0:00 [Music] welcome back to another essential episode of careful boys today we have with us Mr dumpfounded let's talk about the the Golden Era of Asian independent YouTube creators dude I missed those days where we would just be booked for tours or shows and then all of a sudden it's like an's here like d found it here and then we just end up performing together hanging together and then there came a time when everyone's rates got so expensive that the college couldn't afford all of us so the variety shows stopped and it would be like they could only book one of us oh yeah it so it gets kind of competitive I think right if there's like only so if you have one Asian Student Association
0:50 talent show you got to get like one rapper one ukulele guy yeah one dance crew one comedy group you know it's like you got to be selective you know everyone's going in their little uh competition yeah in their n you know or they are the talent and we have to be the judges all right that's another yeah that was a really good way of doing that you guys you guys The Quest Crew would definitely got you know went you guys uh monopolized that little pocket I feel yeah we had a good two years 09 and 2010 yeah we did like every Asian possible club that there was in every University the bags were nice there because you could have like four people in the audience and still get a bag it wasn't their money it was like the tuition money that they had to use right it had to be used yeah the worst
1:40 sound ever yeah right dancing on carpet oh my God yeah or sometimes just outside on the quad yeah yeah but then we split our stuff like seven ways so it wasn't as profitable or like choosing to like stay at the ████ organizer's dorm in order to save money that's that was funny that was a lot staying in was it their way of making you stay with them so you could hang out you guys can hang out cuz some of them are like uber fans too oh did you guys ever have that happen where you felt like the people that were hosting you would be territorial about hanging out with you oh yeah you ever felt that would they be like they want to hang they want to take more of your time and then you have their friends that are like no take them here they're like no we're going to go here and they would like kind of Corral you to hang out with them I me they got their money's worth with me because they'll hear me freestyle all night at the dorm just
2:30 drunk as hell freestyling try to impress college kids I would give you kids your money's worth KCK a Beat Box more fun than the show their money's worth than me I'll just try and out drink people just ████ them up you say that did you see that you guys got conned on the same show yeah there was one show that all of it was a local show too which was Arcadia High School and then um it was a questionable person that was like booking us we never heard of this kid he seemed kind of young no prior events no events but um all of our managers were like oh dumm's going to be on it or like oh soone like all Tim's going to be there so they're leveraging the other talent and make you say yes so we know that and then we asked them straight up we're like hey you guys going to that thing and it's like yeah we're going and
3:21 we're like okay cool we'll go too but like we didn't talk directly to the event promoter it was like sever layers and then I think even our managers were like I don't know but if they're doing it just I mean it's local you could just drive down it's not a big commitment yeah just just go right mhm we show up and it's at Arcadia High it's unorganized it's rainy it was unpromoted there's no directions there was no flyer made this kid somehow pulled off the biggest Con in the century the century he pulled off like YouTube Coachella with like firest yeah it was a firest he pulled off Asian YouTube firefast I wait was David there was like
4:13 I forgot I feel like all of our friends were there yeah all of our friends imagine like all of Asian YouTube right there was more performers than there were people in the audience really yes yeah what was the what was the venue again like Tim was there Rick was there cholo adventur was there somehow Arcadia High has mad people that would come we thought it was going to be at the auditorium of Arcadia High we thought it was a school event we thought it was going to be like the school knew about it uhhuh and we were going to so we we pulled up we're like waiting in the Green Room was just like a classroom he didn't he didn't mark it at all he just thought by booking it automatically going to fill the seats and I think it wasn't until then we're like no you have to tell people we're going to be here or at least tell us to tell people we're going to be here we all like pranked each other we're all there like oh my God and okay he and it wasn't even like
5:05 an auditorium it was like a outdoor concrete platform yeah like the quad or something and it was raining that day you know what I what I think about that era was interesting is like you know all these um small promoters and colleges and all that like they actually took the initiative to organize these shows which was like a very independent movement you know what I mean this is before like huge promoters and Live Nation and all those people like who started monopolizing even venues like you can't just perform at a venue anymore it's like a promoter owns multiple venues and then they book you know musical acts and stuff so at that time was cool because you'll have these kids that's all they are they're just kids who want to bring these performers to the local you know City or or the universities and they have to make that
5:55 effort to organize these shows a lot of them didn't know what they're doing cuz we pull up and the sound's terrible and we're talking about you know the stages not being proper for the performances but I I I do commend them for organizing it and making it happen cuz they were a part of the movement like if it weren't for them bringing us out we wouldn't have had this it's like they're figuring it out as we're figuring out how to tour our stuff you know so it was really interesting that that time to see that happen and they really did support a lot of the artists cuz they were paying rent to all these shows you know dude there was there was times where it's like obviously you know you you get the impression that they get the money from like School tuition so they have to like apply for it from these different clubs and what not so you're like all right cool so I'll make my rate this because I know it's not really like their money anyway and then so you make your rate a certain thing I remember I got booked out to one time to go to New York and
6:46 then uh I was like you know just thanking them for like getting me out there and whatnot they're like yo we we had to sell so many cookies to get you here and I was like what are you talking about like we spent like a week baking cookies and just being on like the the the S cookies of fund rise to bring you here ████ real don't make it so real ████ that's really sweet cool though that's TI to save my financial aid for you dude that sh yeah that's too real yeah damn one of one of the times I was like dude we have it pretty ████ good was uh early on YouTube that's when I was also doing standup too and I would remember going to like you know like all the standup like Open Mic gigs and stuff like Flappers and whatever and then I would go there and you would talk to other comics in the green room and then they're like oh like what's the biggest room you've everever done I'm like oh
7:36 it's been like maybe like 800,000 they're like what and I'm like yeah I'm like oh yeah we just did Minnesota my homie like David it was like sold out show and they're like what and then but then going there to go into like like let's say the small room at comedy store and any real comic can come in and bump you and just that whole culture versus over here it's like ████ red carpet packed out everyone knows what you're about and I was like oh ████ this is ████ this is what it's like to perform to when you already have an audience and a fan base and it's way different than like this grind it that that's the thing it was like a blessing to even have a fan base you know I think as an independent artist I knew how hard that was cuz I was also coming from you know the open mic project blow like all these places that were specifically just hip-hop
8:26 right and seeing all my peers in that area justy to get a fan base yeah who equally talented yeah yeah and I was I and I was getting my fandom through YouTube you know this wasn't like just the hip-hop section I was doing that too but that area was just just hard to get a fan base I was utilizing the tools like YouTube and it was so different like you said we were playing 800 to th000 to 2,000 rooms and and um annual City Lunar New Year's things you know the Vietnamese yeah T Festival what's up everybody the Minnesota mang conference you know like just we had that's all different types of cultural super exclusive all different types of cultural events that we were playing and it was thousands and thousands of people at these things yeah
9:17 yeah yeah who are some of the uh like looking back who are some of the other artists that you would frequently see at this event that you did I think we saw Tim at everything we got we got booked along with Tim a lot uh a lot um Clara clud CL was great we were booked she would be like the music part of it yeah Tim Clara um you guys I would see a lot of Quest Crew you know AJ would be a AJ Joseph Vincent I saw yeah dude Joseph vinsent definitely had a little time where he was dude that dude was he had his and he was like a heart throb too hell yeah everyone go crazy and dick throb okay I didn't even think of that that a good one actually yeah I I mean I
10:07 heard a lot of different things like about the college scene now like obviously I haven't been doing College shows in a while and and do they book Asian artists still I know we talking about this earlier before like I don't know what's going on in that world I get my one a year it's good yeah you still do them yeah like one a year what other things book The Next Generation like Linda like they put who who do they bring out besides you like in those types of shows when when they're Bing me I'm usually like the headliner for something and then it's always like often times like a dance thing too so like you know the local teams the school teams will like perform and then I'll be like the headliner I I was talking to my comedian standup comedy uh comedian homie and he said that um colleges are really weary about booking Comics now what because they're afraid they're going to say something oh cuz college is a hella of woke now yeah they might they might get canceled or something so they just want to take a precaution and just
10:57 not book them at all to begin with that might a student or something like that cuz you know that used to be a thing Comics used to tour colleges all the time they us to have conferences where they would like audition them so then put them on the thing where they play all the colleges at once you know that's crazy man cuz I remember I mean colleges used to be the home of testing material at The Cutting Edge of Comedy cuz like young people loved comedy you could say the craziest ████ well you know the last time we got uh booked for anything was probably they were trying to get us during lockdown and then after that we were well we were going to do the college tour with the with the danger boys we had that booked up and then it got so after lockdown I don't know if we got any inquiries after that yeah yeah man I mean I'm sure they still have the Asian culture kns and all that
11:47 right I mean they for sure do they for sure do yeah but maybe it's about like it's like Asian activism and ████ and they're just sitting there like I can see that being angry all the time and well also also I think a lot of momentum like died off because like you know we were probably going during an era where it was like the first annual joint Asian blah blah blah night right and then we might be doing that for a couple years and next thing you know you're like oh my God I can't believe I've been welcomed back this is the sixth time they've done it then the pandemic happens and then like people aren't even going on campus and then like people graduate so they're not even a part of like that old Legacy Event anymore they've never ran it you know what I mean four years later they're back in school but they those people in school break in the chain there's a they never ran do you think maybe because our era it was so exciting cuz we never had like an entertainment community in America yeah
12:38 no represent we were building it that was our like Showtime at the Apollo right and then now there's no real Asian Niche it's like you break through like if you do well you just go mainstream you don't need to go to a Korean Culture Night to see a K-pop act perform like K-pop acts are on Coachella lineups I used to tour like 30 cities across the US and play somewhere in Wisconsin and there'd be one Asian kid in the crowd like I've been waiting for you know what I mean like like he wasn't maybe even familiar with my music but he came out cuz he maybe saw like the local newspaper and he's like oh there Asian rapper dude he's like take me with you take me to the proom rescue me from all this I want to go to K Town it was just rare for them to see an Asian performer come into town that's true you know so but now we will have K-pop stars
13:30 going to Minnesota and stuff also also the mentality back then was so different remember like every single time you do your performance in college the Q&A afterwards is always about like well like how how did you do something that like your parents didn't want you to do right I forgot that that was always a question you been 10 years and all of us you know preaching the same type of you know new new kind of thinking for our our first generation American Asian-American type thing it's like those kids aren't even thinking like that anymore no that's that's dated question if kid is like how did you pursue entertainment when your parents want it's like now parents want you to get head shot cuz those we ain't going out there anymore cuz those parents are younger too like if you think about it like the the parents of the kids in college now they think our parents are old you know
14:20 what I mean so like they are more accepting we're old they're not telling their kids to be lawyers and doctors yeah they know there's money to be made in entainment you know and they're more chill which means that it's our fault that we weeded ourselves out of the market but it is funny that like even though that question was so common back then it's almost kind of a given now that it's sort of redundant to even ask it it's nice that you don't even see a bunch of kids asking it yeah like the whole like my parents won't let me pursue my dreams it's like bro welcome to life in general like now it's like my parents want me to be an entertainment lawyer yeah my parents made me a Tik Tok and I'm one was like other ████ like how do you get famous you know what I mean and it's like that's that's so different every kid wants to be a YouTuber now right like that's isn't that the number one thing isn't it nice though that the
15:11 stupid limitations that I didn't even believe that a lot of Asians put on themselves don't exist anymore like when we were growing up you hear from a lot of Asians this like weird depressing self-doubt ████ where it sounds so like like low selfcon confidence right and I'm like I'm not surrounded by that cuz I'm around you guys are like entertainers that are like oh this is what I want to create this is my vision I'm going to create it but there were so many that were just so doubtful and now it's like you don't really see that because there's proof in the pudding of a whole generation that did it now they're just trying to figure out like how they're trying to execute what they think Asian kids are extra confident now they're like Disney Channel kids and ████ they're all Brenda Songs they're
16:02 all Brenda Songs yeah but isn't it nuts it was like it only took 10 years yeah that's true that's not a that's not a long time I mean but we're lucky that we're living in that time of the Renaissance you know we just happen to be living in that ex like it's so crazy we saw it change in a matter of a few years where like right now is like the peak there's just Asian projects everywhere you know uh different language music on on the radio but I I do I do agree back then when they were they were D doubting themselves so much I even wondered then like why do you give a ████ with your parents think because that's not that's a universal thing the teenage rebellious attitude and you know I would always tell kids like why do you give a ████ what your parents think you know like it's your te you know the teen parents like don't listen to this dumb
16:52 sound but I just feel like that the teenage spirit is such a um all Universal feeling you're supposed to Rebel ████ you Mom it's like I think maybe the Asian culture has a little bit more of a resp thing to the elders but still like my passion couldn't hold me back from pursuing what I wanted to maybe the way that if they Rebel the punishment is harder than a white family cuz they're not going to torture you and beat your ████ ass for rebelling every family gathering so then Asians are like you know I need to get them to say yes cuz the consequences that I'mma deal with is a ████ beat down you know what I think the difference was was that a lot of the people that are asking that are still financially dependent on their parents oh yeah that's true I think that's they don't want to say that but I think they live at home I think they eat their parents they're playing the game they're
17:42 dependent the game they haven't left the nest yet so they're still like oh how did you guys do it it's not really the question of how did you like it's like I've been abandoned fool I don't have nobody to ████ tell me what to do right right it's still like you know I have no guidance it's still like a like even during our era it's not like we were the only ones trying to all do what we were doing I think you know we were just doing it fairly well is all you know what I'm saying so like when when you see an example it's not like every Asian kid who wanted to rap was as good as dumfounded you know what I'm saying like you're still one of one for a reason and it's like that's what makes it so that you're touring 30 cities you know in a year and that's where people are asking these questions because they're not seeing like the ████ 50 other people that tried and haven't but I I will say in that sense though I think it is also that we had the
18:34 business people around us or figured the business out you know I think that's a huge part like unless there's an infrastructure of like people who are booking shows or manager and if you don't tap in with those people the behind the scenes people that we had too that was important I think those people deserve the credit too the Grassroots people who organized events you know what I mean who decided to manage YouTubers like that's crazy back then you know like what I'm going to do I'm going to manage YouTubers like are you that's even crazier than wanting to do comedy on YouTube or Rap on YouTube yeah they're the crazier ones that's true that's true I'm going to start the CAA of YouTubers like you ████ weirdo and then they're all leaving jobs they already had to yeah it's insane that is insane yeah I just like how a lot of Asians can't that sucked they can't be make it a race
19:25 thing anymore it's just you ████ suck bro it's nothing to do with oh they're just they don't accept Asians it's like no I've seen your ████ your ████ is so bad like no one Asians don't support your ████ your ████ is whacked I will say that that excuse starts getting harder every year it gets harder every year yeah it gets harder every year it does but then it's like you know those types it's like you your your ████ sucks I can't imagine a time that agents didn't have a better shot than they do now right oh yeah right now hiding behind the like oh you know they don't want to give Asians a chance yeah I'm like shut the ████ up dude imagine still going hard as ████ with that excuse now right right now when people say that it's so funny to me yeah it is yeah it's crazy right now it is so different there's soout there's so many paths now
20:15 it really is definitely way more opportunity than we ever had mhm for sure yeah so if you guys aren't making it you suck do better he seen your ████ not cuz you're Asian [Music] yeah
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