Asian Representation and Hip Hop in the Age of New Media: An Analysis of Rich Brian and his music

Abstract

Representation then matters due to its influential power over the masses. In the modern world, mass media plays a crucial role when it comes to social representation and the discourse of identity formation. The problem thus arises when there is a lack of or rather no diversity in social representation in mass media.This paper will analyse how people, more specifically the current youth, have been able to identify themselves with hip-hop and rap music. The analysis on Rich Brian and his label 88rising lead us to the research question, i.e. how is Rich Brian and his music bringing about a paradigm shift in the music industry and regarding Asian representation?