As 2011 draws to a close, here's a video of emcee Jason Chu looking back at the year in Asian America... in a rap: Asian-American 2011 rap-up. The ups and downs, tragedies and triumphs -- mostly relatedly to popular culture, but with some other stuff mixed in -- from Tigers Moms to Jeremy Lin to Mayor Ed Lee. Take a look:
Here are the lyrics, for your reference:
It's winter time and the season is ChristmasFor more from Jason Chu, check out his website here.
I had no clue what I'd see on your wish lists
I couldn't afford to wrap gifts for you
So instead, I wrote a rap gift for you
This year, we saw Tiger Moms get in the news
Good luck to their children - I've been in your shoes
Yao Ming waved goodbye to his Houston fans
Accidental Chinese Hipsters made us pee in our pants
In entertainment, asians are in the mix
Since Far East came in, on their G6
Ken Jeong is in Hollywood, actin a fool
Harry Shum is on Glee, makin girls drool
Speakin of ladies, Girls Generation had a US tour
Nine members - which is which? I'm not too sure
Nicki Minaj has a bit of a Japanese fetish
But would Young Money sign an Asian rapper? Never.
I didn't watch Fast Five for The Rock's acting
I'm just glad Sung Kang played an asian, without a funny accent
Justin Lin could film anything and I would have watched it
From time-traveling robots to community college
Wong Fu made a movie about break-up survivors
YTF Global got like a billion subscribers
Harold and Kumar are back, and don't you be racist
I DID watch it in the theater... and THEN I bootlegged it
This year, it feels like all my friends bought an iPad 2
Man, I'm startin to think I want an iPad, too.
Android grew fast, but iPhones are still cool
if you don't want to give your bank account to Carrier IQ
Angry Birds blew up, and we all played
Then Japan had a disaster, and we all prayed
Fusion food trucks were what we all craved
Korean beef in a taco was what we all ate
In politics... Ed Lee made history and also the news
First Asian mayor of San Francisco - about time, too.
Gary Locke and I graduated from the same school!
He became an ambassador. I'm doing youtube raps. Cool.
There's a new hoop star, and he's Chinese-American
Forget Mike - we all wanna be like Jeremy Lin
More artists are on Twitter, talking to fans
I got 300 followers! ...half of them are spam
2011 was quite a show
We occupied Wall Street - then we had to go
Dictators fell, it hasn't been the same since
Goodbye to Muammar Qaddafi - and his fashion sense
I hope Steve Jobs found peace and rest
Steve, I saw the news on my iPhone, 4S
But the world keeps growing: thanks to the lovers,
there's now officially 7 billion of us!
I'm praying that your holidays have joy and peace,
That you're surrounded by your loved ones and family
I hope two thousand and eleven went well...
And if the world doesn't end, see you in 2012!