Is Asian Rap Cultural Appropriation? | Refinery29 - video Dailymotion

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In today's video, we explore how the conversation surrounding cultural appropriation in the hip hop scene has become more common with a large number of Asian artists breaking into it. Our host, Salem Mitchell, sits down with local LA rapper, Hollei Day to discuss Asians in Hip Hop, and the female rapper’s views on cultural appropriation. Press play to hear their conversation.  This video was originally published on Vice and is being repurposed by Refinery29.  ABOUT REFINERY29  Refinery29 is a modern woman's destination for how to live a stylish, well-rounded life. http://refinery29.com/  RELATED CONTENT Why Japanese Women Are Dressing Like Cholas https://youtube.com/watch?v=u1LqF03UUdc The Dark Side Of Harajuku Style You Haven't Seen Yet https://youtube.com/watch?v=1Wsk3Oa_3F8 How Luxury Streetwear Shaped Calabasas https://youtube.com/watch?v=ElghrCC2Rbs  SUBSCRIBE TO REFINERY29 Subscribe to the Refinery29 channel: http://bit.ly/subscribe-to-r29 Follow Refinery29 on Instagram: https://instagram.com/refinery29/ Follow Unbothered on Instagram: https://instagram.com/r29unbothered/ Follow Somos on Instagram: https://instagram.com/r29somos/

Transcript

00:14Do you think that you culturally appropriate?

00:17Um, I don't think that I appropriate culture. I would consider it culture swapping.

00:27This is Holly Day. She's a rapper and dancer based in LA.

00:31I can relate so much more to a black girl who grew up in Detroit than like a Korean girl

00:36who grew up uptown.

00:38Holly's an Asian American artist who traces her roots from the Chinese Hmong tribe.

00:43She grew up in Detroit's notorious 8 Mile neighborhood and counts Eminem and Nicki Minaj as her top influences in

00:49music.

00:49And I love that kind of music. I felt like it was such a good outlet for me to like

00:54express myself.

00:55I mean, everyone wanted to be a rapper in the hood, you know?

00:58In this episode of Style and Error, we are trying to find the line between homage and appropriation.

01:03Do you think that it's beneficial to be controversial?

01:05I do think so. I don't feel at all like I use it as like a marketing like, you know,

01:10thing to be able to get like people's attention.

01:13But at the end of the day, I want to share, I have a message that I want to share.

01:20Does my mouth look dry or I'm good?

01:21You look great.

01:24I'm Selah Mitchell. I'm a model and I've experienced my own forms of cultural appropriation.

01:30I've been criticized for my big lips, freckles, and braids, even if many things about my look are

01:35considered trendy at the moment. My experiences made me think a lot about cultural appropriation.

01:41It's often assumed that cultural appropriation is exclusive to white people, but black and Asian

01:45communities borrow from each other all the time too. Is it still appropriation when it's done by

01:51minority groups? There are a lot of gray areas and we're here to unpack some of them.

02:01Hi. I'm Selah. Holly Day. Nice to meet you.

02:04Nice to meet you. Please come in. So I'm going to take you upstairs to my room.

02:07Okay. Amazing. You have your little studio set up.

02:11I cleaned it just for you. I want to show you some of my, my clothes.

02:16If I can get it out. But this is one of my favorite ones. The hood is so big,

02:22so I can kind of just like perform in it. Who are your inspirations when it comes to clothing?

02:26I do like a lot of like K-pop, hip-hop artists, like Asian street wear.

02:31Yeah. Asian street wear there on another level.

02:33I do have a lot of things that have a lot of my culture in it for sure. Like this,

02:38you know, this print is from like my, the Hmong tribe as well too.

02:43And this is stuff I'll find at festivals all the time.

02:45Oh, really? So you're seeing things that come from your culture?

02:48Oh yeah. All the time. But the difference I feel when it comes to like culture appropriation and music

02:55festivals, a lot of the vendors and people who go to music festivals, they take the time to learn

03:01about culture and really appreciate it. Music festivals are infamous for cultural appropriation,

03:06but that didn't seem to be Holly's perspective. So I wanted to know more about her background.

03:11I grew up in Detroit. I was born in Portland, Oregon, and my parents are from Laos.

03:19I'm first generation Hmong American. So I battled a lot with how do I balance my culture with

03:27my surroundings, you know, because I was very much like in the hood. I loved like brick dancing and

03:33rapping and all these things. And then like my parents had their own standards for me. So, um, one of

03:38my lyrics is

03:45And so what does that mean? My, my mom is super traditional and those are the things that were always

03:50expected of me.

03:51I really like conflicted with my mom a lot just because I had like a lot to say and an

03:56opinion,

03:57you know, about things. Like she didn't want me to play basketball and her reason was because you're a

04:01girl. And that was it. It wasn't anything else. And that's part of my, one of my lyrics too, you

04:05know,

04:06my brother's ballin', watch them play. Daddy said, know your place, mind your grades and all these things.

04:12Yeah. I felt like I was always, um, a rebel.

04:18Holly Day was very firm about establishing her identity as an Asian who grew up in a black

04:23community. I wanted to see how that identity manifested itself in her art. So I paid her a

04:28visit at a dance studio where she was rehearsing for one of her songs called Ling Ling.

04:44So Ling Ling is a racial term for, um, an Asian girl, which is funny because I don't even really

04:51know

04:51many girls named Ling Ling. I feel like it would be the equivalent of saying like the n-word for

04:56me

04:56that is, you know. Can you tell me about your decision to carry over things that are understood

05:09as slurs in your culture? Why do you include that in your music? Well, um, like such as like

05:14or like, I just feel like if I can take these words and then take the negative power out of

05:21it

05:21and utilize it, I won't feel so offended by it, you know.

05:25Ling Ling Ling Ling. Do, do, do, do, do. Ling Ling Ling Ling.

05:31Seven, eight, ten.

05:34Right.

05:38Okay.

05:42Holly Day said she was reclaiming terms like yellow

05:44to take the negative power away from them. But can people of other backgrounds use the same loaded terms?

05:51What's the line between appropriation and appreciation?

05:55To understand more about her process, I sat with her as she had her hair braided in preparation

06:00for a music video. This is Ayano. She's going to be braiding my hair today.

06:05Okay. Are all your clients usually Asian or do you do black hair too?

06:10Oh, I have all the races. Yeah, I guess like since I'm Asian, like I think white people and Asian

06:18people,

06:18I think it's easier for them to come to me. And also I have black people's clients as well.

06:27What is the significance of having a Japanese braider?

06:30For me, it was just more of like an empowerment thing and encouragement because it's almost like

06:34what I do in music that she does that in hair. My hair has always been done by black females

06:40though, so.

06:41And they're always like super excited about it.

06:43Yes, for sure. Always, all the time. You know, I never had anyone do my hair and maybe felt like

06:49off about it. I don't want to use where I'm from as like, like, oh, well, I'm from Detroit though.

06:56Yeah.

06:56But then it actually, it helps them kind of relate and understand more of like, okay,

07:01I could see why she would be into rap.

07:02I, because I can particularly say in my life, like having braids, I've been called ghetto multiple

07:07times because of the hairstyle or the way that it's perceived. Do you feel like you experience

07:12some of the same things where people are calling you names or they're categorizing you because

07:16you choose to partake in these hairstyles and the way that you dress and stuff?

07:20Well, I mean, even with my hair being blonde, for that I get, oh, you know, are you trying to

07:27look

07:27more like more white? And then getting my hair braided, it's like, okay, she thinks she's like,

07:33you know, ghetto or from the hood. If, if I were to walk down the street now with this hair

07:37and a

07:38black woman is like, you shouldn't wear braids. I probably would not like get defensive, but I

07:45would probably ask her why she felt that way.

07:47Does it still serve you as a protective style? Do you feel like it's still benefiting your hair?

07:51Or do you think that it's more damaging than helpful?

07:54I think it's probably more damaging to my hair because my hair is like really fine.

07:57Um, so I definitely just, um, do it, uh, you know, for, for like the, the look.

08:06So as a black woman with braids, I can give you from my standpoint, this is something that helps my

08:11hair grow and this is something that's going to hurt your hair. You're going to be perceived in a

08:15way that's considered innovative or trendy while I'm going to be perceived as like ghetto or this

08:20hairstyle needs to be tamed. Yeah. I mean, I could completely understand that for me to like,

08:25be like, no, that's not true. Or that I would be like lying to myself. I'm still,

08:29I'm going to do it for me, but I don't care what you think about it.

08:37Of course I'm going to be off beat, right?

08:41Can you tell me a little bit about the song? What's it called and what is it about?

08:44So this song is called Nail Salon. Of course, there's a stereotype of Asian women working at

08:49nail salon. It's not like a very direct, like, like preachy, luxury type of song. You know,

08:54it's very fun and it's just kind of making light of, of the situations that I've been through in my

09:00life. One, two, three. Hello, hello, Holly Day.

09:07That crystal gel bet it'll change your life. Lucy Lou in the sky with diamond sets paid full price.

09:14If we speak a foreign tongue, don't mean we talking you can pay me all in ones. Don't forget to

09:21tip.

09:22I like that too. I like that. I thought that one too.

09:25Oh yeah. I was like, damn, bitch, I felt that. Say it like you're saying it to your kid. Like,

09:31you feel me? Like, your kid's like doing some fucked up shit.

09:33Okay. I hope I don't talk to my kids. This is not how I talk to my kids. I know

09:38what you mean.

09:40Do you ever consider any of Holly's art, aesthetic, or persona to be cultural appropriation?

09:46Not at all. I can understand why people would think that, but I incorporate a lot of, like,

09:53Asian culture in my music. For a black person, that could be looked at as appropriation in a way.

10:00Let me put you in your place. Who dat? Who dat?

10:09Cultural appropriation in hip hop is a longstanding debate. Who's allowed to express themselves through

10:14rap music and fashion? Asian rappers have been a part of the scene for decades, while popular black

10:18artists also integrate Asian elements into their work. At this point, is it appropriation or a cultural

10:24exchange? Dr. Ninoshka McTaggart, a sociologist who studied Asian American hip hop for the last 20 years,

10:32thinks the question is pretty complicated.

10:34Does cultural appropriation go the other way? Do you feel like hip hop artists appropriate Asian

10:39culture at any times? It goes both ways. So I think hip hop has taken pieces from Asian American

10:45culture, or I shouldn't say take, but, like, embraced, and vice versa. So I think that's just

10:51the nature of culture. Do you think that Nicki Minaj has appropriated Asian culture by using Chun Li,

10:57or I know in other music videos she's brought elements of Asian culture? Well, I think with that,

11:02I mean, I usually look at it as, like, a case-by-case basis, but I think, again, it's all

11:07about giving

11:08the credit to Asian Americans and not making, I guess, a mimicry or mockery of the culture. And as

11:15long as that happens, I don't think there is cultural appropriation. Are there any ways that

11:20Asians have contributed to hip hop that we are overlooking? Asian Americans have been participating

11:25in hip hop culture since the late 70s, but people usually don't even know that. What are they connected

11:31to about it, and why do they, black community and Asians, why do they have this in common? This idea

11:36of

11:36struggle or hustle is very important. So the idea that maybe you're a first-generation Asian American,

11:43you don't feel like you belong, you feel like an outsider, I think that theme is very prevalent

11:49in hip hop, and I think Asian Americans can relate to that. Asian Americans are invested in hip hop culture.

11:56It's not something that it's like, I want to dip my feet into one day and then I'm out the

12:01next.

12:03There's a lot to consider in the debate about cultural appropriation. Does your skin color or

12:07ethnicity decide what you're allowed to sing or wear? For people like Holly Day, who grew up immersed

12:13in hip hop culture and come from immigrant families, there's no single identity to go by.

12:17Why do you feel like you are able to express yourself in whatever way with whatever hairstyle and in any

12:23ways that you'd like? Um, I mean, because I feel like as an artist, I shouldn't limit myself and I

12:31can't

12:33create like walking on eggshells, afraid to like offend this person or that person. It's just like,

12:41I have to just think about, you know, creating for myself and sharing my stories as authentic as possible.

12:51It's hard to tell if someone is really an appropriator with one look. But is there a limit

12:56to artistic freedom? And when is it used as an excuse to justify potentially offensive actions?

13:10difficult that the grievances are different? So you walk around that one look.

13:14And that is why we can't trat 좀 from.

13:14If you're next to prem ir爱情vis,

13:16Maybe you both need us if you're in love Vanessa40a why?

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13:19And perhaps you can read both the farm

Is Asian Rap Cultural Appropriation? | Refinery29

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