0:00 The same way that I can't tell a black dude who's doing Filipino Eskrima sticks he's doing it wrong just cuz I'm Filipino. I think you can. I have to be in that scene. >> I think you should though. Do it now. >> you you'd know. >> I don't know ████ dude. All right, we're going to talk about why Asian rappers get so much hate from I think the black community pretty much doesn't tend to like it so much when they see like a all uh I guess like a Korean rapper. >> hell out of the loop because um is this a Gen Z black community thing? >> Yeah, I think it's a now it's a now thing, yeah. >> Yeah, like I think millennial wise it felt like a different environment. >> also like you you have to keep in mind with social media everybody gets to talk now and maybe back then people did feel
0:51 like that but there was no forum for it. >> That's true. >> But like every time you see like a >> Or you wouldn't be exposed to how successful they were getting. >> That's true, too. And so like you'll get like a Korean rapper on Instagram and you could go through the comments and there's a bunch of people calling them corny, appropriating is usually the biggest thing, the main thing. Um being a culture vulture, taking something that, you know, or or just like kind of like playing a fake character. >> Yeah. >> Cuz a lot of them try to have this sort of like almost like a ghetto vibe about it even though they're very much more closer to being a industry plant than they are like, you know, someone that came up in the hood. >> Oh, I see. Like someone that's just like a pop manufactured star. Like a lot of K-pop is like they're they're manufactured in a factory of a musician factory and then
1:41 they're developed by a industry, right? And it's so different from the essence of hip-hop of like your street you're like yeah. Yeah, yeah, but that's I think it makes it such a a like a black and white lineage of like how culture is like represented and and who participates or whatnot because like absolutely it came from, you know, the hip hop and the struggle and all that whatnot. Uh in the streets and and that that's a a big pain point for people. Like you don't know that struggle, you don't know that life, you're like appropriating and you're and you're building success off of this imagery and this culture or whatever you're taking but like you didn't ever understand the struggle that that came from so to speak. But I I think there is a slight difference between that conversation that was happening years ago, decades ago even versus even what it is now because of capitalism, because of social media, because of commercialism even, right? So we're
2:31 talking about um it's not like these Korean rappers or whatever specifically are only tattooing like gang signs, holding guns and like living a really ghetto harsh lifestyle. It's the um it's the new era of like Virgil Abloh was like the the creative lead designer for Louis Vuitton, right? It's the A$AP Rockys have transcended, it's the Rihannas are billionaires type conversation where people are wearing like decked how crazy like the golden and grills and jewelry. >> Yeah. >> It's not that I'm gangbanging on the streets of Korea. It's the like yo, I'm out here and I'm making moves, I'm making changes, I'm changing the way that people You know what I mean? So I I feel like the tone is a little bit different because that's it wasn't a like oh man, that culture is so cool, I just want to copy it, which is happening, I'm not going to lie. I and I do think that there is an argument for people being upset about it completely. >> Mhm. >> But it's I think more of the fanship is
3:22 like I also idolizing what people in the black culture have actually done coming from the streets, using that that grind and that grit and that hip hop. >> Yeah. >> And then making it to the highest levels of the entertainment industry. And so you're looking up at these people. >> Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. >> These are These are people I'm idolizing. These are people that I'm growing up thinking are like are the dopest. So emulating that is that essence of where imitation becomes kind of flattery, but of course there's always going to be an argument. There's always going to be some people that are going to be like, "Mad props to them. Go ahead, young brother from another mother" type thing. And there's also going to definitely be people who are like, "That's wrong." Yeah. But I think that conversation won't ever stop. I think that's always just going to keep happening. >> It's always going to be there. >> Whenever people gatekeep like only one race contributed to something in America, I always think that they're pretty stupid. Because they don't really
4:14 know the history of like Well, the history of hip-hop it came like there's Puerto Ricans. There's like >> Who cares about that anymore? >> There's white people that contributed from the beginning. There's so many non-black like prominent people from the beginning that to gatekeep it as like this is this is only black people that ever did anything significant and you're stealing our ████ I think it's kind of like really ████ weird. >> it sounds even weirder. So, for me, I care more about what the players in the game say about it. >> Yeah, not the audience people. >> who are just black. Like if they're like like, "Oh, you You took my thing." But if you don't even You're not part of that community then I'm like, "Why are you speaking for them?" If like >> I don't want to listen to the peasants. I want to listen to the kings of the community who are actually making moves and how they feel. Like KRS-One had a
5:04 really good point about this. And then I want I I read this in Source magazine back in the day because like around the '90s like conscious rap, underground hip-hop was separating from like commercial hip-hop, right? And then at the time they're saying, "Okay. So, the weird thing is we're being lectured by a bunch of white people in underground hip-hop that they're real hip-hop and that these black kids coming from the hood >> That's funny, yeah. >> doing hood music, doing gangster ████ doing dance music is not real hip-hop." Like that's ████ weird. And I was like, "That's hella true." Like cuz at the time, um you know, white people were really getting into the rap battling and then like uh lyricism. And their their rap was so different. It was more like Um yeah, it was like a part of that underground community, right? And then there definitely black folks there, too.
5:56 But they were claiming that they're preserving real hip-hop where everyone else was fake. But then if you see the audiences, one is like a Coachella audience or like all white people. And then it's all like hippies and white kids, right? >> Yeah. >> Like the real hood deep black kids are listening to all the popular mainstream ████ that's coming out. And at the time Master P and then the south was really popular. And that was getting a lot of heat cuz it was just dance music. It's not real hip-hop. So then I was like, yeah, so who actually gets to say what is real hip-hop? Is it Is it because it's race that it's real hip-hop? Or is it because you stick to the elements and the origins and the >> No, yeah, it's what hip-hop is supposed to be attributed to it. Yeah. >> And at the end of the day it's like, well, Eminem's white, but he's one of the most prominent people in hip-hop. And I I would value what >> he says over He competed his way in.
6:48 >> Yeah. >> He didn't just go, I'm going to do it and if whether I'm good or not, I'm valid. He had to defeat people. He had to >> Yeah. >> Yeah, he earned his right to be in hip-hop, right? So like I think I I I I value his opinion or people that are kings of hip-hop >> more than blacks. >> O- over a black guy that's visiting. No, seriously. Over So okay, let me get to Let me bring it down to to me, right? Like Okay, so let There's this Jewish guy that traveled to Japan, studied ramen, opened up a ramen shop. He ████ fought his way through like, you know, people ridiculing him. He's certified. He's got awards in Japan. >> Yeah. >> If he opens up a ramen shop and I open up one next to him and I serve top ramen, hell of people are going to say I'm more certified cuz I'm
7:38 Japanese. But I didn't study ████ I just decided one day I want to I'm inspired to just open up a ramen shop. But people should Should they listen to me more cuz I'm Japanese? Or the guy that studied the ████ won awards, spent years mastering it. >> Yeah. And I'm like, to be honest, is it my culture? >> No. But people see rap differently because it was born from literally like nothing. Like ramen is the history of that is not like the poorest >> it from Chinese. >> But I think it's the the the reason why they're like, I guess the community is more sensitive about it is because it's a struggle-based art. >> Yeah, it was like it was from like oppression. It was like during the era of the civil rights movement, people like using the art in order to like use, you know, speak their their struggle and their voices. So when they see the art in another place that's not reflecting their current voices, maybe uh needs or
8:30 anything like that, I think that there's just a disconnect of like, "Hey, what What happened to that thing that our people created or what?" >> And the consumers of that, like let's say that this Korean rapper sounds hella corny, is rapping like "Oh la la la la la" like changing their voices and ████ Trying to act like they had experiences even similar to like, you know, so they're just mad at the poser. >> Well, they're also mad at the fact that there's that audience, the consumer audience out there, doesn't judge their ability to the same scrutiny as like the way that rap artists do and rap crowds do here. >> Oh. >> They could suck ass and they're still making millions, you know? >> They should probably just bring back more uh of the rap battle culture >> calling out stuff. >> Yeah. >> Wouldn't be so funny? Imagine just just having the balls just or or wanting to call out like another rapper from somewhere, even if it was across the pond now. >> The The problem is that most battle
9:21 rappers don't make good songs. And some of these people are in the business of making songs. Like that's the thing. Like if you're a rapper in Korea, you're probably making songs. You're probably not trying to ████ do >> I feel like we're in the era where where like hip hop There's that's its own thing. >> Yeah. >> And then it's like been its own thing >> for so long. That's why I'm surprised that it's like people are trying to gatekeep like real hip-hop and what the culture is. >> The first rap songs were about not doing drugs. They're about helping your community. Drill is like the absolute opposite. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. It doesn't it's not like it's so different now. Yeah. >> Well, I can I guess for me the the hard the hard part for me to try to like wrap my head around all this is like so in the '90s, right? You got Snoop Dogg. You got like all these like um certified trendsetters going and touring to Asia,
10:11 right? So, they have their shows there. And then they obviously inspire people and they go, "F███, this is dope. I want to rap, too." So, you're willing to make money off of Asians, but then all of a sudden it's not cool if they're inspired by the culture to make the same music? >> Yeah, yeah, you want to tour in Asia. >> Yeah. >> But then if some kid sees your show and goes, "I want to do that." >> Nope, can't. >> That's what I don't get. >> But that's not the sentiment. That's what I mean like the peers of the players in the game, that's not their sentiment. >> The people that like like Snoop Dogg's not saying that. He's actually super international. >> he he collaborates with tons of Asian artists, rappers, DJs, all of across the board. I mean, to that being said, he also collaborates with ████ everybody. >> Yeah. >> Yeah, like every commercial in the game. >> Then like people don't realize that a lot of the top producers who are
11:01 ████ you know, the black people you look up to in that scene are going to Asia. They are mentoring people. They are making stuff for people or collaborating all the time. So, it's more about what they think and less about what Godfrey thinks. >> Yeah, for real. >> You're not in the game of music in order to be like, "That's whack. This sucks. That shouldn't have an audience." >> This gives all of us peasants something to argue about. That's all it is. That's all it is. You're so involved in a culture that is so prominent and huge that there's so many sub conversations. There's going to be somebody that's upset about the fact that like maybe we don't even have equity to have this conversation or speak on what something should or should not be. There's an extreme version of that conversation, too. And I think at the end of the day, it's just a matter of like can somebody be inspired by and do something as their craft, but then like show enough tact and or respect where the community that they came from can respect it. >> Yeah. >> That's that is just are you doing it in
11:52 such a way that recognizably like people are more down to be like I ████ with that one. >> That's true. >> versus not. We was watching that Chinese rapper or whatever yesterday that wasn't even just like not good for rapping, but was an embarrassment to Chinese people. You know what I mean? Like there's levels to this thing. >> lot of William Hungs in rap for Asian rap, for sure. Yeah. >> Like the posers that like yeah. >> Like we can get mad, so I I get it. >> But it's the Eminem argument. It's like cream rises to the top cuz he faced the same criticism. >> Did, yeah. >> He still came to the top to the point where everyone had to respect them. >> I think if you compete to the top, that's ████ respect. But like your point, you know, like the same way that I can't tell a black dude who's doing Filipino escrima sticks, he's doing it wrong just cuz I'm Filipino. >> I think you can. >> to be in that scene. >> I think you should, though. Do it now. >> you you'd know. >> I don't know ████ dude.
12:42 >> Uh what if a black cook busts out some pancit and you eat it and you're like It's wrong. >> That's your right. >> I have no place because I'm not in that scene. I'm not That's where I'm like, dude, just because you're the same skin color, it doesn't mean you automatically have the authority. You're not a player in the game, dude. >> Nope, I'm not a player in the game. Hey, if black folks want to do anime, they want to ████ make Japanese music, they want to get into martial arts, opening karate dojos, >> do it, a thousand percent. Why? Cuz it doesn't even matter what my opinion is. It's I'm not even a player in the game. >> It doesn't matter.
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