Far East Movement: Asian-American hip-hop group on stereotypes and playing Hong Kong again
Trio from Koreatown, Los Angeles, have worked with everyone from Snoop Dogg to Pitbull, Justin Bieber and K-pop’s finest, toured with Lady Gaga and were the first Asian American group to have a Billboard Number 1
The members of Far East Movement might all be of Asian extraction, but their name is quite a misnomer.
All three members hail from just about as far west as you can get: Los Angeles, specifically its Koreatown district, where they are local legends. The first Asian-American group to score a No 1 on the Billboard charts, with 2010’s Like a G6, Far East Movement’s music is ground in hip-hop, with lyrics heavy on bottle-popping party antics, spliced with EDM production touches featuring heavy doses of post-dubstep and trap, alongside big, uplifting pop choruses.
They play at Central Harbourfront on January 19, as part of the Billboard Radio Live in Hong Kong series of concerts that also include the likes of Rita Ora, and local stars Khalil Fong and Supper Moment. They’ve performed in Hong Kong numerous times before, playing in the city for the first time very early in their career, back in 2005.
“We’d never been to Asia before,” says band member Kevin Nishimura, aka Kev Nish. “It was a culture shock; we just knew the stuff we’d seen on TV. We were surprised how many people spoke English.
And we were like, ‘Wow, everyone here has black hair’ – we were used to a lot more diversity in Los Angeles. Also, a lot of what we do is just like a bunch of dudes jumping around and yelling, and we found that didn’t always work there, so we learned a lot about how to put on a show.”
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“We also found that Asian people really love to party,” adds fellow rapper. James Roh, aka Prohgress, who’s also the band’s unofficial in-house manager. “They’re the only ones who are still partying at 8am.”