Amen Lena Park~

JR-Lena Park?

What has Lena Park produced? Never heard of her.

LJH better get her english perfect.  No konglish plz.

JR-I still don’t think she’s that cute. :o

wtgook-She’s released like 6 or 7 albums dude.  Sings pretty well.

OBEY LADI-Agreed, but if Lim Jeong Hee can come out with something relatively non-cliche, and somehow manages to sing without an accent, she has a chance.  If nothing else, because she’s hot.

mk23-Totally agree.

Maybe she’ll take an umbrella to JYP’s car?

:o

Yup.  If she comes out with any type of Asian accent, she’s going to immediately get ridiculed.

Almost every accent/manner of speech is acceptable in entertainment, except the Asian one.

i’d put it in her ear

Lim Jeong Hee’s strengths in her debut include the fact that A) she’s a chick B) she’s debuting with Outkast.

The reason why being a girl will put her a step ahead of Rain is that there’s less social stigma on Asian women than men—plus, she’ll undoubtedly get points from the male demographic for being ‘exotic’. Aside from that, I think that breaking into the market with Outkast will be another thing that will matter, since it won’t exactly be her headlining—more along the lines of her being an addition to the group.

In the end, maybe things won’t work out, but she’ll get further than Rain did.

I remember when hip hop gangsta rap had a huge social stigma to it, now it’s mainstream & one of the most popular forms of music. You just need an awesome producer that can make great music & polish the product, and things will eventually change.

I personally have to disagree with most of comments above here.  I love Korean musicians, and I am American, with no ties to the Asian community by blood.  I think that Rain will do well because he is a great performer!  I have been a fan of his for a long time too.  I think that anyone who actually appreciates music, and takes the time to listen and watch anything that Rain does will be amazed. Chris Brown dances like Usher, but no one says anything about it…they adore him.  Plus, Rain is attractive and a lot of American girls actually like Asian men.
Anyone who debuts with OutKast will have some serious clout automatically, that much is very true. 
  @h8erade I can’t speak for all of America, but I can speak for who I know around me when I say this.  When it comes to my generation, most of those stereotypes are just that…I don’t have friends who hate people just because they have accents, or they make more money, or have higher test scores.  I think a lot of younger Americans think this way, and I must say that I am sad to hear someone say things like that.  Everyone country has it’s prejudices against people, America has been no different.  Hopefully some day soon the rest of the world will notice the difference in younger America.  Bashing Americans for past behaviors is slightly unfair.

H8erade-Yeah, but I don’t see us turning on this issue anytime soon.

SCS-Yeah, good point, being an Asian woman helps a lot.  If Outkast really help her, and it’s not just lip service, then she might have an easier time garnering credibility.  That’s why it’s interesting to see which direction they go with her.

De La Methode-Yeah but that was a style of music, the issue here isn’t so much the style as it is race/ethnicity. :o

AsianStyle-Yeah, but Asian Americans don’t even give Asian singers a chance.  A lot of them, at least.

Rivers-I realize that you, personally, might not feel that way, but the reality is that a lot of mainstream America does not see it as you do.  All of us are here because we obviously have some semblance of an interest in Asian music, and are therefore a lot more open to it than most people in this country.

You can’t extrapolate personal experience to everybody in America.  Rain has already been made fun of in the mainstream media, and he hasn’t even debuted yet.  We might be slowly changing, but it sure as hell hasn’t happened yet.

@kensai…
  I wasn’t really talking about all of America, I was just talking about what I see from people around my age and younger (here in Kentucky)...and how popular Asian culture is becoming here.  Japanese rock for instance is pretty big here right now, partially due to anime popularity.  So I just see this becoming more mainstream too. 
  If everyone I knew listened to what the mainstream media said about people, we wouldn’t like anyone new!  I tend to have friends who are more likely to go the opposite direction of what the media says…especially where music is concerned.  I have a lot of friends who are involved in the local music scene here as well.  We just had a discussion about this last week, our city at least seems primed for an Asian invasion. (that sounded so corny…sorry)
I wish Rain and Lim Jeong Hee the best though!  I will be rooting for them!

Type of music but who did it represent? The urban black youth. You associate hip hop with african americans, therefore the correlation with race. So it still applies here.

Good Luck

As talented as Lim Jeong Hee is, I doubt her career will be any different from Rain’s. YES, she’s talented amongst Asians, but you go through the US and you can find hundreds that are so much better than her.

But w/e, Amen to what Park Jung Hyun said, and good luck to LJH.

kensai- well maybe the asian americans you know don’t give asian singers a chance but every asian that i know (most are asian american) know and like more asian singers than american singers. i’m just saying because this is how my friends and enemies (that are asian) all act. they have more interest in asian singers. or at least listen to them more. and when you say a ‘a lot of them at least’ i think your referring to your experiences right? well i’m referring to mine. and like i said, mine are that every asian american i know gives more of a chance to asian singers than to american ones.

Rivers-That’s good to hear, especially from a place like Kentucky, but I still highly doubt that the majority of Kentucky feels the same way as you.

De La Methode-Right, but neither Rain nor Lim Jeong Hee are coming over with a specific style of music.  Rain is pop, and Lim Jeong Hee is pop/r&b;, both already have a history.  It’s not like some Japanese singer is coming over with Enka or something.

SCS-I don’t think her singing background initially is a bad thing, especially if she’s going to be involved in r&b;.  She needs to get a break somehow.

ch0sshi-Unless you are the elite of the elite, there are always people more talented than somebody, based on subjectivity or otherwise.  I would say Lim Jeong Hee is vocally better than a good majority of American pop singers with hit songs right now.

Jane-It’s the angle that hides the ugly.

AsianStyle-Yeah, of course Asians will generally be more open to Asian singers, that’s just common sense.  But ask most of the Asians that we would deem “white-washed”, and they would no more be open to an Asian artist than any regular white dude.

I’m just trying to not be delusional here, Asians represent barely 4% of the market, and many of those have assimilated so much that they no longer care about Asian identity or anything of that nature.  Not that it’s a bad thing, but it’s the reality of the situation.  It’s a huge uphill battle, that’s the point.

I dont think Rain will ever debut in US. I think most people are still pretty angry about the US Concerts.

But you’re arguing semantics by saying type of music. The point was an asian person becoming popular in the american mainstream. You brought out the notion that there was a stigma with asians. I pointed out how there was a stigma with ethnic black “gangsta” rappers (you could classify them into a group) and how it’s now mainstream. I’m not saying anything about an asian bringing a type of music here, just how in music that social stigma’s can be overcome.

What was the Nippon League once thought of? Exactly, an inferior league that was thought to be around AA minor league baseball. There was a stigma there about asian players & its leagues. Players coming over showed that they can play just as good, if not better if given the opportunity. I’m saying the same could be said/happen for eventual artists.

Rap started in the 1970’s. Gangsta Rap on the other hand was a spinoff of that (more controversial topics) and came into light in the late 80’s/early 90’s. It was still rap but it didn’t become mainstream until the likes of Snoop Dogg/Jay-Z/etc came about. Arguing something else again. It’s not about doing anything new, it’s about becoming popular in the mainstream.

Thanks for the history lesson. :o

No, you don’t have to do anything new.  Still I don’t think they are comparable by any means, due to reasons i’ve given earlier.

If i’m wrong, and I hope I am, i’ll be glad to eat my words.  I just don’t think i’ll have to.

amen to lena. =)

Yes, i’m well aware of where the best players come from.  I’m sorta into baseball and stuff, sorta.  And in comparison to other countries, Japan/Cuban/Korean players are still in the vast minority.

It takes a considerable effort to overhaul any image that’s been institutionalized.  I don’t see why that would be surprising.  I would bet a good portion of my money that we won’t see it in our lifetime.  Blacks and Latinos have like 12 and 14 percent of the population, respectively.  They also have infiltration into mainstream media and popularity, still their institutionalized images are problematic to them.