a-Tunes

Jin, arguably the most well-known Asian-American MC, decided to drop a track in tribute of all the Asian MC’s he respects that are doing their thing right now. This song is in response to a list that was published by a blogger on their top 10 Greatest Asian MC’s list, where Jin made the cut at #1. It’s encouraging to see Jin give a nod to his fellow colleagues, or as his once famously said in a Freestyle battle “cause Game recognize game”. He spits over the instrumental to Drake’s “It’s Over”.

Here’s the complete list of rapper’s he shouted out on the track. Ill.

1. Dumbfoundead
2. Southstar
3. Bambu
4. Roscoe Umali
5. Geologic (of Blue Scholars)
6. apl.de.ap
7. Far East Movement
8. Snacky Chan
9. Mountain Brothers
10. Young Mac
11. LS
12. Reign
13. Flowsik
14. Shogunna
15. Rook
16. Lyrics Born
17. Chuckie Akenz
18. Kamikaze Grey
19. Lil’ Crazed
20. Lyricks
21. Manifest
22. Thai
23. Decipher
24. J. Reyez
25. D-Pryde
26. Johnnyphlo
27. Demo (of D-League)
28. Tantrum
29. Traphik

Rook, currently doing time behind bars, has sent out a hand written letter out to all his fans and his team has posted it up on his myspace. You can read it below:

Click to Enlarge

To whom it may concern,

   I find it amazing that through this music I’ve been able to connect with people of all ages, color, and creed. I’m deeply humbled by the amount of support I’ve received from people who enjoy the music I love to create. Through this experience I’ve come to the realization that life is not about money, class, or prestige but it’s about the impact we leave upon others and gaining a deeper understanding of life itself.

   Music is a form of art that I’ve utilized to express the reflection of thoughts that resided within me and subsequently gave birth to a movement I’m proud to be a part of.
Behind these walls I live without remorse cause in my heart I know life is but a journey filled with many lessons regardless of the surroundings that may surround you.

   I’m deeply moved by the time you take out of your day to write a letter to reach out and lend your hand of support and for that I am forever grateful. I know in my heart together we can take the movement to a level of recognition and show the world despite our struggles we too can find a high level of success. From minority to majority, from majority to unity, together we can make this happen. If not this generation then the next. For we are closer today than we were before and with this knowledge together we can make all our dreams come true.

   Again, thank you for all your support. For this is more than music and I look forward to meeting you all once the opportunity presents itself.

God Blesses All,
Rook

It’s clear he’s given a lot of heart and thought into things and only wants to further the movement, for this generation and the next.

If you’d like to write Rook and show him your support you can do so at the following address:

Cyril Kim PO Box 16700 Golden, CO 80402-670

Yo a-Tunes readers! I know I’ve missed the past couple weeks of WTF due to my vacation but I’m back with a new one for you today courtesy of Asian Rap Worldwide. ARW has posted up their first release, ‘The LS Mixtape’. This compilation album is dedicated to none other than LS, a veteran asian american MC who was part of the early movement but has since left the music scene a few yrs back.

Read what ARW posted about the mixtape including the dialogue w/ LS himself:

I’m very proud to announce that Asian Rap Worldwide has just released its very first mixtape called The LS Mixtape!! The LS mixtape features 12 songs from LS, a Chinese-American rapper from New York that rapped about his life experiences in the streets of New York’s Chinatown. He was coming up in the rap game around the same time when Asian-American rappers such as Jin, Chan and Shogunna were also coming up. That was in the early millenium which marked the beginning stages of an Asian-American hip hop movement, which LS was a part of. If you haven’t heard any new songs from LS lately, that is because LS is not rapping anymore (or at least is putting his rapping on hold for a while). LS explains it all in this the email he sent to me:

Wuts good Royal? Sorry bout the delay, after i got out the hospital n all i had to catch up on mad shit but i didn’t forget about you… i appreciate the luv fam… i juss wanna let you kno that, i haven’t been in the game for a minute now… it seems my time has come and gone… it’s funny because when i was younger i had dreams of making it big but i never thought it could ever happen… then when it really did start happening n things started to take off it kinda took me by surprise because it was happening so fast and i didn’t really kno what to do with it, all the visions i was having was coming tru but i wasn’t really taking it that seriously when i should of been… but thats how life is sumtimes… whether i decide to pursue music again or not i could say say that i’ve definitely made my mark… even with the limited amount of songs that i put out there, i’m still arguably one of the best asian american artist that did it… it was definitely fun while it lasted and who knows, maybe i’ll pick up the mic again n show these niggas wuts up lol… HOLLA AT THE KID!

-LS

Well… you heard it straight from LS. Now about the mixtape. The LS Mixtape is a mix of some originals, some covers over instrumental beats and some collaborations with other Asian rappers.

The mixtape also features Jin, Jay Chou, Shogunna, Chan, Rook, Young Mac, Thai Streets, South Star, FM, & Ailee. You can check out the back cover, tracklisting & download link after the jump. Thanks to ARW for putting this one together!

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Rook, who has been behind bars some time now, wants to make sure everyone knows he hasn’t lost a thing. A recording of him spitting a verse over the phone has been posted to his myspace. Given the situation, the quality is understandably pretty bad but Rook still demonstrates he’s hungry and won’t stop till he reaches the top.

Good to hear from the guy. Hope he gets out soon.

Wow, time flies… it’s another Weekly Thursday Freebie (It’s already the 18th one!).

But all the credit for this one goes to the good fellas over at Urban Azn. They are the ones that compiled this hip-hop mixtape together for your listening pleasure.

A compilation album of the most prominent Asian rappers in hip hop, War For Respect focuses on the street life that many of us are dealing with today. The album is free for download and promotional uses, hit the jump for details on the album.

The mixtape features Jin, Decipher, Mondega, Shogunna, Rookadamus, Flowsik, Reign Era, Roscoe Umali, Thai, Chan, LS, Yung Mac, & Chuckie Akenz. Some of the songs are pretty dated but the project gives a fair representation on the numerous street singles by Asian-American/Candian Hip-Hop artists over the past few years. The cover art borders between a stylized cool and excessive to the point of cheesy but that doesn’t detract from the fact it’s a pretty good collection of tracks.

You can find the back cover w/ the tracklisting and link for DL after the jump!

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Despite some life setbacks, Rook has found the time to put out a new mixtape set for early 2009.

In a myspace bulletin he wrote:

ROOK NEW MIXTAPE WILL BE RELEASE EARLY 2009. STAY TUNED….

If its anything like his last release, I’m looking forward to it.

Asian American Hip Hop artist Rook aka Rookadamus aka Cyril Kim has recently been arrested and is in being held at a prison in Colorado.

Rook is an incredibly talented emcee that released a stellar mixtape last year entitled “Hell is Empty and All the Devils are Here”. aTunes wishes him and everyone close to him the best in this time of misfortune.

I can’t be certain as to what happened but after doing a little digging I found some reports about a drug ring bust that may be related.

Link 1
Link 2

I’ll let you draw your own conclusions, but regardless Rook’s information has been released so here is how you can show your support:

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