9|gavin|Y'all gonna learn Chinese|2|3|9|2004|2|34|53|AM|0|0|8|no|yes|open|||no 0.0.0.0|I Message to Japanese pop stars who dye their hair sandy blonde and think themselves White: You ruin my night one more time and I'm gonna get Jin Tha MC to bust a cap in your ass. I watched Music Video Asia tonight and I'm a little conflicted. The show was a bunch of videos by Asians and Asian Americans. The ones from Japan seemed to feature lots of wack ass Westerner wannabes, Barbie doll girls but for the round cheeks and squinty eyes. Now I like J-pop and crazy Nihonjin as much as the next person, but I swear the Japanese are getting worse than Japanese Americans at craving to be White. |*||*|And then you got the ones who want to be Black. I'm not sold on Asian rap yet. This Taiwanese rap group, Machi, was kinda catchy. Think Fresh Prince meets Kris Kross, Asian style. But when the kid did the little gangster symbol with his fingers at the end, I felt like dropping his ass off in the LBC to get bitch slapped a few times. |*||*|The (North) American stuff saved the night. I liked Jin's "Learn Chinese." Corny at times, but it's got some good lyrics. "We should ride the train for free, we built the railroads." Dan the Automator and Kid Koala's animated videos looked really cool. Dino Ignacio's video for The Skyflakes was superbly awesome, and I'm not just saying that because they're my friends. Dino's got mad animation talent.|*||*|I also liked the cute little bears in the videos for Cube Juice. Flying spacecraft, rockin' out. They're from Japan too. But you don't see them selling out. Not the cute little bears. Not the bears. head_zoo_keeper|63.106.15.227|||2|3|9|2004|12|48|33|PM|caught the mva last night, too. yeah, jin was cool even though the ching-chong sing-song interlude in his cut was a little distrubing. but from my perspective, if you're gonna bust on the j-pop stars for trying to be 'white,' you can't be proping up jin. same damn thing, don't you think?|*||*|but i understand where you're coming from. but, i kind of feel that i can't be forcing my cultural perspective as an api on another culture. i can't dis j-pop stars for trying to be 'american' anymore than i can come down on native americans who have to wear a suit and tie everyday. know what i mean? that ain't for me to say. sketchy|63.203.76.168|||2|3|9|2004|3|40|2|PM|yeah, i got mad love for jin as a freestyler and an mc, but i was really disappointed with the writing. and it sucks that he's got people trying to tag him as the great asian american rap hope, but he's the one that's out there.|*||*|i wasn't a fan of some of the pseudo-sounding asian melodic hooks, and thought they were a little too over the top.|*||*|there were a couple of favs: i think the skyflakes video was amazing. i liked the taiwanese rap duo, machi, and thought the choreography was really great. dan the automator's video stood out, too. i was also feelin' that jamzvillage guy.|*||*|good stuff, but i also liked last year's cube juice videos a bit better. gavin|66.125.89.103|||2|3|9|2004|11|19|34|PM|i agree with head_zoo_keeper about jin. i'm not a fan of all that stereotypical junk his producers threw in the song and video, shit that's meant to appease the masses, i assume. they probably figured that all mainstream america understands about asian america is kung fu and chinese food. i hope jin gets past all this by his next album and can create something more honest. |*||*|i would disagree with regards to the j-pop argument. i think we as asian americans do have a place in criticizing pop culture in asia. the implications of the japanese rolling over and trying to copy white america are wide-ranging. |*||*|first, it produces a screwed up mentality. you've got asians who have accepted the western standard of beauty, and are taking extreme measures to emulate it. slashing their eyelids, breast augmentation, etc. also, you have little girls who worship --literally-- hollywood stars like tom cruise and brad pitt anytime one of them visits the country on a press tour. it's a colonized view of the world when they begin to think only white is good, and the rest are worthless.|*||*|second, on an entertainment level, this trend of rushing towards the white (and black) americanization of the world, without any resistance from asia, doesn't help asian americans. if the world only buys a certain view of what is american, that leaves us out of things like tv, movies and music. and now is the time when we're gaining a stonger foothold in those industries. or at least i'd like to think. Ravi|128.218.94.119|sunmoonlight@mac.com||5|3|12|2004|12|3|50|PM|Wassup, L'il ChiasiuBao - Wow! Ravi|128.218.94.119|sunmoonlight@mac.com||5|3|12|2004|12|5|2|PM|Wassup, L'il ChiasiuBao - Wow! head_zoo_keeper|63.106.15.227|||5|3|12|2004|1|52|7|PM|gavin:|*||*|i totally respect your opinion and i think you have some valid points. however, i just can't blame the plight of api's on asian pop stars who want to be preceived as "americanized." as you and i both know, white america is the dominant culture. who else are they going to try and copy? do you think asian pop stars ought to emulate api's??|*||*|i had an interesting coversation with charlie chin about a year ago. he was teaching a class on asian american music. and i asked him, "well, what the hell is asian american music? what does it sound like? and what makes it uniquely aa?" does jin produce aa music? what about the skyflakes? i think it's an interesting debate/conversation and i hope as more and more api artists break through in this country, maybe we'll see asians going gaa-gaa over api stars. y'know, like that "she-bang" berkeley guy... :)|*||*|thanks for blogging about the festival! gavin|66.125.89.103|||6|3|13|2004|2|52|45|AM|hzk,|*||*|that's fascinating. what did charlie chin say when you asked him that? |*||*|funny you bring up william hung. i was totally embarrassed by him at first, but now i think he's an asian american hero (even if it's accidental). Gary|63.203.76.168||http://www.manja.org|6|3|13|2004|9|34|41|AM|Interestingly enough, I'm putting together a Third Thursdays on that very topic, currently slated for April. What does it mean for something to be designated "Asian American", whether it's something specific like film or music, or used to describe "art" in general? i.e., what's been the relevance of the term, and how has that changed over time?