5, 7, 5 - it's harder than you think
The Lab has often commented (usually around the time of new Lyrics Born releases) that the Asian-American emcee is a rare beast indeed. We all know everyone loves to hate the white emcee, and most people secretly (and senselessly) hate the female emcee, but where do the legions of hate stand on the asian emcee? No clue. More importantly, I don't really care, because I like this guy. But let's find out.
Haiku is a Chicago-based emcee, whose Korean-American (despite the Japanese moniker) background allows him to explore some of the themes that kicked off hip-hop as a genre, such as discrimination, from an Asian-American perspective. His 2004 initial release caught people's attention, and his 2006 follow-up, Blew, continues to bend ears into the fresh New Year. He seems to pick beats carefully, and tears into them on the mic, slathering his tracks in a heavy, thick flow (that sounds gross, but still...) that adds to the impact of his tracks. From the Kanye-ish production on this track to Tango samples, the beats are solid, and the vocal work complements fully.
You can listen to and download more tracks over on Haiku's MySpace page (gone are the days of people having their own websites... sigh), and if you'd like the entire Blew LP, you can order it from CD Baby, along with the first CD, Brainstorms as well!