Emcees out there

Man, I gotta say I’m pretty amazed by how many rappers there are in HK these days. I remember when there were like, um, two. But now it's like everybody wanna emcee... It's all good - should make it easier for even more emcees to come through. Soon we can maybe form a union or something...

I caught up with Leo37 earlier today – he’s a Canadian Chinese rapper who’s coming by HK soon to play Underground 54 at Cixi soon. And I thought one thing he said was pretty interesting, that he feels hip-hop in Asia is more fun because people are more open-minded here, there are fewer limits about what hip-hop is or isn’t. So he’s basing himself inTaipeithese days.

And, obviously, it’s easier for him to be an Asian rapper out here. When I asked him about this, he said: “It’s tough for Asian rappers inNorth Americabecause the stereotypes in terms of white and black are gone, but being an Asian emcee there are still a lot of walls to break down. There’s no single Asian superstar inNorth Americaperiod. I’m not automatically disrespected because there are lots of open-minded people. But, more than I like to hear, people have come up and said you’re good for a Chinese guy.”A bit funny, but a bit sad too. I guess we should be thankful that out here, it's usually about the beats and rhymes, and nothing else.