Name your favorite Asian rapper. Go ahead. Don’t be shy. Oh, you’re having a little difficulty naming one from the last 5 years? Jackie Chain? That’s all you got? If you couldn’t name one, you’re probably not alone. In fact, you’re probably a part of the majority. While there are Asian American rappers, producers, engineers, and managers out there, you may never meet or hear of one that reaches the national or international stage (surprise, I’m a Korean American). Well, two Hip-Hop fans are trying to will change that. Former Hip-Hop DX writer and filmmaker, Salima Koroma, and former Senior Online Editor for XXL, Jaeki Cho, are working on a full length documentary that follows four Asian American rappers (Dumbfoundead, Awkwafina, Rekstizzy, Lyricks) in their journey to be respected as artists in the Hip-Hop community. But the film isn’t just an underdog story. It covers the Asian American experience of trying to make a place for a minority of minorities in an industry that continually pushes stereotypes for everyone to conform to. Beyond the four artists, the film features other artists such as Far East Movement, pop stars like Jay Park, and YouTube celebrities like Traphik.

Salima and Jaeki originally met over Salima’s college thesis on K-Pop sensation, G-Dragon. After discussing the topic for so long, they came up with the idea to turn the 40 minute thesis project into a feature film. As a result, they have set up a fundraiser page on Indie Go Go to finish the film. We had the pleasure of speaking with them over the weekend to get more insight on the film and what they’ve learned so far. You can check out that interview below. There are 10 days left to support them. So if you believe in what they’re doing, spread the word and chip in some beer money.

As someone who interviewed CHOPS from the Mountain Brothers, I was really happy to see Asians in Hip-Hop getting some more publicity through your project. But it made me think that maybe there isn’t much coverage since there aren’t that many Asian Americans in Hip-Hop to being with. If that’s the case, why did you guys choose to make this film?

Salima: When you think about it-when you think about what Hip-Hop is supposed to be, again rooted in Black culture and a lot of it is Black males. Not Black women but Black males. The stereotype is not just for Hip-Hop but for Black males are supposed to be very aggressive, confrontational, and that stereotype is the anthithesis to the stereotype of what Asian American males are supposed to be. So that is so fascinating. You see an Asian male rapping. That is something people normally don’t see or they don’t expect. I think, “How do you cover something that is unexpected and you don’t know how to cover it because it sort of blows your mind?” I think that’s one of the reasons. There are a lot of reasons.

Jaeki: Yeah, you mentioned that there really isn’t that much to cover. “Why do you need to feel the need to cover it?” Right? … Because there isn’t that much to cover. I’m not trying to play no Lao Tzu sh*t. But to be honest, fundamentally speaking, a good documentary covers a subject that really isn’t tapped into-that a normal person wouldn’t really expect. A regular person wouldn’t necessarily see all the time. That’s kinda what makes an intriguing documentary. So as you mentioned, there isn’t that many artists that are active and on top of that there really isn’t an artist who’s successful of Asian American descent in Hip-Hop. That’s what we felt like was such a fascinating subject to cover moreso than if we decided to cover a documentary on, I don’t know, like rappers from Queens. Any subgenre within a subgenre that gets very niche usually brings out a very interesting topic that people are going to be intrigued to watch.

Okay so it’s like how people are attracted to Hip-Hop because they get a real view into a life they’re not used to seeing, such as the drug dealer, the pimp, the outlaw, etc.?

S: Right.

Like you said that a majority of Hip-Hop is portrayed by Black males, it brings to mind Lord Jamar’s statements. How do you take such strong opinions, especially from a person who is respected in the Hip-Hop community?

S: I think first of all, people are kind of tired of Lord Jamar and what he’s saying. But I think he has a point in that when you look at Black music, music that is rooted in African American culture, throughout history, right, a lot of that has been appropriated. You take something like Rock, which started in Black culture and once it became mainstream aka it’s done by a White artist, somebody who’s not Black, it takes off. Over history a lot of the Black community starts to feel protective of their music, of what they’ve created. That’s why there’s so much anger towards Macklemore. They think that he’s a good artist but he gets such a huge audience because he’s White. That’s how people feel. I do understand that protectiveness.

J: I mean I’m a fan of Brand Nubian. I have their vinyl. I probably contributed a few cents to his legacy. But in terms of the statements that he’s saying, I totally understand how he believes that there’s some sort of exclusivity to the culture but at the same time Hip-Hop did start, of course by a predominantly African American youth in the 70′s, but they weren’t all African American. If you really get into the details, there were Greeks, breakdancers-a lot of them were Latinos, and some of the poppers and breakers were of Caucasian descent. So it was a lot more diverse when you talk about Hip-Hop as a whole. Of course the main players of Rap were predominantly, have always, been African Americans males. But if you look at the bigger, international scale, like the best b-boys in the world are Koreans. If you go to France you see White rappers. If you go to Sweden, Hip-Hop shows get sold out by a bunch of White kids who love the art. So can you still say that Hip-Hop is just for African Americans?

S: But I think that’s the point though. I was on Tumblr and seeing some of the responses to our trailer, and there were a lot of people who are like, “Man, Hip-Hop is supposed to be rapping about an experience-a tough experience. What do these Asian rappers have to talk about that is so tough?” And that is where a big disconnect is. You’re trying to be a rapper but you haven’t gone through what a rapper is supposed to have gone through.

J: But if you really want to talk about historically what a rapper really was, it was supposed to be an emcee at a party.

S: Right.

J: It’s supposed to be fun. So are they always supposed to be talking about having gone through poverty?

S: I think so…

J: Nah man.

Well, that’s what a lot of people have come to expect now.

J: But Sugarhill Gang. Were they talking about having that pain in their life? If you really go into the specific details of it with Rakim, off the top, he was talking about how he loved to rhyme. He did have a few songs where he referenced his lifestyle, his struggles in the ghetto. It really depends on how you perceive what a struggle is.

S: But I think of “The Message.” Even Tupac: “I’m the journalist of the streets.” I think that’s what people perceive.

J: Think about it. All of these rich rappers right now, you think it’s only Black kids buying their CDs? Do you think they’re rich because they’re targeting a very niche audience? It’s kinda like Kung Fu. If you look at Bruce Lee, a lot of people were hating on him because he was trying to teach Kung Fu to other people of other ethnicities. They even wanted to kill him. But he went against that and he’s like, “Nah, this is for everybody.”

S: I think it’s profiting off of an image that’s not yours. That is where a lot of people get irritated.

J: I totally understand but are the artists in this film profiting off of an image?