王力宏 心中的日月

This album marks the beginning of Wang Leehom (Wang Lihong)'s "chinked out" phase. In order to introduce this concept, he includes a small letter to the listener on the inside cover of his CD, the version that I have. As would be very logical for a CD sold in Taiwan, it's written in English with no translation. In it, in handily numbered points Wang Leehom outlines several things. 1. Although Chinese people are more accepted in the world, there's still lots of prejudice against them. 2. Chinese music copies the West and is karaoke driven. 3. Therefore Wang Leehom has coined the term "chinked-out" for a new style of music that he has invented, in which he hopes to meld popular music with more traditional Chinese sounds, thereby creating a new type of popular music. In his album, he has tried to borrow the sounds of minority peoples in Mainland China.

I'm a literature major. I deconstruct things. Sue me. Anyway, a number of things strike me about this statement. It's a ambitious statement, and I certainly admire the sentiment. Not that many Asian people seem to be aware sometimes that people in the West still look down on them. Of course, Wang Leehom is an ABC and would probably be more aware of this than other people. However, there are plenty of Asian Americans who don't admit this either. Kudos Wang Leehom! Furthermore, it's intelligently written and so it's clear that there's more going on here than just empty pop music, he's clearly thought about this. However, on the other hand. These brave sentiments are only written in English with no translation. It's pretty clear that unless his Taiwanese or other Asian listeners are fluent in English, they're probably going to pass over this manifesto without a second look. And also, there's a certain lack of logic in going back to traditional roots by going to the periphery of China and to people who possibly don't consider themselves to be Chinese in order to attain a "chinked-out" feel.

Anyway, musically, in my humble opinion it's a fairly decent album. He's not really hip hop per se, but he does sort of dabble in it and generally does it fairly well. Accusing other pop stars of being karaoke driven seems a little like the pot calling the kettle black, since it's loaded with slow, soulful KTV songs. The lyrics seem decently written generally, it's mostly about journeyings and discovering far away places that in the title track 心中的日月 sometimes smacks faintly of imperialism or even orientalism. However, the lyrics do seem to occasionally reference Chinese culture, although they often touch on other stuff too, like zodiac signs. The eastern influences on his music are present, although surprising not as ostentiatiously as I would have expected. Jay Chou and JJ Lin and various other people have used Chinese instruments just as much as he has, they may not have made a concept album based on it though.

I'm actually rather grateful that Wang Leehom stays away from more conventional hip hop topics, especially after the howler "Not Your Average Thug" on his Unbelieveable album. It lends the whole thing a bit of dignity, which somehow it really needs.

Magnetic North

I've been aware of Magnetic North for a while. Honestly, I wasn't really sure what I thought about them. The tracks that I heard on their website were interesting but the lyrics sometimes seemed a little weak. Anyway, I was interested enough in them to check in on their website now and again, and now they've released a full length album.

Overall, it surpassed my expectations. There are a lot of things to like on this album. Wendaojinxin calls them "emo-rap" and there's some truth in that. They avoid bragging or gangsta talk and instead tend to talk about their feelings. That said, I generally don't find their songs to be corny or overly sentimental. Although they start straying over the line on their last track "We will not be moved."

One of my pet peeves about Asian Americans that do become successful is that in order to avoid alienating their target audience, they say they aren't Asian particularly, nor are their songs particularly Asian either. Magnetic North to me seems distinctly Asian, and they don't really bother to me, although it's not really openly stated until the aforementioned "We will not be moved." Hell, even Jin has an "I'm Asian." track on his first CD. For example, "I'll never be the best son or the perfect daughter./At times I question why I bother/Cause all the times that I try to succeed/has left me with nothing but this need to believe." Best son, perfect daughter, succeed? These seem like distinctively Asian concerns, but Magnetic North generally makes them sound pretty cool. Furthermore, it's a rather unique perspective. I'm willing to hazard a guess that there aren't many other hip hop artists who are going to be addressing this perspective anytime soon.

Generally their voices complement each other well, and they also do pretty well on their own in their solo songs. Their lyrics are thoughtful and intelligently written. They also do some interesting things musically, such as their modification of "Drift Away." Overall, Magnetic North's CD is a pretty strong beginning. It will be interesting to see what they will do in the future.