|
Asian in America
"Despite a bit of diversity in popular music, one primary ethnic group in America is not being exposed to the media."
By Justin Park
Today’s most popular music, as you all know, is hip hop. Ever since four to five years ago, hip hop has topped the charts, towering over R&B, pop, and rock. One thing any person will notice is that the leading music artists in America are either Caucasian or African-American. Very talented artists such as P. Diddy, Kanye West, and Eminem have shown the nation their skills and have topped the radio and music video charts.
Despite a bit of diversity in popular music, one primary ethnic group in America is not being exposed to the media. Asian-Americans have been and are still struggling with the concept of “making it.” Recently, Asian-Americans have been more and more exposed to hip hop, as many talented rappers have taken it upon themselves to pursue the dream to shine.
Current recording artist Jin, of the Ruff Rydas shocked the nation as the first Hall of Famer in 106 & Park’s Freestyle Friday Battles. For seven weeks, Jin slaughtered rappers from the East Coast. His first album “The Rest is History” did not top the charts, but I think it was a great album.
His rise has sparked the minds of many Asian rappers across the country, including myself. Rappers and groups such as the Far-East Movement, LS, Flowsik, and Southstar have emerged from a concealing media and are starting to become more and more exposed to the world.
Another rapper, Chan has recently been rising with frequent appearances at big shows and the release of his album, “Part of the Nation.” Though there have been no nationwide hits by Asian-Americans, hip hop should prepare itself for a rise soon to come.
In contrast to the music industry, Asians have been in films for a long time, but all the big Asian movie stars such as Jackie Chan and Jet Li have taken martial arts and Chinese food restaurant managers' roles. I find this extremely racists and prejudice, but as everyone says, “things change.”
Despite the movie industry’s past, MTV recently sponsored the movie, “Better Luck Tomorrow.” It was one of the first major films that Asians were not portrayed as Kung-Fu instructors. In the movie, actors and actresses Perry Shen, Sung Kang, John Cho, and Karin Anna Cheung showed the nation that Asians aren’t always the nerdy, classroom kids.
The characters put on the expected mask of scholarly students, but in fact they were experiencing a criminal and drug crisis. The current label that America slapped on Asian actors is ripped off and the country should prepare for more.
Asians are just as equal as any other race and the barrier is becoming thinner as the years go by. Being an Asian-American myself, I feel that this barrier needs to be broken permanently. I am sure for that the sooner or later Asians will top music charts and star in more prominent roles.
|
|
