toms,” or “sellouts” if you will. What ensued was a barrage of insults from white men who were coming to the defense of Mrs. Malkin. I responded as an angry, confused, exhausted person of color might by writing them off entirely, dismissing anything they said as racist and ignorant. While much of those feelings were true and justified, my point of defense was largely flawed because when they said things that were in fact oppressive and racist, I accused them of being racist themselves, instead of pointing out the ways that what they stated, was in fact racist. This gave them an escape route to not address what they had said and we went back and forth in a circular pattern that exhausted itself and went nowhere.
Because these past 7 months have been spent reading dozens of books on race, politics, family, community and identity, writing about them, and then critically analyzing my identity and life experience, I have somewhat of a new outlook on Michelle Malkin. While I still think she is a closed-minded idiot who serves capitalism like its her cotdam job (because it is), I no longer find myself in a place where I feel I hold her in a higher degree of wackness because she is of Asian ancestry than I do a white person like Bill O’Reilly. They are equals as far as dumbass jerk faces go in my book.
While Michelle Malkin doesn’t benefit from white, male privilege in the same way that O’Reilly does, she seems to have discovered a way to cater to it that makes her a sh*tload of money, thus making life better for her and her family. I understand fully, that it is not as if she does this for no reason. I do not condone anything she says or does but I have come to realize that as Asian Pacific Americans, we all have our own personal external and internal battles. Her sh*t just looks hella f*cking different than mine. In the end, I think what makes me most angry about her is that she gives racist, wealthy, conservative white men a way to state that capitalistic class oppression has nothing to do with race or gender, all while they objectify this petite Pinay woman, telling her how sexy, exotic and “right-on the money,” she is. It makes me wanna throw up in my mouth at how sad her behavior makes me, and how furious her white, male defenders make me.
Meh…Life goes on.
The Cool: On Stripping Away Unneeded & Unwanted Armor That No Longer Serves Me
My thoughts on leaving emceeing behind for good (or at least until I can tell it makes sense for me to do it again) are not all sacrificial and for the “good” of Hip-Hop. Much of this decision is relegated to the fact that my wanting to combat the oppression of women, LGBTQ folks and gender roles in general doesn’t seem possible at this time through the expression of emceeing as a now middle-class, Japanese/Scottish/Iriquois American. It appears that in order to leave behind the “cool” I once was forced to don as armor during my youth is no longer necessary and actually may hinder my relationships with loved ones and colleagues. As Tim Wise states, “indignation (being hella f*cking pissed off) does not wear well on white people,” and while I am not a “white” person, the privilege from my fair skin and socioeconomic status now place me in a position where my anger and frustration displayed through a Hip-Hop lens is beginning to look and feel awkward to me.
My last project, Shikata Ga Nai, like every Hip-Hop project I’ve been a part of, is very special to me. I feel that it is the closest I can be to who I was in my youth and who I am today while still being “authentically” Hip-Hop (feel free to agree or disagree). As my mind and identity begin to continue shifting and changing, due to race, class, education, etc., I am unsure if my artistic endeavors will be able to be fully expressed through rhyming. I may need to sing, paint, sculpt, draw, produce (Jei, Slavename, MemphReigns, what it dew!), etc. I definitely will be writing and if you follow this blog, it is my hope and belief my writing will grow and delve deeper each time – expressing my truest thoughts and opinions on love, service, justice, freedom and my relationship to power and powerlessness. I hope you’ll be there with me, and if you read this sh*t in its entirety, I’m guessing you will. And for that, I thank you sincerely from the bottom of my heart.
Peace. Love. Blessings.
Colinresponse
I decided recently with the assistance of my wifey-life-partner, some good friends, family, and mentors, that upon completion of my M.A. in Asian American Studies from SFSU I will work to pursue a Ph.D in Cultural Studies, Ethnic Studies, Education, Sociology, History and/or English.
I am currently applying for a Pre-Doctoral Scholarship that would assist in making this ludicrously f*cking expensive, hare-brained scheme a reality. The following are three (very) short essays I have been asked to complete in order to apply. PLEASE let me know if you see any typos!
_______________
ESSAY #1
Describe the field of study in which you would like to pursue a doctoral degree and the research question or theoretical perspective that interests you in this field. Please be specific.
As a mixed heritage Japanese/Scottish/Iroquois American performance artist, I am currently examining the forces that push and/or pull Asian American males into a Hip-Hopper/Emcee identity. While a significant amount of works have been produced in the fields of Asian American feminist and women’s/womanist studies, I have found there to be a lack of study regarding Asian American masculinity and the forces that shape male gender roles and identity within Asian America. And while Africana/African American studies has produced a large portion of the material available in regards to mixed race/heritage identity, the same cannot be said about the volume of this subject in regards to Asian American Studies. The theoretical perspective that interests me in my pursuit of a Ph.D. is relegated to the role/s race, ethnicity and phenotype play in the formation of one’s identity. I wish to pursue a Ph.D. in Cultural Studies, Ethnic Studies, History, English and/or Sociology to examine critically, Asian American masculinity, gender, sexuality and mixed race/heritage politics.
Much of my interest in studying race and ethnicity comes from a wish to shed light upon the wealth of diversity existent with Asian America, countering racist, essentialist stereotypes of Americans of Asian ancestry as a single, solitary, homogenized group of people. Simultaneously, I will study the ways in which being racialized “Asian” in the United States of America can be used to form pan-ethnic coalitions that succeed in in the weakening of racial oppression. I wish to identify what is both liberating as well as problematic about Asian American males’ reclamation of masculinity in efforts to combat externalized and internalized sexism, illuminating the intricacies of gender roles and how race and ethnicity work to define and re-define them.
_______________
ESSAY #2
What elements of your educational research, community service and/or personal experience have contributed to your interest, and preparation for pursuing a Ph.D. and your determination to succeed in it?
Being raised ethnically Japanese/Scottish/Iroquois, racially Asian/Anglo/Native American and socio-economically, working-class with eventual upward mobility into middle-class status in the opulently diverse city of Richmond, California prepared me for a plethora of life experiences. I have been on the receiving end of derogatory remarks for being Asian American, for being Anglo American and for being perceived to be races that I am in actuality, not. Upon graduation from high school, one of my best friends prepared to attend Harvard, while another was sentenced to 4 years in San Quentin penitentiary. I have many times been a lone male educator in a variety of schools working with everyone from Kindergarteners to Seniors in high school; assisting students of all ethnic and class backgrounds, teaching some to tie their shoes and others how to fill out financial aid applications for college. I am a living, breathing contradiction to “common sense” American understandings of race, ethnicity, gender and class. It is for this reason that I seek to obtain a Ph.D. in any and all fields that will allow me to study race and ethnicity in America, and the roles that they play in identity formation.
I have been forced on a daily basis to examine and reexamine the ways that Americans of different racial, ethnic, gender, cultural and class backgrounds operate between and amongst each other. I have coordinated After School and Summertime Academic Intervention Programs for youth of African American, Asian American, Latino American and Anglo American heritage and have taken note of the myriad ways in which young people’s racial identity is formed during their interactions in school and education. Due to my personal experience in public education (as both a teacher and student), I have witnessed the varying degrees of privilege and oppression that exist amongst young people, depending on their race, ethnicity and/or class status. The role that the formation of racial identity plays in setting these young people up for success and/or failure is too significant too leave ignored. The 5 years I have spent working with children of all backgrounds is a constant reminder that human beings are capable of unfettered greatness, yet manmade forces keep far too many young people from arriving at their vast potential.
_______________
ESSAY #3
Many professionals with doctoral degrees enter careers to serve as college and university faculty, and most faculty serve a diverse student body. Describe your interest in such a career and experiences that would prepare you for it.
I believe thoroughly and completely that knowledge is power and that access to freedom of thought and the pursuit of happiness is derived from education. In my personal experience, just as much knowledge about the world I operate within has come from my experience residing on the “borderlines” of race and class in the United states of America as it has attending schools, classes, seminars, etc. throughout my life. Due to my ancestry, how I am racialized, and the ways in which my/my family’s socio-economic status has always been in flux, I have been forced on a daily basis to critically examine the commonalities and vast diversity of all those around me. It is for this reason that I have chosen to make a career of studying the roles that race and ethnicity play in the formation of identity in America. As a college and/or university faculty, I will carry the knowledge of this holistic education into every relationship I come across during the long course of my doctoral study and future career.
I have found that my identity has been fluid throughout my life and never stagnant. Because of the ways race works in America, I have found that to not have a racial identity in many cases means that you have no identity at all. As a mixed heritage, ethnically ambiguous Asian American man raised working-class and later ascending to middle-class status, my identity has come to a formation where it is quite literally impossible for me to “write-off” any single person’s experience as invalid or unimportant. This attitude of (sometimes painful, but always unwavering) compassion from my life’s experience has prepared me to not only work in a diverse environment, but to thrive and assist in the nurturing and development of a diverse community.
_______________
I am currently working on my M.A. thesis on The formation of Asian American male Hip-Hopper/Emcee identity and have had so many epiphanies that me thinks my brain is corroded (ie: My privileged access to education and ascendance to the middle-class, coupled with my not wanting to be “cool” anymore because of the ways it limits my freedom as an artist, may have lead to my deciding to stop emceeing, or at least taking a break until I am finished FULLY dedicating myself to being a “researcher” in this study). But more on that craziness later… =P
I LOVE YOU for reading this.
Colinresponse
[CLICK PICTURE FOR FREE DOWNLOAD!]
Had to shout-out my big bro, Romello “Memphis Reigns” de los Santos. Back at UCSC I always looked up to this brother as an emcee and as an Asian Pacific American Hip-Hopper in general. It’s pretty safe to say that without his encouragement I may have never begun emceeing. HUGE respect to this man and his boombap expression. This album is a fantabulous reminder of the role that creativity and letting your mind wander off into the nether regions play in creating dope music!
Here’s a preview:
[Memphis Reigns & D-Mitch - Resurrection]
[Memphis Reigns & D-Mitch - Mad Hatter]
Cali to Japan.
C
p.s.
[Son of Ran feat. Memphis Reigns - Cali to Japan (classick late 90's/early 00's sh*t - right-click and "save as" to download)]
[Coldplay - Life in Technicolor II]
I’m more Coldplay than I am Ice-T.
-Murs
C
Me thinks it’s safe to say that Arundhati Roy is one of the most amazing human beings on this earth. If you have the time, please watch this interview in its entirety. But if not, peep part 4 when she reads from her book Power Politics; a collection of her essays that speak to “a relation between power and powerlessness and the endless circular battle they are engaged in.”
[Part 1]
[Part 2]
[Part 3]
[Part 4]
I heart the truth.
senbei
The ego’s unconscious core feeling of “not enough” causes it to react to someone else’s success as if that success had taken something away from “me.” It doesn’t know that your resentment of another person’s success curtails your own chances of success. In order to attract success, you need to welcome it wherever you see it.
-Ekhart Tolle (A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose)
Haters make me famous.
-Shawty Lo (D4L)
LOVE.
C
p.s. Thanks Greg!
