Self Evident Podcast - Artwork

Yo, did some artwork for this awesome podcast! If you haven't listened to it yet please check out the "Self Evident Podcast". Especially this episode about fruit which is a love language in Asian families.

Support AAPI owned Bookstores

 

Fam, will all this talk of stoping Asian Hate, what I'd like to do is implore you to support these Aapi owned bookstores in the US and beyond. Most of them are in actual brick and mortar locations but some are online. See the Libro.fm list for those.

These lists were compiled by We Need Diverse Books, KiBooka, the Asian Author Alliance, and Libro.fm. Big shout out to them for taking the time to make these because I bet there are more out there. If you haven't supported a n organization that supports Aapi through advocacy and organizing then hit up these bookstores. They will have an amazing selection of Aapi stories to share as gifts, to learn from, etc. And they can order other books.

People are still out here attacking AAPI women and elders and I need you as a reader to get involved in some way either by supporting aapi businesses or backing organizations. Peace!

Kindred Journey 38 - Priya Handa

Bay Area born and bred I can tell Priya Handa is one of those life long artists, a scorpio, lover of good music, ice cream, and justice. As a muralist she has worked with Precita Eyes in SF, the Community Rejuvenation Project (CRP), Twin Walls Crew, the Zapatistas, Trust Your Struggle Collective, and the Bay Area Mural Festival. She has painted nationally and internationally traveling as far as Mexico and Palestine. She is a tattoo artist and an illustrator who works both big and small, aerosol, ink, acrylic, watercolor, and needle. She is an activist making work supporting Black Lives, Sex workers, Farmers in India, the Navajo nation, the military complex, and police brutality. And she is a child of South Asian immigrants (Punjab in India).

The first time I met Priya she had paint/gear in her hands and she came through as we (TYS) were working on a wall for Reem's California in Oakland in 2017 just to help. The last time I saw her she brought a painting she knocked out for elder Emory Douglas of his art for the "Love and Protect: Chinatown Black & Asian solidarity mural project". Both times her skill, humbleness, and generosity spoke for itself. Although I'm still getting to know her I implore you to follow and support her work now. She's a hard working rising star and deserves all the shine.  Follow her on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/eightbirdz/

Sources: https://crpbayarea.org/meet-the-muralist-priya-handa/, http://www.puttpunjabi.com, Asian American Women Artists Association

Did you catch the piece of Maya Lin?

Last year I focused on Aapi musicians and this year I'm focusing on artists. If you're new to this, "Kindred Journey" is a serious of paintings I've done of prominent and lesser known Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders since 2016. You can find a gallery of all past paintings here.

Fellow artists! May is #asianamericanheritagemonth and I invite you to paint, collage, or draw amazing folks for the month of May. Well known folks of course, but def the lesser known people, places, movements, organizations, etc. I limit my color palette to , I use watercolor, do 12-24 posts, and I try to share a short bio of ea subject. I Use the hashtag #apahm #asianamericanheritagemonth and I call my series #kindredjourney but get down for yours, name it whatever u like, and share so errybody can learn more abt our folks-especially NOW!

To my everyday folks -feel free to join by sharing photos or art abt folks too, just make sure to credit the creators of the images and ask permission wherever possible before posting.

Last yr my focus was on musicians. This yr it will be on artists. What specific area of #aapi history do u love? Djs, South Asians, activists, special fx artists, blasians, entrepreneurs, actors, wrestlers? Get busy!

#StopAsianHate

Did these letters as an art offering. Please feel free to share.

These hand styles/ letters are a response to the recent attacks in GA, the past yr of attacks against Aapi which have risen 150%, and the historic racism against the Asian American community in the US

Action steps: What can you do?

1. Have u supported orgs that uplift the Aapi community? Start w/the GA families and organizers by following and donating to Advancing Justice Atl

2. Are u willing to Speak up and speak out? Whether you think your followers and friends will give AF, speaking out is a muscle. Let folks know where u stand and engage the comments.

3. Can you uplift Asian American storytellers, artists, musicians, journalists, etc in telling our very unique, specific, diverse, and varied stories? Do this in kid books, film , video games, animation, etc 

4. Can u help dismantle white supremacy and patriarchy by studying them and talking to your kids, fellow co-workers, students, friends, folks about it? The personal is political.

5. Thank you for showing solidarity and showing up.

Here's a piece I did last year showing AAPI support for Black Lives.

 

Blasian Sticker!

Yo! Super excited to make and share this with you. This is a term I've heard used for at least 10 years to describe an esthetic, couples, children, and people. "BLASIAN" or "Black" and "Asian" to me represents families and people who share both Asian and Black heritage. They could be specifically North American, but I believe the term could apply internationally to these mixed kids. Being a mixed kid myself (Black, Korean, Mexican, Apache) I identify with this term and hope you can share it with others you feel would love it.

If you'd like to get one COP IT HERE.

Stay tuned for more and please check out my Self Care stickers if you missed em.

Kindred Journey 37 - A4BL

I remember beaming with happiness and pride when I saw a group of young Asian Americans chain themselves to a building( Police Dept)  to protest. They were bold and I remember thinking "that's what I'm talking about". Showing up and showing out with direct action. That group was A4BL or Asians 4 Black Lives, in support of Black activists and Black folks being murdered by cops. This was shortly after Mike Brown was killed. After Oscar, Rekia, Tamir, Tyisha, and Trayvon. Anyway, I won't get into the history. I've pasted their statement below. To all my young Aapi's this month I just wanted to share this with you if you didn't know. Solidarity exists. Happy Asian American and Pacific Islander heritage month. Fuck the police. 

We stand on the doorstep of the Oakland Police Department today as a group of Asians putting our bodies on the line in response to a national call to shut down institutions that perpetrate the war on Black people.  It is unacceptable that every 28 hours a Black person is killed by the police, security or vigilantes.

As Asians, we recognize the ways in which we’ve been used historically to prop up the anti-Black racism that allows this violence to occur. We are an extremely diverse community.  Some of us have been targeted, profiled, and killed by U.S. government institutions.  Many of us came to the U.S. as a result of the devastation and displacement caused by the US military and its “partners” in Asia, only to find a country uses police to devastate and displace black communities.  However, we also recognize the relative privilege that many of us carry as Asians living in the US. 

Many of our Asian brothers and sisters around the country have made powerful statements in support of ending the war on Black people and shown up to protests.  We hope that Asian communities will join us in reflecting on and continuing to practice an intentional Black-Asian solidarity, as we work toward the vision offered by organizers in Ferguson:

“We are striving for a world where we deal with harm in our communities through healing, love, and kinship. This means an end to state sponsored violence, including the excessive use of force by law enforcement. We are committed to an America that comes to terms with the trauma of its painful history and finds true reconciliation for it. Mass incarceration and the over criminalization of black and brown people must forever end, leaving in its place a culture that embraces our histories and stories. This means an end to racial bias and white supremacy in all its forms.

 Our dreams are directly linked with those resisting militarism, war, and state repression around the world. We will achieve this new beloved community hand in hand, step by step, in global solidarity with all people committed to lasting peace and full justice.”

We understand that our liberation depends on the liberation of black people, and echo the demands that have come out of Ferguson.

Source: https://a4bl.tumblr.com/

Did you catch the last one of Rocky Rivera?
Did you see this one of Bambu?

Kindred Journey 36 - Rocky Rivera

The majority of my community knows this phenomenal artist, but let me give you a little backstory if you're unfamiliar. Rocky started her music career officially in the mid 2000's as one fourth of the group "Rhapsodistas", then the release of her mixtape "Married to the Hustle". Since 2008 she's released a consistent catalogue of EPs, features, mixtapes with DJ Roza, and three full length albums; most recently "Rocky's Revenge". Born in the Philippines she came to the US as a child. She and her two sisters gravitated heavily to hip hop. She grew up in the San Francisco, specifically the Excelsior district. A student of journalism Rock has written for publications such as XXL, The Source, Ruckus, and was featured as part of MTV's "I'm From Rolling Stone" show where she wrote and covered hip hop stories for the magazine. Always a sharp thinker you can hear subjects ranging from religion, colorism, Pinay pride, Filipin@ history, guerilla warfare, revolutionary politics, and feminism to mob music, gold grills, knocking sound systems, and motherhood. Besides being a fierce MC that will rip any rapper and write a rhyme from multiple vantages of a story, she is a super down to earth person who lives what she spits. On any given day you could catch her rocking a show, working with youth, writing a book, attending a protest, organizing, rocking some fly fashion, or just raising her kids with her partner. As someone who always uplifts other women you'll often see her praising other women too. She is a pioneer that is paving a way and giving other young artists a voice to truly believe in and be inspired by. Ok, please go bump her music, follow, and be a part of new music and writing as a Patreon supporter.

Fav Song: GRLGNG

Sources: Davey D's Hip Hop Corner, HypeBae, East Bay Express, El Tecolote, Beatrock Music

Did you catch the last one of Deb Never?

Beats, Rhymes, and Resistance- Filipin@s in Hip Hop

Beats, Rhymes, and Resistance: Pilipinos and Hip Hop in Los Angeles (The Definitive Version) from Lakan de Leon on Vimeo.

Kindred Journey 30 - Mndsgn

Respect to this cat Mndsgn who makes some incredible beats and compositions. Originally a Bboy from New Jersey, he bounced around a bit before landing in LA where he fit right in with the growing scene of musicians making instrumental music. To me his music sounds funky, gritty, dream like, and warm depending on which of his projects I'm listening to. To date he has released 18 projects ranging from full length albums, to mixtapes, and EPs. Mndsgn has worked with Fatima, Danny Brown, Ivan Ave, Joyce Wrice, Asal Hazel, and more. In addition to putting out incredible music he is also a part of the crew "Klipmode" with Knxledge, Suzi Analogue, and Deron Who. He is also a part of the group "Vivians" and has his own record label releasing new artists with partner Alima. If you're not familiar with his music, follow him and give his sound a knock.

Sources: Huff Post, The Hundreds, Stonesthrow

Fav Song: Txt (Msgs)

LIKE THIS? Did you see the one I did of Ameriie or The Invisible Skratch Piklz? 

Kindred Journey 29 - Kat 010

I first came across Kat "010" Ouano as part of the Crown City Rockers and have followed bits of her path since. Kat is the youngest of 6 kids originally from Wichita Kansas she started to play the piano at the age of 6. She attended the famed Berkelee College of music in Boston where I believe she met up with some of the members of Crown City and would eventually make her way out to the Bay Area where the crew rocked for clubs and shows steadily. I love Kat's style of keys. Her sound changes, flows, drifts, and morphs from one feeling to the next. It is soulful, funky, and ethereal. Kat has released two full length albums "Natural Phenomenoms" and "On The Cusp". As KI mentioned, she was a founding member of Crown City Rockers and has been a part of several ensembles such as GreenStone Project and The Femme Deadly Venoms. She has recorded with or produced for tons of musicians such as The People Under The Stairs, Blackalicious, Destani Wolf, Lyrics Born, Lateef, DJ Zeph, Raashan Ahmad, and Headnodic. Residing now in Hawaii Kat is still playing, teaching, and raising a family. If you're not up on her, follow her and/or sound go take a listen and support if you can. And if you're an MC or vocalist looking for production, hit her up. Her moog, rhodes, synths, and keys add levels!!!

Sources: Wide Hive, Greenstone, Scholastic Art & Writing
Fav Song: On the cusp

Did you see the last one? Check out H.E.R.

I once did a typography piece inspired by Kat too - Here

Kindred Journey 28 - H.E.R.

I'm sure most of you who love R&B and allow new artists into their heart have already heard of H.E.R. But if you're new to her let me give a brief introduction. H.E.R. (Having Everything Revealed) first came on my radar on Daniel Ceasar's song "Best Part". One of the coolest things about her style is that she is not trying to do what everyone else was doing when she reemerged in the industry. Her music is something a soul lover of any age can feel. Gabby Wilson is a youngster from Vallejo California, home to greats such as Confunkshun, Mac Dre, and E40. She's a Blasian kid (Pinay + Black) and from an early age her family had her in the mix of music making and enjoyment. She plays the drums, bass, and piano. I think she's best known for her guitar licks and vocals. In a world of manufactured checklists of artists thus singer songwriter is a breath of fresh air and she's just getting started. With them shades she invokes MF Doom and Daft Punk with a focus less about how she looks and more about what you hear. Please follow her, support her music, and check out her most recent effort to inspire "Girls with Guitar's".

Sources: Revolt, LA Times, Sway in The Morning
Fav song: Carried Away

Did you catch the last one? Kiwi
Check out one i did of Equipto

Ethnic Studies in Every School

This is a print of a recent painting I made for the 16th anniversary art show of the "Trust Your Struggle Collective" in Sacramento California. I am a product of Ethnic Studies as I was able to take classes in it at Berkeley High School (California) and at San Francisco State University.

What is Ethnic Studies? To me, it is a chance to learn about history and cultural from a people of color perspective. Typically US and world history is Eurocentric and leaves out a tremendous amount of stories and history from Black, Indigenous Native Americans, Asians, and Latin@s. I believe very strongly that every school from elementary school up to college should have mandatory ethnic studies classes to educate all students.

After being a student, I had the privilege to be a presenter as part of the Trust Your Struggle Collective in the late 2000's Ethnic Studies Conferences held at SFSU.

Check out the close ups below! You want a print? Go here.

Did you take classes in Ethnic studies? If so comment with your experience.

Kindred Journey 26 - Amerie

Amerie (Amerie Rogers) is an artist from Washington DC. Born in 1980 and raised all over the US and she first came into most folks conscious with a song called "Why don't we fall in love". Some people found her sound with her hit "1 Thing". After falling in love with her voice and her first few songs, I immediately wondered if she was both Black and Asian. And to my delight she was African American and Korean! Amerie is an incredible musician whose voice and style adapts, changes, and progresses. As a musician she has released 5 studio albums and collaborated with countless artists. But most recently she has also shown a love for books, reviewing them and talking about them on Youtube. Not only that, she has recently edited an anthology of heavy hitters and new comers in the literary world. Still working, you can find her giving tutorials on make up, style, and releasing new music. 

Sources: Amerie.com, Wikipedia, Youtube

You can purchase this original piece $40 (includes shipping) by emailing me at info@robdontstop.com

Kindred Journey 23 - Margaret Cho

Born in San Francisco in 1968, Margaret Cho is one of the greatest comedians to do it. She has written books, starred in plays, shows, and films, recorded music, and done some amazing comedic performances. One of the things I admire about her is her ability to merge political and hilarious. Margaret started performing as a teen. She went on to be one of the first if not the first Asian American lead in an Asian American specific Tv show called "All American Girl". She had a broadway show called "I am the one I want". She has toured all over the world performing stand up, and she has been nominated for many awards like the Grammy's, Emmy's, and she has won awards from the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) and GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation). Beyond doing comedy Margaret has been an advocate for LGbtq rights, she has stood up against bullying, and has lead commentary to political issues. She is still performing and inspiring today.

Sources: MargaretCho.com, The Rubin Report, Broadly

You can purchase this original piece $40 (includes shipping) email info@robdontstop.com

Kindred Journey 22 - Mountain Brothers

Mountain Brothers are a hip hop group from Philadelphia with members Styles, Peril-L, and Chops. Besides Key Kool & Rhetmattic, Mountain Brothers were some of the only Asian American cats rhyming and putting out records. Coming from the Bay you see lots of writers, B-boys, and DJs, but very few MCs. That all changed when I saw this trio from Philly. Their first album "Self: Volume 1" came out in 1999, and their second and last album came out in 2003. They also had an EP titled Microphone Phenomenal. MB were pioneers for Asian Americans in hop hop and although Peril-L and Styles are pursuing medicine and science Chops still continues to make music. In fact the group united for a song on a Chops record in 2013 along with cats like Dumbfounded, Bambu, Rocky Rivera, Geo of Blue Scholars, Neil Armstrong, DJ Roli Rohl, and more. The guys are Chinese Taiwanese and simply by making great music and being themselves they have made history and given young Asian American artists role models. Galaxies!!!

Sources: Wikipedia, TaiwaneseAmerican.org,

Did you catch the one of Mndsgn ?

You can purchase this original piece $40 (includes shipping) , email info@robdontstop.com

Kindred Journey 20 Vicki Manalo Draves

Vicki Manalo Draves was born in 1924 in San Francisco California to a Filipino father and English mother who met in the city. She grew up in the south of market area now known as Soma. She began diving at the age of 16. She tired to begin training at SF's Fairmont hotel and wanted to compete but was discriminated against because of her Filipino heritage. She had to change her name to her mothers maiden name in order to to enter competitions. It was said by her friends and teammates that the discrimination she faced lit a fire under her and when she made it to the olympic games in 1948, she was the first American woman to win two gold medals in platform and springboard diving. Vicki continued to swim for many years, got married and had several children. Today there is a park in San Francisco named after her and when she passed away there were many news publications that honored her. She even has a biopic film in the works about her life's story.

Sources: Kickstarter (Save our Story), NBC, Wikipedia, Olympics

Purchase: You can buy this original painting $40 (includes shipping). Email me at info@robdontstop.com

Kindred Journey 17 -Bobby Hundreds

If this is your first time seeing this, I started a series of paintings called "Kindred Journey" last year celebrating my Asian American Pacific Islander folks for the month of May ( Asian Amer history month). Just like last year I'll be dropping some paintings of folks from the past and present making their grand parents proud. 

This guy right here is Bobby Hundreds, the co-founder of the Street wear brand "The Hundreds". Bobby and Ben (then law students) started their company in 2003, decades after brands like Vans and Stussy, but not too long after Supreme and 10 Deep. They started with t-shirts that spoke directly to 80's and 90's kids using the iconic bomb, punk, hip hop, skater, pop culture, and California references. They then expanded to cut and sew products such as sweaters, pants, jackets, hats, and more. The brand Bobby helped build, design, market, and grow started with clothes and eventually opened flagship stores in LA (his hometown), SF, and NYC. Not only that they have created their own print magazine and a killer video presence that gives back to the next generation while inspiring new ones. If you have Asian parents or grand parents you know it is tough to get respect doing anything but law, medicine, or tech (now), but Bobby and his team have done it. Salute.

Sources: The Hundreds.com, Wikipedia, LA Times

Digging this? : Check out Kiwi of Native Guns

Blasian Narratives-Film/performance

Wow, can't thank CAAM (Center for Asian American Media) Momo Chang and Roger Viet Chung enough for reminding me to take my family to see this incredible performance/film about what it means to be both fully Black and Asian. Still taking it all in. The cast gave so much of their full story and heart. I don't think I've ever been to a more affirming event in my life recently (culturally,ethnically). Wanted to ask a bunch of qs of the cast but could not find the right words and I like talking. A lot! Still processing. But anyone who has felt the pull between two races, nationalities, countries, religions or more can identify with some of the stories in this film/performance. if you come across them at a theater, HBCU, college, go see them! http://www.blasianproject.org Thank you ethnic studies gods for bringing this to light. All of my grand parents would have been very profoundly moved as I am. I asked the tween if he liked it and he said "eh, yeah I guess".

CAAM- Joe Bataan

Caam is an Asian American focused film fest! If you cant go, at least check out the line up of great films!! Check out this article written about Joe Bataan.