Everything Revolve Around the Penny

Listening to: Mountain Brothers, "Paper Chase."

Asian-American rappers are taking over the world! Or maybe just my small corner of the Internet. Two recent articles, one on Awkwafina and another on Dumbfoundead. I can't say I'd heard of either before reading about them, unless you remember Dumbfoundead from this 2010 Top Ten Greatest Asian American Rappers of All Time list. I didn't. Of the two, Dumbfoundead has little appeal to me, as his lyrics, sound, and presentation seem to be outdated. Maybe fifteen years ago it would have been something, having an Asian American rapper like this, but not anymore.

Awkwafina on the other hand, I like. She's funny, for one, with lyrics that are witty and got stuck in my head after a few listens. "My vag, squirt aloe vera / yo vag, look like Tony Danza." Yeah, at first listen she came off like an Asian Kreayshawn, but after reading more about her and listening to her music, she's got some depth, and a hint of intelligent subversion, and her whole thing isn't operating on a level that just encompasses her songs. I'm interested to see where her career goes. I mean, besides college campuses.

• Meet Awkwafina: an Asian Female Rapper on Vaginas, Tackling Racism & More
• Dumbfoundead: A Rising Star In A Genre In Transition
• Ladies Delight: Rocky Rivera and the Female Hip-Hop Movement (2010)
• More on Asian Privilege
• Album Review: The Notorious MSG Get 'Heavy' (2011)
• Album Review: Jackie Chain's Bruce Lean Chronicles (2012)

The other night I was in the Meatball Shop, talking to a couple of near new acquaintances about our favorite podcasts. One of them brought up This American Life and I immediately verbally recoiled. Having come off of reading some old articles about This American Life -- and NPR in general -- that skewers its very white, upper middle class, perspective, I was more anti-TAL than usual.

I hesistated to explain why though, because two of the three acquaintances were white. It seemed out of place to denigrate This American Life right then, so I only offered up that Ira Glass and his voice annoyed me. This American Life has some very interesting topics, but it's also run into its share of controversies and criticisms. I have been wondering all week if I should have brought up TAL's perspective problem while I had the chance.

• This American Life Completes Documentation Of Liberal, Upper-Middle-Class Existence (2007)
• Asians Are Stealing Our Boyfriends On This American Life (2012)
• This (Black) American Life (2009)

So when reading the Dumbfoundead article, I noticed that it was presented under NPR's new Code Switch series. Code Switch's six journalists cover race, ethnicity, and culture. Here's the FAQs answer to why they're covering race, ethnicity, and culture:

"As you've probably heard, the U.S. is in the midst of a big demographic shift. Over the next few decades, people of color will come to compose a majority of the country's population, a transition that's already happened among the nation's youngest residents. Already, race, ethnicity and culture play a starring role in some of the biggest stories unfolding in the news, and that role will only increase as this demographic shift continues. We want to cover these matters with the depth, nuance, intelligence and comprehensiveness they deserve."

Heaven forbid these are just regular things NPR rolls into its coverage. A special section wil now be earmarked for the ethnics. This kind of thing is prevalent everywhere. I think immediately of instances where ethnic authors are only invited to speak at the diversity panel. (The "ethnic ghetto" of conferences as my friend likes to call it.) Or you know, when women are only invited to speak about being women in such a such a sphere. It's a blast!

Of course, my general anti-NPR stance is hypocritical because I'm a huge Slate fan. I devour all of its podcasts, most of its articles, and used to feed many of its RSS into my Reader. The number of minority voices I read/hear on Slate is very few. But oh, Slate has a special site for women and for black people. The taglines for them are "XX Factor: What Women Really Think" and "The Root: Black News, Opinion, Politics, and Culture." Take from it what you will.

Also, a few months ago, I had lunch with a friend who went on a few dates with the guy who started Asian Avenue. Remember that? His company also started Black Planet and early community sites for Hispanic and LGBT communities. Now he's rolling in yachts and fancy apartments. So I guess there's some money in it. Again, I platform for an Asian Mom OK Cupid where they can set up their children. Please send me all investment inquiries. This site will make us all rich.

I just wrapped up reading My Korean Deli, a memoir by a former senior editor at the Paris Review. Along with his Korean mother-in-law, and his ex-lawyer wife, Ben Howe drains his family's savings to purchase a Boerum Hill deli for $120,000. This was maybe ten years ago, before Barclays Center contruction had begun, and gentrification had truly set in. The deli they bought is close by me, and that was another reason I wanted to read it, beyond a general curiosity about the ins-and-outs of New York delis.

The book bothered me a ton at first, as I couldn't figure out how I felt about Howe's depiction of his new immigrant family -- he and his wife, Gab, lived in her mom's house during this time -- and the deli's mostly ethnic customers. He came off, rather harshly, as the white WASP he is/was/is. (He does seem self aware of this though.) It wasn't that he wasn't informed or open minded, it was just the casual way he seemed to unable to understand another perspective. Then again, neither could the Korean mother-in-law, so I guess the schism cuts both ways.

The book was one third exploration of Korean culture, one third about the challenge of starting up a deli, and one third about the inner workings of the Paris Review under George Plimpton. That latter part I enjoyed. However, if not for fiftyfifty.me, I would have given up on My Korean Deli halfway. Most of the time, while reading My Korean Deli, I wondered why a book like this wasn't written by someone who had actually immigrated here and was wedded to the deli life. I guess the obvious answer would be: where would they find the time? But I also suspected that maybe a book like that would never be published because what was the hook? A Korean deli owner's daughter writes a memoir about her Korean parents' deli? Far more saleable is the white man adopts deli hook.

I guess what I'm saying is that I should have been reading Eddie Huang's book instead.

• From The Paris Review to a Korean Deli (2011)
• A deli-cate process: Boerum Hill's Hoyt Market struggles to stay afloat (2011)

I'll tie post all in together. Howe, has the following to say about his deli, when he discovers that his Brooklyn neighborhood is now mostly evenly divided between whites and non-whites. "One way of looking at this is that we've achieved the American social ideal, a perfect demographic balance, like in the happy pictures you see in college brochures." Half white and half non-white is ideal eh? Fantastic. We've reached ultimate parity. Rejoice!