CNN’s mini-series of special reports on Asian America included a neat story about Hip Hop in Asian America, based in part off an interview with LA Koreatown rapper DumbFounDead. (Fun fact – we had him come out to Pitzer College to perform two years ago!) From the article:

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) — Crammed into a room on the third floor of a church, rapper DumbFounDead spits freestyle rhymes with six other emcees as a small group of 20-somethings bob their heads to the music.

It’s not the music that makes the scene notable; it’s the rappers. DumbFounDead, whose real name is Jonathan Park, is one of two Korean-Americans present. The others include three blacks and two Hispanics.

Park is part of a thriving Korean rap scene in the city’s vast Koreatown, where concerts and impromptu rap battle sessions are held in churches and cafes, and aspiring lyricists swap songs and jabs on MySpace.

Read the rest of the article at the link below.

Korean rappers defining their own experience through rap – CNN.com

pat m.