Huong's 3/24 response
“Yeah, I’m Chinese. And what?” I think this opening line to Jin’s song, Learn Chinese represents the crux of the message he tried to get across to his audience. According to Wang, Jin “flips the race card back by embracing his racial differences and uses them to ridicule his rivals.” Listening to Learn Chinese for the first time, I didn’t pick up on some of the subtle references towards his ethnicity, but upon a closer listening, I heard the familiar pentatonic scales with the lowered 3rd scale degree playing in the background in a very twangy “Asian” way. But then over top of this very stereotypical Asian sound, Jin is rapping, “STOP, the chinks do it again/ This ain’t Bruce Lee, ya'll watch too much T.V” This creates for himself an identity as an Asian American rapper – but not one to be lumped with every other Asian American – he is unique.
I think Jin’s whole idea of uniqueness and breaking away form stereotypes really comes across in the skit titled, Chinese Beats. Again, I think this track really hammers home Wang’s argument that Jin was flipping the race card to break free from stereotypes very well. The DJ that is supplying beats for Jin is under the impression that Jin would want to have all the very oriental sounding beats and effects in his music because in all the beats that he has laid down, there are these elements. In the first beat, you can hear the stereotypical cymbals and oriental sounding instruments somehow being altered to sound even more oriental. Then again in the second beat, you can hear the pentatonic scale with a zither like instrument also being altered to make it sound more foreign and oriental. Jin rejects all the beats that the DJ has laid down and says that “I am trying to change the game.” I really like the last line of the skit, “pshh. Aint you Chinese?” said by the DJ laying down tracks of which none were picked by Jin to use. I think it throws in the face of the listener the fact that Jin is not going to be your stereotypical Asian American artist, but that he is trying to break these bounds and create his own image.
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Hi there,
ReplyDeleteI wanted to peek in to say, first of all, thank you all for taking time to read over and comment on my work; it's a rare privilege to have one's writing critically analyzed, especially with such a multitude of opinions being offered.
It's also refreshing to see some musicological analyses being applied; as many noted, I wasn't able to address the music of these songs in my article given that the focus was more on self-signifying vis a vis songwriting but I wholly agree that the sound of songs are an obvious and essential component.
If it's not too strange to have me respond to the responses, a few things that I thought were worth raising in the spirit of dialogue.
First, this is probably generational, but as much as people did talk about the sound of Jin's "Learn Chinese" I didn't see anyone pick up on how the beat that Wyclef Jean produced for him is basically a remake of Das Efx's "They Want Efx," a massive rap hit from 1992. Das Efx, in turn, were reusing the same beat that Lord Finesse had used in 1990 for "Funky Technician" and the original sample source was James Brown's "A Blind Man Can See It," an instrumental track from the "Black Caesar" soundtrack.
I don't know - for a fact - what Wyclef's thinking here was but my read is that he was accomplishing at least two things here. 1) By using a beat connected such previous hits such as the Das Efx and Lord Finesse songs, Jean could have been trying to insert Jin into that lineage too, thus "normalizing" him in the eyes of those who might question his hip-hop credibility. It may also be, 2) Jean felt like using a more familiar beat on "Learn Chinese" was a strategic way to help him gain more commercial appeal by offering up something familiar to older rap fans.
I thought people were very astute in also noting the use of that stereotypical "Orientalist" theme that runs underneath the beginning of the song. Some of you might know it as the "There's a place in France where the naked ladies dance" song and it traces its origins to an Algerian song - so it's rather odd that an Islamic/Arabic song would end up serving as a sonic representation for an East Asian. Again, it'd be worth asking Jean - "what was that about?" To me, it's part of the song's ambivalence and contradictions where it simultaneously tries to break stereotypes while reifying them. Very "one step forward one step back."
Along those lines, it seems based on the responses, many thought I was arguing that "Learn Chinese" was largely "positive" and that was not my argument at all. I tried to avoid easy "positive" or "negative" judgments and instead tried to talk about how Jin's positioning of himself as a Chinatown gangster has the effect of swapping out some stereotypes in favor of others but in the grand scheme, he's not moving "forward" or "positively." It's more of a lateral move than anything else and a song like "Learn Chinese" largely inspires ambivalence.
A few specific responses, beginning with jp9ee. I liked how you tried to theorize about whether Jin could be perceived as a "fusion" cultural figure, and thus, may have benefitted from that perception of him being of or between two worlds. I would only note that Jin was NOT, in fact, successful, as noted by my epilogue where it notes that in 2005, he announced his "retirement" (which, of course, turned out to be nothing of the sort) and he either left or was dropped from Ruff Ryders.
Reechar!: I was very intrigued by your suggestion that Jin's "Yeah, I'm Chinese...and what?" was part of what you describe as a "meta conversation", especially when viewed within the sequencing of the album. I think there may definitely be something to hearing how that opening phrase changes in context with the preceding track.
However, "Learn Chinese" came out as a single first, several months before the album. I don't know if he had completed the entire album first and then chose to release "Learn Chinese" as a single (which happens) or if it was recorded first and then the rest of the album was recorded (which also happens). Nonetheless, I think it's valid to BOTH read the song in album sequel as well as a single on its own, especially since it also had a video which, when included within a read, places that phrase into a specific context within the video's narrative.
Most importantly, the decision to put out "Learn Chinese" first is, in essence, a way for Jin to put his race front and center "without being prompted" insofar as he's making a strategic decision for his FIRST song to be one all about race.
Lastly, I would constructively caution anyone that any attempt at lyrical analysis should include transcribing lyrics on one's own rather than relying on lyric sites which can be quite inaccurate (I know I've fallen victim to this myself). For example, the site linked to in the blog says the lyric says, "the only po po we know is hanging on the hood outside the window" but if you listen to the song, it clearly should be "the only po po we know is hanging on the HOOK" (which, if you think about it, makes a lot more sense, especially if you've ever been to a Cantonese BBQ).
Likewise, someone else quoted a line that said, "STOP! The chinks go it again" when the song actually said, "STOP! The chinks took over the game." As you might imagine, that's a significant difference in meaning since the latter is asserting that the Chinese have taken over hip-hop - a brazen and aggressive claim sure to inspire some kind of reaction.
Thanks again for such compelling response!
Dr. Oliver Wang
Sociology, CSULB