From the late 1960s to the mid-1980s, Americans of multi-ethnic Asian descent in NYC created Basement Workshop to cultivate their own imagined diasporic communities under a US racial landscape. Through their music, art, and activism, the newly realized Asian American community found a way to politicize their belonging in the United States, paving a path for future generations to see themselves as something other than foreigners in America. 

In this proposed music course, students will convene a critically, socially, and musically engaged ‘basement of their own’ to understand, challenge, and intervene in the marginalization of Asian American and Pacific Islander recording artists from America’s popular music industry. Framed by discussions of the black-white racial binary and the myriad ways it manifests–in the industry, in our culture, and in our racial imaginations—this course works to shift AAPIs from the margins to the center of our conversations around music in America by engaging with the following questions:  How come there’s no category or genre of music associated with AAPIs? Why are so few recording artists of East and Southeast Asian descent in America’s popular music industry? Is it just a coincidence that most popular recording artists of Asian descent in America (Olivia Rodrigo, Bruno Mars, Saweetie, Mitski, Joji, Anderson .Paak) are ‘racially ambiguous’? Why are so few AAPI recording artists represented at the Grammys? And how can we support AAPI artists/creatives in their efforts to ‘break in’ to the music industry? Students will examine US conceptions of race as represented in the American and global music industries, consider where they fit (artistically and racially) within the current framework, and respond to various forms of racial marginalization through response papers, journal reflections, and creative/performance-based assignments. They will also work over the semester to develop a substantial artist campaign that could get them or their AAPI friends in front of music industry professionals.

 - Brennan 

Visit the work here.