They straddle both worlds with their Asian roots and
Western upbringing. American-born Chinese are making
a mark in Taiwan's music industry, prompting others
to follow in their footsteps.
No other night of the year leaves Taipei's normally busy streets as empty as the night before Chinese New Year. It is a time when most residents traditionally make the pilgrimage home to gather with their families for the year's most important festival. For twenty-six-year-old Jeremy Huang, however, the night was spent at his neighborhood convenience store where he celebrated by buying a round of beer for the sales clerks. In response to the kind gesture, the clerks expressed regret that Huang was not spending the holiday with his family. But Huang, a fledgling rap artist from Houston, Texas, had no need for such sympathy. For him, being homesick was not an option.
This is Huang's third attempt to find fame in Taiwan's music industry--a mission that began while he was still a student at the University of Texas in Austin. His previous trips to the island lasted only for a summer, after which he returned to the States discouraged. This time around, he told himself that he would not leave until he was a success. For Huang, whose stage name is Witness, "making it" does not simply involve cutting and releasing a record--it also entails teaching the Taiwan public about hip hop music and culture. "I'm Taiwanese, but I'm from the States," Huang notes. "That's why I think I can create something new by combining the best of East and West and making my own brand of hip hop."
Huang is neither the first nor will he likely be the last "American import" to pursue dreams of stardom within Taiwan's pop music industry. This "ABC phenomenon," an acronym used to describe American-born Chinese or American-raised Chinese, began eleven years ago with the break-out group LA Boyz. Composed of brothers Jeff and Stanley Huang and cousin Steven Lin, the group from Southern California with their crew cuts, baggy jeans, and heavily accented Taiwanese danced their way into the spotlight and won the hearts of thousands of young fans across the island.
"We were turned down by all the record companies before being signed by a small one called Pony Canyon," Jeff Huang recalls. "We were too different from what everyone in the industry was accustomed to." Whether it was their street dancing or their ability to speak and rap in Taiwanese that caused the stir, the trio (who barely understood Mandarin) found fame in a market otherwise dominated by artists singing Mandarin ballads. Their debut album Shiam, which sold an impressive 180,000 copies, was just the beginning of a seven-year streak of fame and a dozen album releases.
"The LA Boyz can be credited with introducing Taiwan to hip hop," says Roger Lee, director of Artist Management & Development at Magic Stone Records. "What they gave us with their dancing, singing, and rapping is what is now known as 'old school' hip hop." Music aside, the group also set off new fashion trends such as over-sized jeans that hung low on the hips, revealing colorful boxer shorts, and baseball caps worn askew.
Their contributions did not end there. In addition to the music and fashion, the LA Boyz's success also ignited the hopes and spurred the return of many other ABCs seeking fame in Taiwan's music industry. In 1999, eight years after the LA Boyz entered the scene, Leehom Wang and Shunza, both of whom had grown up in the United States, took home prizes in the categories of Best Male and Best Female Pop Vocal Artists in the 10th Annual Golden Melody Awards--the most prestigious awards in Taiwan's recording industry.
Seeing a niche in the market for such artists over the years, Jeff Huang of the LA Boyz has engineered the return and secured recording contracts for various ABC groups and artists, such as the LA Babes and Alton Chou. Huang even started his own production company this year, offering consulting and training services for new talent hoping to break into the industry.
Huang's first clients were his own cousins, Ed Huang and Kenny Chou. Both had danced with the LA Boyz as teenagers years ago in California, when the group was performing at amateur venues. Last year, the duo decided to form a group and build a career out of what used to be a hobby. Though the group is still in the initial stages of development, both young men adhere to a daily routine of choreographing dance routines, practicing singing and rapping, writing songs, and working out. "Even if we don't cut an album, we wouldn't consider it a failure because we're pursuing a dream," says twenty-two-year-old Chou. "Just experiencing all this is worthwhile."
Vanness Wu, a member of the popular teen group F4, also grew up dancing with the LA Boyz. After dropping out of college and wondering what to do with his life, Wu decided to take a gamble and come to Taiwan after some urging from Jeff Huang. Wu, whose parents are originally from Taiwan, had at that point spent no more than a combined three weeks on the island over the previous twelve years. Looking back, he describes his first four months on the island as hellish. "I couldn't read or write Chinese, and I lived in this tiny apartment with no television, no radio, and no phone." To add to his misery, Wu had little luck with the local record companies.
Six months later, Vanness Wu was spotted by well-known television producer Chai Chi-ping while participating in a male beauty pageant on the popular variety show Super Sunday . He was subsequently asked to audition for Chai's newest production, the TV series Meteor Garden. Wu won the part and went on to play a member of an elite four-man college clique called F4. The show was an immediate hit with audiences, and Wu--along with his fellow cast members--shot to superstardom.
Just over a year after moving to Taiwan, Wu released his first album as a member of F4, writing and performing solo on two tracks. The album, entitled Meteor Rain, reached the number-three spot on local charts in three days and to date has sold more than a million copies throughout Asia.
The actor/singer, who hopes to eventually develop a career in the United States, feels that his ABC background has not played a part in his success in Taiwan. In fact, he believes his less-than-fluent Mandarin hinders his performance when it comes to memorizing lines and lyrics. And as the only "non-Taiwanese" member of F4, Wu is often told to minimize his American traits so as to not influence the group's overall image.
Taiwan's appetite for ABC talent, however, is far from fading. At the 13th Annual Golden Melody Awards this year, Best New Artist winner Jeffrey Kung gave an acceptance speech that featured as much English as Chinese. And B.A.D., a group composed of three young boys who grew up in Los Angeles, won in the Best Vocal Group category. But probably the best known example of an ABC making it big in Taiwan's music industry is Coco Lee.
When she first entered the scene in 1994, Lee's record label, Fancy Pie, chose not to highlight her Western influences and background. It was not until she joined Sony Music two years later that her soulful R&B vocal style was put on display and marketers began to refer to her as "the Mariah Carey of the East."
"Before Coco, no one really experimented with the 'Mariah' or 'Whitney [Houston]' style of singing," says record producer Chen Wei, who has worked with both local and ABC artists such as Coco Lee and Leehom Wang. "It's not because people don't listen to it, but simply that they've never heard a Chinese song sung with those techniques before." Chen, who also grew up in the States, believes that ABCs help Taiwan's music industry become more international. "I don't think that someone who has only listened to Western music can give you Western music with its soul--that comes from being in the environment and having grown up in it and really knowing the culture. You might be able to imitate it, but you won't get the same kind of 'soul,'" he contends.
Roger Lee of Magic Stone Records agrees. "Record companies like us are constantly looking for artists with original ideas, new looks, or creative styles. And we find that a lot of ABCs, because of their background and upbringing, are more likely than local artists to possess these qualities, which are important assets in making innovative music."
It was this glimmer of creativity that Lee immediately noticed in Jeremy Huang's demo tape in the summer of 1999. Although at that time, record companies had shown interest in Huang's work, they were reluctant to sign him up after learning that he only raps and does not sing. "Back then, and even now to a certain extent, record companies were scared of doing a full hip-hop album because they didn't think the market was ready for it," he notes.
Yet, while record companies may blame the market, some in the industry believe that it is the record companies themselves that are not ready. Independent producer Chen Wei says one problem he often encounters is the reluctance of record companies to accept new styles in their purest forms. "I get complaints that my music is 'too Western,'" Chen remarks. "They tell me, 'Yes, R&B is good, but can you make it less Western, more local?'"
Jeremy Huang also encountered this obstacle when one record company asked him to write a hip hop song with rap. The company then played Huang a song by the Backstreet Boys as an example to emulate. "See how far behind these record companies are?" he says. "They don't even know that rap is hip hop. And to think that these are the people making the decisions and controlling Taiwan's music industry."
Yet despite his frustrations, Huang has learned to be patient. In September 2001, two years after he first met with Magic Stone Records' Roger Lee and received encouragement, he moved back to Taiwan to try to launch his music career. Recognizing that in order for people to appreciate his music they must first be able to relate to him, Huang decided that he must live here permanently so he could write about the everyday life of the Taiwanese people while sharing his experiences as an Asian-American.
Huang describes himself as a "crossover artist" in all areas. He is a "true Taiwanese with roots in America," and he hopes to become the first hip hop artist in Taiwan to cross over to the mass market. "More than anything, I want to be part of Taiwan's hip hop movement--to make hip hop a huge part of pop culture and not just some underground form of music. And if I can be paid for doing this through my music, that would be icing on the cake."
In May 2002, seven years after he first began to pursue his dream, Huang was offered a contract with Magic Stone Records. In another step toward fame in the industry, he wrote and performed a special music routine with Taiwanese pop sensation A-mei at the 13th Annual Golden Melody Awards. He is now working on a new album scheduled for release later this summer.
Throughout his efforts at building his career, Jeremy Huang has taken to heart the advice given to him by Jeff Huang of the LA Boyz: "You have to be prepared. You can't just go in there and say 'make me a star.' You've got to go in there as an artist." And no matter how long it takes, Huang is determined not to compromise by putting out anything less than a true hip hop album. "The only way to educate the audience is by staying true to whatever you're educating them about," he says. "And that's exactly what I intend to do."
Copyright (c) 2002 by Tinna Chang.