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Chinese Rapper Jin Sighting – Jin vs. Traphik Freestyle Hits Youtube

February 18th, 2010

For you younger generation of Asian-Americans, you may have been too young to remember Jin. Not that Jin’s disappeared — but for a solid 4-6 months, much of us 80s babies were witnessing the potential rise of an Asian rapper during our college days.

Jin took BET’s Freestyle Friday by storm and impressed the hip hop community enough that he ended up inking a deal with DMX’s label, Ruff Ryder Records. At his height, Jin even landed a small role in the second Fast and the Furious installment, 2 Fast 2 Furious.

Lately, Jin’s been doing smaller tours and appearances, but I was pleasantly surprised to find this random freestyle he posted onto youtube hanging out with Traphik.

The boy can spit

Jin & Traphik, Casual Freestyle

Best of Jin Freestyle Mix

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Posted in Asian American Music, Famous Asian Americans, Famous Asians

Doppelgänger Week On Facebook, Slim Pickings For Asians

February 1st, 2010

Finally, an entertaining chain Facebook status movement has managed to grab my attention. Instead of the usual “support-this-cause-that-only-assholes-would-be-against” and the random spam (thanks a lot Mob Wars) I usually find on my friend feed, this week is:

Doppelgänger week on Facebook; change your profile picture to some one famous (actor, musician, athlete, etc.) you have been told you look like. After you update your profile with your twin or switched at birth photo then cut/paste this to your status.

To see who my friends think they look like has been a real delight. Of course the self-annointed resemblances ranges from the eerily similar to totally self-flattering variety, I noticed that very few of my Asian friends are partaking in the fun.

Unfortunately, this is just illustrating the thin list of famous (Asian-American) actors, musicians, and celebrities for us to Doppelgänger-out on.

Otherwise we’d just give in to the “you all look alike” stereotype by all having either Lucy Liu, Yan-Can-Cook, and Bruce Lee as our profile pictures.

Instead, I thought it’d be funner to just make a mockery of this Doppelgänger week.

First picture I found after googling "asian caricature"

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Posted in Asian American Media, Famous Asian Americans, Famous Asians

Asian American Actors Make A Splash In 2009 Summer Movie Lineup

June 4th, 2009

Russell in Pixar's "Up"

I almost don’t believe it. Like most summer movie lineups, 2009 is packed with blockbusters, sequels and prequels.

But there’s something going on with this summer’s lineup. This summer perhaps features the most Asian American actors and characters from any lineup before. Pixar’s Up, Terminator Salvation, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Star Trek, and G.I. Joe to name a few – each feature Asian American actors in some kind of featured supporting role.

From American Cinema’s historic lack of Asian-American actors beyond the typical Fu-Manchu villain, high school mathlete, or kung fu master – this summer’s lineup of Asian American actor in “normal” roles certainly provides a window into what is yet to come for Asian American actors in cinema.

Summer Movies

The largest role for an Asian American this summer wasn’t for an actor, per se. Instead, Pixar’s latest movie, Up, features a cranky old man and Russell, voiced by 9-year old Japanese-American actor Jordan Nagai and their adventures to South America.
In X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Korean drama star Daniel Henney plays a villain as Agent Zero. Despite speaking not a drip of Korean, the British-Korean-American actor is a household name in South Korea for his role in the hit drama My Name Is Kim Sam Soon.
John Cho takes the reigns from George Takei as Sulu in this summer’s release of Star Trek. And might I add, for those that have seen the movie, they gave John quite a white-night entrance in the movie and in the previews.
In Terminator Salvation, the half-Korean and former Laker Girl Moon Bloodgood plays the love interest for the newest hybrid Terminator.