10 Mainstream Artists You Forgot Were Asian
1. Paula Abdul
Now known for being drunk on tv and tripping over chihuahuas, Paula was once smokin hot. She was also a successful singer, and her career was so solid, she easily survived doing music videos with Arsenio Hall, Keanu Reeves, and a cartoon cat Who rapped, danced, and liked to smoke. When I was in 7th grade, classmates were saying she was Brazilian, but in fact, she is half Syrian. The other half is whatever…white or something.
2. Nicole Scherzinger
I remember her from a reality show where she was selected to be in a girl group called Eden’s Crush. Unfortunately for her, their music sucked and Eden’s Crush wasn’t long for this world. Unfortunately for us, her new band - the Pussycat Dolls - with even worse music is benefiting from the fact that A&M must be paying radio DJs obscene amounts of money to get their songs on the radio. Seriously, their music is so bad, it may even qualify as evil.
3. Sean Lennon
Yes that Lennon. His moms is Yoko Ono, and he has spent the last 10 years or so not living up to the expectations that come with being John Lennon’s son. But he actually has been involved with some pretty good music: Cibo Matto’s Stereo Type A and his own debut Into the Sun, which was put out on the Beastie Boys’s label Grand Royal. Many people dismissed his early stuff, including me, but after going back and listening to it again, it actually holds up pretty well. It doesn’t change the fact that he dated Mick Jagger’s daughter though.
4. Norah Jones
Her pops is legendary Indian musician Ravi Shankar, so you’d think there would be a little more buzz about the musical tradition in her blood line, especially after winning the Best New Artist Grammy with her third album. (How does that work anyway?) But apparently she and him were estranged until recently, so she played down her relationship - or lack thereof - with her father. Now she’s in the new Wong Kar Wai film with Jude Law. I probably won’t see it because I knew a Chinese kid growing up named Jude Law, and as far as I’m concerned, all other Jude Laws are fake.
5. Dan “The Automator” Nakamura
The man behind the boards for the lo-fi cartoon band The Gorillaz was in fact the same man behind the boards for futuristic hip hop classics like Kool Keith’s Dr. Octagon and Del’s Deltron 3030 and Handsome Boy Modeling School’s sarcastic, yet unfailingly dope, So…How’s Your Girl? and White People. He’s worked with big time talents as diverse as Herbie Hancock, De La Soul, Cornershop, and Depeche Mode. So he’s not exactly as well known as the other people on this list, but I had to throw him up here, because producers - I’m not talking beatmakers, but producers rarely get the love they deserve. And the Automator is one of the best on the scene in the past 20 years.
6. Nia Peeples
You not only forgot Nia Peeples was Asian, you may not have ever known she existed. I’m probably at the younger end of the short spectrum of people who have ever been Nia Peeples fans. She was on the TV show Fame and sang a couple of big freestyle songs in the late 80s. I thought she was Puerto Rican, but she Filipino! Plus some other stuff, whatever…white or something.
7. Fresh Kid Ice
The influence of this trailblazing pervert is so pervasive, yet so universally ignored in today’s popular music scene. As a member of 2 Live Crew, Kid - aka Long Dick Chinaman - released the double platinum As Nasty As They Wanna Be, which ended up being classified as “obscene” in Florida and elsewhere, which led to arrests galore - not only of the rappers, but even of record store owners who sold it! The ban was repealed, and the US Supreme Court refused to hear the state of Florida’s appeal. They later released Banned in the USA, which featured the song “Fuck MARTINEZ,” targeting Florida’s then-governor. Traces of 2 Live Crew can be seen everywhere nowadays - politically, businesswise, and musically - from the lewd content of mainstream hip hop, to the emergence of independent labels, to the dumbed-down lyrics and bass-heavy stylings of most Southern hip hop.
8. Amerie
There was a rumor early in her career that she couldn’t really sing and only got on MTV because of her looks. Turns out she truly can blow - and she represents her Korean ancestry harder than most Hapa folks on MTV. I’m not talking about the lower back tattoo, but she recorded a duet with Korean pop star Se7en and does in fact speak Korean…relatively poorly, but so do you. Stop judging. (P.S. - If anyone can find confirmation on the story that Amerie told a radio DJ not to refer to her as Oriental but as Asian, please let me know.)
9. Van Halen
We cannot lay claim to David Lee Roth or Sammy Hagar - or any of their other lead singers - but maybe that’s for the best, because Eddie and Alex Van Halen are partially of Asian descent. And everyone knows that the Van Halen brothers are way cooler than their goofy ass lead singers. I could run through the list of accomplishments from VH’s catalog, but you guys know how to use Wikipedia right? Let me just say this: Eddie played that monster guitar solo on Michael Jackson’s “Beat It.”
10. Doug Robb
That’s the lead singer for Hoobastank. As much as I want to decry their music as being simplistic and being emotionally over-accessible, the shit is catchy. He counts Van Halen as one of his biggest influences. Those pesky Asians! Always sticking together! Yeah…the rest of him is whatever…white or something.
11. Michelle Branch
She is named after a Beatles song, so I assume her parents are dirty hippies. No matter, she is part Indonesian, and if I remember correctly, even conducted an interview with AsianAvenue.com back in the day. Remember that site? Anyway, I only ever heard one song from her, which must have been unoffensive, but ultimately forgettable, because I can’t remember a single line or the title or anything about it, which is why I had to put her as number 11, a mere afterthought to this illustrious and completely arbitrary list. Anyway, best of luck Michelle!
Up next: Mainstream Artists You Thought Were Asian, But Aren’t
Last 5 posts by giles
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Tags: Commentary.
where’s foxy brown?
I know everyone says this, but Freddy Mercury, aka Faisal, should be on here too.
remember that movie North Shore, that Nia Peeples was in? She played a local Hawaiian who fell in love with a haole… That movie’s so bad it was good.
am i thinking too hard about this? what does it mean that they’re all hapa except for the guy whose band is represented by cartoons and is a producer.
does this mean that all those people who say, “i don’t even think of you as asian” are just lying their pants off?
those who say, “i don’t even think of you as asian” are ignorant… who are they to constitute who’s asian or not?
maybe the hapas work harder to define themselves in the world of mainstream?? maybe not…
I know people who are 100% asian or asian american and work just as hard.. just because they may not be in the face of the mainstream world doesn’t necessarily mean they haven’t led successful lives… and just because they’re considered mainstream doesn’t necessarily mean they’re good at what they do… i mean, look at jin the mc haha…
I don’t think we should judge anyone’s “success in life” by whether or not they achieve “mainstream famedom”. And as jillian has pointed out, just because someone is famous, doesn’t necessarily mean they are talented. (I don’t think Jin is all that bad.)
I think the question that is being asked is “why does it appear that hapas reach a wider audience (a.k.a. get more fame) than someone who is 100% asian american?” (Now, I’m not debating whether or not reaching a wider audience is good or bad nor do I want to touch what it means to be 100% AA.) Here’s a theory and I’ll just be blunt — maybe it is because they are more palatable to the white majority; they look “more white”. I’ll take Nicole for example; she took the surname of her stepfather (yes, I know how to use Wikipedia Giles) instead of the surname of her biological father. The “white sounding” name is probably more palatable than “Kea”. Of course, there are probably other reasons why she chose Scherzinger over Kea, but the mainstream populace probably doesn’t even know anything about her Filipino half and from a getting famous perspective might have given her an edge.
I’ve heard people talk about this “looking more white” business when comparing the relative famedom of various African American celebrities. Lighter skinned African Americans are more palatable to the white majority and thus, get “accepted” and have an easier time achieving success. I don’t know if this is true. I’m just saying.
duely noted eugene, i don’t think he’s that bad either, i’m just not a fan…
just as i was going to come back and bring up a comment on the African American scene, you went exactly where i was going…. it’s an issue some of us have dealt with most of our lives, whether being too sensitive about it or not, it happens… people tend to get farther in life, the lighter their skintone…
yo prince should be in there!
i could have sworn i heard Paula Adul was jewish! wait that’s an adam sandler song
don’t forget that the original post was ‘mainstream artist you *forgot* were asian. i suppose jin makes it hard to forget that he’s asian. but are there people who are less in your face about their ethnicity who benefit by helping people forget that they are asian?
oh, this is so about covering which is like my favorite book in the world right now.
Can’t get confirmation that Prince is in fact partially Filipino. Anyone got info?
Oh yeah, and I think it’s kinda hard to forget Foxy is Asian, seeing how she called one album China Doll…
And shit! Freddie Mercury! He should be on top of the list since I indeed FORGOT he was Asian. For shame.
http://www.filipinoweb.com/notable.html
look under The Artist …. haha I interned at FANHS and we had a fat file on him, also on kirk hamet from metalica, brownman group one of the guys is filipino, umm the handsome one.
can’t forget those dudes from lincoln park. the dj and the rapper - or is it linkin park? whatever. super mainstream - they had a lock on young ears across the country. in the end, does it even matter? linkin park says, no.
i agree with eugene in that ‘full’ asian-am artists (or east asian looking) artists have a hard time getting picked up as frontmen, b/c labels don’t want to invest the money in something so unprecedented. someone teach korean sensation ‘Rain’ some english and cross him over, Shakira style.
Johnny Depp is really named Johnny Diep and he’s Vietnamese. Oh wait, he’s not a musician. And that rumor is not true. My bad.
What about the Asian dudes in Linkin Park?
if amerie is on, so should foxy …
pino(a)ys claim prince cuz he short.
also … are syrian americans considered or consider themselves asian american? what are they southwest asian … then like lebonon, israel, iraq, etc … would all be part - i am sure there are musicians.
many folks don’t think Apl.de.Ap is Azn
finally, since indians get no love as being asian, i’d put sanjaya on the list to remind people we’re asian too!
Kirk! Damn I forgot about him he’s the best member of Metallica too!
I don’t think one website is enough to convince me that Prince is part Filipino.
Apl rhymes in Tagalog, so how can you not think he’s Asian?
Yo I heard Sanjaya’s gonna be on the new season of I Love New York…
For reals? I Love New York… I don’t know if that is a good thing or a bad thing.
What about KT Tunstall? I just saw her rock out at WBOS Earthfest on May 26, 2007. From Wikipedia:
I suppose the definition of “mainstream” is just as slippery as the defintion of “Asian American.”
Are the Yeah Yeah Yeahs mainstream? Also from Wikipedia:
I dunno, is it easy to forget that Karen O is Asian? For some reason it isn’t for me…
But I did forget Enrique Iglesias…man this entry was so non-comprehensive…
Some people forget things other people don’t. Like I often forget to shut the fridge door and most people don’t. Maybe you’ll just have to make a part 2 to this one.