The spin on Asian-American hip-hop

When most think of hip-hop and the visionaries who created it, places like New York City and figures such as Afrika Bambaataa come to mind.

While hip-hop purists know the culture stretches from coast to coast, many may not realize that the erstwhile capitol of Grunge has deep roots in hip-hop, with the likes of DJ Nasty Nes, MC Karim Panni, DJs E-Rok and Kamikaze, and breakdancing crews such as the Emerald City Breakers, synonymous with the movement.

What these artists all have in common is that they are Asian Americans who have made an indelible imprint in Seattle's hip-hop community.

A new exhibit at Wing Luke Asian Museum, "It's Like That: APA's and the Seattle Hip-Hop Scene," examines the role of Asian Pacific Americans in shaping Seattle hip-hop.

Museum curator George Quibuyen, an MC with the Blue Scholars, developed the idea for the installation. Considering Seattle has been an outlet for graffiti artists, B-boys, DJs and MCs for more than 20 years, the exhibit is long overdue, Quibuyen said.

"I think for all communities that don't get the opportunity to be heard in the mainstream, it's always urgent," he said. "I acknowledge that there's a lot of negative images in hip-hop. It's important to create a space where the positive aspects are illuminated."

The exhibit celebrates the history of hip-hop in Seattle and Asian Americans who were instrumental in building the scene.

Filipino DJ and producer Nestor Rodriguez, aka DJ Nasty Nes, is considered a pioneer of Seattle's hip-hop scene.

In 1980, at the age of 18, Nes became the first DJ along the West Coast to host an all-rap radio show, "Freshtracks," on Seattle's KFOX 1250-AM. Nes was breaking out a style of music largely untapped in the region.

In 1985, Nes and then-rising hip-hop artist Sir-Mix-A-Lot started NastyMix Records, which helped launch Mix-A-Lot's national career and bring Seattle's underground hip-hop movement above ground.

"It's hard to believe I was there from day one," Nes said. "It seems just like yesterday."

By the early 1980s, one of the first local rap groups, the Emerald Street Boys, started to get exposure when they put together a two-minute rap intro for the Freshtracks show. By the late 1980s and '90s, the Seattle hip-hop scene was rife with DJs and MCs from a variety of backgrounds.

The number of local Asian Americans involved in hip-hop has increased steadily since. Today, new artists pay homage to the movement's vanguards, Nes said, creating an inclusive environment.

"Whether you are Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Vietnamese, etc., we all have stuck together and looked out for each other. There is a lot of hip-hop unity in the Seattle area with Asians," he said.

In the five or six years Quibuyen has been a part of the hip-hop scene, he's seen more Asian MCs and breakdancers enter the scene. But both participants and spectators make up a relatively small portion of Seattle's hip-hop community, he said.

"The DJs locally come in all colors. I would say most of the veteran MCs are black," Quibuyen said. "Breakdancing ... is one place that is predominately Asian."

The hip-hop culture appeals to Asian Americans, Quibuyen said, because of what it represents: creativity, individuality and a rebellious spirit.

"For me, as another person of color in this country, I definitely related a lot of my experiences as a youth to hip-hop," he said. "As a culture, you are around looking at what other people are doing.

"I think within the Asian community, a lot of us have working parents that are maybe a little conservative. A lot of our parents definitely objected to hip-hop music. That made me embrace it even more."

With the exhibit, Quibuyen wanted to chronicle the role of Asian Americans in Seattle hip-hop in a way that museumgoers could connect with. The history of the movement is presented through vivid imagery and music of the period.

The installation mirrors a bedroom festooned from wall to wall with concert posters of hip-hop artists like Mos Def, Nes and Sir-Mix-A-Lot; there are also graffiti tags and a mural painted by artist Darvin Vida, an '80s-style television set that displays images of breakdancers and MCs in action, a boom box playing hip-hop, and a turntable stationed near empty milk crates that hold dozens of vinyl records.

The exhibit came "at the right time," said artist Alexis Landry, who created a mural for the display. The ink drawing depicts the different sides of hip-hop, from a DJ spinning to spoken word to live concerts at the Showbox.

For many Asian-American teens and young adults, hip-hop is an important outlet for creativity and expression, Landry said, and the exhibit accurately reflects this.

"There's a definite style to Seattle hip-hop, compared to other hip-hop scenes," she said. "I think the Seattle hip-hop scene is a lot more political."

A tradition of breakdancing

One of the most active forms of expression fundamental to hip-hop is breakdancing. While the immersion of Asian-American MCs and DJs in Seattle's hip-hop scene was gradual, picking up steam in the 1990s and continuing today, Asian youth have been at the forefront of the city's breakdancing scene much longer.

In the 1980s, Asian-American youth factored prominently on Seattle's breakdancing circuit. Breakers from the Central District to West Seattle danced with groups like the Emerald City Breakers and the Seattle Circuit Breakers, and today, the tradition of breakdancing continues with the Massive Monkees, a group of local dancers attracting national and international attention.

In recent years there's been a surge of female breakers, or B-girls, including acts like Seattle's Vivid Vixens.

The B-girl crew of six formed about three years ago after members Jenna Hikida, Fides Anna Mabanta and Kasi Farrar met at the Jefferson Community Center on Beacon Hill, where they regularly practiced their moves.

"It had always intrigued me but there weren't many girls that were doing it," Hikida said.

"And for hip-hop to be recognized at this level, it's great," Mabanta said. "It offers outsiders a view of how our lives are. They'll step into it and realize it's not so strange. It's not just youth culture."

Hip-hop style

Fashion is perhaps as important as dance and music to the movement.

For more than a decade, Seattle-based Mecca USA has dressed some of the biggest names in hip-hop, from L.L. Cool J to Sir-Mix-A-Lot, as well as new faces.

Amit Shah, one of the founders of the urban clothing line known for its fashionable street wear that fits the hip-hop lifestyle, said the line has been embraced by the hip-hop community because it draws inspiration from the scene's style makers.

"The clothing represents an identity that is very individual," he said.

When Mecca USA launched in 1992, it marketed a baggy style of clothing that was ahead of its time and yet a bit of an anomaly.

"Through time, we have seen a much better growth of our product, of the urban industry," he said. "I see America moving from hip-hop and urban being fringe to being mainstream, in terms of music and art. The whole culture is now beginning to accept the notion that this is art, that this is a not a fad, this is a lifestyle."Tina Potterf: 206-464-8214 or tpotterf@seattletimes.com