R&B

=**R&B in Asian America**= = =

There are two types of Asian American artists in the R&B genre: the Asian American artists who choose to control their image and ethnicity in attempts to appeal to a broader audience to achieving mainstream success AND the Asian American R&B artists who openly discuss ethnicity and identity through their music.


 * (1) Asian American R&B Artists who control their Asian identity**

Popular artists such as Cassie, and Amerie are more well known it seem as a result of their efforts to downplay their racial differences and appeal to a larger mainstream audience.

Similar to that of Hip Hop, many R&B artists of Asian decent have found that “listeners hear them differently on whether they’re already known to be Asian American.” (Wong 252) In this way, the R&B artists who are Asian American try to control listener’s initial perception to their sound in an attempt to achieve mainstream success. These artists acknowledge that it is harder to receive the claim that her other counterparts (black and some white) do if they incorporate their ethnicity into their music. Hip hop group The Mountain Brothers, relate similarly with R&B artists looking for mainstream success in stating that

We avoid initially making explicit references to ethnicity so that we can be given a fair unbiased listen based on the merits of our music, lyrics and style, as opposed to avoiding making explicit references to ethnicity so that we can pass for Black. (Wong 252)

Like the Mountain Brothers in Hip Hop, Asian American artists trying to get into or already in the mainstream, fail to comment on their Asian ethnicity and heritage in the hopes of appealing to a bigger audience to achieve mainstream popularity and success.

Mainstream artists like Cassie, who’s father is Filipino and mother is Caribbean, Mexican and Native American, does not make any explicit references to her father’s Asian heritage or its influence on her music and identity. Her big hit “Me & U,” released in 2006, sold over 1 million digital downloads and was a dance club success (Cohen). “Me & U” does not make any references to Asian culture and could be sung by a number of R&B artists of various ethnic backgrounds as the song pertains to a typical heterosexual relationship situation experienced by all ethnicity.

Other R&B artists such as Amerie, create similar music in which discussion of their ethnicity is limited and songs with themes of love, hate and relationships in which any two people could be place into the situation are sang about more often.

Amerie who’s father is African American and mother is Korean has allowed her the ability to move between identities, sometimes embracing her Asian heritage singing in Korean and other times embracing her African American heritage appealing to urban radio airwaves and competing with non-Asian artists such as Ashanti and Tweet.

Interesting, many of the best known and most popular Asian American musical artists tend to be multiracial Asians ('hapas')… Successful multiracial Asian solo artists include Norah Jones (Asian Indian and White), Michelle Branch (Indonesian and Irish), and Amerie (Korean and African American). Many believe that record executives feel multiracial Asian American artists are more "culturally acceptable" or "marketable" to American consumers and therefore are more eager to promote them than monoracial Asian American artists. (Writers, Artists, Entertainers: Asian Nation)

The generalization of her songs topics is common among R&B artists. In singing about common love issues, Amerie is able to appeal to a greater audience and achieve success. BUT she also keen to incorporate some Asian features into her music, whether is being the Korean language or symbolism in her music videos. Interestingly enough, these Asian images are used to displaying attractive exoticism that is intriguing to mass culture.

Both of these artists are of Asian decent and another ethnicity. Being mixed allows these artists to highlight one identity over another when they feel necessary. More often, it is the African American identity that is highlighted as R&B is typically seen as originating from African American culture.

RELATED MEDIA: Cassie “Me & U” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6EJZtQjiYA Amerie “One Thing” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xa1qaAcJG70 Amerie “Touch” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zs0tub17v3E&feature=PlayList&p=6D45D545ACE74C23&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=17

(**2) Asian American R&B artists who incorporate their Asian identities into their Music**

These artists and bands are typically less well-known because their musical aesthetics and politics are applicable to a smaller audience, usually Asian Americans or smaller niche audiences.

Artists: -ROSE ANN DIMALANTA - Vocalist, keyboardist and songwriter http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose_Ann_Dimalanta

-KEVIN SO "I'm not accepted by the Black culture because I'm Asian, and I'm not accepted by Asian people because I'm not 'Asian'. Let's face it, who is the racist here?" says Kevin So. "Asian American artists have to create a thing, [where] artists have to band together and work together to create a show worth seeing. The people who are complaining about it - they got to come out and support people. If you want to see change and you're too busy to do the change yourself, then you've got to do at least something." “Rhythem” Christine Chen http://www.hkvpradio.com/rhythm/music/features/20040517.php Kevin So and Midnight Snack “A Brighter Day” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiCc4fzRJlk

-JENI FUJITA - Japanese "Teena Marie" who worked w/Wyclef Jean “She stole the show by singing Japanese lyrics over a seductive reggae beat. Wyclef, Lauryn Hill and the recently pardoned John Forte were also fans of her distinctive voice, and they all tapped her to sing background vocals on their albums.” Entertainment Weekly (http://margeauxs-mix.ew.com/2009/01/jeni-fujita-ind.html)

-GERRY WOO - was signed with Polydor in 1988, issued one LP Listen To My Heart, sang on one track on the UCLA Gospel Choir's CD and reappeared as Harlemm Lee who won on Debbie Allen's TV Show on NBC. “Rebirth of Gerry Woo” AARising used to have an article but it got taken off the internet

-IBU – “IBU has been called Chicago's hottest male vocal group by WGN Channel 9 and was introduced as "Asians with Soul" by Chicago's power 92.3FM, IBU is different from the most pop/R&B groups. This three member group delivers such rich harmonic sound that makes them different from the other boy bands. IBU can perform a cappella, they sing with acoustic guitar accompaniment, they perform with instrumental tracks, have choreographed numbers, and they break dance on stage too. It’s the complete package that makes IBU a truly entertaining group.” http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=83063

I’m sure there are more…if anyone found anything let me know!! Mia

Sources and Websites:

Cohen, Johnathan. “Diddy: Cassie CD Will Catch People ‘Off Guard.’” Billboard.Com. April 7th 2008. NY. Date accessed: 3/15/09 < http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003786642 >

Le, C.N. 2009. "Writers, Artists, & Entertainers." Asian-Nation: The Landscape of Asian America. (March 16, 2009).

Wong, Deborah. “Speak it Louder”

Afro Asia By Fred Wei-han Ho, Bill Mullen pg 306

http://www.allaboutasians.com/asian-music3.html