Big_Mike_V's Blog

BROOKLYN, NYC

For those who do not know, the Asian Hip Hop Summit is a nation-wide tour, showcasing many of Asian American Hip Hop's super-powers!

One of the best and interesting shows that I've ever seen...and trust me, I'm pretty well-travelled when it comes to concerts!

Not just hip hop shows, but imagine...I've seen Paula Abdul, TLC, Janet (twice), Def Leppard, Nas, Snoop (twice), Ice Cube, KRS One (twice), X-Clan, Public Enemy (twice),  Duran Duran, De La Soul, Big Daddy Kane, 50 Cent (unfortunately), and the legendary Run-DMC (r.i.p. JMJ).

Some of the shows were great, others not so, despite the presence of such legendary/veteran performers. 

The Asian Hip Hop Summit was excellent on all levels!

First off, there's something for everyone. Whether you like the more mainstream/synth-driven hip-hop, rnb, spoken word, more acoustic-driven hip hop, experimental hip hop, profanity-laced comedy, or positive-message raps, then everything was there at your disposal. It's a true hip-hop fan's buffet!

Let's face it, sending up 10 Rakim wannabe's would make the show boring for everyone, no matter how good they are.

So, diversity was one reason.

Another factor is the community-feel. The performers do not hang out backstage nor come out late for their shows. In fact, most of them were already at the venue, before the doors even opened...even if they were scheduled to take the stage 3 hours later. They respect their fans, therefore hung out in the open, with everyone...available for signings and photo-ops...some would even have a drink with you. Generally, they do not put themselves on a higher-level than you...you're part of the show too.

The NYC show had the best lineup, of the entire tour IMO. Imagine...Lyraflip, L.Scatterbrain, Dumbfoundead, DJ Zo, Christina Chung, Taiyo Na, Magnetic North, Flowsik, Stone Forest Ensemble, etc...

 

Dumbfoundead - hilarious, talented, charismatic, genius...was there since the beginning of the show, drinking non-stop. The more he drinks, the better he is! His youtube channel is awesome! Eminem meets Slick Rick meets ODB meets Biz Markie.

He did an exclusive freestyle for my show too! This was camcorded by L.Scatterbrain (below)...so as soon as it goes up on youtube, you'll see me in it, right next to Dumb! :)

L. Scatterbrain - the host of the event. Tight on the freestyles and beatbox too. Playful and skillful at the same time. IMO, contains elements of Xzibit and Chubb Rock.


Lyraflip - A more playful and upbeat Big-L
 

Her CD's do her no justice! Christina Chung sounds way better live! You must go see her!
Not many artists, nowadays, can sound as good as/better than their recordings.


The singer/rapper Taiyo Na. Although his own discography is impressive, he didn't have a set of his own (unfortunately)...he performed with Magnetic North (below) on their set. He was good though!


T-Vu and Direct ...aka Magnetic North. They are the nicest artists EVER! Had Direct known that I was coming earlier (since I went thru a 6-7 hour drive), he woulda got me in for free. So, he gave me a free CD instead. CLASS at it's finest!

Stone Forest Ensemble...think of the Roots with classical instruments!
AWESOME! Artistically, the best act there.

DJ Zo  - the scratchmaster extraordinaire! AWESOME! He was spinning for most of the acts.


Finally, the man responsible for it all. Kublai Kwon....Founder of the Asian Hip Hop Summit and asiaticempire.org. He used to also host an L.A. radio show called "Aziatic Rhythmz", much like I do now with "Beats From The East". Cool guy...doesn't walk around acting important (although, trust me...HE IS!).

He's very approachable, as well.

Tip to anyone who plans to attend in the future...

BE ON TIME!!!

The doors opened at 12pm...show only began at 1:40pm, because there were only 12 people in the audience. The sooner the place fills up, the sooner the show starts! And artists' sets do not get pushed back. Not to mention, some had to cut out a few songs, due to time constraints caused by being pushed back.

As for the crowd itself...I was disappointed! They let me down. About only 30 showed up (sorry to write that, Kublai, but I gotta be honest). NYC has the reputation of being a hip hop-loving city (seeing that the culture was born there) and there is also a super-huge Asian population. Regardless of the 12pm/Sunday slot, this is not one of those concerts that you pass up.

Just cause Jin, Boa, or Epik High weren't there, doesn't mean that there won't be others just as entertaining/talented! For those interested in Asian-American culture and artists, there was no better place to be. For fans of hip hop, in general, and looking to discover something new, NO BETTER PLACE. I agree that NYC is up to it's ears in hip hop shows, but this is a once-a-year thing. I took the car down for on a 6-7 hour drive, so a metro ride for most NY'ers shouldn't require any special effort. Even if you've already seen some of these artists in the past, seeing htem all under one roof at the same time is even more awesome!

And don't get me started on the price...tickets were only 10$!!!
Less than the price of one Lady CaCa cd!

These are not karaoke singers! They are awesome artists! Come out and support them!

Dumbfoundead is featured on 2 tracks from Epik High's new cd. They don't collab with just ANYONE. If skills still paid bills, he'd be selling out these venues easily...singlehandedly.

Flowsik (who I did not see, since I had to leave NYC at 4:30pm) is Ice-T's protege.

So, please New Yorkers, even if 1/2 the lineup is from Cali (along with the promoter, himself), it's real hip hop!  Affordable and awesome! A much better bargain than paying 80$ to watch Lil Wayne and T-Pain at the MSG...trust me!
 

The artists were all nice to me, btw. Some even knew me right away, as soon as I introduced myself to them (I had sent them a myspace message or two a few months back). I wanted new sounds for my show...I got them. I wanted more artists radio-station ID drops...I got them...I wanted more networking with the Asian hip hop community...I GOT IT. Taiyo Na and Magnetic North are now my facebook friends and they are interested in coming up to Montreal, Canada to perform! Isn't that awesome? Sure beats driving 7 hours to see them!

I was like a kid in the candy store!

Since I was pretty much the only person there who recognized all the headliners and talked to them, some guy even fellow-concertgoer thought I was Kublai Kwon! lol

Oh yeah, one last thing...if you approach any of the artists with their cd's bought online, they will be more than delighted and will thank you for purchasing hard-copies of their cd's.

As most of you know, Angryasianman.com is a well-known site about anything Asian-related, although more towards Asian-American. Anything in terms of empowerment, community, and arts/entertainment can be found there. As the matter of fact, that site is where I discovered a lot of the artists that I play (El Gambina, Dumbfounded, etc...).

Back when I first launched my radio show, I sent them an email, to ask if they can post a blurb on their site, to let people know that I exist. Afternearly a month, I thought that they had forgotten about me, however, lo and behold, last Friday, they did it!

http://www.angryasianman.com/2009/10/beats-from-east.html

And since then, downloads have been coming in up the yin-yang! I started off only getting downloads in 4-5 cities on the East Coast, maybe 2 in the West, plus a few (here and there) in Asian and Europe. That has changed a lot, since angryasinaman.com helped out...

See the map below, to check out who's been downloading!

The Upper-Canada and Mid-west U.S.A. need a bit of work, but I'll get there yet!

Oh yeah, 2 other things. Because of this exposure on this site:

1) a couple of artists even emailed me some tracks to play

as well as

2) an anonymous activist (someon named "Ksm Zbfp") sent me about 100 links about  Abolishing/Boycotting Racism & Stereotyping vs. Asians. Whoever you are, Mr. Anonymous, thanks!