it's not just kung fu. as a Japanese person who loves rap, I get the kinship that Black people feel towards anime, specifically shonen. i think there's a common story of being told to be a certain way, to follow a specific path, wanting to break out, and identifying with the average kid who becomes the superhero who saves the world.... but then I see K-Pop and all these other East Asians like me who have light/fair-skin privilege even amongst other Asians, who are racist without even knowing it, who do not feature any Black people in front of the camera, all while jacking their whole entire aesthetic, sound, personality, dance moves and raps... and it feels like a mistake that these cultures merged ;___; i legitimately know people who love K-Pop for the dance, aesthetic and music, but they don't listen to hip hop and it makes me sad
I think the word you're looking for is colorism because it is the focus of the color for someone skin example: "Darker skin=dirt vs light=clean." Which does indeed affect dark skin Asian a lot when it comes to discrimination and how people that look like you because of your darker skin color.
Facts bro. As an og kpop stan I remember how incredible it was for Jay Park to have dark skin black girls in his music videos and that was like in 2012. And 12 year old me was like wooow maybe I do have a place in this music culture. But even now it's not common to see black ppl in these kpop/hiphop videos where they're literally sporting cornrows and durags.
Jay Park is the one idol I can even remember ever even having black folks in his videos and he still does to this day. Big shout to him cuz he's someone who I think has a real appreciation for black culture. And I don't think he's ever worn anything crazy either 😂
Is it wild though? Back in my day (the 90s) the only folks who were breaking were Mexican and Filipino kids (this was Los Angeles) and one of the biggest names in that time was Asia One, founder of B-Boy Summit. The hip hop elements became neglected once the MC became the black version of lead singer (white rock fans DGAF about the drummer, bass player, rhythm guitarist) The same thing could be said about turntablism. Jazzy Jeff is like the last well known black turntable focused DJ. The same thing could be said about graffiti.
It’s a shame that B-boying has lost its impact on Hip Hop culture in recent years. I remember being in awe of the athleticism of B-boys trying to learn how to head spin and do handstands as a kid and failing miserably lol I still check out break dancing vids from time to time but it definitely doesn’t get the respect it deserves
Ron Van Cleef also literally survived being lynched. When he got back from Vietnam a group of white guys jumped him and hung him from a tree but he didn’t die. That’s why he left the US and went to Asia and eventually began acting in Kung fu movies. He discusses this in the pbs documentary, “the black kung fu experience” Edit: I forgot there is also a documentary about him called, “the hanged man: the story of Ron van clief” named after his autobiography.
hes proving a point i tell people all the time though. Content is king. If its good, people will watch a potato. -guy with all the 4k cameras and lights and post production toys.
Bill, I’m Japanese and agree with everything you say - there are so many people here who are just into the aesthetics of black culture and hip hop yet don’t know anything about the struggles of black people in America. There’s popular singer here named Misia who says she’s connected with black people and wears “black” hair styles and clothing, gets dark tans… because she had two black vocal coaches when she was young. I think many Japanese people need to learn more about this and cultural sensitivity.
Man, the amount of arguments I've had with people who won't watch foreign films because... _reading!_ 🤦♂️ They're missing out on more than they could possibly imagine.
I don't love subtitles myself but not because reading is laborious - I quite enjoy reading books. But I feel like I miss what's happening on the screen because I'm reading subtitles.
@@RedScareClairthat complaint really comes from people, I noticed, who don’t really even try to watch subtitles. Like. It doesn’t take away at all once you get accustomed.
This one hit close to home. I'm a first gen Mexican-American that grew up in a predominantly Black / Brown neighborhood in South Bronx, you cannot escape the cultural melting pot that happens in there, especially with Hip-Hop where its a part of you whether you ask for it or not. No matter how much I can appreciate and participate with Black culture and empathize with the struggles of racial discrimination, I can never be apart of the Black experience, its's not my culture plain & simple. Appropriation is such a slippery slope and it's important to acknowledge and firmly contextualize the culture that's around you, in my old neighborhood you get your wigged snatched and much worse if you didn't. Preciate the vid & insight as always man!
Conversely, I am a Black woman who went to a predominately Mexican school in Detroit. There is a lot about Mexican culture that I absorbed during my time there, but Mexican culture isn't my culture.
Where as I'm a mixed Mexican from Jalisco and New Orleans, equally. Being both cultures, but not, is awkward, but my exposure to black and American born Latino cultures are ones I can sit next to, but not be of. We should have a party
this shit is real. i'm not an ethnic minority so i can't speak that much on my own culture being appropriated but as the "token white girl" at my high school down southeast baltimore every kid in that place was either black or maybe hispanic and sometimes as a teen in that situation you gotta go around extra steps to try to "fit in" with the crowd without straight up appropriating the predominant culture(s) you feel used to being surrounded by. it is a privilege to be able to participate in and be accepted by such a culturally rich population without fully being able to understand any of the personal racial issues or experience that they have and that is something that should always be kept in mind and respected when you do not come from those cultures or backgrounds yourself; you never take the people from those different cultures or environments for granted or claim them as your own because none of that would be here without them.
For anyone that's curious, Bruce Lee actually does explain how fencing factors into Jeet Kune Do. To make a long story short, he observed the footwork of fencing, particularly its short hops, and recognized how useful it would be to use that speed to lunge for distance and power while keeping the enemy off-guard. It's like a riposte with your fists, and a lot of strikes in Jeet Kune Do use that footwork as its base along with the defensive movements found in boxing.
@@gregvs.theworld451the grandfather of MMA he was. Take from everything what is useful and discard the rest. Too bad modern MMA institutions are white neckbeard sports venues with no respect of the cultural diffusion and martial arts communities actually involved in the development of these arts.
Sword arts are basically European martial arts. In the east many martial arts were created by monks or the common man who weren't allowed to have swords but they still had to defend themselves. In Europe every Joe schmo could get a sword. Either it was your dads or uncles or you were rich enough to buy one. So fencing. Long sword. Zweihender arts. Hell even the roman short swords have years of history of martial arts with them. So does every other culture with their weapons/fists.
@kingpotato7183 yeah, every Joe Schmo couldn't just "get" a sword, as they were specialized tools that couldn't just be made by anyone. European martial arts were for the upperclass. And let's not forget that your division of "East vs West" ignores the big part of the world that exists between Europe and China, where swords have been a tool of war for *checks notes* literally thousands of years. You ever heard of Babylon? Sumer? Zweihander. Please.
26:44 Growing up asian in the states, discovering Wu Tang hit like no other... seeing their genuine appreciation of East Asian culture made me feel represented in a country where I never saw Asian people/aesthetics/ideas portrayed with respect, let alone as something to be celebrated and get hype to. Black culture helped me appreciate my own culture in a way, funny how it happens
Thisss! That feeling is so real. My taekwondo teacher is a Black man in Harlem and he talks about how taekwondo changed his life and he insisted opening his dojang in Harlem because he said he wanted to inspire the Black children of Harlem. He teaches predominantly Black students and children. The whole neighborhood respects him and cheers the kid whenever its a belt test day. And watching how this man inspires the whole block with Taekwondo fills me with pride of my culture and my heritage in ways ive never felt before.
"Globalization is just colonization with a gift basket" this is so real on so many levels Also the section on kung fu movies influence on dance connected quite a few dots for me as a person who is into ballroom culture and voguing
No. It wasnt inpsired by no damn kung fu just because we're using our hands and feet. STop connecting asian culture to us and trying to rewrite. Just because i look like a ninja when i dance that doesn't mean im inspired by you or copying asians. Get over yourself
@@chayo4537 Never said that voguing was directly inspired by kung fu, just that that section helped connect some related dots. Willi Ninja himself talked multiple times about growing up around asian people and asian culture being an inspiration for him. My comment was purely a historical one
There are a few of 90’s black hip hop and r and b stars working in Korea right now, from song production to choreography, some of the best k pop is made by black people
As an east Asian kid that watched more kpop and older content from China and Japan because it was more available I can say the appropriation conversation has been around since the early days of khiphop. A lot of the early culture were influenced by guys that grew up in America and found more welcome audience to asian faces in Asia. Ie see mc jin now being a judge on Chinese rap variety shows. I do think with more capitalism that became involved the appropriation became more reductive of 'urban culture'. With rap I can hear the appropriation but will point out music can have cross pollination along with appropriation. Ie traditional Chinese folk tonal poetry reading and comedy being revived with rap
Chinese American here-I do a college radio show about Cpop (Chinese pop music) and this was really helpful in helping me think about Asian hip hop for an upcoming show! It also cleared up why I get asked about Bruce Lee/kung fu by older black folks a lot 😭 it confused me a bunch because wuxia films are seen as sorta lowbrow and outdated by most Chinese ppl so they knew more about these movies than I did lmaooo
Do you have any Cpop recommendations? I’ve wanted to listen to it more. Spotify’s Cpop lists tend to favor Ballads and slower songs in a way that makes it a little difficult to explore Cpop artists who have different styles. Whose your favorite artists?
I actually really love Wang Lee Hom because how much of his experiences overlap with the African American one, having grown up in a redlined neighbourhood in 80s NY. So much of his music is a love letter to Black culture and music.
@@solarmoth4628I’m not the most familiar but as someone who also prefers dance pop and other more exciting genres, I’ve enjoyed Faye Wong, Jolin Tsai, and Lexie Liu. Faye Wong is older, mid 2000s to 2010s iirc, while the other two are currently still active.
You kidding me???wuxia films rock in black America and esp in Africa.god i loved watching them in Africa.we knew all the players....sad donnie yen is last of a dying breed.so thank u china for that.its why i got into martial arts
The world loves everything about black people except black people. Filipino rap screams that way except probably… two or three rappers. A small percentage are socially concious Common-type rappers. The rest imitate the swag, the slang, the mental and the aesthetics without any type of reverence. There’s a whole lot to unpack in my country. Anyway.. Cheers mate, what do you think of the Sixers offseason and how do you think they’ll do?
exactly and its so weird its like a mockery like none of the non black people that imitate us seem genuine like they hate us black people but they want everything we made
@@faiyaz9768You said that using technology created by white people that you hate ? Oh the irony. Btw not showing love != Hate. People just do what they like and live their lives. You think I'm gonna pay respect to Italians every time I eat pasta LoL
im filipino and while most of the hip hop is pretty much just biting/bad imitation a lot have actually embraced it as a medium to express struggles in a way thats truer to the origins of hiphop I feel like the Philippines is in that weird spot where we still take a lot from the cultures that have colonized us before especially america, and in that sense I feel that there's something that ties in filipinos to be able to relate to a lot of the experiences that inspired hip hop i hope this doesn't come off messy but as an observation the resonance we feel comes from the solidarity in being "minority" or having been oppressed as people and continuing to experience such problems left with us by our colonizers
@@lurkinlittlesquares6691 the people who have something to say are drowned out by the people who follow trends they don’t understand. I do think it’s just growing pains but it’s the respect for the culture we got it from that needs to be shown. Hopefully Filipino hip hop evolves because there is talent there.
45:05 The car analogy is a great way to describe cultural appropriation/appreciation. If you’re gonna borrow from someone always remember you are just borrowing and should give something back in return to show your appreciation. If you can’t do that don’t borrow it in the first place. It’s just common decency
I appreciate you talking about Floridian Cubans, over here in Florida Latinos would rather sit on their fat stacks than do anything worthwhile for anyone who isn't rich, white, or voting red.
I have a friend who's half Florida Cuban, and he's learned and grown a lot but geez bro would not fucking stop with the edgy humor sometimes and I just had to sit him down and be like "Dude. I know you aren't conservative but people legitimately can't tell when you're talking and making jokes like this, and it makes them not like you." Fortunately he was a good sport about it and he's learned a lot more mindfulness about people's feelings and experiences, and he's been a good friend to me. But I'm not afraid to call him out if need be, lol
@nicolasnamed I knew so many latinos growing up, usually white cubans, who I thought were just complete anglos cuz of how they looked and acted, they just completely hated their culture and just wanted to take advantage of their whiteness, reminds me of a song by Los Prisioneros where they call Latinos who resent their culture "occidental de segunda mano".
@nicolasnamed I knew a ton of latinos like that, they were usually cuban too, they completely resented their culture and just wanted to assimilate with the whites, reminds me a song by Los Prisioneros where they call Latinos who hate their culture "occidental de segundo mano".
Floridian Cubans are a different breed. My father was Black Cuban, and I grew up in Detroit. The Florida Cubans are the ones that were benefitting from plantation money and fled once that was taken away from them. People like my dad enjoyed more equality (although, there's still not enough equality in Cuba) after Castro took over.
@@brian.phillips1985 I mean, Florida Cubans are white though. As an Afro-Cuban, it's weird to see it even remarked upon. They are white, so that's who they're blending in with. Just like Black Cubans like my dad joined in Black American culture.
Bill this was a fantastic video and you and Babila did a bang up job here. As a Thai American, it isn't lost on me how terrible the greater region of Asia is when it uses Black American culture as an aesthetic for clout / exploitation instead of a bridge to greater understanding, appreciation and solidarity. All your points are great and I hope others of Asian descent really give them a listen. I think to a lot of us in the Asian diaspora, we keep stealing from Black American culture without giving it the proper dues - and the ones that do give props tend keep to themselves sadly. What I wasn't expecting was you discussing orientalism the way that you did. I tend to give Wu-Tang a pass since they absorbed stuff just through entertainment and they've always been respectful of stuff. But I never ever thought about Nicki Minaj until you made a comment down below, and the video touched on it with some of those MV clips which were....kinda cringe (i.e. Rush Hour 2's massage parlor scene). The conflation of Kung Fu and Japanese culture aside, this was great. Like you said, at the end of the day, if I'm a guest at someone's house, I need to be respectful, mind my manners, be a good guest, and take off my damn shoes.
@@NaikaVideo I do see how it could sound like I conflated Japan and kung fu since I kept going back and forth between kung fu specifically, then China, then Asia, then back to China, and then to just far east Asia as a generality. My brain just be going in 100 different directions at one time and it came out in the script lol
@@lilbilliam Japanese Jew American here. I could see how someone might miss your intention, but I think I got what you meant. No worries. Hell, I’m impressed with how rapidly and economically you articulate ideas. You might miss a note, but I still hear it. You throw out a sentence, but there’s a whole paragraph (at least) that is implied or suggested. Your cultural criticism is on point in significance and stylistically. 😊
@@lilbilliamI know this isn’t what the video is about but I do think it’s fairly important to avoid conflating Chinese and Japanese culture even in your own head. Their relationship is adversarial to put it mildly as I’m sure you’re well aware, and much of modern Japanese culture is appropriated from Chinese immigrants while still being hostile toward the immigrants themselves. Your exploration of the shared struggle between the Chinese and black populations was really on point but I wish you had been more intentional on explaining the connection to anime, considering that Japan has an extremely different relationship to imperialism/racism historically.
@@aeropavoreit’s funny you mention dumbfoundead. I was about to mention how growing up watching his rap battles was wild😭he handled it well but holy shit
I had a fairly-germane-to-the-video talk with Japanese rapper Lotus Juice a few months ago. His family moved to New Jersey age 8 and he started to rap after listening to ATCQ as a teen. After moving back to Japan for university he began performing in small venues without much success until he started getting hired to do music in English for anime and video games like Soul Eater and Persona 3. I asked him some questions about his music and the Japanese music industry and he called himself a student and guest of hip-hop culture, but also called him music pop with rapping which can't be authentic hip-hop because he lacks firsthand experience of poverty and oppression. Not sure if I'm totally on board with that but it's better than embracing racist stereotypes and doing a caricature of 50 Cent hood machismo 🤷.
his story kinda reminds me of Hikaru Utada, who grew up in the US and became a huge star in the late 90s and early 2000s with albums that introduced the sounds of 90s R&B to japanese audiences after an english-language debut underperformed. I wonder if anyone's ever tried to determine the monetary value of all the goodwill towards the US generated by the popular music forms pioneered by descendants of slaves being *that good*
I kinda love how he has that mindset! I played persona 3 fes as a kid and I loved that opening. Glad to hear that he understands and accepts his place in the culture
@@AnimeNXS Nope! According to the youtuber F.D. Signer, the gatekeeping of Hip-Hop has long been destroyed. And because of that Drake was let in Hip-Hop medium.
@@whathell6t Do you think I care? You said that like F.D. Signifier (put the correct name, "fan".) is some gatekeeper of hip-hop wholeness. He isn't. F.D. is an essayist - one with a lot of good takes and alot of terrible takes, just like any other video essayists in their infinite bias (recount when he also said 6:16 in LA by kendrick was only to do "What drake couldn't do, then watch "What's the Dirt"s breakdown essay explaining why it's easily the most subliminally meaning-loaded track of their entire beef, alongside the fact that drake has rapped like that many times in his city-series and Kendrick was just emulating HIM). F.D. is not your savior, and his take on hip hop being destroyed as a culture doesn't mean that rhythm or poetry should be gatekept. Only the hip-hop culture itself. How do you think it got ruined in the first place, goofy? Gatekeeping was not "destroyed" - it's been entirely circumvented by the digital era of music and artists that didn't have to bend to it. It can be gatekept by the FANDOM, and not individuals looking for clout or profit, in the modern day.
I'm Korean and this reminds me of the Korean rapper Trudy who went on Unpretty Rapstar and randomly said "한국이 길러낸 최초 블락 피플 (the first Black people Korea raised)" Either refering to herself, or Korean hip hop in general. And it was so deeply embarrassing because she not only was dismissing Black people in general but specifically Black people and Black Koreans whose been existing in Korea since 1950s the Korean war. And that is some of my biggest eek with this. Yes, they are minorities but we BEEN having Black people in East Asia. And the number has visibly rose in last decades. Even my barely literate Choongchungdo auntie know Black people exist in Korea. Like its genuinely not hard to have this conversation about why East Asians need to put respect into Black culture instead of writing it off as "its just a foreign culture we like" because again, Black people been in East Asia for a minute now.
"Black or Chinese" Joke aside the difference between vulturing and appreciation is the willingness to join a lineage of masters and students, you know like in all them kungfu movies. If you're willing to go find someone who masters the culture and seek their approval/honor them, that makes the difference between most k-pop and Nujabes (RIP), because you're trying to honor the culture you're emulating until you make a new culture of your own.
On the "why is Kabuki sacred but Hip-Hop is not": I think there might also be an element of reverance of "historic artforms" as compared to modern and therefore "lesser" art. Like the more I think about it, it feels like we tend to hold art and culture more sacred that has been made like, pre-1900s I feel. I don't think anyone would be comfortable with white or asian people doing a traditional african tribal dance, but yet somehow because Jazz and Hip-Hop is young (and rose to prominence in hyper capitalism), it's all fair game.
I mean there’s Kabuki Star Wars adaptions and stuff. Wasn’t the bad guy in Big Hero 6 wearing a Kabuki mask or something? From my understanding the art form is sacred in origin, similar to sumo, but not literally protected like a religious thing Lil bill kinda missed the mark on this one-like Japanese people do consider boondocks an anime because “anime” just refers to animations in general His greater point though was that some try to reinterpret black artforms like hiphop as something “for everyone,” whereas something like sumo will always be associated with Japan no matter what, and this says something about the discrepancy in social and cultural power between the two. Kind of an abstract concept though
Let me tell another way American culture can culturally appropriate Asian cultures. Alot of people remember that scene because of the meme of brock from 4kidz dub of pokemon. Holding up what are called onigiri balls in Japanese. But instead of using the common way onigiri balls are translated into English which is rice balls. 4kidz decided to call them jelly donuts. 4kidz thought that because it is unlikely for Americans kids to know what onigiri even are. That Its ok the straight erase the Asian origins of what Brock made. and instead just call them Jelly donuts even tho they neither look like or are donuts in any way. Because by Americanizing anime which often comes from Japan. They could make more money by making the anime they bought from Japan seem more American
As an older Asian American millennial anime fan, that erasure was the norm sadly. Anytime anime came on American TV and a cultural norm or artifact emerged, the norm was to always explain it as something else (this wasn't the case when anime came to home video). Nintendo games like Phantom Fighter & Legend of the Crystal Palace had to be uber vague about it's very asian inspirations even though both are Japanese games about Chinese culture sadly.
Lumping all Asian countries together in this discussion is another issue. Look up "Orientalism" and the problems with homogenizing Asian cultures. Japan and China are completely different cultures, not to mention how Asian Americans ALSO have their own completely different culture. It's like trying to lump all African countries + Black Americans into one group.
43:00 - if you look up the Japanese Wikipedia article for The Boondocks, they explicitly describe it as an anime, because the Japanese use that word to refer to animated works in general The “not considered anime” stuff has more to do with Westerners trying to put Japanese animation on a pedestal, echoing “model minority” dynamics Black culture and art are in singularly unique circumstances, wherein one of the most disadvantaged groups possesses some of the most in-demand cultural exports, resulting in the understandable instinct to protect that resource from a pattern of exploitation Asian cultural exports originating from relatively homogenous first world countries with established soft power legacy-much of which is not informed by suffering the way Black art is-means that shallow or misappropriated use of cultural exports does not pose the same kind of threat. Which, in a roundabout way, is what I suppose lil bill was trying to get at If everyone (re: black people) started really getting into Sumo or Kabuki, I doubt there would be a major outrage from the Asians, but that’s also because those things are already solidly woven into the cultural context of entire nation-states An overlooked element of this discussion though are the Asian citizens of the west (especially since most Asians watching this video are likely westernized). While Black Americans face exploitation of a rich and pretty well-defined culture, Asian-American culture is subtle and diverse to a point of near intangibility, and hasn't solidified into any distinct artistic movements that could be similarly exploited, nor do I think there’d be a demand/desire for that This lack of distinct culture and substantive representation leaves western Asians in a sort of cultural limbo. Sure, they can turn to East Asian exports, but those are created within a different social context, in a language they might barely understand. Consuming a ragtag collection of “Asian” products only does so much to ward off the sense of existing in a no man’s land Instead, many Asian Americans turn to the innovation of other cultures to find reflections of themselves and things to identify with. For example, the alienation expressed in New Order’s music resonated with many people of immigrant backgrounds. Similarly, Asian-influenced hiphop circled back around-note the prevalence of Asian American B-Boys for example However, Asian Americans also have to fight against the perceptions of being “perpetual foreigners,” emasculated, docile etc. while participating/indulging in the domain of other cultures, which the efforts to defend against may yield questionable results For example, I have a pet theory that the “Mandingo/Reverse Mandingo” effect is a significant reason behind the phenomena of some Asian men adopting Black style, accents, and even usage of the N word in some cases-when Black men are hypermasculinized and Asian men are emasculated, it’s no surprise if one draws from the other in an attempt to even the field. It’s not simply a matter of appropriation for the sake of fashion, there’s an added layer of trying to assimilate and overcome certain perceptions. This phenomenon similarly extends to those like Awkwafina I do wish lil bill made more of a distinction between westernized Asians and East Asians instead of feeding into the “perpetual foreigner” thing and conflating the two. Awkwafina and the NY accent girl are not motivated by the same cultural contexts and circumstances that motivate the alteration of film posters or harassment of African students in China Racism in East Asia is more a result of a lack of good exposure to black people and being infected by colonialist colorism, whereas the former has much to do with Asians making missteps while trying to assimilate and find their place, on top of the virtually universal underlying fetishization of blackness The Awkwafina types tend to have more proximity and exposure to Black-or at least American-culture than they do East Asian culture. Their parents can barely decipher rap lyrics, whereas they can barely decipher their parents’ foreign music This is not to say such people have any deep insight into Black culture or experience, but how Asian Americans might properly find a place within the western cultural zeitgeist is a different conversation from the selective and even rapacious appropriation of Blackness in East Asia The same exploitation of Blackness also happens in the US, including Asian-Americans, but in this regard, it isn’t just an Asian-American issue any more than homophobia is just a Black American issue In regards to Asian Americans, the main underlying process seems to be divide-and-conquer playing out under the racial hierarchy. At the core it’s a matter of respect, recognizing the humanity within different people, and making some effort to uplift-or at the very least not actively step on the toes of-those who have been unduly fucked over Wu-Tang!
Nujabees will always be loved in my household! My experience with Asian culture (at least in my younger years) was because of Bruce, Jet Li and Jackie Chan, and Donnie yen. Which all played a part in me getting moves performed on me by my older cousins 😂
In seattle, the black panther party were taught karate and had a few japanese members due to the closeness between the communities because of the japanese internment camps. Guy kuroskey was a karate master and also a member of the party.
*Guy Kurose There was also Mike Tagawa, dude was born in an internment camp, went to high school with Jimi Hendrix, hosted an MLK speech, joined the Air Force, became anti-war, and joined the panthers. Interesting guy
It would’ve been interesting to show some more examples of how black and Asian cultures in the US clashed outside of the media/internet such as tensions between the black community and Korean community during the Rodney King riots in LA and beyond
I think thats why he referred to Foreign and Olisunvia for their videos on black and asian relations. He wasn't trying to go into that territory with this video.
Im black and my wife is native korean. I live in korea and have seen plenty of the examples in the video. A majority (not all) of these issues are simply due to ignorance. There are no black people in korea teaching koreans about the nuances of our culture. And those of us who do live here are in a strange position in being guests of a culture ourselves. Its a strange phenomenon overseas because of the simple lack of knowledge about bpack people. However that makes the actions of americans both black asian and anything in-between all the more important imo. Because we have the neighbors and classmates and coworkers who can teach and would be more than willing to if approached properly. Its the reasons i also despise akwafina or however you spell that ish. But i digress, good vid bill
It ain’t a big thing but the Brazilians use an “H” sound when R is at the beginning of the name. So it sounds more like “Hoyce”. Just some MMA nerd ish. ❤ Edit: Nujabes RIP
Sick video mate. Shout out from South Africa. The Chinese (insert other oppressed groups) and Black relationship is a very deep one. Not just linked by oppression but resistance too. It was China which supported our forefathers in the battle against Colonial rule. China till this day stands as a symbol of resistance to western dominance, and as a people who are yet to truly achieve their freedom, we see what we could potentially achieve with our resistance embodied by the Asians and in particular China. Even in Afrika we know and love Bruce Lee and the Martial Arts genre. Not only the theatrical performance but the philosophy and values entrenched in such flicks and culture.
I do want to point out that Rich Brian did change his name from Rich Chigga and no longer does songs like Dat Stick because he realized it was a bad look. You could say that it's just cynical damage control move but I'm willing to give him some grace for no longer doing that stuff and doing songs more authentic to him. As far as Nina, the Tik Tok girl towards the end of the video, is concerned, I've seen her stuff before and she reminds me of plenty of Asians living around or with Black people and sound like that. I understand your ultimate point is that there's culture vultures like Awkwafina whom we need to be wary of but Nina comes off like a regular person in that situation: occasionally messy but just living their experience and not actively malicious.
Running Man's Jong Kook pisssssed me off one time when he talked about his 'hip hop teacher', Kooky is grown so he should've realised how ignorant his teacher was and how he sounded parroting him up. The teacher said 'Hip Hop is easy, it's just stepping through a door' and was doing classes despite how far from hip hop his music and aesthetics were. The disrespect🤌🏾. We can be ignorant but you won't see us giving 'Kimchi making classes' and claiming 'it's just pickled cabbage' because we don't try to be the teachers/leaders/face off anyone else's cultural properties.
You just unlocked a memory lol. As a kid I thought it was funny because of how stupid he looked doing it but as an adult it does kinda rub me the wrong way. As a ballad/trot/pop singer he has no business making fun of hiphop really...
00:08:38 Heyyyy Newark Native here, my Father was a vet who trained in Martial Arts BEFORE going to war, and then trained in Korea for 2 years...Upon his return to the world, he and many other Brothers AND Sisters filled Black ran Dojos..I LOVED THIS PERIOD..We went to exhibitions like every other weekend, it was sooo exciting!!!! *SAW BRUCE LEROY (Taimak) LIVE, AND HIS KATAS WERE ALWAYS FIRE* My brother and I learned to read through the Japanese Dramas my parents watched on PBS...Saw the Seven Samurai before The Magnificent Seven and Shogun Assassin ( Lone Wolf and Cub) before it was COOL...Damn I am old, and fortunate, but still old HAHAHAHA
Thanks for another great vid! As an Asian-American myself, I definitely hear you about the need to be respectful of Black culture, esp. if we want to continue that solidarity. Thanks also for acknowledging Orientalism and not lumping us in with the ‘ashen folks’ 😂 that and the mismatched subtitles made me laugh, shout-out to you for the great script and Babila for the great editing 💯 Hilariously, I do belong to the section of anime fans that will argue that ATLA and Samurai Jack and Boondocks belong in the anime category, when you think of anime as an artistic style, but to underline your point it’s definitely an art/art style with a Japanese origin that shouldn’t be erased, and the same goes for hip hop being a Black American art whose origins shouldn’t be erased or disrespected.
46:44 "There's a lot more that connects, than divides us" and on that note, I'd like to point you to a new(recently made)channel I discovered called "enlightenment ideas," her video called "the lies of separation in humanity: r*** and cul**** doesn't exist" Pretty much talks about exactly that It's funny, so many people from all over the world have similar if not the exact same traditions, practices, culture, clothes, food, (not to mention DNA, ya know, being human and all) and even down to whole words in completely different languages meaning and sounding the exact same. That's how I came to the same conclusion as you guys, being a huge language nerd and all; "We are way more similar and in common, than different"
My entire family uses at&t and we recently got a letter from at&t talking about the breach which led my grandma to finding out she has been paying for two extra lines
Went to the library and picked up "Hip Hop Heresies" by Shanté Paradigm Smalls pinpointing The Last Dragon to highlight the Black masculinity via queer perspective after seeing your post with Martin's Kung Fu Jones. Still reading it. Thanks for this video!
But you have an asian japanese woman who made a video talking about how its disrespectful and not traditional ... for megan thee stallion to release a video like that!?😂 asians have a lot of nerve talking shit and using the "tradtional" energy as an excuse for them to expose how they're triggered and racist. When you dont even live your life as a tradtional asian?! 😂 too busy trying to modern and western
But you have an asian japanese woman who made a video talking about how its disrespectful and not traditional ... for megan thee stallion to release a video like that!?😂 asians have a lot of nerve talking shit and using the "tradtional" energy as an excuse for them to expose how they're triggered and racist. When you dont even live your life as a tradtional asian?! 😂 too busy trying to modern and western
But you have an asian japanese woman who made a video talking about how its disrespectful and not traditional ... for megan thee stallion to release a video like that!?😂 asians have a lot of nerve talking shit and using the "tradtional" energy as an excuse for them to expose how they're triggered and racist. When you dont even live your life as a tradtional asian?! 😂 too busy trying to modern and western
re: the fencing, I was just checking out his family members' wiki pages, and apparently his older brother was a world-class fencer in his youth, and talked Bruce into taking some fencing classes in secondary school!
That's crazy about subtitles cuz every time I got to some girl house for Netflix they talking about some "I'm neurodivergent and need subtitles". They should be more popular now than ever.
14:30 tytyty I never understood my fellow Cubans who judged others trying to start a new life. There’s a meme I saw that is perfect: Floridians be like “we need better public transit” Floridians: COMUNISMO
One one hand I hate them for pushing us back so hard and making Latinos look like idiots, but on the other I sort of empathize because Republicans weaponize their trauma and make them nuttier, not old money cubans though, they were always nutty.
omigosh not the lessarafim mention! I'm from zambia and similar to the grindhouse theatres where lower budget films were being shown , we had a lot of 🏴☠dvds from all over africa and international movies. However my grandfather really loved vhs tapes and so he used to watch all of the movies he got. his favourite one was taichi anything keanu reeves. There is such a deep history between asian cultures and other minorities, In many places in southern africa and in zambia we had refugees from southern and east asia. And even now we have many indian zambians and chinese zambians, even japanese families that have in turn made a cultural melting pot despite some tensions with xenophobia, classism and prejudice( on both sides). I also am a partaker of kpop and everyday is a struggle. There is a very blatant culture vulture in most approaches to their branding that goes away once afro beats, drill, rnb seem to fade in and out of popular media, but they are also sincere collaborations with black music producers , engineers and choreographers that show when there is a genuine cultural exchange. And even when they do not appropriate minority culture themselves and genuinely use elements of their culture (this goes outside of kpop and just media in general) ,I find that there's a stronger connection with audiences that are watching. It is a more authentic show of culture as its true to them and i've even found myself relating it back to my own culture even if they aren't appropriating "afro beats".
I had a phase of obsession similar to what you talked about in the intro accept I was singularly obsessed with “The Raid” movies. I still have my old practice katana and nunchucks from back then.
I came here ready to argue but decided to actually listen to what you had to say first. You made some very good points. There's a notable difference between appreciation and appropriation. I respect your opinion on this and share it wholeheartedly. I As you noted throughout the video there are plenty of examples on both sides where proper respect was paid, so I think the times where it weren't are clear examples of cash grabbing and not so much lack of understanding, because at this point there are plenty of resources available to get an idea of how to do it right if one cares too.
My thing is why does it matter? KungFu is only one aspect of Chinese Culture, just like how Rap is an aspect of Black American culture, if you want to ape it and use particular aspects of it for your own personal use, everyone has done that historically
@@Josue-mv2fo it only matters if you want to bond with people outside of your deeply held value system. Of course you could disregard every nuance of a culturally significant trend and distill it down to what makes it entertaining, but history proves that people/groups actually care about how their heritage/values are represented. You don’t have to support every ideal. You just have to be willing to accept that people are different than you, as well as willing to accept that that’s ok.
@@Josue-mv2fo It’s probably just a matter of perspective. Some people care that much about their culture. Personally I’m Mexican/italian, and I couldn’t give two shits about how Mexicans and Italians are represented, mostly because on both sides neither has accepted me. To that end I’m not the type to get offended by stereotypes or inaccuracies in general but I appreciate when someone puts in the work to get it right.
That's why they use black people's energies to be free. While simulatenously telling us that we won't be free for being ourselves 🤯 hows that for some mindfvckery?!
The erasure of jamaica's large influence on global pop music in general really hits home with some of the points made in this video. The average jamaican has no problem with reggaeton, dubstep, the current state of ska and many pop songs globally, but so many people from the countries these genres are born in refuse to acknowledge our contributions to global rhythm and genre fusions/creations and it's very frustrating considering the size of our country. Japan and Jamaica also have a weird little relationship too.
I didn't even know 36 Chambers was based of Kung-Fu movies until my mom showed me Enter the Dragon it was like meeting the chicken after being a fan of the egg
I always love watching your videos! As a white cis hetero dude, I am aware that there are certain things I just cannot fully comprehend. The question of cultural appropriation is one of those things because the whole process is just so normalized for people like me, that it is invisible. I have watched most, if not all, of your videos, and many other content creators just to try to gain an understanding of perspectives different from mine. Greatly I appreciate what you do, despite the ridiculous comments you have to endure from dunderheads like myself who don’t know how to just shut up, listen, and process without throwing jabs because they feel uncomfortable or attacked somehow. I don’t typically comment because of the whole “shut up and listen and don’t make it about me” thing, but I do have to express my appreciation at least sometimes. You are a treasure!
You know what, this is probably the wrong answer, but I find your admitting that after all of your work and trying to understand, it's still confusing. At least you're not crossing you're arms, huffing at us for just being too sensitive and letting you "just say it", it's no big deal. It's sounds like you're still trying to work and not putting it on us. And this may not even help, but I found Bill's metaphor to how to treat his house, apt. It seems like black people's "house" has our door wide open or at least no lock, and we're at the mercy of whoever wants to come in and take. While everyone else's house is either elevated in a gated community, or have 1,000s of years of really nice endless sources that can't possibly be all stolen from them even if some of it is taken. Basically, the story of black people in the world is that we don't get to own what's ours, but everyone gets to. And this is so hard to qualify, thus why at least well-meaning people still struggle, but it's also a respect thing. And simply "liking" something isn't respecting it. That what's kills me about the, "but it's appreciation", and "you all do it" argument. It takes work and effort. And needless to say, not both sides are making the same effort to make sure both sides remain restored after said exchange. THE EXCHANGE IS NOT EQUAL. I know that's all still a lot, but that was the best I could do!
@@missright9159 thank you for the kind words! I really like the house metaphor. One way I try to conceptualize it is thus: I am a proud Ukranian-born, and I got the Ukrainian symbol tattooed on my chest. I can only imagine how upsetting it would be to me if some dude saw the symbol, thought it was cool, and then tattooed it on themselves without ever even knowing that it is the national symbol of Ukraine. Also I really agree with Bill’s statement “everyone loves everything about black people, except the black PEOPLE.” It is so heartbreaking to me. All the things I grew up with thinking as “cool” I never realized where they came from.
About 15 years ago I visited Japan and got my hair done. One if the stylists had corn rows. She had no idea where corn rows came from. My general experience with Japan doing cultural appropriation is that unless they have international clients/users, its purely out of ignorance, and they just think it's cute or cool.
As a Barb, I must speak up and say that Nicki is of East and Southeast Asian descent, as are many Trinidadian people. The reason so many female rappers today are trying to emulate the “Blasian” phenotype and aesthetic is because of Nicki Minaj. That is why she has so many Southeast and East Asian references in her music.
Ashen one self report incoming: I've spent most of my life learning about audio tech because I really loved audio art that came from afroamerican and african diaspora communities. As I make art now, I draw from jazz, blues, rock, funk, disco, hip-hop, techno, jungle, and dubstep (plus a lot more), and I've come to realize that I am appropriating black art in some positive but also some negative ways. I'm still deworming my brain of tiktoks garbled AAVE "gen-z slang" by actually educating myself on the cultures and histories I'm drawing on is part of being respectful, but I know I have a long way to go both in my art and my actions. Im deeply indebted to videos like these for helping me deconstruct my appropriation and hopefully build it into something that can celebrate blackness without undermining black people. Lead me not into Jack Harlow, and deliver me from Elvis.
I can’t articulate how damn smart you are. Every single time I watch I have to do a full self analysis all over again and check myself for the dumb ass knee jerk reactions my privilege always avails itself of. I always come away educated… and amazingly feeling dumber. I look at myself and wonder how the hell I missed things so bloody obvious. Gonna watch this one a few times so I can catch the things I missed as I always miss something. Damn good video!
Hey I realized the captions changed the first sentence. My favorite pasttime is reading the subtitles on television shows for an hour at a time. Shows I've seen way too many times, flicks I've never seen before. I read it all.
The image of Zab doing the 52 blocks against Mayweather is a memory that keeps popping back up from time to time, I had no idea what the hell he was doing in that round and idk what Floyd was thinking while it was happening
I got to say out of all of the cultural like out of all the cultural exchange between black Americans and East Asians, Japanese fusion jazz has to be my favorite that s*** goes hard as f***
I grew up during the 70s through the 90s . It was Bruce Lee all day, and martial arts movies on the weekends on TV, and movies theaters. You can watch 2 for one. It was always about respect, escapism, and relationships built between the Black and Asian communities at the time.
What accent is Awkwafina supposed to have? She grew up in Queens around black people. Should she fake an Asian accent? A white accent? As far as I can tell, it is just her normal style of speech. It isn't an affectation.
The timing of your uploads in correlation to the events of my life is truly insane. This like the 3rd time I found us on the same thought frequency.. about a month ago I started meditating on the relationship the black community has to martial arts/ asian culture. Kung Fu movies, fighting games, Blaxpoitation, anime/manga, wutang clan, fashion. We love that shit. Outside of the recent "black anime" boom & rappers integrating anime references into music I havent seen a true love letter to the specific community mentioned since The Last Dragon in 1985. So I started writing a movie to represent that 40 year gap. I want showcase that that love has grown over time. I think ppl think a black kung fu movie staring anyone other than Michael Jai White would be corny. The assumption is mine, but I want to prove my assumption wrong. If it's well produced & authentic I think a spiritual successor to the Last Dragon is exactly what black otaku culture needs rn
also you hit it on the head. I've seen alot of discourse online lately of ppl trying to decipher this relationship. It's simple, Asians have perfected the art of telling the story of the underdog in the most exciting way. And when Jim Kelly & Bruce Lee joined forces it recognized us as a ppl as a formidable underdog capable of overcoming obstacles we seemingly shouldnt be able to. It invited us to the fight as an equal because we deserved to be recognized for our fight.
ay y'all so the camera thing is a joke. the lens was out of focus for the ad read. I don't need y'all to start a new camera fund. I'm good👍
@@lilbilliam you say this but we want the CLARATIN CLARITY homie.
Shouldn't we be the judge of that? 🤣
bill i thought the bit was great, also please do the 5% nation video.
Basically what we are all saying is that you ain't got that FD Clarity Camera 😅
I'll see myself out
I think it undercuts the joke when it looks like your lens has Vaseline smeared on it in every video. great video though. big fan.
it's not just kung fu. as a Japanese person who loves rap, I get the kinship that Black people feel towards anime, specifically shonen. i think there's a common story of being told to be a certain way, to follow a specific path, wanting to break out, and identifying with the average kid who becomes the superhero who saves the world....
but then I see K-Pop and all these other East Asians like me who have light/fair-skin privilege even amongst other Asians, who are racist without even knowing it, who do not feature any Black people in front of the camera, all while jacking their whole entire aesthetic, sound, personality, dance moves and raps... and it feels like a mistake that these cultures merged ;___;
i legitimately know people who love K-Pop for the dance, aesthetic and music, but they don't listen to hip hop and it makes me sad
Who's your favorite rapper?
I think the word you're looking for is colorism because it is the focus of the color for someone skin example: "Darker skin=dirt vs light=clean." Which does indeed affect dark skin Asian a lot when it comes to discrimination and how people that look like you because of your darker skin color.
Facts bro. As an og kpop stan I remember how incredible it was for Jay Park to have dark skin black girls in his music videos and that was like in 2012. And 12 year old me was like wooow maybe I do have a place in this music culture. But even now it's not common to see black ppl in these kpop/hiphop videos where they're literally sporting cornrows and durags.
Jay Park is the one idol I can even remember ever even having black folks in his videos and he still does to this day. Big shout to him cuz he's someone who I think has a real appreciation for black culture. And I don't think he's ever worn anything crazy either 😂
Jay park is not an idol, though. Dude is k-hip hop adjacent. @@wizzytalksalot
The fact that it's break dancing in the Olympics right now and it's barely any black ppl doing it is wild
It’s really unfortunate.
Is it wild though? Back in my day (the 90s) the only folks who were breaking were Mexican and Filipino kids (this was Los Angeles) and one of the biggest names in that time was Asia One, founder of B-Boy Summit.
The hip hop elements became neglected once the MC became the black version of lead singer (white rock fans DGAF about the drummer, bass player, rhythm guitarist)
The same thing could be said about turntablism. Jazzy Jeff is like the last well known black turntable focused DJ.
The same thing could be said about graffiti.
It’s a shame that B-boying has lost its impact on Hip Hop culture in recent years. I remember being in awe of the athleticism of B-boys trying to learn how to head spin and do handstands as a kid and failing miserably lol I still check out break dancing vids from time to time but it definitely doesn’t get the respect it deserves
Them Chinese be killing that shit tho
oh nah
Ron Van Cleef also literally survived being lynched. When he got back from Vietnam a group of white guys jumped him and hung him from a tree but he didn’t die. That’s why he left the US and went to Asia and eventually began acting in Kung fu movies. He discusses this in the pbs documentary, “the black kung fu experience”
Edit: I forgot there is also a documentary about him called, “the hanged man: the story of Ron van clief” named after his autobiography.
Wow, Americans ain't shit
Thank you!!!
🖤
That is insane story...wow.
lil bill has the harshest "talent" to "equipment quality" ratio in the biz
Not even bro, he can have that when I’m doing better
I'm recognizing that 😂 respectfully
hes proving a point i tell people all the time though. Content is king. If its good, people will watch a potato.
-guy with all the 4k cameras and lights and post production toys.
My guy look like he in the back of the Chinese store🤣
Have this thousandth like cuz omfg I was truly wondering if the lens was just smudged when I first started watching way back when...
Bill, I’m Japanese and agree with everything you say - there are so many people here who are just into the aesthetics of black culture and hip hop yet don’t know anything about the struggles of black people in America. There’s popular singer here named Misia who says she’s connected with black people and wears “black” hair styles and clothing, gets dark tans… because she had two black vocal coaches when she was young. I think many Japanese people need to learn more about this and cultural sensitivity.
Why? Blacks didn't learn about Japanese culture beyond its portrayal in Hollywood
@@visisius9339Oh, I didn’t? Please be sure to let my Sensei know this. Arigato gozaimasu.
@@visisius9339"Blacks"
@@Garrett.1111 you better never accuse anyone else of cultural appropriation, goofy
@@visisius9339 speaking another language is cultural appropriation?
Man, the amount of arguments I've had with people who won't watch foreign films because... _reading!_ 🤦♂️ They're missing out on more than they could possibly imagine.
Perhaps those people should watch The Tribe.
let them miss out. its not on you
I don't love subtitles myself but not because reading is laborious - I quite enjoy reading books. But I feel like I miss what's happening on the screen because I'm reading subtitles.
@@RedScareClairthat complaint really comes from people, I noticed, who don’t really even try to watch subtitles. Like. It doesn’t take away at all once you get accustomed.
@@RedScareClairone eye focused on the screen and the other focused on subtitles. BOOM just fixed your issue u can thank me later!!!
This one hit close to home. I'm a first gen Mexican-American that grew up in a predominantly Black / Brown neighborhood in South Bronx, you cannot escape the cultural melting pot that happens in there, especially with Hip-Hop where its a part of you whether you ask for it or not. No matter how much I can appreciate and participate with Black culture and empathize with the struggles of racial discrimination, I can never be apart of the Black experience, its's not my culture plain & simple. Appropriation is such a slippery slope and it's important to acknowledge and firmly contextualize the culture that's around you, in my old neighborhood you get your wigged snatched and much worse if you didn't. Preciate the vid & insight as always man!
Conversely, I am a Black woman who went to a predominately Mexican school in Detroit. There is a lot about Mexican culture that I absorbed during my time there, but Mexican culture isn't my culture.
Where as I'm a mixed Mexican from Jalisco and New Orleans, equally. Being both cultures, but not, is awkward, but my exposure to black and American born Latino cultures are ones I can sit next to, but not be of.
We should have a party
@@RosaHernandez-uw2ulThere are black mexicans. Sorry to nitpick but afro latinos are always erased.
this shit is real. i'm not an ethnic minority so i can't speak that much on my own culture being appropriated but as the "token white girl" at my high school down southeast baltimore every kid in that place was either black or maybe hispanic and sometimes as a teen in that situation you gotta go around extra steps to try to "fit in" with the crowd without straight up appropriating the predominant culture(s) you feel used to being surrounded by. it is a privilege to be able to participate in and be accepted by such a culturally rich population without fully being able to understand any of the personal racial issues or experience that they have and that is something that should always be kept in mind and respected when you do not come from those cultures or backgrounds yourself; you never take the people from those different cultures or environments for granted or claim them as your own because none of that would be here without them.
For anyone that's curious, Bruce Lee actually does explain how fencing factors into Jeet Kune Do. To make a long story short, he observed the footwork of fencing, particularly its short hops, and recognized how useful it would be to use that speed to lunge for distance and power while keeping the enemy off-guard. It's like a riposte with your fists, and a lot of strikes in Jeet Kune Do use that footwork as its base along with the defensive movements found in boxing.
Cool! I've done a little fencing, and that makes a lot of sense with the kind of linear explosiveness Bruce Lee demonstrates
Man, Bruce Lee really wondered what martial arts style he wanted to do and said "Yes".
@@gregvs.theworld451the grandfather of MMA he was. Take from everything what is useful and discard the rest. Too bad modern MMA institutions are white neckbeard sports venues with no respect of the cultural diffusion and martial arts communities actually involved in the development of these arts.
Sword arts are basically European martial arts.
In the east many martial arts were created by monks or the common man who weren't allowed to have swords but they still had to defend themselves.
In Europe every Joe schmo could get a sword.
Either it was your dads or uncles or you were rich enough to buy one.
So fencing. Long sword. Zweihender arts. Hell even the roman short swords have years of history of martial arts with them.
So does every other culture with their weapons/fists.
@kingpotato7183 yeah, every Joe Schmo couldn't just "get" a sword, as they were specialized tools that couldn't just be made by anyone. European martial arts were for the upperclass. And let's not forget that your division of "East vs West" ignores the big part of the world that exists between Europe and China, where swords have been a tool of war for *checks notes* literally thousands of years. You ever heard of Babylon? Sumer?
Zweihander. Please.
26:44 Growing up asian in the states, discovering Wu Tang hit like no other... seeing their genuine appreciation of East Asian culture made me feel represented in a country where I never saw Asian people/aesthetics/ideas portrayed with respect, let alone as something to be celebrated and get hype to. Black culture helped me appreciate my own culture in a way, funny how it happens
Thisss! That feeling is so real. My taekwondo teacher is a Black man in Harlem and he talks about how taekwondo changed his life and he insisted opening his dojang in Harlem because he said he wanted to inspire the Black children of Harlem. He teaches predominantly Black students and children. The whole neighborhood respects him and cheers the kid whenever its a belt test day. And watching how this man inspires the whole block with Taekwondo fills me with pride of my culture and my heritage in ways ive never felt before.
Lil Bill, I will legit buy you a new camera as long as its under $200. Holla at your boy
all the good ones are 4 bills and up 😔
@@lilbilliam Damn Unc, well if anyone wanna add onto this my offer still stands!
Noticed the quality instantly, goddamn
I would chip in 50 if a GoFundMe were to appear
Go fund me we need that
"Globalization is just colonization with a gift basket" this is so real on so many levels
Also the section on kung fu movies influence on dance connected quite a few dots for me as a person who is into ballroom culture and voguing
esp given the rise of right wing people in tech ceo positions
search results are so controlled by them
No. It wasnt inpsired by no damn kung fu just because we're using our hands and feet. STop connecting asian culture to us and trying to rewrite. Just because i look like a ninja when i dance that doesn't mean im inspired by you or copying asians. Get over yourself
@@chayo4537 Never said that voguing was directly inspired by kung fu, just that that section helped connect some related dots. Willi Ninja himself talked multiple times about growing up around asian people and asian culture being an inspiration for him. My comment was purely a historical one
Omg the ballroom connection didn’t even click for me you’re so right
"Fury Road with a Disco aesthetic", my guy, you just described The Warriors.
Yes😂😂😂😂
Okay... well then I need to watch it stat!
@@LilFeralGangrelyes you do
Oh, I can dig that.
Caan youu digiiiittt!!??
There are a few of 90’s black hip hop and r and b stars working in Korea right now, from song production to choreography, some of the best k pop is made by black people
Like who?
YOU GOTTA GIVE US NAMES WE’RE DYING HERE
Teddy Riley
@@PeachFlavoredKaijuteddy riley, daniel obi klein, dem jointz, just to mention a few
rodney jerkins on nct 127's song "favorite" had me doing a double-take lmao
Jin being "10 years ahead of his time cause we were 20 years behind in the stereotyping department" is a bar lol. Jin was/is fire
I think he’s a Christian rapper too now, I really enjoyed seeing his interview with china mac where they squash the beef.
Jin sucked just like China wack
As an east Asian kid that watched more kpop and older content from China and Japan because it was more available I can say the appropriation conversation has been around since the early days of khiphop. A lot of the early culture were influenced by guys that grew up in America and found more welcome audience to asian faces in Asia. Ie see mc jin now being a judge on Chinese rap variety shows.
I do think with more capitalism that became involved the appropriation became more reductive of 'urban culture'.
With rap I can hear the appropriation but will point out music can have cross pollination along with appropriation. Ie traditional Chinese folk tonal poetry reading and comedy being revived with rap
I always stick with the JVC stereo, well tested, well built solid stereo type.
The fact that I had to scroll to this comment read and press play just to hear him saying it . That was crazy. 😂
Chinese American here-I do a college radio show about Cpop (Chinese pop music) and this was really helpful in helping me think about Asian hip hop for an upcoming show! It also cleared up why I get asked about Bruce Lee/kung fu by older black folks a lot 😭 it confused me a bunch because wuxia films are seen as sorta lowbrow and outdated by most Chinese ppl so they knew more about these movies than I did lmaooo
Do you have any Cpop recommendations? I’ve wanted to listen to it more. Spotify’s Cpop lists tend to favor Ballads and slower songs in a way that makes it a little difficult to explore Cpop artists who have different styles. Whose your favorite artists?
I actually really love Wang Lee Hom because how much of his experiences overlap with the African American one, having grown up in a redlined neighbourhood in 80s NY. So much of his music is a love letter to Black culture and music.
Any Wuxi’s recs
@@solarmoth4628I’m not the most familiar but as someone who also prefers dance pop and other more exciting genres, I’ve enjoyed Faye Wong, Jolin Tsai, and Lexie Liu. Faye Wong is older, mid 2000s to 2010s iirc, while the other two are currently still active.
You kidding me???wuxia films rock in black America and esp in Africa.god i loved watching them in Africa.we knew all the players....sad donnie yen is last of a dying breed.so thank u china for that.its why i got into martial arts
The world loves everything about black people except black people. Filipino rap screams that way except probably… two or three rappers. A small percentage are socially concious Common-type rappers. The rest imitate the swag, the slang, the mental and the aesthetics without any type of reverence. There’s a whole lot to unpack in my country. Anyway..
Cheers mate, what do you think of the Sixers offseason and how do you think they’ll do?
exactly and its so weird its like a mockery like none of the non black people that imitate us seem genuine like they hate us black people but they want everything we made
@@faiyaz9768You said that using technology created by white people that you hate ? Oh the irony. Btw not showing love != Hate. People just do what they like and live their lives. You think I'm gonna pay respect to Italians every time I eat pasta LoL
@@faiyaz9768it's all cool.at the end of the day we here and never stole from nobody.thats something they'll never accuse us of✊🏿
im filipino and while most of the hip hop is pretty much just biting/bad imitation a lot have actually embraced it as a medium to express struggles in a way thats truer to the origins of hiphop
I feel like the Philippines is in that weird spot where we still take a lot from the cultures that have colonized us before especially america, and in that sense I feel that there's something that ties in filipinos to be able to relate to a lot of the experiences that inspired hip hop
i hope this doesn't come off messy but as an observation the resonance we feel comes from the solidarity in being "minority" or having been oppressed as people and continuing to experience such problems left with us by our colonizers
@@lurkinlittlesquares6691 the people who have something to say are drowned out by the people who follow trends they don’t understand. I do think it’s just growing pains but it’s the respect for the culture we got it from that needs to be shown. Hopefully Filipino hip hop evolves because there is talent there.
45:05 The car analogy is a great way to describe cultural appropriation/appreciation. If you’re gonna borrow from someone always remember you are just borrowing and should give something back in return to show your appreciation. If you can’t do that don’t borrow it in the first place. It’s just common decency
I appreciate you talking about Floridian Cubans, over here in Florida Latinos would rather sit on their fat stacks than do anything worthwhile for anyone who isn't rich, white, or voting red.
I have a friend who's half Florida Cuban, and he's learned and grown a lot but geez bro would not fucking stop with the edgy humor sometimes and I just had to sit him down and be like "Dude. I know you aren't conservative but people legitimately can't tell when you're talking and making jokes like this, and it makes them not like you."
Fortunately he was a good sport about it and he's learned a lot more mindfulness about people's feelings and experiences, and he's been a good friend to me. But I'm not afraid to call him out if need be, lol
@nicolasnamed I knew so many latinos growing up, usually white cubans, who I thought were just complete anglos cuz of how they looked and acted, they just completely hated their culture and just wanted to take advantage of their whiteness, reminds me of a song by Los Prisioneros where they call Latinos who resent their culture "occidental de segunda mano".
@nicolasnamed I knew a ton of latinos like that, they were usually cuban too, they completely resented their culture and just wanted to assimilate with the whites, reminds me a song by Los Prisioneros where they call Latinos who hate their culture "occidental de segundo mano".
Floridian Cubans are a different breed. My father was Black Cuban, and I grew up in Detroit. The Florida Cubans are the ones that were benefitting from plantation money and fled once that was taken away from them. People like my dad enjoyed more equality (although, there's still not enough equality in Cuba) after Castro took over.
@@brian.phillips1985 I mean, Florida Cubans are white though. As an Afro-Cuban, it's weird to see it even remarked upon. They are white, so that's who they're blending in with. Just like Black Cubans like my dad joined in Black American culture.
Bill this was a fantastic video and you and Babila did a bang up job here. As a Thai American, it isn't lost on me how terrible the greater region of Asia is when it uses Black American culture as an aesthetic for clout / exploitation instead of a bridge to greater understanding, appreciation and solidarity. All your points are great and I hope others of Asian descent really give them a listen. I think to a lot of us in the Asian diaspora, we keep stealing from Black American culture without giving it the proper dues - and the ones that do give props tend keep to themselves sadly.
What I wasn't expecting was you discussing orientalism the way that you did. I tend to give Wu-Tang a pass since they absorbed stuff just through entertainment and they've always been respectful of stuff. But I never ever thought about Nicki Minaj until you made a comment down below, and the video touched on it with some of those MV clips which were....kinda cringe (i.e. Rush Hour 2's massage parlor scene).
The conflation of Kung Fu and Japanese culture aside, this was great. Like you said, at the end of the day, if I'm a guest at someone's house, I need to be respectful, mind my manners, be a good guest, and take off my damn shoes.
@@NaikaVideo I do see how it could sound like I conflated Japan and kung fu since I kept going back and forth between kung fu specifically, then China, then Asia, then back to China, and then to just far east Asia as a generality. My brain just be going in 100 different directions at one time and it came out in the script lol
@@lilbilliam That's all cool though because you're intent just shined through. Really happy you made this video Bill! Great stuff!!!
@@lilbilliam Japanese Jew American here. I could see how someone might miss your intention, but I think I got what you meant. No worries. Hell, I’m impressed with how rapidly and economically you articulate ideas. You might miss a note, but I still hear it. You throw out a sentence, but there’s a whole paragraph (at least) that is implied or suggested. Your cultural criticism is on point in significance and stylistically. 😊
@@lilbilliamI know this isn’t what the video is about but I do think it’s fairly important to avoid conflating Chinese and Japanese culture even in your own head. Their relationship is adversarial to put it mildly as I’m sure you’re well aware, and much of modern Japanese culture is appropriated from Chinese immigrants while still being hostile toward the immigrants themselves. Your exploration of the shared struggle between the Chinese and black populations was really on point but I wish you had been more intentional on explaining the connection to anime, considering that Japan has an extremely different relationship to imperialism/racism historically.
@@lilbilliam 2 days later though, you're out here calling people r3tarded for pointing out this exact thing. Keep it up lol
How okay anti-Asian racism specifically is in battle rap has always been weird to me, see any diz battled an Asian.
Have you seen Bodied? Dumbfoundead is in it and they tackle that issue in a pretty slick way.
The n word is more prevalent
@@aeropavoreit’s funny you mention dumbfoundead. I was about to mention how growing up watching his rap battles was wild😭he handled it well but holy shit
I feel like the Vietnam & Korean Wars have a lot to do with this crossover as well. they got fried chicken, we got Wushu.
And the WuTang Clan
@@stephenwonghongweng4298”WU TANG” *Chappelle voice*👐🏽
Don’t forget cheese and hot dogs 😅
And cheese
It does, which is weird he doesn't even touch the propagation of Martial Arts and Kung Fu Dojos in America, and even the growth of the McDojos
the nujabes had me just immediately vibing
I had a fairly-germane-to-the-video talk with Japanese rapper Lotus Juice a few months ago. His family moved to New Jersey age 8 and he started to rap after listening to ATCQ as a teen. After moving back to Japan for university he began performing in small venues without much success until he started getting hired to do music in English for anime and video games like Soul Eater and Persona 3. I asked him some questions about his music and the Japanese music industry and he called himself a student and guest of hip-hop culture, but also called him music pop with rapping which can't be authentic hip-hop because he lacks firsthand experience of poverty and oppression. Not sure if I'm totally on board with that but it's better than embracing racist stereotypes and doing a caricature of 50 Cent hood machismo 🤷.
his story kinda reminds me of Hikaru Utada, who grew up in the US and became a huge star in the late 90s and early 2000s with albums that introduced the sounds of 90s R&B to japanese audiences after an english-language debut underperformed. I wonder if anyone's ever tried to determine the monetary value of all the goodwill towards the US generated by the popular music forms pioneered by descendants of slaves being *that good*
I kinda love how he has that mindset! I played persona 3 fes as a kid and I loved that opening. Glad to hear that he understands and accepts his place in the culture
Not being on-board with it is crazy. Rhythm and Poetry are accessible to everybody, even if hip-hop culture should be gatekept.
@@AnimeNXS
Nope!
According to the youtuber F.D. Signer, the gatekeeping of Hip-Hop has long been destroyed. And because of that Drake was let in Hip-Hop medium.
@@whathell6t Do you think I care? You said that like F.D. Signifier (put the correct name, "fan".) is some gatekeeper of hip-hop wholeness. He isn't. F.D. is an essayist - one with a lot of good takes and alot of terrible takes, just like any other video essayists in their infinite bias (recount when he also said 6:16 in LA by kendrick was only to do "What drake couldn't do, then watch "What's the Dirt"s breakdown essay explaining why it's easily the most subliminally meaning-loaded track of their entire beef, alongside the fact that drake has rapped like that many times in his city-series and Kendrick was just emulating HIM). F.D. is not your savior, and his take on hip hop being destroyed as a culture doesn't mean that rhythm or poetry should be gatekept. Only the hip-hop culture itself. How do you think it got ruined in the first place, goofy? Gatekeeping was not "destroyed" - it's been entirely circumvented by the digital era of music and artists that didn't have to bend to it. It can be gatekept by the FANDOM, and not individuals looking for clout or profit, in the modern day.
I'm Korean and this reminds me of the Korean rapper Trudy who went on Unpretty Rapstar and randomly said "한국이 길러낸 최초 블락 피플 (the first Black people Korea raised)"
Either refering to herself, or Korean hip hop in general. And it was so deeply embarrassing because she not only was dismissing Black people in general but specifically Black people and Black Koreans whose been existing in Korea since 1950s the Korean war. And that is some of my biggest eek with this. Yes, they are minorities but we BEEN having Black people in East Asia. And the number has visibly rose in last decades. Even my barely literate Choongchungdo auntie know Black people exist in Korea. Like its genuinely not hard to have this conversation about why East Asians need to put respect into Black culture instead of writing it off as "its just a foreign culture we like" because again, Black people been in East Asia for a minute now.
"Black or Chinese"
Joke aside the difference between vulturing and appreciation is the willingness to join a lineage of masters and students, you know like in all them kungfu movies. If you're willing to go find someone who masters the culture and seek their approval/honor them, that makes the difference between most k-pop and Nujabes (RIP), because you're trying to honor the culture you're emulating until you make a new culture of your own.
very good and fitting parallel🗣️
“Americans don’t like to read” lol You smoked this man! I learned a lot 🧠
Oh wow an ignorant person talking about america based off of propaganda. Typical
Damn. Read this comment as bro was saying it💀
On the "why is Kabuki sacred but Hip-Hop is not": I think there might also be an element of reverance of "historic artforms" as compared to modern and therefore "lesser" art. Like the more I think about it, it feels like we tend to hold art and culture more sacred that has been made like, pre-1900s I feel. I don't think anyone would be comfortable with white or asian people doing a traditional african tribal dance, but yet somehow because Jazz and Hip-Hop is young (and rose to prominence in hyper capitalism), it's all fair game.
I mean there’s Kabuki Star Wars adaptions and stuff. Wasn’t the bad guy in Big Hero 6 wearing a Kabuki mask or something?
From my understanding the art form is sacred in origin, similar to sumo, but not literally protected like a religious thing
Lil bill kinda missed the mark on this one-like Japanese people do consider boondocks an anime because “anime” just refers to animations in general
His greater point though was that some try to reinterpret black artforms like hiphop as something “for everyone,” whereas something like sumo will always be associated with Japan no matter what, and this says something about the discrepancy in social and cultural power between the two. Kind of an abstract concept though
Let me tell another way American culture can culturally appropriate Asian cultures. Alot of people remember that scene because of the meme of brock from 4kidz dub of pokemon. Holding up what are called onigiri balls in Japanese. But instead of using the common way onigiri balls are translated into English which is rice balls. 4kidz decided to call them jelly donuts. 4kidz thought that because it is unlikely for Americans kids to know what onigiri even are. That Its ok the straight erase the Asian origins of what Brock made. and instead just call them Jelly donuts even tho they neither look like or are donuts in any way. Because by Americanizing anime which often comes from Japan. They could make more money by making the anime they bought from Japan seem more American
yeah localizing back then was assimilating the content not just translating it
As an older Asian American millennial anime fan, that erasure was the norm sadly. Anytime anime came on American TV and a cultural norm or artifact emerged, the norm was to always explain it as something else (this wasn't the case when anime came to home video). Nintendo games like Phantom Fighter & Legend of the Crystal Palace had to be uber vague about it's very asian inspirations even though both are Japanese games about Chinese culture sadly.
Drake out here catching strays
And it’s gonna stay that way
We are tired of him lmao 😭
@@RyomenAyeni225 As an original hater it's been a very popcorn eating couple months for me
@@kaedatiger been praying for times like this for ages
He’s cooked 😭
“If you don’t have anything nice to say, come sit at my table in the cafeteria.”
he ain't catching strays he is catching direct live ammunition
“Y’all gonna learn Chinese.” - Jin (classic)
Anyone remembering a Hopsin song is wild.. burn all memories 🔥 😂
Lumping all Asian countries together in this discussion is another issue. Look up "Orientalism" and the problems with homogenizing Asian cultures. Japan and China are completely different cultures, not to mention how Asian Americans ALSO have their own completely different culture. It's like trying to lump all African countries + Black Americans into one group.
Especially because Japan colonised a lot of us...
@@cluckcluckchicken careful, Bill gets BIG MAD if you point this out
Constructive criticism
thank you for adding this to the conversation
Thats what you get for generalizing and joining the bandwagon so dont complain and get rude because you cant handle the same energy and propaganda
43:00 - if you look up the Japanese Wikipedia article for The Boondocks, they explicitly describe it as an anime, because the Japanese use that word to refer to animated works in general
The “not considered anime” stuff has more to do with Westerners trying to put Japanese animation on a pedestal, echoing “model minority” dynamics
Black culture and art are in singularly unique circumstances, wherein one of the most disadvantaged groups possesses some of the most in-demand cultural exports, resulting in the understandable instinct to protect that resource from a pattern of exploitation
Asian cultural exports originating from relatively homogenous first world countries with established soft power legacy-much of which is not informed by suffering the way Black art is-means that shallow or misappropriated use of cultural exports does not pose the same kind of threat. Which, in a roundabout way, is what I suppose lil bill was trying to get at
If everyone (re: black people) started really getting into Sumo or Kabuki, I doubt there would be a major outrage from the Asians, but that’s also because those things are already solidly woven into the cultural context of entire nation-states
An overlooked element of this discussion though are the Asian citizens of the west (especially since most Asians watching this video are likely westernized).
While Black Americans face exploitation of a rich and pretty well-defined culture, Asian-American culture is subtle and diverse to a point of near intangibility, and hasn't solidified into any distinct artistic movements that could be similarly exploited, nor do I think there’d be a demand/desire for that
This lack of distinct culture and substantive representation leaves western Asians in a sort of cultural limbo. Sure, they can turn to East Asian exports, but those are created within a different social context, in a language they might barely understand. Consuming a ragtag collection of “Asian” products only does so much to ward off the sense of existing in a no man’s land
Instead, many Asian Americans turn to the innovation of other cultures to find reflections of themselves and things to identify with. For example, the alienation expressed in New Order’s music resonated with many people of immigrant backgrounds. Similarly, Asian-influenced hiphop circled back around-note the prevalence of Asian American B-Boys for example
However, Asian Americans also have to fight against the perceptions of being “perpetual foreigners,” emasculated, docile etc. while participating/indulging in the domain of other cultures, which the efforts to defend against may yield questionable results
For example, I have a pet theory that the “Mandingo/Reverse Mandingo” effect is a significant reason behind the phenomena of some Asian men adopting Black style, accents, and even usage of the N word in some cases-when Black men are hypermasculinized and Asian men are emasculated, it’s no surprise if one draws from the other in an attempt to even the field. It’s not simply a matter of appropriation for the sake of fashion, there’s an added layer of trying to assimilate and overcome certain perceptions. This phenomenon similarly extends to those like Awkwafina
I do wish lil bill made more of a distinction between westernized Asians and East Asians instead of feeding into the “perpetual foreigner” thing and conflating the two. Awkwafina and the NY accent girl are not motivated by the same cultural contexts and circumstances that motivate the alteration of film posters or harassment of African students in China
Racism in East Asia is more a result of a lack of good exposure to black people and being infected by colonialist colorism, whereas the former has much to do with Asians making missteps while trying to assimilate and find their place, on top of the virtually universal underlying fetishization of blackness
The Awkwafina types tend to have more proximity and exposure to Black-or at least American-culture than they do East Asian culture. Their parents can barely decipher rap lyrics, whereas they can barely decipher their parents’ foreign music
This is not to say such people have any deep insight into Black culture or experience, but how Asian Americans might properly find a place within the western cultural zeitgeist is a different conversation from the selective and even rapacious appropriation of Blackness in East Asia
The same exploitation of Blackness also happens in the US, including Asian-Americans, but in this regard, it isn’t just an Asian-American issue any more than homophobia is just a Black American issue
In regards to Asian Americans, the main underlying process seems to be divide-and-conquer playing out under the racial hierarchy. At the core it’s a matter of respect, recognizing the humanity within different people, and making some effort to uplift-or at the very least not actively step on the toes of-those who have been unduly fucked over
Wu-Tang!
Nujabees will always be loved in my household! My experience with Asian culture (at least in my younger years) was because of Bruce, Jet Li and Jackie Chan, and Donnie yen. Which all played a part in me getting moves performed on me by my older cousins 😂
Those are all incredibly influential to me in my younger years as well.
Nah, the best Chappelle Wu-Tang bit was the race draft when they got picked up by the Asian delegation.
Somebody said they is the manager, B😂
as a kpop stan, you’re right
Facts
As a subtitle reader that caption part fucked with my brain 😭😭😂
did he mess with the sentence? I looked back 3 times.lol
Got your ass, too, huh? 🤣
MWAHAHAHA
Same I always turn on subs and read them
😂I was like ‘What do you mean I didn’t notice the sentence change? I see everything’
In seattle, the black panther party were taught karate and had a few japanese members due to the closeness between the communities because of the japanese internment camps. Guy kuroskey was a karate master and also a member of the party.
It's no surprise that I-5 was pushed through Seattle's, basically only, Black, Japanese, and Chinese communities
*Guy Kurose
There was also Mike Tagawa, dude was born in an internment camp, went to high school with Jimi Hendrix, hosted an MLK speech, joined the Air Force, became anti-war, and joined the panthers. Interesting guy
It would’ve been interesting to show some more examples of how black and Asian cultures in the US clashed outside of the media/internet such as tensions between the black community and Korean community during the Rodney King riots in LA and beyond
I think thats why he referred to Foreign and Olisunvia for their videos on black and asian relations. He wasn't trying to go into that territory with this video.
Im black and my wife is native korean. I live in korea and have seen plenty of the examples in the video. A majority (not all) of these issues are simply due to ignorance. There are no black people in korea teaching koreans about the nuances of our culture. And those of us who do live here are in a strange position in being guests of a culture ourselves.
Its a strange phenomenon overseas because of the simple lack of knowledge about bpack people. However that makes the actions of americans both black asian and anything in-between all the more important imo. Because we have the neighbors and classmates and coworkers who can teach and would be more than willing to if approached properly.
Its the reasons i also despise akwafina or however you spell that ish. But i digress, good vid bill
It ain’t a big thing but the Brazilians use an “H” sound when R is at the beginning of the name. So it sounds more like “Hoyce”. Just some MMA nerd ish. ❤
Edit: Nujabes RIP
Ergo why it's pronounced Hickson not Rickson
"black people love Kong Fu"
-Todd In The Shadows
Sick video mate.
Shout out from South Africa.
The Chinese (insert other oppressed groups) and Black relationship is a very deep one. Not just linked by oppression but resistance too. It was China which supported our forefathers in the battle against Colonial rule. China till this day stands as a symbol of resistance to western dominance, and as a people who are yet to truly achieve their freedom, we see what we could potentially achieve with our resistance embodied by the Asians and in particular China.
Even in Afrika we know and love Bruce Lee and the Martial Arts genre. Not only the theatrical performance but the philosophy and values entrenched in such flicks and culture.
Binge watched all of ur vids, happy to be all caught up! Thx for providing entertainment tht reminds me of home when away for college 😩😊
I do want to point out that Rich Brian did change his name from Rich Chigga and no longer does songs like Dat Stick because he realized it was a bad look. You could say that it's just cynical damage control move but I'm willing to give him some grace for no longer doing that stuff and doing songs more authentic to him.
As far as Nina, the Tik Tok girl towards the end of the video, is concerned, I've seen her stuff before and she reminds me of plenty of Asians living around or with Black people and sound like that. I understand your ultimate point is that there's culture vultures like Awkwafina whom we need to be wary of but Nina comes off like a regular person in that situation: occasionally messy but just living their experience and not actively malicious.
Yeah it was the correct move by Brian but he still should’ve at least said something more concrete and offered an apology like the bare minimum stuff.
@@ericktellez7632 Fair point
@@ericktellez7632 maybe when black artists finally apologize for actually racist/demeaning lyrics in their songs
@@ericktellez7632 Rich Chigga is offensive to black people???
@@thfkmnIII Nah, cuz they're like their white daddies.
That’s the song from Samurai Champloo. I get this stuck in my head every time the weather is nice and I’m out walking in the sunshine.
Running Man's Jong Kook pisssssed me off one time when he talked about his 'hip hop teacher', Kooky is grown so he should've realised how ignorant his teacher was and how he sounded parroting him up. The teacher said 'Hip Hop is easy, it's just stepping through a door' and was doing classes despite how far from hip hop his music and aesthetics were. The disrespect🤌🏾. We can be ignorant but you won't see us giving 'Kimchi making classes' and claiming 'it's just pickled cabbage' because we don't try to be the teachers/leaders/face off anyone else's cultural properties.
You just unlocked a memory lol. As a kid I thought it was funny because of how stupid he looked doing it but as an adult it does kinda rub me the wrong way. As a ballad/trot/pop singer he has no business making fun of hiphop really...
I have never had a video explain an entire Wu Tang Album of references without meaning to
So in two weeks, we'll get an FD video about karate stars.
😭 i do live rentless in my dads apartment, i am also going through college but still.
Immediately called out.
00:08:38 Heyyyy Newark Native here, my Father was a vet who trained in Martial Arts BEFORE going to war, and then trained in Korea for 2 years...Upon his return to the world, he and many other Brothers AND Sisters filled Black ran Dojos..I LOVED THIS PERIOD..We went to exhibitions like every other weekend, it was sooo exciting!!!! *SAW BRUCE LEROY (Taimak) LIVE, AND HIS KATAS WERE ALWAYS FIRE* My brother and I learned to read through the Japanese Dramas my parents watched on PBS...Saw the Seven Samurai before The Magnificent Seven and Shogun Assassin ( Lone Wolf and Cub) before it was COOL...Damn I am old, and fortunate, but still old HAHAHAHA
Thanks for another great vid! As an Asian-American myself, I definitely hear you about the need to be respectful of Black culture, esp. if we want to continue that solidarity. Thanks also for acknowledging Orientalism and not lumping us in with the ‘ashen folks’ 😂 that and the mismatched subtitles made me laugh, shout-out to you for the great script and Babila for the great editing 💯
Hilariously, I do belong to the section of anime fans that will argue that ATLA and Samurai Jack and Boondocks belong in the anime category, when you think of anime as an artistic style, but to underline your point it’s definitely an art/art style with a Japanese origin that shouldn’t be erased, and the same goes for hip hop being a Black American art whose origins shouldn’t be erased or disrespected.
46:44 "There's a lot more that connects, than divides us" and on that note, I'd like to point you to a new(recently made)channel I discovered called "enlightenment ideas," her video called "the lies of separation in humanity: r*** and cul**** doesn't exist"
Pretty much talks about exactly that
It's funny, so many people from all over the world have similar if not the exact same traditions, practices, culture, clothes, food, (not to mention DNA, ya know, being human and all) and even down to whole words in completely different languages meaning and sounding the exact same. That's how I came to the same conclusion as you guys, being a huge language nerd and all; "We are way more similar and in common, than different"
I thought I was the only one who remembered Jin! I remember really liking his album back then, and he disappeared 😢
My entire family uses at&t and we recently got a letter from at&t talking about the breach which led my grandma to finding out she has been paying for two extra lines
Damn
@@ayinstrumentals7731 Yeah
Went to the library and picked up "Hip Hop Heresies" by Shanté Paradigm Smalls pinpointing The Last Dragon to highlight the Black masculinity via queer perspective after seeing your post with Martin's Kung Fu Jones.
Still reading it. Thanks for this video!
Mamushi is definitely the most non exploitive on either side ive seen the relationship between black people and east asian culture.
*written before the music video dropped so this could age poorly
But you have an asian japanese woman who made a video talking about how its disrespectful and not traditional ... for megan thee stallion to release a video like that!?😂 asians have a lot of nerve talking shit and using the "tradtional" energy as an excuse for them to expose how they're triggered and racist. When you dont even live your life as a tradtional asian?! 😂 too busy trying to modern and western
But you have an asian japanese woman who made a video talking about how its disrespectful and not traditional ... for megan thee stallion to release a video like that!?😂 asians have a lot of nerve talking shit and using the "tradtional" energy as an excuse for them to expose how they're triggered and racist. When you dont even live your life as a tradtional asian?! 😂 too busy trying to modern and western
But you have an asian japanese woman who made a video talking about how its disrespectful and not traditional ... for megan thee stallion to release a video like that!?😂 asians have a lot of nerve talking shit and using the "tradtional" energy as an excuse for them to expose how they're triggered and racist. When you dont even live your life as a tradtional asian?! 😂 too busy trying to modern and western
even if you don’t rock w Mamushi, there’s the Duke Deuce remix of Team Tomodachi
Kohh has always seemed pretty solid as a person and artist
Howdy! Born-poor white dude from Idaho here, lurking and loving your work for a while, quietly. Love to everyone who gets it.
re: the fencing, I was just checking out his family members' wiki pages, and apparently his older brother was a world-class fencer in his youth, and talked Bruce into taking some fencing classes in secondary school!
"Real life button mashing" 😭😭😭
It is😭😭😭
He's definitely eyeing those Eddie mains from Tekken.
@@thevoidknownaskirby3382 💯😂
Koreans done found the Afro beats. LMAOOOOOO
13:16 I just had a lightbulb moment where the way Willi Ninja (and others) explain vogueing in ‘Paris is Burning’ made a whole lot more sense
PLEEEAAASE do the 52 block vid😫 im a Nigerian in the UK and caught on to it from research African and Afro-derived martial arts
That's crazy about subtitles cuz every time I got to some girl house for Netflix they talking about some "I'm neurodivergent and need subtitles". They should be more popular now than ever.
Bruh
The Samurai Champloo OST in the background was a nice touch, great video as usual!!
Bro the samurai champloo intro as background music was a super nice touch bro 🔥🔥
I am so happy you used the word "Kumbaya" in this conversation about theft! If you kNow, you know...
Ngl. For a minute I felt like Tobey when I remembered what my Pop told me🤣
This was filmed on a 2002 nextel 2G flip phone.
14:30 tytyty I never understood my fellow Cubans who judged others trying to start a new life. There’s a meme I saw that is perfect: Floridians be like “we need better public transit” Floridians: COMUNISMO
One one hand I hate them for pushing us back so hard and making Latinos look like idiots, but on the other I sort of empathize because Republicans weaponize their trauma and make them nuttier, not old money cubans though, they were always nutty.
Samurai champloo soundtrack is amazing 🥲 rip Nujabes❤
omigosh not the lessarafim mention! I'm from zambia and similar to the grindhouse theatres where lower budget films were being shown , we had a lot of 🏴☠dvds from all over africa and international movies. However my grandfather really loved vhs tapes and so he used to watch all of the movies he got. his favourite one was taichi anything keanu reeves.
There is such a deep history between asian cultures and other minorities, In many places in southern africa and in zambia we had refugees from southern and east asia.
And even now we have many indian zambians and chinese zambians, even japanese families that have in turn made a cultural melting pot despite some tensions with xenophobia, classism and prejudice( on both sides).
I also am a partaker of kpop and everyday is a struggle. There is a very blatant culture vulture in most approaches to their branding that goes away once afro beats, drill, rnb seem to fade in and out of popular media, but they are also sincere collaborations with black music producers , engineers and choreographers that show when there is a genuine cultural exchange.
And even when they do not appropriate minority culture themselves and genuinely use elements of their culture (this goes outside of kpop and just media in general) ,I find that there's a stronger connection with audiences that are watching. It is a more authentic show of culture as its true to them and i've even found myself relating it back to my own culture even if they aren't appropriating "afro beats".
I'm going to take that last line to mean that lil bill has a secret only fans and now I have to go on a search for truth.
No, he said he gave up pornography. Did you think he meant only looking at it?
@@MarcosElMalo2 You're crushing my dreams man XD
Ling Ling was like look at that!? Sexy MF🤣
14:25 looking like Homelander almost took me up yonder bc I choked 😭😭😭 aaaaand it was the 106 & Park clip that did it 💀
I had a phase of obsession similar to what you talked about in the intro accept I was singularly obsessed with “The Raid” movies. I still have my old practice katana and nunchucks from back then.
I came here ready to argue but decided to actually listen to what you had to say first. You made some very good points. There's a notable difference between appreciation and appropriation. I respect your opinion on this and share it wholeheartedly. I As you noted throughout the video there are plenty of examples on both sides where proper respect was paid, so I think the times where it weren't are clear examples of cash grabbing and not so much lack of understanding, because at this point there are plenty of resources available to get an idea of how to do it right if one cares too.
he came to argue 🤦🏾♀️ lawdamercy
@@grethi8110 I came ready to, there’s a difference. If I came to argue it wouldn’t have mattered what he said.
My thing is why does it matter? KungFu is only one aspect of Chinese Culture, just like how Rap is an aspect of Black American culture, if you want to ape it and use particular aspects of it for your own personal use, everyone has done that historically
@@Josue-mv2fo it only matters if you want to bond with people outside of your deeply held value system. Of course you could disregard every nuance of a culturally significant trend and distill it down to what makes it entertaining, but history proves that people/groups actually care about how their heritage/values are represented. You don’t have to support every ideal. You just have to be willing to accept that people are different than you, as well as willing to accept that that’s ok.
@@Josue-mv2fo It’s probably just a matter of perspective. Some people care that much about their culture. Personally I’m Mexican/italian, and I couldn’t give two shits about how Mexicans and Italians are represented, mostly because on both sides neither has accepted me. To that end I’m not the type to get offended by stereotypes or inaccuracies in general but I appreciate when someone puts in the work to get it right.
As a Black Queer person, there’s even Kung Fu influences in old way vogue in Ballroom
3:17 winning without them was the easy option, because if you dont know how to use them well you end up hitting yourself xd.
No one is liberated until we all are.
That's why they use black people's energies to be free. While simulatenously telling us that we won't be free for being ourselves 🤯 hows that for some mindfvckery?!
Idk man. Ninja scroll hit different back in the day on shrooms🤔
The erasure of jamaica's large influence on global pop music in general really hits home with some of the points made in this video. The average jamaican has no problem with reggaeton, dubstep, the current state of ska and many pop songs globally, but so many people from the countries these genres are born in refuse to acknowledge our contributions to global rhythm and genre fusions/creations and it's very frustrating considering the size of our country. Japan and Jamaica also have a weird little relationship too.
I didn't even know 36 Chambers was based of Kung-Fu movies until my mom showed me Enter the Dragon it was like meeting the chicken after being a fan of the egg
I always love watching your videos! As a white cis hetero dude, I am aware that there are certain things I just cannot fully comprehend. The question of cultural appropriation is one of those things because the whole process is just so normalized for people like me, that it is invisible.
I have watched most, if not all, of your videos, and many other content creators just to try to gain an understanding of perspectives different from mine.
Greatly I appreciate what you do, despite the ridiculous comments you have to endure from dunderheads like myself who don’t know how to just shut up, listen, and process without throwing jabs because they feel uncomfortable or attacked somehow.
I don’t typically comment because of the whole “shut up and listen and don’t make it about me” thing, but I do have to express my appreciation at least sometimes.
You are a treasure!
You know what, this is probably the wrong answer, but I find your admitting that after all of your work and trying to understand, it's still confusing. At least you're not crossing you're arms, huffing at us for just being too sensitive and letting you "just say it", it's no big deal. It's sounds like you're still trying to work and not putting it on us.
And this may not even help, but I found Bill's metaphor to how to treat his house, apt. It seems like black people's "house" has our door wide open or at least no lock, and we're at the mercy of whoever wants to come in and take. While everyone else's house is either elevated in a gated community, or have 1,000s of years of really nice endless sources that can't possibly be all stolen from them even if some of it is taken.
Basically, the story of black people in the world is that we don't get to own what's ours, but everyone gets to. And this is so hard to qualify, thus why at least well-meaning people still struggle, but it's also a respect thing. And simply "liking" something isn't respecting it. That what's kills me about the, "but it's appreciation", and "you all do it" argument.
It takes work and effort. And needless to say, not both sides are making the same effort to make sure both sides remain restored after said exchange. THE EXCHANGE IS NOT EQUAL.
I know that's all still a lot, but that was the best I could do!
@@missright9159 thank you for the kind words! I really like the house metaphor. One way I try to conceptualize it is thus:
I am a proud Ukranian-born, and I got the Ukrainian symbol tattooed on my chest. I can only imagine how upsetting it would be to me if some dude saw the symbol, thought it was cool, and then tattooed it on themselves without ever even knowing that it is the national symbol of Ukraine.
Also I really agree with Bill’s statement “everyone loves everything about black people, except the black PEOPLE.” It is so heartbreaking to me. All the things I grew up with thinking as “cool” I never realized where they came from.
David Carradine was a DEI hire... see what I did there.
I cannot explain how excited I would be to see a video investigating and explaining 52 blocks a bit more. I've seen a lot, but I always want more.
It's like I'm trying to get in trouble; watching Lil Bill at night my toddler just went to sleep, I'm laughing my ass off in the next room.
Literally doing this rn 😂😂😂
About 15 years ago I visited Japan and got my hair done. One if the stylists had corn rows. She had no idea where corn rows came from. My general experience with Japan doing cultural appropriation is that unless they have international clients/users, its purely out of ignorance, and they just think it's cute or cool.
As a Barb, I must speak up and say that Nicki is of East and Southeast Asian descent, as are many Trinidadian people. The reason so many female rappers today are trying to emulate the “Blasian” phenotype and aesthetic is because of Nicki Minaj. That is why she has so many Southeast and East Asian references in her music.
Ashen one self report incoming:
I've spent most of my life learning about audio tech because I really loved audio art that came from afroamerican and african diaspora communities. As I make art now, I draw from jazz, blues, rock, funk, disco, hip-hop, techno, jungle, and dubstep (plus a lot more), and I've come to realize that I am appropriating black art in some positive but also some negative ways. I'm still deworming my brain of tiktoks garbled AAVE "gen-z slang" by actually educating myself on the cultures and histories I'm drawing on is part of being respectful, but I know I have a long way to go both in my art and my actions. Im deeply indebted to videos like these for helping me deconstruct my appropriation and hopefully build it into something that can celebrate blackness without undermining black people. Lead me not into Jack Harlow, and deliver me from Elvis.
Lead me not into Jack Harlow 💀
The samurai champloo theme brought me right back into the video.
RIP Nujabes
That Arthur clip with Neil Gaiman is something I've never seen before and it absolutely took me out ☠️
I can’t articulate how damn smart you are. Every single time I watch I have to do a full self analysis all over again and check myself for the dumb ass knee jerk reactions my privilege always avails itself of. I always come away educated… and amazingly feeling dumber. I look at myself and wonder how the hell I missed things so bloody obvious. Gonna watch this one a few times so I can catch the things I missed as I always miss something. Damn good video!
Hey I realized the captions changed the first sentence. My favorite pasttime is reading the subtitles on television shows for an hour at a time. Shows I've seen way too many times, flicks I've never seen before. I read it all.
The image of Zab doing the 52 blocks against Mayweather is a memory that keeps popping back up from time to time, I had no idea what the hell he was doing in that round and idk what Floyd was thinking while it was happening
Listening to your videos every morning while I get ready for work has improved my cognitive function. I’m not even joking.
Why can't we all just get along
Korean chicken do be fire tho💪🏽
To be fair, learning any Mandarin from Enter the Dragon is impressive considering they're speaking Cantonese
Plz do a video on African/ black fighting styles that shit is so cool!
I got to say out of all of the cultural like out of all the cultural exchange between black Americans and East Asians, Japanese fusion jazz has to be my favorite that s*** goes hard as f***
Yo, Lil Bill been lifting some steel 💪🏿🧑🏿🦲💯
I grew up during the 70s through the 90s . It was Bruce Lee all day, and martial arts movies on the weekends on TV, and movies theaters. You can watch 2 for one. It was always about respect, escapism, and relationships built between the Black and Asian communities at the time.
What accent is Awkwafina supposed to have? She grew up in Queens around black people. Should she fake an Asian accent? A white accent? As far as I can tell, it is just her normal style of speech. It isn't an affectation.
She wasn’t a good explain but people like eric reprid most definitely
The timing of your uploads in correlation to the events of my life is truly insane. This like the 3rd time I found us on the same thought frequency.. about a month ago I started meditating on the relationship the black community has to martial arts/ asian culture. Kung Fu movies, fighting games, Blaxpoitation, anime/manga, wutang clan, fashion. We love that shit. Outside of the recent "black anime" boom & rappers integrating anime references into music I havent seen a true love letter to the specific community mentioned since The Last Dragon in 1985. So I started writing a movie to represent that 40 year gap. I want showcase that that love has grown over time. I think ppl think a black kung fu movie staring anyone other than Michael Jai White would be corny. The assumption is mine, but I want to prove my assumption wrong. If it's well produced & authentic I think a spiritual successor to the Last Dragon is exactly what black otaku culture needs rn
also you hit it on the head. I've seen alot of discourse online lately of ppl trying to decipher this relationship. It's simple, Asians have perfected the art of telling the story of the underdog in the most exciting way. And when Jim Kelly & Bruce Lee joined forces it recognized us as a ppl as a formidable underdog capable of overcoming obstacles we seemingly shouldnt be able to. It invited us to the fight as an equal because we deserved to be recognized for our fight.