Historical authenticity is a theme that has permeated throughout hip-hop since its inception [4]. Bringing attention to your heritage, your past, as well as the past of your people has been a long standing practice within the hip-hop community. Socio-political commentary on our past, present, and future is also a key factor in a lot of aspects of hip-hop. In solidarity of these ideas, let’s take a quick dive into the Asian American Movement during the Civil Rights Era [5]. 

 

According to Daryl Joji Maeda, 

 

“The Asian American Movement was a social movement for racial justice, most active during the late 1960s through the mid-1970s, which brought together people of various Asian ancestries in the United States who protested against racism and U.S. neo-imperialism, demanded changes in institutions such as colleges and universities, organized workers, and sought to provide social services such as housing, food, and healthcare to poor people. As one of its signal achievements, the Movement created the category “Asian American,” (coined by historian and activist Yuji Ichioka), which encompasses the multiple Asian ethnic groups who have migrated to the United States.” [6]

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Asian Americans would rally alongside Black, Latino, and other ethnic Americans in an effort of complete solidarity [7]. We all fought side by side for a common cause. Key activists like Yuri Kochiyama and Richard Aoki would become key allies towards figures and groups such as Malcolm X and the Black Panther Party. Groups like Yellow Brotherhood [8] created safe spaces for people to turn away from the violence and drugs taking over their communities. The Asian American Movement was a response that was spurred by the bubbling emotions and anger at the time. It was a response to Chinese exclusion, Japanese internment, the “Yellow Peril”[9], and every other injustice that has plagued or was plaguing our community at the time.. A large inspiration for a lot of Asian American rappers in the 90s was their foray into Asian American studies. College students were learning about their past so they could fight for their future. And hip-hop helped them do that. 

[4] Williams, Justin. “Historicizing the Breakbeat: Hip-Hop’s Origins and Authenticity.” Lied Und Populäre Kultur / Song and Popular Culture 56 (2011): 133–67.

[5] Derrick P. Alridge, “From Civil Rights to Hip Hop: Toward a Nexus of Ideas,” The Journal of African American History 90, no. 3 (2005): 226–52.

[6] Daryl Joji Maeda, “The Asian American Movement,” in Oxford Research Encyclopedia of American History, 2016, https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199329175.013.21.

[7] Olivia Hewang, “Building Identity and Solidarity: Asian American Activism of the 1960s and ‘70s.,” n.d.

[8] YELLOW BROTHERHOOD by Tadashi Nakamura, 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZcIQhhacOc.

[9] “Asian Immigration: The ‘Yellow Peril’ · Race in the United States, 1880-1940 · Student Digital Gallery · BGSU Libraries,” accessed April 1, 2024, https://digitalgallery.bgsu.edu/student/exhibits/show/race-in-us/asian-americans/asian-immigration-and-the--yel.