Celebrating 50 Years of Hip-Hop—And Its AA+PI Pioneers
Born and bred of Black street culture, these iconic Asian Americans have played a vital role in hip-hop’s mainstream success
Just some of the AA+PI pioneers in hip-hop.
Illustration by Ryan Quan
Words by Samantha Pak
One of my earliest memories of hip-hop is hearing Warren G’s 1994 classic, “Regulate.” As soon as I heard that first line, “It was a clear black night, a clear black moon/Warren G was on the streets, tryin’ to consume,” I was hooked. Did I know what any of it meant or who Warren G was? Nope. Did 8-year-old me care? Also, nope. All I knew was that it kick-started a lifelong love of hip-hop (including step, dance, and more) fueled through my childhood by KUBE 93.3, Seattle’s long-running (and now defunct) hip-hop radio station.
Obviously, I wasn’t alone. Hip-hop was already old enough to drive by the time I tuned in, having started in the early ‘70s. And though the culture—which encompasses the four elements of emceeing, DJing, graffiti, and breakin’—was born from Black street culture, it turns out that hip-hop has played a large role in many AA+PIs’ lives over the years.
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of hip-hop, widely recognized as Aug. 11, here are some of our favorite, most influential AA+PIs in hip-hop then and now.
Fresh Kid Ice: Shattering stereotypes
2 Live Crew was one of the most well-known hip-hop groups to come out of the Miami bass scene—a subgenre of hip-hop that features heavy bass and often, sexually explicit lyrics—and among its members was co-founder Christopher Wong Won (1964-2017), better known as Fresh Kid Ice.
The group debuted in 1984 and Wong Won, who was of Chinese and Afro-Trinidadian ancestry, was seen as the first prominent Asian American in hip-hop, shattering the model minority stereotype. The group’s third and most successful album, As Nasty as They Wanna Be (1989), came under scrutiny for its sexually explicit lyrics (largely, their hit single “Me So Horny”). 2 Live Crew faced obscenity charges and because Florida is gonna Florida, the album was banned from being sold in the Sunshine State and the group was even arrested for performing the album at a club. Fortunately, the album ban was lifted after the group appealed in court.
Wong Won also released four solo albums—the first of which was called The Chinaman, in 1992, and was the first American hip-hop album to embrace an artist’s Asian heritage.
Sophia Chang: Badass behind the scenes
Sophia Chang’s career in the music industry began in the late 1980s. After spending her early days working with Paul Simon, she moved on to Jive Records, where she met RZA of the Wu-Tang Clan. This marked the beginning of her career in the male-dominated world of hip-hop, where Chang worked her way up to become the self-proclaimed Baddest Bitch in the Room.
Widely recognized as the first Asian woman in hip-hop, Chang kept her badassery behind the scenes. The Korean Canadian worked at a number of record labels and her relationship with RZA led her to manage the producer/rapper, as well as his fellow Wu-Tang Clan founders GZA and the late Ol’ Dirty Bastard. And it was through working with the legendary Staten Island group (whose ethos is famously partly inspired by Eastern philosophy and kung fu films) that Chang began to embrace her Korean culture that she’d grown up rejecting. She has also managed A Tribe Called Quest (and Tribe member Q-Tip, individually) and R&B singers D’Angelo and Raphael Saadiq. If that weren’t enough, Chang has also trained with and managed a Shaolin monk, and produced runway shows for Vivienne Tam and Project Runway All Stars.
Estria Miyashiro: Raising social consciousness through art
The San Francisco Bay Area in the 1980s was known as the “Golden Age of Graffiti” and Estria Miyashiro was right in the middle of it all. Originally from Honolulu, Miyashiro has been a spray paint pioneer for more than 30 years and was one of the key players in developing the stencil tip (which helps artists create thin, airbrush-like lines).
More than an artist, Miyashiro is known for using graffiti art—sometimes seen as vandalism—to raise communities’ social and political consciousnesses, and to educate others on issues ranging from local to global. Since those early days, he’s co-founded the Estria Battle (2007) and Estria Foundation (2010), a national graffiti art competition and nonprofit, respectively, that also focus on raising social awareness through public art and celebrate creativity in hip-hop arts.
Mountain Brothers: Listen before you judge
Hailing from Philadelphia, Mountain Brothers were one of the first Asian American hip-hop groups. Named after the legend of 108 mountain bandits in the Chinese novel, Water Margin, the trio formed in 1994 and included Scott Jung (CHOPS), Christopher Wang (Peril-L), and Steve Wei (Styles)—all of whom were Chinese American. The three rappers met as students at Pennsylvania State University, bonding over their love of making music and using the school’s studio to record.
Mountain Brothers’ strategy was to send their demos to music labels without a photo of themselves, knowing they could be discriminated against for their race. And for those who knew music and liked what they heard, the group would send their picture and surprise them with a trio of Asian American guys. Known for not sampling music—a common practice in hip-hop—the group released two critically acclaimed albums, Self Vol 1 and Triple Crown, the former of which is considered an indie hip-hop classic.
Invisibl Skratch Piklz: Pioneers on the turntable
Invisibl Skratch Piklz started in 1989 and is among the pioneers of the turntablism movement in the 1990s. Founded by DJ Qbert, Mix Master Mike, and DJ Apollo (who left in 1993)—all of whom are of Filipino descent—the San Francisco group has rotated through a number of members over the years. In addition to DJ Qbert and Mix Master Mike, the group’s most recent members are Shortkut and D-Styles (both also of Filipino descent).
Most active during the mid-1990s to 2000, the Piklz made a name for themselves in DJ battles at the national and international levels—both as a group and individually. Their most famous battle was in 1996, against New York’s X-Men (now the X-Ecutioners), where their scratching skills were on full display.
Since then, the DJs have all had successful solo careers as well.
Lyrics Born: The funkiest rapper you’ll ever meet
Lyrics Born discovered his calling the moment he heard Sugarhill Gang’s 1980 classic, “Rapper’s Delight.” Born Tsutomu “Tom” Shimura, the Bay Area rapper moved to the United States from Tokyo right as hip-hop was hitting the mainstream. He started releasing music in 1993—initially singles as a solo artist before coming out with an album as part of the hip-hop duo, Latyrx (alongside rapper Lateef the Truthspeaker) in 1997. Lyrics Born released his first solo album in 2003, and two decades later, he’s still at it.
Influenced by the likes of James Brown, George Clinton, Bootsy Collins and Zapp & Roger, as well as rappers KRS-One, Rakim and Snoop Dogg, Lyrics Born’s brand of hip-hop is decidedly funky. He’s also since expanded his career into film, most notably as a member of Randall Park’s fictional band, Hello Peril, in 2019’s Always Be My Maybe (am I the only one who wants an entire Hello Peril album?).
apl.de.ap: Using his platform to give back
Allan Pineda Lindo, otherwise known as apl.de.ap, co-founded the Black Eyed Peas in 1995 alongside his high school friend William James Adams Jr. (better known as will.i.am), Jaime Gomez (known as Taboo) and Kim Hill (who was replaced by Fergie in 2002). The group was unique at the time in that they were a hip-hop act coming out of LA that wasn’t doing gangsta rap. Instead, the Peas originally started out as an alternative hip-hop group, before rebranding themselves as more of a pop-rap act.
Despite changes in the Peas’ lineup, as well as a brief hiatus from 2011-15, apl.de.ap, will.i.am and Taboo are still together (with the addition of Filipina American singer J. Rey Soul). The group members have also branched out with solo careers. For apl.de.ap, who was born in the Philippines to a Filipina mother and Black father, that has meant embracing his Filipino roots. From his advocacy work to improve the educational situation for children in the Philippines, to his record label BMBX Entertainment, which focuses on signing Southeast Asian acts, apl.de.ap has been using his platform to give back to and raise the profile of the AA+PI community.
MC Jin: Freestyler extraordinaire
Before Jin from BTS, the artist many of us knew by that name was MC Jin. Born Jin Au-Yeung, the rapper grew up in Miami before his family moved to Queens, New York. He exploded onto the scene in 2002 when he debuted on BET’s 106 & Park during the show’s Freestyle Friday segment, which pit local rappers against each other. Jin dominated the competition and was inducted into the Freestyle Friday Hall of Fame after winning seven battles in a row.
Jin’s success in these battles was largely due to his quick thinking and ability to clap back at the (usually racist) disses his opponents were spitting. At 19, Jin signed with Ruff Ryders Entertainment, becoming the first Asian American solo rapper to sign to a major record label. His debut album, The Rest Is History, was released in 2004. Unfortunately, the album, as well as his two singles—“Learn Chinese” and “Senorita”—were not mainstream successes and Jin was dropped from the label in 2006. He also faced backlash for “Learn Chinese” as many felt the song perpetuated Asian stereotypes. More than a decade following the song’s release, Jin said while he doesn’t regret the song, “there is a reflective element to it.” While he may not have found much success in the United States, the emcee was able to make a name for himself in Hong Kong and mainland China.
Far East Movement: The number one number ones
Mixing hip-hop with electronic music, Far East Movement was started by Kevin Nishimura (Kev Nish), James Roh (Prohgress), and Jae Choung (J-Splif) in 2003. But it would take them seven years (with the addition of Virman Coquia, or DJ Virman) before breaking into the mainstream with “Like a G6” in 2010—and they broke in with a bang. When it came out, the club banger hit number one on both the Billboard Hot 100 chart, as well as the iTunes chart, making Far East Movement the first Asian American group (of any genre) to top the Billboard list.
By 2016, J-Splif left the group for family reasons and Far East Movement left their label and went independent because music execs kept telling them they were “too Asian” (not sure what they expected from a group with “Far East” in their name). And if they were “too Asian” before, the move to go independent led the now-trio to dive deeper into their identities. Their third album released that year was even called Identity and featured a number of collaborations with other Asian artists.
Audrey Nuna: The next generation
When it comes to newcomers to hip-hop, Audrey Nuna has been making a name for herself since she dropped her first singles in 2018, at the age of 19. Hailing from Manalapan, New Jersey, Nuna (born Audrey Chu) started performing and making music in her preteens. With the ability to rap and sing—and switch seamlessly between the two—Nuna can’t be placed into a single genre. Is she hip-hop? R&B? Pop? Like a lot of new music nowadays, the answer is yes. All of the above.
Although she originally went only by her first name, she added Nuna after being inspired by her younger brother and as a nod to her Korean roots: “Nuna” is a suffix used by younger males to address older females (such as an older sister). Most recently, she was featured on the soundtrack for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, teaming up with Indonesian singer NIKI on the track “Clocked Out.”
Published on August 11, 2023
Words by Samantha Pak
Samantha Pak (she/her) is an award-winning Cambodian American journalist from the Seattle area and co-editor in chief for JoySauce. She spends more time than she’ll admit shopping for books than actually reading them, and has made it her mission to show others how amazing Southeast Asian people are. Follow her on Twitter at @iam_sammi and on Instagram at @sammi.pak.
Art by Ryan Quan
Ryan Quan is the Social Media Editor for JoySauce. This queer, half-Chinese, half-Filipino writer and graphic designer loves everything related to music, creative nonfiction, and art. Based in Brooklyn, he spends most of his time dancing to hyperpop and accidentally falling asleep on the subway. Follow him on Instagram at @ryanquans.