HomeBad Ass AsiansAPARTY, a Musical Celebration for Asian Pacific Heritage Month

APARTY, a Musical Celebration for Asian Pacific Heritage Month

Alex Sun-Liu,AKA Lex
Alex Sun-Liu,AKA Lex

By Takuma Okada
AsAmNews Intern

 

What Is APARTY?

APARTY
[uh-PAHRT-ee]

adjective
1. With the characteristics of being a part of something.
2. With the characteristics of being separate, or set apart, from something.

noun
1. A social gathering of guests. Synonyms: party.
2. A music showcase curated by LEX for APA Heritage Month featuring the dopest Asian American musicians in the Bay.

Tomorrow night, the Hotel Utah in San Francisco will host the first hopefully annual APARTY, a concert organized by rapper and writer Alex Sun-Liu, artist name LEX.Aparty

Visibility for Asian Americans in the music industry has always been low, on all levels. Of course, the situation has improved slightly fairly recently. Artists such as Run River North, the Slants, Mitski, Steve Aoki, and frontman for The Family Crest Liam McCormick are breaking out on a national level. Kollaboration, an LA based nonprofit that works to support Asian Americans in the arts, even organized the very first all Asian American showcase at the South by Southwest festival this year.

However, Sun-Liu still sees the lack of representation, especially in genres like hip-hop, r&b, soul, pop punk, and electronica, and in positions as producers. Part of the model minority myth sometimes includes seeing Asian Americans as just classical musicians, or sometimes singer-songwriters. It’s why Sun-Liu created APARTY, and invited some of the best in the Bay Area music scene on the lineup. She hopes to make it a regular event, and even expand it with ideas like a showcase of Asian American rappers.

I talked with Alex Sun-Liu earlier about APARTY, being an Asian American musician, and the Bay Area. Responses from other artists are from a similar separate interview:

1. What reasons did you have for creating or joining the APARTY lineup?

LEX: APARTY aims to highlight Asian American musicians in the Bay Area who are creating diverse and unique sounds, especially in genres where they are underrepresented. The goal is to show that while we’ve been set APART in the music scene, we are A PART of it, and we can throw A PARTY.

2. What do you enjoy about the Bay Area music scene?

LEX: I like that I can leverage my Asianness as a marketable advantage. There’s a healthy Asian American population and music community here, and while my race and gender might have been an obstacle for me as a rapper in Detroit, for example (thinking about Eminem here), most people here see me do my thing and are incredibly supportive. Being Asian can be a differentiator that moves me further instead of pushing me back. That, and the rest of the music community is incredibly talented and constantly inspiring me.

3. Who are your favorite Asian American musicians?

LEX: To name only a few and mostly in hip hop, Dumbfoundead and Traphik were really influential for my early interest in rap. Currently I’m a huge unironic fan of Joji Miller (aka Filthy Frank) and his bizarro comedic rap project called ‘Pink Guy’.

4. What is your heritage? Does it have a musical influence on you? 

LEX: I’m Taiwanese American. It’s a central part of my work. I celebrate my Asianness while making sure my content is still relatable to a wide audience. For example, “Undateable” is an anthem for independent women that also brings up my dating experience as an Asian woman; “Glasses” is an anthem for the four-eyed, that also takes ownership of the Asian nerd stereotype. My identity as a third-culture kid from Taipei also plays into my choice of imagery, hometown shout outs, and even language.

Babii Cris: I descend from Japanese, Hawaiian and Filipino ancestors. My grandmother on my mother’s side came straight from the Philippines. My other grandma came to America from Peru after she was born in Japan. I started writing at 8 years old with a runaway mom fleeing her baby’s father, and I fight because my grandparents had to fight to come here, and to survive on these cold streets to make a better life for their children. I want to inspire people from different backgrounds to be passionate and persistent about what they love.

Go Yama
Go Yama

 

Go Yama: I’m Japanese American. I describe my music as “beats, hip hop, experimental, ramen”. My album from a few years back was a tribute to the director Hayao Miyazaki. I used samples from the soundtracks, composed by Joe Hisaishi, to make a variety of different beats. It was both a tribute of gratitude and an exercise to work out the same kind of creative muscle that Miyazaki did.

 

Gerard of Sleeptalkers:  I’m first generation Filipino American, but I’m not super connected to my roots as a Filipino, and I don’t think that my heritage has played a big role in my music. My folks wanted me and my siblings to grow up “American.” I don’t know a lot of Filipino artists, but I listen to a lot of Japanese and Korean pop and rock music, which isn’t necessarily my heritage as an Asian person, but I do think that those genres have had a significant impact on my songwriting.

 

5. Have you experienced problems or discrimination in the music industry because of your race? 

 

Eddy Shin: I would say that the music industry is definitely tough for everyone, but Asian artists and musicians, in particular, have to overcome the stereotype of only being classical musicians and not having the “soul” or “feel” for certain genres of music, such as funk, r&b, blues, hip-hop, or even rock. I think this causes people to start with a negative perception towards Asian artists in these genres and affects their own perception of the possibility of success.

 

LEX: I’ve been dismissed and not taken seriously because of the way I look and sound. I experienced disregard from a local hip hop figurehead who will probably never book me at his shows – part of why I started organizing my own. On many occasions I’m the only Asian person at an open mic, industry mixer, rock show, or hip hop show. Sometimes all it takes is a good look around you to realize how few Asian Americans you see headlining local shows or signing record deals. Sure, the music industry is tough for everyone, but the difficulty level doubles when you are underrepresented, or worse, misrepresented – as in William Hung, one of the only Asian ‘celebrities’ most people can remember.

Sleeptalkers
Sleeptalkers

 

Gerard of Sleeptalkers: A personal incident I had playing in Sleeptalkers happened at a recent show. Someone came up to me after our set and said “You guys are like the Asian Green Day.” One, I much prefer Jimmy Eat World to Green Day. Two, why couldn’t this person just say, “You guys are like Green Day”? I don’t think he meant to be malicious at all, but if that’s how people are going to see us and our music, it’s a small window into how the general public will see us from the outside.

 

6. Do you think Asian Americans are underrepresented in music, and is representation improving?

 

Eddy Shin: Because of the lack of past successful Asian artists, making a living as a musician is deemed very unlikely by most in the Asian community, and therefore many promising young musicians are convinced not to pursue music.

 

Go Yama: Growing up, I had no musical role models that were Asian or Asian American; I think media had more control over what sort of images were presented. Because the music scene has recently been overtaken by a variety of net-based micro-genres, both the tastes of the consumer and range of acceptable aesthetics in the market have become more granular. This allows for different types of faces to shine that haven’t had the chance before. Honestly, I’m pretty excited about what the beat scene has brought for Asian Americans. For the first time in my life, there’s a genre in which a lot of my musical peers and heroes are Asian.

 

Gerard of Sleeptalkers: The music industry is looking to see who’s the most marketable or who’d reach the widest audience. Asians don’t have the same kind of audience built in that people from other ethnicities do either.  White people usually have their audiences in rock, country, and pop music. Black people have theirs in hip-hop, rap, and r&b. Sweeping generalizations aside, even I couldn’t put my finger on where Asian people would fall on the musical spectrum of pop music.

 

I’m having trouble naming a full Asian or Asian American artist that really broke out in the music industry in the US. The last person I can think of is Psy (and for the record, I saw the music video for Gangnam Style BEFORE it hit 1 million views – also, for the record, I’m being facetious). Before that it was probably William Hung who I think set back Asian artists in America back a couple hundred years.  There are a few artists with mixed Asian descent such as Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park, Apl de Ap of the Black Eyed Peas, and Bruno Mars but I don’t think the general public would really consider them Asian because they don’t fit the visual stereotype of what “Asian” looks like.

 

About the artists

 LEX is the smartrap project of female rapper, wordplay master and stereotype smasher Alex Sun Liu. LEX uses complex language, personal lyrics, multisyllabic rhymes and comedic flair to deliver the unique perspective of a “third-culture” female millennial transplant living in the Bay Area. She aims to shock and entertain audiences while fighting anti-intellectualism in America. She has a far-reaching range of musical influences including Hamilton the Musical, Watsky, Bo Burnham, and Pink Guy to name a few.

 

Babii Cris, 24, is an independent San Francisco based emcee, sound engineer, and producer pushing boundaries of music through experiences, emotions, and actions from yesterday, today and tomorrow. While one cannot define her music under just one genre, she combines the rhythm of old school, the energy of West Coast hip hop, the suave of alternative hip hop, and the lyricism of conscious rap with major influences of nineties and early millennium hip hop and RnB, alternative rock, and just recently, some chillstep. Raised by single teenage parents, Babii Cris grew up bobbing her head to nineties hip hop and early millennium artists such as Eminem, Alicia Keys, TLC, Bone Thugs N Harmony, The Fugees, Amanda Perez, NB Ridaz, Outkast, and many more.

 

Eddy Shin is a singer/songwriter/guitarist based in San Francisco, CA, he plays a soulful, eclectic blend of r&b/pop/jazz/funk/soul to create music with smooth melodies, searing guitars, and heartfelt lyrics.

Go Yama is a Japanese American producer, ramen lover, and guitarist from California and Boston who produces a wide range of styles from glitchy, experimental downtempo to dancy kawaii tracks. Fusing beat scene sensibility with looping and live instrumentation, Go Yama creates an engaging and cosmic experience both on stage and in your speakers.

 

Sleeptalkers is a one-two punch of nostalgia and energy all in a tightly packaged gift for your ears and your heart. Taking cues from their roots, Sleeptalkers seeks to share their brand of familiar but unique take on alternative rock. With catchy guitar licks and memorable hooks, their lyrics explore themes of self-improvement, love, and staying positive, especially when it feels impossible to. Sleeptalkers is channeled through Gerard (Vox/Guitar), Ryan W (Bass/Vox), and Ryan A (Drums).

 

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