On August 11, 1973, Jamaican native Clive “DJ Kool Herc” Campbell threw his sister, Cindy Campbell, a back-to-school jam at a South Bronx community center. During this event, Herc would found the technique of utilizing dual turntables. With this innovation, Herc was able to extend the break of a beat, even switch between the breaks of multiple songs. This not only gave dancers the freedom to improvise moves, but would also allow performers to speak rhythmically over the song's beat, a performative art inspired by Afro-Caribbean musical traditions (1,2). This would signify the birth of hip-hop culture. 

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Last year marked the fiftieth anniversary for the party that created what is now considered a worldwide phenomenon, for better and for worse. What started out as a form of expression culminating from the frustrations of the disenfranchised Black and Latino youth, hip-hop has come to represent all of those who have been under the colloquial “boot” of adversity. Over the past 50 years, hip-hop has expanded and evolved drastically in terms of style, genre, technique, and ethnic diversity. To quote hip-hop revolutionary KRS-ONE (Knowledge Reigns Supreme, Over Nearly Everyone), “"Hip hop is a global phenomenon that unites people from all walks of life."

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An ethnic group/umbrella that has been pivotal to the history and evolution of hip-hop are Asian American and Pacific Islanders. While Pacific Islanders are not technically Asian (although Japan is technically a set of islands on the Pacific coast), the Pacific Islander and Asian American community have formed a bond through cultural exchange and mutual acceptance/embracement. In the late 1800s, Japanese began immigrating to the U.S. through Hawaii. Asians and Pacific Islanders have a deep connection that enables their inclusion in the Asian American Movement. However, this begs the question, why are AAPI artists rarely discussed in hip-hop cultural and historical circles? Why do people know about the Sugarhill Gang and not Joe Bataan? Pharrell Williams and not Chad Hugo? Are we as Asian American artists taken seriously in the hip hop scene? It’s a rarity for an AZN artist to break out of the underground, but we are seeing it happen more and more (Rich Brian, Joji, Brae of Joey Valence & Brae). It is often said that AAPI (or AZN, as I like to refer) artists didn’t start coming into the hip-hop scene until the 1990s, and that we are primarily breakdancers. While AZN hip-hop definitely started picking up during this time, we have been a part of the hip-hop community since the mid 70s, and we have our fair share of pioneers in the field throughout the 80s as well. 

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The purpose of this website is to illuminate light on the AZN pioneers of hip-hop culture/history, and to showcase how deeply intertwined hip-hop is with not only the AAPI diaspora, but with Asian culture and Asia as a whole. Although, this is still a website primarily dedicated to Asian American (and Western diaspora) hip-hop history as well as modern day contributions to the culture. We have been here for a while, and we are here to stay. 

 

Side Note: This website focuses on AAPI contributions and does not include the MESA side of the Asian diaspora, for now.

 

AZN Represent, 

Onitarō Sukoshi