Arts & Entertainment: Discovery

It's midnight. The DJ has just put Afrika Bambaataa's "Planet Rock" on the turntable, hands are in the air, and in the corner of the room a crowd forms around two break-dancers squaring off. No, this is not a scene from Breakin' 2 Electric Boogaloo. It's every weekend at ASIAN HIP-HOP NIGHT.

For the past five years, local promoters and brothers Tom, 32, and Mark Yamada, 35, of nvrMT Promotions have packed major clubs such as the Showbox, Medusa, and Noiselab with young Asians. "Asians are leading and funding the scene," says Mark Yamada. "People don't want to recognize it, but it's Asians that are packing these clubs every weekend. The Showbox, for instance, holds 1,200 people, and even at a cost of $10 to $15 a person, we still consistently reach maximum capacity. When you scan the room, you'll find that it's almost all Asian faces."

"It used to be impossible to get a club to do an Asian night," says David Hajdu, 31, a promoter with Twisted Paradox. "They were afraid of being labeled, but things are no longer that way. A lot of clubs now depend on Asian patrons to keep their club open. We all respect the fact that there is a true hip-hop scene in Seattle, but there's just not a lot of money to be made there."

Indeed, the promoters say that in the Asian world, hip-hop is much more of a party sound than political. Says Tom Yamada: "Asians today can't relate to the real hip-hop culture because they're just not oppressed. They're too young and are more concerned with the MTV lifestyle they see. Now, we just try to throw a good party and make some money."

Other club promoters such as Ting, 30 (who goes by just that one name), say that what young Asians expect when they go out is not an education on all things hip-hop. "Asians feel most comfortable with other Asians," says Ting. "The ethnic group is very family oriented, and they don't want the crowd to be diversified. I would love to have a multicultural event, but as a promoter I have to give the paying public what they want."

Other participants view it differently. Dancers Wade Sugiyama, 21, and Jeff Mar, 20, of the break-dancing crew Breaking Point see hip-hop music as a universal language that can be adapted to everyone's life. "I think that Asians bring a new struggle," says Sugiyama. "People come here and there's the language barrier, culture barrier. They just want to find something to grab onto and have a sense of being American, because hip-hop is American." Mar adds, "My parents hate hip-hop. They think that it's a bad influence and gets in the way of their American dream for me to be a doctor or a lawyer. This is a struggle that a lot of young Asian Americans have to deal with. Asian culture and society expects us to be a certain way, and all we can be is ourselves."

There is a proliferation of Asians in all elements of hip-hop: breaking, graffiti art, MCing, and DJing. Local break-dancing crews such as the Massive Monkees and Circle of Fire are predominantly Asian, and the roster of reputable hip-hop DJs and MCs in town boasts Asian surnames. This faction of Asian hip-hop remains an underground phenomenon, but lack of fame does not deter their efforts.

"Being a b-boy is not about making money," says Marcus Garrison, 22, aka Juseboogy, a dancer with Massive Monkees. "Maybe that's why a lot of people who are initially interested by the art form lose interestbut not Asians. When I started out, there were a lot of Asians that were really moving into the hip-hop scene. In fact, people [in Seattle] thought break-dancing was an 'Asian thing' because they were the most dedicated to it. Asians didn't really have a specific place in the hip-hop culture because of their color and had to push themselves harder to get recognition. Whatever the reason, Asians were able to fully integrate themselves into the community because they had skills. That's all that matters with hip-hop."

Encouraged by the fame of DJs such as Dan "The Automator" Nakamura and Richard Quitevis (aka DJ Q-Bert), more and more young Asians have entered the scene with hopes of transforming the culture into their own. Gordon Tsai, 17, a first-generation Chinese American and senior at Hazen High School, is already making a name for himself as an MC. Just one of a handful of Asian faces in his class, Tsai, aka Gowdayzn, says that hip-hop is the only stable thing in his life. "Hip-hop is this really positive thing that helps people to relate to one another," says Tsai. "Like, my parents can hardly speak English, but they can listen to my music and enjoy it. They can understand the beats, and they can see that I'm putting my time to good use. I love being an Asian MC, and I don't ever want to use my race as a crutch. It's knowing who I am that's got me here, and I want people to respect my skills and look past my color."Janna Chan

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