Asian-American hip-hop outfit Far East Movement “rightfully get tagged as an inspiration to other Asian-Americans who want to make it big musically.”
Rhyme-slinger Kev Nish says promoting Asian-American artists is something they do “out of love for our community and family.” The group helped set up International Secret Agents and Wong Fu Productions to give Asian American musicians a mainstream platform. “We bring in artists with majority fanbase online, and help them break through to mainstream and showcase them. We're just giving them a stage, but they're bringing the fans.”
Nish said it's good timing to break into the mainstream: “We're starting to make some noise at a time when race is becoming less important. It's the Internet–you know people online, they have screen names and what they like–and you find out before they're male or female, or what race they are. And that's important. People hear you in a club, they don't care what race you are, they just like it. Things have changed.”
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1. Lyrics Born
2. David Choi
“We had a chance to work with him through ISA; he's an incredible songwriter. He's been able to show he can utilize the Internet and legitimately write great music, and that's always hard to find on the internet.”
“They're also family of ours. We've been fans of theirs, done shows with them in San Diego and Seattle. They've always come with knowledge and music, their artistry is unnatural. They represent.”
4. AJ Rafael
“Another artist we came across on YouTube, we had him at the ISM Conference. He brought Andrew Garcia from American Idol as a special guest. He connected with the crowd and is a great songwriter. His personality is trememndous–he's going to take over.”
5. 454 Entertainment (IZ, Thai, Drew Deezy, Nump Trump)
“They're up and coming group/record label. Thai, I've followed on AZNRaps.com. He was one of the standouts there. They're getting really big. We love their music, they represent the Asian community well. Straight street cred.”
