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 | Spotlight : Asians in Hip-Hop @ Wing Luke Museum |  |
Meeting in My BedroomBy : Hope Evans - hope@seaspotmediagroup.com When most people think of hip-hop, they think of a culture. More specifically, they think of African-American expression. The Wing Luke Hip-Hop Exhibit at the Asian Museum however, defies all preconceived notions that hip-hop is strictly limited to African American manifestation. The self-guided, kinesthetic tour of the hip-hop display is undersized, but purposeful. The room attempts to celebrate the Seattle hip-hop scene over the years, as well as highlight the contributions of the Asian-Pacific American (APA) community. The diverse room features many of the old commodities necessary for true hip-hop survival: a 1980s boom box, plenty of Adidas gear, old-school Nikes and a KRS1 cassette tape. Though some items were indiscriminately placed throughout the room like the Thundercats figurine and a lunch box, for the most part, the display ingeniously represented how the bedroom of a typical hip-hop loving kid would look. The bedroom concept was derived by Asian Pacific Islanders in the local hip hop scene from various ethnic backgrounds, ages and gender. An excerpt, engulfed in graffiti, further explained the bedroom concept: "It's more than just a place to rest. It's a place where we practice our dance moves, write rhymes, make beats and mixed tapes and sketch graffiti pieces. It's a place where we are constantly reinventing ourselves and rearranging our space to reflect the cultures we identify with and participate in..." Another delightful treat was the written tour of the bedroom, which featured various facts about the culture, history and contemporary aspects of hip-hop. The culture facts made clear that "no single person or group sat and decided what hip hop should be." This written section also paid homage to the African American and Latino youth communities in the Bronx for being the major trendsetters of the hip-hop era. The display also gives crafty definitions to hip-hop elements such as MCs (Master of Ceremonies), defining them as "hip-hop's mouthpieces." The definition furthers explains that the MC initiates call-and-response chants and raps over the music provided by the DJ in order to keep the party live. The question may be asked, how exactly has the Asian community contributed to the hip-hop era? And ISP, The Mountain Brothers and DJ Nasty Nes are few commendable answers. The Mountain Brothers were the first Asian American hip-hop group to be signed to a major label. In the past decade, APAs have contributed to hip-hop locally and nationally. Throughout the exhibit it was evident and admitted that APAs have yet to make the same impact as their dance and DJ counterparts; but things look promising with a handful of APA MCs representing locally such as Karim, Estakado and JFK. Artists like Ruff Ryders recording artist Jin, have also helped to underline Asian-American contributions. Many different cultures have participated in hip-hop since its inception in the depraved streets of New York. It has been argued who coined the term hip-hop. Was it James Brown and his "Good Foot" song, which was said to have originated the beginnings of breaking? LoveBug Starski, who first used the words "hip-hop shoowop da bop?" Or was it the infamous Space Cowboy? Various questions surround hip-hop history, but one thing remains evident: hip-hop is diversity. While it is difficult to place hip-hop into the confinement of one small space such as a bedroom, it is simple to say that hip-hop represents many different bedrooms - it's a diverse house that is a compilation of various distinct rooms. Moreover, without the participation of many different cultures, hip-hop would not be the established, varied foundation that it is today. Hip-hop is everywhere. It's like that...and that's the way it is. |
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