The original idea was to create a company that would end up revolutionising the music world, but Sean Miyashiro, the founder, didn’t have much of a clue as to how to do that. The ball started rolling once Sean discovered a viral video called Dat Stick by Rich Brian. In it we see Brian, a sixteen-year-old Indonesian guy wearing a pink polo shirt and waist bag, flanked by two other similarly dressed guys with Glocks –toy ones– in hand, rapping about his inexistent Maseratis, and threatening the police as if he were a thug from the Bronx… The video didn’t become viral precisely thanks to the song’s lyrics or its visuals, which left much to be desired, but Sean saw potential in him and he stayed in touch with him until he became the first person who would end up representing with his company. Slowly but surely Brian started dropping singles featuring renowned rappers like 21 Savage and Offset, where he talked about his humble beginnings in Indonesia, and that’s how he wasn’t seen as a joke anymore and earned the public’s trust. Finally he became a reputable rapper thanks to Amen , the album he presented in 2018.
88RISING AND ASIAN HIP HOP
Neither Rich Brian, Joji nor Keith Ape would have been as famous as they are today if they hadn’t been supported by 88Rising. And who would have known that this company, or call it record label, mass media company or as they call themselves “a combination of Disney and Vice but in the music industry”, would end up helping these Asian artists explode into the Western market, knowing that their first office was a car parked in a deadbeat garage in the Bronx.
Miyashiro, on his behalf, called the company 88Rising (“88” symbolising “double luck” in Chinese culture) and started representing more artists. One of the rapper, Korean rapper Keith Ape became famous in Asian with this song It G Ma. He then became famous in the West thanks to Sean’s suggestion of releasing a remix of the song with the American rappers A$AP Ferg, Father, Dumbfounded and Waka Flocka Flame.
And 88Rising is all about viral videos. Sean turned George Miller from Filthyfrank, a half Japanese half Australian Youtuber known for his eccentric and irreverent humor, into Joji, which is how George is pronounce phonetically in Japanese. Two years ago many didn’t believe in his musical talent, but after releasing his album Ballads 1 in 2018, he has become one of the most critically and fan acclaimed R&B singers of the moment.
88Rising is still growing and they don’t seem to be stopping anytime soon. Last year they released a collaboration with Guess Jeans that sold out in a matter of days, and thanks to its massive success they’re going to release a second drop very soon. As a collective they’ve released their own album and they even held a festival in California last year that was attended by thousands of people, 80% of them being of Asian descent. This year they’re planning to hold it in Shanghai. They have achieved what seemed to be impossible, popularising in the Western market Asian artists that weren’t well-known, that’s until 88Rising came along, destroying in its path any type of negative stereotypes associated with the community. For example, with the song “Made in China” the collective of rappers Higher Brothers reclaim that not everything that comes from China is cheap and of poor quality. And so, yes, we can say the world of hip hop is becoming more and more diversified, but this revolution is only getting started.