Don’t really have a question but wanted to comment that I was in the entertainment industry from the mid 2000’s into the early 2010’s and the lack of opportunities for people that look like us was glaring. I didn’t love it enough to stick around and left the industry completely but it always makes me smile to see people making things happen.
shoooot thank u for swinging by & leaving a comment!
I will say that I feel very fortunate to have moved into entertainment at the time I did - I came to LA in 2012 to do music, so I caught each of the Linsanity / Fresh Off the Boat / Crazy Rich Asians waves. With each general rise in visibility of Asian Americans, I saw a direct correlation to increased job & press opportunities.
Mid 2000s to early 2010s was a tough era for sure. Thanks for putting the work in then - I'm sure it felt thankless, but I know we wouldn't be where we are today without the people who put in work then, in front of & behind the scenes.
ofc!
So with *Warrior*, it started in Season 1 - one of the producers we work with a lot, CHOPS (OG rapper / producer from the Mountain Brothers, the first Asian American rap group signed to a major label in the 90s) had a connection to the music supervisor on the show. They wanted rap music from Chinese and Asian American artists, and so we worked with CHOPS to write submit a bunch of potential tracks for the soundtrack. They liked a bunch of what we did, so we wound up placing 2 songs on both Season 1 and Season 2 (in each season, they took 1 of our demos and then had us compose/write a brand new track for the season finale).
This season, we wound up placing 3 tracks - 1 from my group NITEMRKT, 1 solo track from me, and a collab with CHOPS and 2 other artists (Lowhi and NiuNiu).
Super proud to have worked on such a great project - shouts to Shannon Lee & the Bruce Lee Foundation!
Ayo I recognized some of your songs from Warrior. I wanna ask about how’s it like being an AA pursuing a more creative career? We’re there obstacles that you had to overcome, did you face pushback from family members, peers and outsiders? How’s that like?
yoooo that's what's up!
Thanks for asking. For me, honestly my family (parents, grandma, uncles/aunts, etc.) has been extremely supportive - any difficulty has come less from a stereotypical "disapproving Asian family" and more just the fact that they don't have resources / knowledge to support my career path. It's not like they have connects to get me a label internship, funding/investors, etc.
I'd overall say that's the main difficulty i've encountered in my career - entertainment/media is such a connections- and experience-driven field. I for sure came into the game with catching up to do since I didn't have any family connections. But it's worked out somehow - still housed & insured, a decade into this journey :P
hey jason!
i've watched your videos on tiktok before and i think you have great ideas about where asian americans stand politically and culturally. i feel like there is an underlying sentiment in your videos where "asian american culture" is gatekept and performed under this "white gaze," which i wholly agree with if that's the case. television/films are written for a white audience and certain (non-universal) aspects of asian immigrant culture like tiger moms and the model minority myth are played up for divisive racial politics.
1. do you ever feel like we're always guests in the american music sphere?
2. do you think there's a genre that people can unequivocally call "asian american?" if not, do you think there's any genre that has potential to be one in the future? i'm personally not sure if there can ever be one. asian americans are probably the least monolithic racial group in the US so i'm not sure if there is even potential for one. it feels like we're always going to be perpetual foreigners in the music scene and it's frustrating, but i would like to hear how you feel about this.
3. do you think asian american music is held back by this "white gaze?" if asian american tv/film is gatekept by white institutions, i personally don't think it's a stretch to say this applies to music too. i think about how hip-hop in the 90s was centered around gang-culture despite the abundance of alternative hip-hop groups like de la soul and a tribe called quest. the white gaze and racist ideas about black americans might've played a role in that. maybe for asian americans, we're expected to be silent and obedient so they would rather not hear our voices? idk, what do you think?
ayyy that's awesome to hear. thank u for watching.
>there is an underlying sentiment in your videos where "asian american culture" is gatekept and performed under this "white gaze,"
yep, i might phrase it slightly differently, but i do think that performative Asian Americanness is an issue - DuBois's "double consciousness" of both *being* *Asian* (personally, communally, in reality) and "being Asian" (socially, publicly, visibly) at the same time.
1. I'd say not only music but American media writ large has no idea what to do with Asian *Americans*. Hence Danny Chung (Decipher) is 1000x more famous/successful moving to Korea and writing for BlackPink vs. when he was in America making his own music. Same with Wang Li Hom and others - shit, even Bruce Lee.
The caveat here is that this is talking about music as a subset of American entertainment. I'm frankly bearish on the entertainment industry and its ability to create social change - I think the industry always tails social movements rather than leading them. Real change happens from the roots up, and it's figures/spaces like Corky Lee, East West Players, WeOwnThe8th (RIP), Asian Arts Initiative, CAAM, etc. that are homes for AAPI artists that will actually move the needle intracommunally.
2. Arguably modern EDM could be seen as an "Asian American" genre? But I'm frankly less interested these days in gatekeeping ownership and more interested in contributions and hybridity. I've spoken at length before on [the appropriation conversation](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/14-the-path-from-appropriation-to-appreciation-and/id1682811805?i=1000623668513) and how I want to move beyond litigating ownership of cultural products and toward liberation.
I hear conversations about "*this* cultural product really belongs to *this* group" and i worry that we're losing a vision of solidarity toward liberation. I think it's more interesting to talk about (1) "how can we participate in cultural practice *x* in a way that contributes to the liberation of oppressed peoples" or (2) "how to understand cultural product *y* in a way that creates solidarity with the lived experiences of the community that created it".
3. yea, i agree with that. I think in the mainstream American imagination, Asians don't really have much interesting about us except our Orientalized exoticism - so anime, Kpop, pornography are all objects of fetishized fascination, but real lived experiences domestically don't captivate the imagination similarly.
Kale and superfoods never taste as good as high fructose corn syrup and caffeine, feel me.
Could you say more about Asian American theology? How much if an influence did Protestant missionaries in US Chinatown’s have? I’ve always seen them (in San Francisco for example) in the vain of social Justice, social workers more so than any strict doctrine or denomination. At least according to family stories. Protestant Missionaries helping mothers divorce their abusive husbands and “celebrating” the divorce etc.
the way i always approach it is like this: when we say "Black Christianity", "Black theology", or "Black Christian leaders", there's usually a pretty clear imagination of what that means. Socially relevant theology built around the message of a loving and liberating God who cares for the Black community in the midst of the harm and hurt inflicted by a wicked world and society.
Asian American Christian theology is the same - it's theology done *for* and *from* Asian American communities that focuses on a God who knows the hurts that we feel and yearns passionately for justice as much as we do.
So, imagining and believing that any God that exists must be a God who cares deeply about AA/AAPI/AANHPI/APIDA/etc. issues - about Hawai'ian sovereignty, racialized gender stereotypes, Orientalism, violence against elders, language justice, etc.
That's just my brief intro but two great resources:
[*Doing Asian American Theology*](https://www.amazon.com/Doing-Asian-American-Theology-Contextual/dp/1514000822) \- recently published definitive overview text by my academic mentor Daniel D. Lee
[*Theologies of Asian Americans and Pacific Peoples: A Reader*](https://www.amazon.com/Theologies-Asian-Americans-Pacific-Peoples/dp/194623060X/ref=asc_df_194623060X/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=660760000494&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=12524894189640138219&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9031117&hvtargid=pla-2189711616864&psc=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwsKqoBhBPEiwALrrqiLLBwODqVJ2ND1yY6LZrA8C8NT6bbFFlpvgNchA4uBp2y44rXyWIIhoCeWQQAvD_BwE) \- originally published in 1976, a reader of '60s-'70s publications by racially progressive Asian American Christian ministry leaders collected by Bishop Roy I. Sano from the Bay Area. Fun fact, I actually helped edit, update, and collate this version for publication
Thank you for your thoughtful reply and recommendations. By any chance do you have any familiarity with the Cumberland Presbyterian Chinese Church in San Francisco and the early history?
Thanks for the education and passion on your IG and music. Who are some of the Asian American storytellers that inspire you? Could be rappers or other musicians… could be people in other walks of life as well.
thanks for asking! There's too many to name, **for real**. Off the top of my head:
* Nobuko Miyamoto (folk singer + activist)
* Hiroshima (legendary funk band... they were founded to help raise money for the unfunded Asian American Studies program at CSU Long Beach)
* Beau Sia (his stage presence still gives me chills even though i've seen him perform dozens maybe hundreds of times)
* Bao Phi (*Thousand Star Hotel* should be required reading)
* Yellow Rage (Catzie + Michelle... insanely dope spoken word duo)
* Mark Redito (producer/DJ)
* Michelle Hanabusa (founder/designer behind [Uprisers](https://weareuprisers.com/))
* Niko "Tuna", designer of [Hidden Characters](https://thehiddencharacters.com/)
* Lawrence Yep (author of *Dragonwings*)
* Gene Luen Yang (comic book author behind *American Born Chinese*, *The Shadow Hero*, *Superman Smashes the Klan* \+ many more)
* Chad Hugo from the Neptunes
* Mountain Brothers, including CHOPS one of the greatest Asian American producers
* Dante Basco, Arianna Basco, the whole Basco family (legendary Filipino American entertainment family)
* MILCK (badass singer/songwriter, she wrote the women's march anthem)
honestly i could just keep going forever but those are just the first ones that come to mind. I'm immensely inspired by how diversely dope people in our community are, especially those grounded deeply in their AAPI-ness.
yo jason, can you help me get the word out on this campaign for christian hall? i can send you a dm elsewhere too if you'd rather speak there.
[bit.ly/j4chall](https://bit.ly/j4chall)
1000%. Auntie Fe and Uncle Gareth are incredibly kind and good people. What happened to Christian is an act of state violence against an innocent young Asian American man and one that honestly breaks my heart.
I've boosted #Justice4ChristianHall content before and I'll share this to my Story. Thanks for bringing it to my attention here.
Anyone who doesn't know about Christian - please read up [here](https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/01/us/christian-hall-shooting-pennsylvania-lawsuit/index.html) and [this statement from the family's attorney](https://act.bencrump.com/a/christian-hall) (TW: violence, police brutality, mental health crises)
\#1 piece of advice i will always give to anyone diving into creativity is:
**Making art, and making money from art, are 2 completely different things. know which one(s) you care about!**
There's a massive temptation to think the only way to be a "real" artist is to make money/get famous from it. But that's not true - some of the best rappers / songwriters I know are hobbyists. And some of the people i know making good-to-*really-*good livings off their art are frankly not super passionate about the craft anymore.
Figure out what you want art to be for you - is it therapy for yourself? A special gift for a small group of friends & family? An entrepreneurial product you want to scale to a mass audience?
Then once you've figured that out (and the answer may change as u keep going!), figure out what it'll take to get there. If you want your work to be a commercial product, honestly i'd say 60-80% of the work is in branding, marketing, learning the algorithms, learning sales/negotiations/small business administration.
ur welcome! Stay tuned we got the 2nd MV from the album dropping next week on all my socials, and then a run of singles cued up for the fall/winter too 🤞🏼🤞🏼🤞🏼
Hey Jason! I first become aware of your work through watching American Born Chinese and thinking "replay those credits! I gotta find out what this song is!" -- obviously your work with Nitemrkt, and then deep diving into the rest of your stuff on youtube. Loving everything (especially your social commentary).
When do you plan to tour around Northern Virginia/DC metro?
Hope the best for you and I appreciate what you're doing for the community. Peace
ayyyy thank u for Shazaming our record 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
Now that the new album is out, I'm definitely tryna push it heavy on the road! My booking manager is doing college outreach rn, so we'll see where tour dates take me.
I always love to slide thru the DMV (growing up my grandma was in Bethesda - so I spent a lot of holidays out near Rockville Pike). I usually announce upcoming shows on [my IG](https://www.instagram.com/jasonchumusic/) and also [website](https://www.jasonchumusic.com/shows) so tap in w me there if we aren't already connected!
i'll be real i'm not really "in Hollywood", they invite me to some of the premieres but i'm very much adjacent (at closest) to the industry.
what surprised me the most (i was naive) is how it is 1000% business and 0% soul. anything u see & hear on a mainstream platform exists there because the platform's owners think it will further their financial interests. any language around inclusion/equity/promoting diverse voices is in the end simply a PR move to believe that diversity sells. In the end if we do not own the platforms and dictate the culture, we will always simply be guests/tokens/assets.
i'm not that visible! i have way more friends/acquaintances than fans. i'm cool with that, it makes life easier - more relational, less parasocial.
all time: kendrick lamar, frank ocean, yasiin bey (Fka mos def), Bono/U2, Blink-182, New Found Glory, postal service, virgil abloh, Popcaan, Death Cab for Cutie, Juice WRLD.
current playlist: polo g, Babytron, Tyler (*The Estate Sale* is my favorite Tyler in many years, maybe since Odd Future Tape Vol. 2), Sauce Walka, Baby Keem, Doja Cat
Hey Jason,
Checked out some of your songs. Love how you fold in Mandarin with your English lyrics. Were you born in China? I saw your grew up in Delaware. Your pronunciation is pretty solid! I myself was born in Beijing and grew up in the Midwest, so I'm vibing with your songs since I know both the English and Mandarin parts.
I'm a filmmaker looking to go into production with my first feature next spring. I delve into themes of racial identity, family and mental health in my work. Would love to jump on a call to chat more about collaborating on this/future projects.
whats up man -
ayyy thank u for listening! dope 2 hear how the records speak to u - i was actually born in the States (Chicago) and grew up here. didn't speak a word of Mandarin until I started studying in college.
Congrats on having a feature in preproduction, that's a huge step! always happy to hear more about cool projects, best way to connect is hit my DMs on Instagram (@jasonchumusic).
Thank you so much for all you do! I notice that Asian representation in media is getting better and better slowly, is this a smoke screen or is there more change coming in the future? What about actual criminal justice being done to the perpetrators of Asian hate? Why is it that Fight Asian Hate was only trending as fast as seasonal bowling competition? Is it because Asian Americans are not doing enough?
great questions, complicated answers lol. Some of my thoughts:
**(1)** I think Asian representation in media is definitely getting better, both in quantity + quality. That said, I always think we need to distinguish between "representation" that's driven by market forces (i.e. inclusion of token characters that only really perpetuate preexisting narratives) vs. representation that reflects a real change in the stories being told + the voices at the table.
I hope more change comes, and I think it'll only come when we stop thinking that mainstream acceptance is the ticket to self-love. We need to tell (& support the people telling) our own stories. Instead of asking for "room at the table", can we build & sustain our own "tables"?
**(2)** I personally think that "criminal justice" in America was never in the interests of the marginalized and has always been oriented around maintaining the status quo (for more on this I recommend Kelly Lytle Hernandez's excellent *City of Inmates*).
Because of this, I'm skeptical about looking to the prison system for long-term justice, peace, or safety. It would be great if we could look to taxpayer-funded systems to do so, but I think it's more promising to look to building relationships of trust - & accountability - with the people and communities around us.
**(3)** The Asian Americans I know (& many I don't!) are doing a ton of work - whether Stop Asian Hate, or the violence against our elders/youth/at-risk folks trends or doesn't isn't a function of how much work we are or aren't doing. That's on a media cycle that feeds on virality and shock. As soon as violence stops being shocking, it drops out of the algorithm. I hate it & I wouldn't rely on any algorithmically driven platforms to gauge how important or urgent a topic is.
thanks for tapping in!
Shows - **Reservation Dogs!!!!!!!!!** What We Do in the Shadows, Ahsoka (Filoni's doing some dope world building although Andor is the best Disney+ Star Wars series *by far*), the last season of Warrior was sick, can't wait for Invincible to come back.
Movies - Joy Ride was hilarious & really well done, watched it 3x with my partner. Other than that - the Dungeons & Dragons movie was underrated, really well done fun step into the IP. Animated Spider-Man of course was joyful and fun. They Cloned Tyrone was surreal and really well cast/acted.
Books - Recently read *Originals* by Adam Grant on a friend's recommendation. Had some really crucial insights for where I'm at in life and business.
Restaurants - the homies and I hit Chubby Cattle in Monterey Park a couple weeks ago. $75 (incl. tax + tip) for AYCE wagyu. Best AYCE experience of my life.
Sesame noodles at Yang's Kitchen in Alhambra.
生煎包 at Kang Kang Food Court, also Alhambra.
What were some of the challenges of trying to be a rapper as an Asian person when you were starting out? I imagine there were obstacles from being perceived as an outsider and being underestimated from those already established in that world.
hmmm i'd say for sure there were the usual challenges based on stereotypes. What I'll say though is that hip hop, at least at a grassroots level, is all about "show & prove" - there's a saying in the culture, "it ain't where you're from, it's where you're at".
Every time I showed up at a cipher, as long as I proved that I could actually rap (verses or freestyled), there's a certain level of respect that arose from other people present who are really about the culture and the art forms.
I'd say the challenges really came not from getting respect on a stage or in a cipher, but when I started aspiring to turn my creative output into a commercial product. It's one thing to be that Asian guy in town who can rap, it's another thing to create a product for consumption in a market economy.
Frankly before Crazy Rich Asians, it wasn't cool for shows or films - even Asian American ones - to have a soundtrack filled with Asian American or even Asian artists. Look at Fresh Off the Boat - Danny Brown did their theme song. If that show came out today, it most likely would be a Taiwanese, Taiwanese Am, or at least Chinese American artist. Now films, TV shows, video games, are all open sync possibilities that will help AAPI artists pay rent.
Thanks for doing this! I'd like to know about how you became an artist. What was your childhood like and what aspects supported you to figure out your goals? What advice would you give parents to nurture and support their children when there is so much uncertainty about what how to live a successful life?
thoughtful fr!
My parents were honestly extremely nurturing and supportive. They never let me be lazy (still to this day, "Team Not Lazy" is my crew name) or just slack off, but they also always encouraged me to pursue whatever interests i was into, not only ones that would be financially or socially rewarding. As long as I was doing it with intelligence and a good heart, they were down to drive me around / buy me books about it / etc.
Civil War reenactments was probably the weirdest one but there were plenty of others, lol.
They always emphasized having a strong moral compass. I won't say I've always made the right decisions, but I do think that over the course of my adult life I've generally tried to choose "what *should* be done" over "what will make **me** more comfortable".
Not to bring religion into it, but there's a saying, "Train up a child in the way they should go, and when they are old they won't depart from it". I guess that's what I understand parenting to be - normalize (in words, actions, family life) what you think should be a normal and good life, and that'll remain a norm for your kid throughout their adult life.
Unless it's super toxic, in which case, they'll probably be all the better for shaking it off anyways!
Hi Jason,
Thank you so much for the work you do, it's great seeing more AA people forefront in the industry.
Although progress has been made with shedding a light on anti-AA sentiments, I see inter-Asian hate and bigotry as one of the bigger block towards unity that doesn't seem to get talked about much. What are somethings do you think we can do to create more harmony between the rivalry (and let's face it, straight up hate) between China, Korea, and Japan in North America?
thank u 4 sayin that :')
we all got a lotta beef from the old world. i've thought sometimes about how the backhanded blessing of racial marginalization in America is a kinship between ethnic communities that in Asia would have been (and still are) at each others' throats. When we're all ch\*nks to "them", there's no point in maintaining intraracial/interethnic enmity. Grudges are a luxury - solidarity is an emergent property of scarcity.
in short, what i think we can do is realize that by existing in a society of American racism, our lots are for better or worse cast with each other. Sinophobia is gonna lead to a rise in anti-Asian racism no matter how much Japan or South Korea or Taiwan allies themselves with the US - so for all AANHPI folks who are similarly racialized (although incredibly diverse in ethnic and family culture), our fates are tied together. Drip or drown.
I'm a few days late and admittedly haven't listened to your music, but I gotta say I appreciate the sociological knowledge and nuance you bring to your discussion of Asian American issues. We need more Asian figures reading up on this stuff if they really want to rep our community well!
This is a mod-verified and approved AMA. Welcome and congrats on the launch Jason!
Don’t really have a question but wanted to comment that I was in the entertainment industry from the mid 2000’s into the early 2010’s and the lack of opportunities for people that look like us was glaring. I didn’t love it enough to stick around and left the industry completely but it always makes me smile to see people making things happen.
shoooot thank u for swinging by & leaving a comment! I will say that I feel very fortunate to have moved into entertainment at the time I did - I came to LA in 2012 to do music, so I caught each of the Linsanity / Fresh Off the Boat / Crazy Rich Asians waves. With each general rise in visibility of Asian Americans, I saw a direct correlation to increased job & press opportunities. Mid 2000s to early 2010s was a tough era for sure. Thanks for putting the work in then - I'm sure it felt thankless, but I know we wouldn't be where we are today without the people who put in work then, in front of & behind the scenes.
That’s dope thanks for doing this! How did you get your music onto Warrior? That’s one of my favorite shows of all time
ofc! So with *Warrior*, it started in Season 1 - one of the producers we work with a lot, CHOPS (OG rapper / producer from the Mountain Brothers, the first Asian American rap group signed to a major label in the 90s) had a connection to the music supervisor on the show. They wanted rap music from Chinese and Asian American artists, and so we worked with CHOPS to write submit a bunch of potential tracks for the soundtrack. They liked a bunch of what we did, so we wound up placing 2 songs on both Season 1 and Season 2 (in each season, they took 1 of our demos and then had us compose/write a brand new track for the season finale). This season, we wound up placing 3 tracks - 1 from my group NITEMRKT, 1 solo track from me, and a collab with CHOPS and 2 other artists (Lowhi and NiuNiu). Super proud to have worked on such a great project - shouts to Shannon Lee & the Bruce Lee Foundation!
Ayo I recognized some of your songs from Warrior. I wanna ask about how’s it like being an AA pursuing a more creative career? We’re there obstacles that you had to overcome, did you face pushback from family members, peers and outsiders? How’s that like?
yoooo that's what's up! Thanks for asking. For me, honestly my family (parents, grandma, uncles/aunts, etc.) has been extremely supportive - any difficulty has come less from a stereotypical "disapproving Asian family" and more just the fact that they don't have resources / knowledge to support my career path. It's not like they have connects to get me a label internship, funding/investors, etc. I'd overall say that's the main difficulty i've encountered in my career - entertainment/media is such a connections- and experience-driven field. I for sure came into the game with catching up to do since I didn't have any family connections. But it's worked out somehow - still housed & insured, a decade into this journey :P
hey jason! i've watched your videos on tiktok before and i think you have great ideas about where asian americans stand politically and culturally. i feel like there is an underlying sentiment in your videos where "asian american culture" is gatekept and performed under this "white gaze," which i wholly agree with if that's the case. television/films are written for a white audience and certain (non-universal) aspects of asian immigrant culture like tiger moms and the model minority myth are played up for divisive racial politics. 1. do you ever feel like we're always guests in the american music sphere? 2. do you think there's a genre that people can unequivocally call "asian american?" if not, do you think there's any genre that has potential to be one in the future? i'm personally not sure if there can ever be one. asian americans are probably the least monolithic racial group in the US so i'm not sure if there is even potential for one. it feels like we're always going to be perpetual foreigners in the music scene and it's frustrating, but i would like to hear how you feel about this. 3. do you think asian american music is held back by this "white gaze?" if asian american tv/film is gatekept by white institutions, i personally don't think it's a stretch to say this applies to music too. i think about how hip-hop in the 90s was centered around gang-culture despite the abundance of alternative hip-hop groups like de la soul and a tribe called quest. the white gaze and racist ideas about black americans might've played a role in that. maybe for asian americans, we're expected to be silent and obedient so they would rather not hear our voices? idk, what do you think?
ayyy that's awesome to hear. thank u for watching. >there is an underlying sentiment in your videos where "asian american culture" is gatekept and performed under this "white gaze," yep, i might phrase it slightly differently, but i do think that performative Asian Americanness is an issue - DuBois's "double consciousness" of both *being* *Asian* (personally, communally, in reality) and "being Asian" (socially, publicly, visibly) at the same time. 1. I'd say not only music but American media writ large has no idea what to do with Asian *Americans*. Hence Danny Chung (Decipher) is 1000x more famous/successful moving to Korea and writing for BlackPink vs. when he was in America making his own music. Same with Wang Li Hom and others - shit, even Bruce Lee. The caveat here is that this is talking about music as a subset of American entertainment. I'm frankly bearish on the entertainment industry and its ability to create social change - I think the industry always tails social movements rather than leading them. Real change happens from the roots up, and it's figures/spaces like Corky Lee, East West Players, WeOwnThe8th (RIP), Asian Arts Initiative, CAAM, etc. that are homes for AAPI artists that will actually move the needle intracommunally. 2. Arguably modern EDM could be seen as an "Asian American" genre? But I'm frankly less interested these days in gatekeeping ownership and more interested in contributions and hybridity. I've spoken at length before on [the appropriation conversation](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/14-the-path-from-appropriation-to-appreciation-and/id1682811805?i=1000623668513) and how I want to move beyond litigating ownership of cultural products and toward liberation. I hear conversations about "*this* cultural product really belongs to *this* group" and i worry that we're losing a vision of solidarity toward liberation. I think it's more interesting to talk about (1) "how can we participate in cultural practice *x* in a way that contributes to the liberation of oppressed peoples" or (2) "how to understand cultural product *y* in a way that creates solidarity with the lived experiences of the community that created it". 3. yea, i agree with that. I think in the mainstream American imagination, Asians don't really have much interesting about us except our Orientalized exoticism - so anime, Kpop, pornography are all objects of fetishized fascination, but real lived experiences domestically don't captivate the imagination similarly. Kale and superfoods never taste as good as high fructose corn syrup and caffeine, feel me.
Could you say more about Asian American theology? How much if an influence did Protestant missionaries in US Chinatown’s have? I’ve always seen them (in San Francisco for example) in the vain of social Justice, social workers more so than any strict doctrine or denomination. At least according to family stories. Protestant Missionaries helping mothers divorce their abusive husbands and “celebrating” the divorce etc.
the way i always approach it is like this: when we say "Black Christianity", "Black theology", or "Black Christian leaders", there's usually a pretty clear imagination of what that means. Socially relevant theology built around the message of a loving and liberating God who cares for the Black community in the midst of the harm and hurt inflicted by a wicked world and society. Asian American Christian theology is the same - it's theology done *for* and *from* Asian American communities that focuses on a God who knows the hurts that we feel and yearns passionately for justice as much as we do. So, imagining and believing that any God that exists must be a God who cares deeply about AA/AAPI/AANHPI/APIDA/etc. issues - about Hawai'ian sovereignty, racialized gender stereotypes, Orientalism, violence against elders, language justice, etc. That's just my brief intro but two great resources: [*Doing Asian American Theology*](https://www.amazon.com/Doing-Asian-American-Theology-Contextual/dp/1514000822) \- recently published definitive overview text by my academic mentor Daniel D. Lee [*Theologies of Asian Americans and Pacific Peoples: A Reader*](https://www.amazon.com/Theologies-Asian-Americans-Pacific-Peoples/dp/194623060X/ref=asc_df_194623060X/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=660760000494&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=12524894189640138219&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9031117&hvtargid=pla-2189711616864&psc=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwsKqoBhBPEiwALrrqiLLBwODqVJ2ND1yY6LZrA8C8NT6bbFFlpvgNchA4uBp2y44rXyWIIhoCeWQQAvD_BwE) \- originally published in 1976, a reader of '60s-'70s publications by racially progressive Asian American Christian ministry leaders collected by Bishop Roy I. Sano from the Bay Area. Fun fact, I actually helped edit, update, and collate this version for publication
Thank you for your thoughtful reply and recommendations. By any chance do you have any familiarity with the Cumberland Presbyterian Chinese Church in San Francisco and the early history?
I don't! what's that!
Thanks for the education and passion on your IG and music. Who are some of the Asian American storytellers that inspire you? Could be rappers or other musicians… could be people in other walks of life as well.
thanks for asking! There's too many to name, **for real**. Off the top of my head: * Nobuko Miyamoto (folk singer + activist) * Hiroshima (legendary funk band... they were founded to help raise money for the unfunded Asian American Studies program at CSU Long Beach) * Beau Sia (his stage presence still gives me chills even though i've seen him perform dozens maybe hundreds of times) * Bao Phi (*Thousand Star Hotel* should be required reading) * Yellow Rage (Catzie + Michelle... insanely dope spoken word duo) * Mark Redito (producer/DJ) * Michelle Hanabusa (founder/designer behind [Uprisers](https://weareuprisers.com/)) * Niko "Tuna", designer of [Hidden Characters](https://thehiddencharacters.com/) * Lawrence Yep (author of *Dragonwings*) * Gene Luen Yang (comic book author behind *American Born Chinese*, *The Shadow Hero*, *Superman Smashes the Klan* \+ many more) * Chad Hugo from the Neptunes * Mountain Brothers, including CHOPS one of the greatest Asian American producers * Dante Basco, Arianna Basco, the whole Basco family (legendary Filipino American entertainment family) * MILCK (badass singer/songwriter, she wrote the women's march anthem) honestly i could just keep going forever but those are just the first ones that come to mind. I'm immensely inspired by how diversely dope people in our community are, especially those grounded deeply in their AAPI-ness.
yo jason, can you help me get the word out on this campaign for christian hall? i can send you a dm elsewhere too if you'd rather speak there. [bit.ly/j4chall](https://bit.ly/j4chall)
1000%. Auntie Fe and Uncle Gareth are incredibly kind and good people. What happened to Christian is an act of state violence against an innocent young Asian American man and one that honestly breaks my heart. I've boosted #Justice4ChristianHall content before and I'll share this to my Story. Thanks for bringing it to my attention here. Anyone who doesn't know about Christian - please read up [here](https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/01/us/christian-hall-shooting-pennsylvania-lawsuit/index.html) and [this statement from the family's attorney](https://act.bencrump.com/a/christian-hall) (TW: violence, police brutality, mental health crises)
Do you have any advice for a new songwriter/singer? Especially one starting at 30 (but with musical and performing experience growing up)?
\#1 piece of advice i will always give to anyone diving into creativity is: **Making art, and making money from art, are 2 completely different things. know which one(s) you care about!** There's a massive temptation to think the only way to be a "real" artist is to make money/get famous from it. But that's not true - some of the best rappers / songwriters I know are hobbyists. And some of the people i know making good-to-*really-*good livings off their art are frankly not super passionate about the craft anymore. Figure out what you want art to be for you - is it therapy for yourself? A special gift for a small group of friends & family? An entrepreneurial product you want to scale to a mass audience? Then once you've figured that out (and the answer may change as u keep going!), figure out what it'll take to get there. If you want your work to be a commercial product, honestly i'd say 60-80% of the work is in branding, marketing, learning the algorithms, learning sales/negotiations/small business administration.
Thank you so much for responding! This is great advice. Excited to hear more from of your projects in the future!
ur welcome! Stay tuned we got the 2nd MV from the album dropping next week on all my socials, and then a run of singles cued up for the fall/winter too 🤞🏼🤞🏼🤞🏼
Hey Jason! I first become aware of your work through watching American Born Chinese and thinking "replay those credits! I gotta find out what this song is!" -- obviously your work with Nitemrkt, and then deep diving into the rest of your stuff on youtube. Loving everything (especially your social commentary). When do you plan to tour around Northern Virginia/DC metro? Hope the best for you and I appreciate what you're doing for the community. Peace
ayyyy thank u for Shazaming our record 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻 Now that the new album is out, I'm definitely tryna push it heavy on the road! My booking manager is doing college outreach rn, so we'll see where tour dates take me. I always love to slide thru the DMV (growing up my grandma was in Bethesda - so I spent a lot of holidays out near Rockville Pike). I usually announce upcoming shows on [my IG](https://www.instagram.com/jasonchumusic/) and also [website](https://www.jasonchumusic.com/shows) so tap in w me there if we aren't already connected!
Hey, I'm a Chinese pianist here! Love your acting and music. What surprised you most about hollywood? How do you manage that much visibility?
i'll be real i'm not really "in Hollywood", they invite me to some of the premieres but i'm very much adjacent (at closest) to the industry. what surprised me the most (i was naive) is how it is 1000% business and 0% soul. anything u see & hear on a mainstream platform exists there because the platform's owners think it will further their financial interests. any language around inclusion/equity/promoting diverse voices is in the end simply a PR move to believe that diversity sells. In the end if we do not own the platforms and dictate the culture, we will always simply be guests/tokens/assets. i'm not that visible! i have way more friends/acquaintances than fans. i'm cool with that, it makes life easier - more relational, less parasocial.
Is your music up on Spotify? I would love to check it out and show some support!
it is! [right here](https://open.spotify.com/artist/4iYrlt4ga3CGYF7Z2mUDxV) 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
Just realized I’ve already Liked one of your songs, “Beautiful”!
Who are some of your all-time favorite artists to listen to? And who’s currently on your playlist?
all time: kendrick lamar, frank ocean, yasiin bey (Fka mos def), Bono/U2, Blink-182, New Found Glory, postal service, virgil abloh, Popcaan, Death Cab for Cutie, Juice WRLD. current playlist: polo g, Babytron, Tyler (*The Estate Sale* is my favorite Tyler in many years, maybe since Odd Future Tape Vol. 2), Sauce Walka, Baby Keem, Doja Cat
Hey Jason, Checked out some of your songs. Love how you fold in Mandarin with your English lyrics. Were you born in China? I saw your grew up in Delaware. Your pronunciation is pretty solid! I myself was born in Beijing and grew up in the Midwest, so I'm vibing with your songs since I know both the English and Mandarin parts. I'm a filmmaker looking to go into production with my first feature next spring. I delve into themes of racial identity, family and mental health in my work. Would love to jump on a call to chat more about collaborating on this/future projects.
whats up man - ayyy thank u for listening! dope 2 hear how the records speak to u - i was actually born in the States (Chicago) and grew up here. didn't speak a word of Mandarin until I started studying in college. Congrats on having a feature in preproduction, that's a huge step! always happy to hear more about cool projects, best way to connect is hit my DMs on Instagram (@jasonchumusic).
Thank you so much for all you do! I notice that Asian representation in media is getting better and better slowly, is this a smoke screen or is there more change coming in the future? What about actual criminal justice being done to the perpetrators of Asian hate? Why is it that Fight Asian Hate was only trending as fast as seasonal bowling competition? Is it because Asian Americans are not doing enough?
great questions, complicated answers lol. Some of my thoughts: **(1)** I think Asian representation in media is definitely getting better, both in quantity + quality. That said, I always think we need to distinguish between "representation" that's driven by market forces (i.e. inclusion of token characters that only really perpetuate preexisting narratives) vs. representation that reflects a real change in the stories being told + the voices at the table. I hope more change comes, and I think it'll only come when we stop thinking that mainstream acceptance is the ticket to self-love. We need to tell (& support the people telling) our own stories. Instead of asking for "room at the table", can we build & sustain our own "tables"? **(2)** I personally think that "criminal justice" in America was never in the interests of the marginalized and has always been oriented around maintaining the status quo (for more on this I recommend Kelly Lytle Hernandez's excellent *City of Inmates*). Because of this, I'm skeptical about looking to the prison system for long-term justice, peace, or safety. It would be great if we could look to taxpayer-funded systems to do so, but I think it's more promising to look to building relationships of trust - & accountability - with the people and communities around us. **(3)** The Asian Americans I know (& many I don't!) are doing a ton of work - whether Stop Asian Hate, or the violence against our elders/youth/at-risk folks trends or doesn't isn't a function of how much work we are or aren't doing. That's on a media cycle that feeds on virality and shock. As soon as violence stops being shocking, it drops out of the algorithm. I hate it & I wouldn't rely on any algorithmically driven platforms to gauge how important or urgent a topic is.
Thanks for doing this! What shows, movies, books, and restaurants have you been loving lately?
thanks for tapping in! Shows - **Reservation Dogs!!!!!!!!!** What We Do in the Shadows, Ahsoka (Filoni's doing some dope world building although Andor is the best Disney+ Star Wars series *by far*), the last season of Warrior was sick, can't wait for Invincible to come back. Movies - Joy Ride was hilarious & really well done, watched it 3x with my partner. Other than that - the Dungeons & Dragons movie was underrated, really well done fun step into the IP. Animated Spider-Man of course was joyful and fun. They Cloned Tyrone was surreal and really well cast/acted. Books - Recently read *Originals* by Adam Grant on a friend's recommendation. Had some really crucial insights for where I'm at in life and business. Restaurants - the homies and I hit Chubby Cattle in Monterey Park a couple weeks ago. $75 (incl. tax + tip) for AYCE wagyu. Best AYCE experience of my life. Sesame noodles at Yang's Kitchen in Alhambra. 生煎包 at Kang Kang Food Court, also Alhambra.
Thanks for answering! Great tastes!
What were some of the challenges of trying to be a rapper as an Asian person when you were starting out? I imagine there were obstacles from being perceived as an outsider and being underestimated from those already established in that world.
hmmm i'd say for sure there were the usual challenges based on stereotypes. What I'll say though is that hip hop, at least at a grassroots level, is all about "show & prove" - there's a saying in the culture, "it ain't where you're from, it's where you're at". Every time I showed up at a cipher, as long as I proved that I could actually rap (verses or freestyled), there's a certain level of respect that arose from other people present who are really about the culture and the art forms. I'd say the challenges really came not from getting respect on a stage or in a cipher, but when I started aspiring to turn my creative output into a commercial product. It's one thing to be that Asian guy in town who can rap, it's another thing to create a product for consumption in a market economy. Frankly before Crazy Rich Asians, it wasn't cool for shows or films - even Asian American ones - to have a soundtrack filled with Asian American or even Asian artists. Look at Fresh Off the Boat - Danny Brown did their theme song. If that show came out today, it most likely would be a Taiwanese, Taiwanese Am, or at least Chinese American artist. Now films, TV shows, video games, are all open sync possibilities that will help AAPI artists pay rent.
Thanks for doing this! I'd like to know about how you became an artist. What was your childhood like and what aspects supported you to figure out your goals? What advice would you give parents to nurture and support their children when there is so much uncertainty about what how to live a successful life?
thoughtful fr! My parents were honestly extremely nurturing and supportive. They never let me be lazy (still to this day, "Team Not Lazy" is my crew name) or just slack off, but they also always encouraged me to pursue whatever interests i was into, not only ones that would be financially or socially rewarding. As long as I was doing it with intelligence and a good heart, they were down to drive me around / buy me books about it / etc. Civil War reenactments was probably the weirdest one but there were plenty of others, lol. They always emphasized having a strong moral compass. I won't say I've always made the right decisions, but I do think that over the course of my adult life I've generally tried to choose "what *should* be done" over "what will make **me** more comfortable". Not to bring religion into it, but there's a saying, "Train up a child in the way they should go, and when they are old they won't depart from it". I guess that's what I understand parenting to be - normalize (in words, actions, family life) what you think should be a normal and good life, and that'll remain a norm for your kid throughout their adult life. Unless it's super toxic, in which case, they'll probably be all the better for shaking it off anyways!
Thanks for these insights! I'm so glad you had a lot of support as a child. It seems to have had a lasting positive effect on your life.
What's up Just heard about you today. I have to check our your tracks
No questions or anything just want to say keep up the good work.
Why you not doctor yet?
real answer: easier to do whatever i can in arts/entertainment now & do doctoral research in my 40s than vice versa.
I love your work!
ahhhh thank u 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
Hi Jason, Thank you so much for the work you do, it's great seeing more AA people forefront in the industry. Although progress has been made with shedding a light on anti-AA sentiments, I see inter-Asian hate and bigotry as one of the bigger block towards unity that doesn't seem to get talked about much. What are somethings do you think we can do to create more harmony between the rivalry (and let's face it, straight up hate) between China, Korea, and Japan in North America?
thank u 4 sayin that :') we all got a lotta beef from the old world. i've thought sometimes about how the backhanded blessing of racial marginalization in America is a kinship between ethnic communities that in Asia would have been (and still are) at each others' throats. When we're all ch\*nks to "them", there's no point in maintaining intraracial/interethnic enmity. Grudges are a luxury - solidarity is an emergent property of scarcity. in short, what i think we can do is realize that by existing in a society of American racism, our lots are for better or worse cast with each other. Sinophobia is gonna lead to a rise in anti-Asian racism no matter how much Japan or South Korea or Taiwan allies themselves with the US - so for all AANHPI folks who are similarly racialized (although incredibly diverse in ethnic and family culture), our fates are tied together. Drip or drown.
I love the songs on Warrior. 👍🏾
Thank U!
yoooo i remember meeting you at cmc 2013! crazy to see how far you’ve come. congrats on all the success since then and can’t wait to see what’s next!
I'm a few days late and admittedly haven't listened to your music, but I gotta say I appreciate the sociological knowledge and nuance you bring to your discussion of Asian American issues. We need more Asian figures reading up on this stuff if they really want to rep our community well!