Asian American Hip Hop Duos (SOUNDBITES 02)
This week, let’s shift the lens onto Asian American Hip Hop duos. Originally I intended to focus on emcee-producer duos, but I figured loosening the criteria would allow me to add more than one type of duo: we have duos that are individual artists who work well together as emcee and producer; duo that was formed as emcee and producer partnership; and a rap duo that has been dominating Asian American rap.
LUMIKOOLS & JOLLIBEATS— Like the solid partnership we saw in Talib Kweli and Hi-Tek, I’m sensing a similar synergy from this Bay Area Filipino American producer-and-emcee duo, delivering both soulful beats and an old-school cadence in the rhymes. Lumikools’ 2017 album, Always, is a 12-track project that highlights his chops as a rapper with a casual conversational vibe, riding over chill beats laced with samples from classics, like Eddie Kendricks’ “Intimate Friends.” Most recently, Lumikools with producers Jollibeats and Blu Majic dropped a pipe organ-heavy “Solar Flares.” As a producer, Jollibeats is one of my favorite go-to channels for simple Lo-Fi Hip Hop, with “Almost,” as my favorite remix of “One Summer’s Day” by Joe Hisaishi, from the animated Miyazaki film, Spirited Away. They recently rocked the stage together for Asian American Music Conference Artist Showcase in San Francisco at Neck of the Woods, and hopefully will be performing more in the Bay Area. While they each stand strongly on their own, their music together creates a new energy and I recommend both! Check out their mini EP, entitled Beyond the Nebula (2018).
Lumikools: Soundcloud | Youtube
Jollibeats: Soundcloud | Youtube
SENDAI ERA— As pulled from their website, “Sendai Era is a Seattle based music duo of emcee Era and producer Sendai Mike. Their music aims to highlight the experiences of Asian American artists and focuses on the often overlooked stories of migration within Asian American communities.” Their sound and overt messaging commits to a radical school of thought that birthed Asian America out of the socio-political movements of the 1960s. Whereas many artists highlight their Asian American ethnicities as a point of celebration and pride, Sendai Era takes it a step further, presenting ideas that are unafraid to reflect a greater struggle and story within the experiences of Asian American diasporas.
From Sendai Era’s VOICES EP (2014) to their most recent 10-track album titled, Lakas|Strength (2018), their music still holds onto the message of agency and using your voice. Now with a more focused lens on transnational Filipino American experiences, Era gets personal with family, politics, history, and even calling out political killings in the Philippines under Duterte’s drug war and endless attacks in Mindanao, with “Stop the Killings.” Not only do they hold onto the crux of their purpose to represent Asian Americans and Brown folks, their crafts grew alongside their music as emcee and producer throughout their catalog. Check out their music videos for “Wallflower” and “Mountains” from Lakas|Strength (2018).
“let them know that we got voices,
that we’re not voiceless”
— “Voices” from Voices EP (2014)
Sendai Era: Website | Soundcloud | Bandcamp
YEAR OF THE OX— I first got a glimpse of the heavy hitting Korean American rap duo from Virginia Beach, JL and Lyricks, from their “Seven Rings” music video, before finding out they were in a documentary, entitled Bad Rap (2016), directed by Salima Koroma, and produced by Jaeki Cho. I attended the 2017 screening and panel discussion in San Francisco, where Awkwafina, Rekstizzy, and Year of the OX performed short sets for the audience, including “Stampede” from their Year of the Ox EP (2017). The chemistry between Lyricks and JL rapping alongside each other bar for bar was nothing short of the dynamic we all know and loved between Mos Def and Talib Kweli as Black Star.
What I’ve also noticed within the realm of Korean American Hip Hop specifically is the transnational community that artists build, connecting each other to artists coast to coast in the U.S, as well as connecting each other to K-Hip Hop artists in South Korea as well. Out of these bridges come amazing collaborations, such as Eightyfivesoul (2018), a bilingual English-Korean 4-track project between Year of the Ox and Reddy, a South Korean rapper and singer.
In an interview with VICE, regarding their rise as Asian American Hip Hop artists, Lyricks acknowledged that while they didn’t plan on becoming figures of Asian America, they accept the responsibility of their platform:
we never thought about being representatives for Asian-Americans, but as our following gets bigger and our microphone gets bigger, we feel like that’s part of our responsibility—to represent [Asian-Americans] correctly. We’re trying to find the balance; we’re not trying to neglect our family or our traditions, but we’re not trying to turn it into a gimmick. —Lyrics, Munchies/VICE Interview, January 2018.
If you are an avid follower of YOX on Instagram, you’ve probably been taken along for the ride during their travels to South Korea and have gotten peeks into their everyday lives in Virginia, too. As YOX fans, not only have we seen their rise in the Hip Hop world, but we know how much they love food as well. YOX dropped a music video in 2017 titled, “A-Zn Foods,” which gives us a run-down of beloved Asian cuisines, and also calls out gentrification of Kimchi. Check out the video:
Related article: Year of the Ox Munchies/VICE Interview
I realize I made a lot of comparisons to Talib Kweli throughout this post, and honestly, some of Talib’s best and most memorable work came from his collaborative albums, which brings me to the last highlight. I couldn’t just mention them without making space for one of the most successful and influential rap duos in Hip Hop history: BLACK STAR. My favorite four minutes and forty-two seconds from the entire album: “Beautiful” remix with Mary J. Blige:
Next week, Asian American turntablists!
