[Produced in the Fall 2017 course Asian American Studies 164, Korea-U.S. Transnational Popular Cultures, November 5, 2017 by Marianna Madeline Siordia]
In Eun-Young Jung’s “Transnational Migrations and YouTube Sensations: Korean Americans, Popular Music, and Social Media”, the author structures this study to begin with an analysis of perceptions and epithets of Asian Americans. According to Jung’s analysis, generally Asian American males are perceived as ‘“perpetual foreigners”, and in the United States, they receive “negative stereotyping […] as meek and sexually undesirable, [therefore, there is an] unwillingness of major media companies to produce and promote Asian American musicians” (Jung, 55). Arguably, Asian American males “rarely have they been depicted with traditionally masculine traits” (Jung, 57). Due to the underrepresentation of Asian Americans in American popular culture, this is a relevant statement to the context of American popular music. Jung argues, “even though they [social media platforms] have been purchased by media corporations (News Corporation and Google), these web spaces offer crucial opportunities for ordinary people not only to share and distribute their creations, but also to build professional careers” (Jung, 57). This statement implies a new virtual space that can ignite popularity in reality.
Furthermore, I want to complicate and dissect Jung’s following statement in relation to the underrepresentation of Asian Americans in popular American music: “In all these media, race and essentialist assumptions of who is privileged to represent particular musical genres often come into play, and it is the issue of race, the realities of identity-based inclusion and exclusion to which I now turn” (Jung, 57). But what does “privileged” mean in Jung’s argument? “Privileged” are those that can “represent particular musical genres”. Jung argues that hip-hop/rap genre as the platform that Asian Americans are underprivileged in, to use the author’s words. I would argue that hip/hop and rap are genres that represent the voices of those whom been systemically antagonized such as through law enforcement and other social services, and the young, marginalized Black and Latino communities are often those who have been antagonized. This is where rap and the hip-hop culture comes from, historically from the low-income, systemically disenfranchised Black or Latino male. The genre is not solely based on race, but based of groups whom been narrated and depicted as antagonists in society. For that reason, it has been blatantly difficult for white rappers to become as successful and Black and even some Latino rappers. However, the author’s example of Eminem demonstrates a shift. Eminem, although white, represents another group of systemically disenfranchised, not in the same way, but still structurally underprivileged. His biography consists of a drug-addicted single-mom raising children in a poor mobile home in Detroit, Michigan. The common theme in most of the artistry in the genre in hip/hop and rap is the representation of voices whom been silence through disenfranchisement as races, ethnicities, communities, groups, families, and individuals. As mentioned in the study, hip-hop and rap are “strongly racialized as black”, or from those whom been hyper-sexualized and hyper-antagonized (Jung, 60). Is this really a privilege?
Jung exemplifies Far East Movement as a predominately Asian group that was able to enter and succeed, to a certain degree, in popular music. Despite the low representation, this demonstrates possibility, but again, not in popular music that is specifically in the hip-hop or rap genre (Jung, 59). Nevertheless, as the author argues, YouTube and other forms of social media have been able to showcase musicians who also identify as Asian Americans, such as Tiger JK who mentions in his interview with The Los Angeles Times, Tiger JK said “It was rare to see an Asian dude rapping then, so I got a pass – when I was mediocre, they sad I was a lot better than they’d though,” said the artist” (Jung, 61). As mentioned in the study, Tiger JK’s popularity especially stems in Korea, but is transnational. Similarly, David Yong Choi and Dumbfounded demonstrate success through YouTube and social media. Like them, You Tubers profit and earn revenue by allowing advertisements to be displayed prior or during videos, in addition to receiving a large number of views. As a result, popularity and revenue is gained, but the social media industry is still distinct from the commercial music industry.
My concluding questions are the following: I would argue that racial and ethnic identities are the foundations of systemic disenfranchisement, but there are hidden and structural forms of disenfranchisement that do not necessarily blatantly demonstrate racism or an attempt to antagonize low-income people of color; do you have examples of this in the United States? Can you think of an example within popular music? What do you think the author means by saying that exclusion happens in popular culture, specifically in hip-hop and rap culture?