WOW! It's been a while since I put up a new entry. On the time of my absence, I've just been chillin', doing the normal thing - going out to bars, small dance clubs, comedy shows, mc battles, drinking and stuff. But all this isn't what you would think it to be. Sure it sounds like I've been up to a lot, but really...it's just the weekends. I don't do anything on the weekdays except study and train.

And speaking of weekends, I recently went to Jin's MC Battle at SDSU. And well...it was pretty whack. Jin came out from backstage premature to take over the hosting job since the show's host suck'd and he did a really good job at it too. I mean, all the MC battles were whack as fizzle (go figure - San Diego peeps). Thankfully Jin was pretty funny which made me and my buddies stay for the rest of the night. He did manage to battle the Champion for an exhibition and killed him in the 2nd round...like dude, Jin went 8-mile all the way up his ass and got the whole crowd up on their feet. And then of course, Jin sung a couple songs from his mixtape...unfortunately the sound guys were really ridiculously lame which made Jin's songs sound pretty weak, but we ended up leaving early anyways.

As for the ladies I met since then...well, I ain't no man-whore so I don't go sleeping around with random women (for those of you who know me - at least not anymore ^_^`). Just a few wild nights once in a while with the occasional beautiful ladies of course. But what has pissed me off lately is the rare super-gorgeous ladies that hit on me while they're taken. I mean, C'MON!!! Don't tease me like that - it's evil. Dump your man and come with me ^_~ or just let me be cause I'm not going to f*** you (or at least, I'll try not to).

It's Begun
It’s the same old tale: "Growing up, I always wanted to be a singer…" And this tale you’ll here from everyone that has the ability to turn their sentence into song or words into rap. For most people, this is a goal that seems unachievable, so they give up before they even start. For the rest of us, the idea that it is unachievable makes us want it even more…

The First
While all other races have conquered the Western music industry, the world has still yet to see an Asian star. And all Asian musicians born in Western countries ponder "Who will be our 'Michael Jackson', our 'Ricky Martin / Jennifer Lopez'? Who will be our 'Dr Dre' that leads the pack up from the underground and into the main stream?"

Breaking the Mold
Doesn't it constantly feel like there's a conspiracy to 'hold us down', making a mockery of us with their 'William Hungs', broken English, dressing in Kimono's and wearing a gong on your head. We want to show the world that it's no longer the 1960s and that Asians aren't all kung fu chopping, dorky-like looking, glasses wearing, skinny little 'me so solli' slanty-eyed pushovers.

The Asians of today are manchette swinging, drug dealing, reckless driving, gambling, smoking, with hotted up cars, with hotted up chicks, and 30-40 squatters spitting in a circle.

But if you weren't Asian and you had self-esteem issues, would you rather generalise them as a possible threat, or would you think in your mind that they're nothing but pushover chinks? The fact of the matter remains that whoever The First is going to be will be the one to break the 1970s Asian generalisation and establish the millennium Asian realisation.

Talented and hard-working, but its still not enough. We've always been raised to believe that through hard work you'll be smart; you'll acquire skills. You're not born smart, but for those of us that can sing, we feel that we're born with natural skills. With a gift. And if that gift goes to waste, then we may as well not have had it at all.

Which brings me to the Harlem Lee story. As those who followed the NBC program "Fame" would know, Harlem Lee (Asian-American) was voted by America to win "Fame" - a record deal to be produced by the likes of P Diddy, JT and JD, a part in the musical "Fame", image consulting and 1 year accommodation in a 5 star hotel. Of all those prizes, he only received the 1 year accommodation and stated that he would be "completely penniless and homeless" since "[he is] yet to receive the bulk of the career-enhancing prizes promised to the winner". Harlem states on his website:

"The justification given to me for all this has been that my story was not 'compelling enough' (their own words) to warrant the high-profile TV appearances and marketing resources that would have given me a decent shot at capitalizing on my national 'FAME' exposure."

When I saw Harlem, I truly believed that it had begun. He had the skill, the charisma, the voice, was never pitchy and always left you wanting to see more. In my opinion, his only weakness was that he was a bit soft spoken and maybe a little too feminine, but this proved to also be one of his biggest strengths because as an unknown, you're more inclined to win the popularity contest by being humble than being cocky.

Would Harlem have been The First? We might never know.

Is Jin The First? Jin, like Harlem is our Asian pride that gained recognition from a TV show. Jin won the battle raps 7 weeks in a row, breaking news all over the world. Like Harlem, he has the skill and the talent to roll with the best of them; he gained the respect and admiration of the millions of viewers world-wide that witnessed what Asians can do. We believed in you. Sadly, unless you're Asian, the vast majority of people don't know who Jin is. They've never heard of him and have no interest in him. Therefore, as strong a player as Jin is (probably our strongest to date), he is not a house-hold name like "Madonna" or "Prince" yet, thus he is not yet The First.

No matter how much skill and raw talent we have in comparison to those currently in the charts, it's just never going to be enough. But it will soon…

Surge
The First will emerge in our generation, we know it. It's only a matter of time - timing is the key here. For if it wasn't for the recent surge in reality TV shows, we wouldn't have our Harlems or our Jins. It's not a coincidence that the only Asian stars we really know of have emerged from reality TV and not been signed the "proper" way. At the end of the day, it's just not the talent you have, but who you know and the connections you've made. As this generation settles in and creates those connections, we help set the scene for The First.

Until The First emerges, we'll all come out in drips and drabs. Once he emerges, we'll come out in a surge. Until then, every time an Asian is on TV, we'll go running to watch. The truth is, some Asians watch with pride in their eyes, while others with criticism. The simple fact is that we won't be embraced by the rest of the Western world until we embrace ourselves. The Asian selfishness and jealous nature of not wanting to see other Asians do better than ourselves will hold us back. The First won't come until there's a sense of unity, like the African-Americans or Latinos who have their pride. So don't hate. Love. Right now, we're all underground - discovered via the net or word-of-mouth. The First will let us surge in the mainstream.

The First is inevitable - it's just a matter of when. He's like the second-coming that we know has to happen in our generation. Once we have our unity, we'll have our First. Until then, we'll always ask ourselves "When will it begin?" Perhaps the answer is clearer than you think and it has already begun. Maybe there's a sense of unity already. After all, you found this website, didn't you?

Contributed by "DA". "DA" has a Bachelor of Commerce degree and a Bachelor of Law degree from the University of Melbourne, Australia. Originally written for ElementsOfAKind.com