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Big Bang

Being one of the biggest KPop headliners with an international fanbase that rivals most homegrown artist, Big Bang has managed to do it once again with their mini-LP release of “Alive.”

As one of the premier groups who effortless mix the khip-hop phenomoenon with the ever growing K-pop sound, Big Bang has garnered the attention most would kill for. With their label mates 2NE1 tentatively releasing a statewide English album under the production of Brown Eye Pea’s producer Will. I. Am, Big Bang themselves landed themselves center stage of Time.Com

With each song on the mini-Lp being a “title” track, we are expecting to see a music video for each song. So far Blue and Fantastic Baby (which has the international internets going nuts) have been released. But the track “Bad Boy” which was shot on the street of New York, seems to be my personal favorite. The smooth vocals of Daesung and Seungri, mixed with G.Dragons own personal flair, on top of Taeyang dancing (Everywhere; I tell you the man will Dougie with the best of them at the drop of a dime if given the chance) and T.O.P’s undeniable deep baritone rapping makes me want to never stop playing this sound.

Check it out.

(With English Subs)

Don’t forget to check out Taeyang dancing every given moment they allowed him to, G.Dragon’s weave, and T.O.P’s skull piece.

Everyone needs a Hero.

They say I, BlackNerdJade, have an affinity for all things Asian. I do, I won’t lie. It was something I was raised with, my parents meeting in Korea and having friends and family still over there. But this isn’t about that. It’s about something different, something that hasn’t been seen in years. It’s vibrant and uplifting and it’s only been a week, but it has managed to grab masses by the neck and refuses to let go.

What is it, you say?

What else?

Not to be cliché but it’s (and by it I mean Linsanity) taking the nation by storm. People who hadn’t lifted the remote to tune into a NBA game in years suddenly are setting their DVR’s to Knicks Games. People who haven’t rooted for the Knicks in years, suddenly shifting their radars to figure out what the change is. People who would have never expected a 24 year old Taiwanese-American man who graduated from Harvard with an Economics degree, was dropped twice by two other NBA teams, to take advantage of the lockout, never give up, and garner a starting spot on the New York Knicks. Literally the first of his kind.

But why does it matter? This story has been told before. When the underdog triumphs. We’ve heard it before, we know it by heart. We can recite what’s going to happen at the end. But there is something special, something effervescent and exciting when stereotypes are shattered, myths are overturned and everybody is reevaluating their preconceived thoughts.

Anybody remember the hype surrounding Tiger Woods when he emerged on the greens all those years ago, a dark face amongst light ones who commandeered the attention with his talent? Or when Venus and Serena Williams took on the tennis world with their curvy bodies and unbeatable prowess on the tennis courts?

It matters because we have this stubborn state of mind that is usually unmovable, ingrained and saturated with small clumps of “expectations” that muddy up the waters for everybody else. Stereotypes cloud our mind and what we expect is what we expect. A Black man in the NBA, a White man in the PGA. A White woman as a secretary, an Indian who is your math instructor or your customer service operator. Black women to have weave, a Mexican man who works in the fields. Korean ownership of a hair store, a man of Arabic decent owning a gas station. When a Black man is dominating golf, a White rapper is dominating the charts, or an Asian baller is dominating the courts, things snap, and realign and we are forced to focused on how misconstrued our every day thoughts are. When these stereotypes are rocked with no only pretenses but TALENT, the world goes crazy.

Floyd Mayweather recently tweeted….

Outside the fact that Mayweather is a known idiot and all around crybaby troublemaker (my opinions, sue me), he brings up the point of what people, coincidentally Black America in particular, may think about Jeremy Lin’s success.That if a player isn’t white or black, he has no place with a basketball in his hand and if by chance he HAPPENS to be good, the hype comes from his exoticism on the court, not his actual talent. Many attribute that to a sensational fact. He’s a sensation because of his race, not his talent. Hog-fucking-wash. Jeremy Lin has ALWAYS been a talented basketball player, but due to his race, he was overlooked and dropped. Twice.

Lin is Asian, duh. But he isn’t the first. Wataru Misaka first Japanese American to play for the NBA; ironically the Knicks. First Filipino-American, Raymond Anthony Townsend . Rex Walters, former Miami Heat player and now coach at the University of San Francisco is a Japanese-American. I could keep going. Kurtis Townsend, assistant coach for the Jayhawks. Corey Gaines, Japanese-American who ALSO played for the Knicks.

Each of these players presented a change in the scenery. Predecessors to what could be a fast growing movement. The reason for the mania is the fact that even with this impressive undercurrent of Asian Americans in the NBA, Jeremy Lin is proving that despite what many may THINK about Asians, stereotypes are just that, stereotypes, and when ideology is placed up against facts, facts win every time.

Another attribute to his seemingly overnight, wildly popular movement, is his background. Out of high school, not offered an athletic scholarship, but continued to play on the Harvard basketball team. Graduated, goes un-drafted. After five summer camps, and after being offered contracts from the Mavricks AND the Lakers, he decided to go back to his hometown. Who dropped him. He eventually moves to the Rockets. Waived again. Finally the Knicks. On the verge of being dropped ONCE again, Coach Mike D’Antonio decided to give him a chance (with a helpful suggestion of “Let him play, dawg.”[paraphrasing of course] from teammate Carmelo Anthony). And guess what happened after that?

With a Tebow like devotion to his faith, smarts that outclass just about every player on the court, and enough skill to garner him some well deserved attention, Linsanity might not last long (as humans are creatures of frivolity), while it does last, this blogger here will enjoy.

Just in case you haven’t seen it, here is Lin’s game winning shot against the Toronto Raptors on Valentines day. bon appetit!

WARRIOR

I haven’t done the K-Pop thing a minute, and I tend not to because I realize it’s my love and if I get to blogging about it all the time, I might go crazy in excitement (That’s what my Tumblr is for). BUT whenever I find something that COULD be a transitive to any POPish/HipHopish culture stream that we have in the U.S, of course I’m going to write about it.

B.A.P (Best Absolute Perfection, which the netizens are calling Blond Asian People…which is just hilarious) is a new band who just released a new single and video and MY MY MY are they going crazy over it. Usually because KPop is full of flower pretty boys who sing about love and glitter and rainbows. But when a group is full of argoance and as much “gutter” as a KPop group can get, then that substantive setting apartness they capture is always a unique experience that fans eat up. (Previous groups that have captured that are Big Bang and Block B).

Here is WARRIOR. Set in some dark PLACE (I don’t know club, alley, abandoned dystopian parking lot, take your pick). Couple of things that made me put this on repeat.

-Ole buddy’s deep ass voice. Shit scared me. But you can’t help liking it. It was unexpected.
-The DANCING is gritty and violent. Nothing pretty about it at all.
-Zelo’s speed rap @ 1:46 is mention worthy. VERY mention worthy.
-The Stomp The Yard montage at the 2:44, had my mother, NPHC greek since the 70’s, SCREAMING her ass off. (Mind you, my mom is a KPopper too, but she was thoroughly impressed at this)

They are doing a good job at building a fanbase already (early Zelo and Bangs releases help build momentum) but with Warrior’s release, I’m sure they are going to go far at solidifying their way into stardom.

We Are Heros

Sometimes as fans, we have a burning desire to see the animated tales we love so much, in live action. Not because the anime themselves are too simple, or our imaginations aren’t complex enough; sometimes we wanna see if they can JUST DO IT. Can they live up to our imaginations, our expectations, and really bring our favorite characters to life.

Most of the time they can’t. *shrug* And then they surprise us and really do it, and it’s fantastic and we are squealing in excitement (READ: ROROUINI KENSHIN, Oh dear god)

Yet, we don’t have the time to wait for a producer to like the anime/manga/game enough to adpat it (READ: ruin it)

read:

So we as fans decide to do it ourselves. Which requires a deep level of commitment (and a set of deep pockets in some cases). Costumes, videogrpahy, choreography, scene setup. All in the name of a fandom.

Now there are some fan made video that are just… how do I say it….you can tell they REALLY love the anime…and they are doing this for the hell of it. Fuck production, fan appeal. They just needed to get it off their chest.

See.

Then there are those you’re not quite sure WHAT the fuck to thing. I mean….

Then there are those who put SOME effort into it, and it’s pretty damn good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIMwsh8sVKA

Then there are those who put so much effort into it, that you’re wondering what the hell is going on? People like this exist? These gods amongst humans with their awesomeness?

Here are several VERY WELL MADE fan-videos ranging from DBZ to Naruto.

Very. Well. Made.

Naruto Shippuden Dreamers (Part 1/4)