Today's Hmong American Youth:
Embracing the Hip Hop Culture
Embracing the Hip Hop Culture
| Debby Tewes is Asian Wisconzine's Contributing Writer in the Milwaukee area |
By Keng Lor
Growing up in a traditional Hmong family, I never really knew what hip hop was. It was always around me and
yet I never realized it. It was not until I was about 14 and already starting my first year of high school that I really
got into hip hop. I went to a predominantly African American school in the north side of Milwaukee and everyone
at the school listened to rap and was into hip hop. There were very few Asian kids at the school. I quickly got to
know the Asians who did attend the school and became good friends with them since there were so few of us.
Yes, most of them were coincidentally Hmong as well. But like everyone else there, my friends were also into
hip hop. As I came to understand hip hop more and more, I fell in love with it. Hip hop is so much more than just
rap music, dance, graffiti, art, or beat boxing; it is a universal culture.
I can recall reading an article about Afrika Bambaataa who is regarded as the “Godfather of Hip-Hop” where he
said “hip-hop is colorless and not racist.” To me, those were very powerful words since the society I was
brought up in was one where racism ran rampant in everyday life and people were defined by the color of their
skin. I found that this culture brings people all over the world together. People of all different races, nationalities,
and backgrounds found something in common in “hip hop culture.”
Being a member of the Hmong community myself, I know that the Hmong culture is very strict in our traditions
and very different from others here in the United States. The current generation of modern day Hmong youths,
however, has diverged from the norms and traditions of the Hmong culture. They have integrated themselves
with the cultures here in the U.S. Hip hop is one of the cultures that many have acquainted themselves with. The
majority of today’s Hmong youths, unlike me, grew up with hip hop, rap, and dance. Today, there are many
young people in the Hmong community who are bringing others in the community together and spreading their
talents.
On the 10th and 11th of December 2011, I had the chance to attend one of the biggest events and celebration of
the Hmong community: The 2011 Hmong New Year Celebration in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It is one of the only
times of the year where the largest gathering of Hmong people come together to celebrate their own culture. At
the New Year celebration, many people wear traditional Hmong clothes and participate in the festivities, ball
toss games, and enjoy the food! They also have contests and beauty pageants and lots of performances for
entertainment.
During the second day of the celebration, to my surprise, I was able to experience something quite interesting: a
gathering of 20 to 30 young Hmong kids anywhere from the age of 9 to 15. They all grouped up in a large circle,
and in the middle were two or three kids battling or showing off their break dancing skills. I was truly amazed at
how young some of these kids were and how good they were at what they do. Later on that day, I heard there
were going to be hip hop performances so I called a good friend of mine who knew the hosts and people in
charge of the performances and staging. He got in touch with one of his friends who were working backstage
and I was able to get some information about the performances. Luckily enough, I was also able to meet and
interview some of the performers who were dancing and rapping.
I was extremely excited when I got to meet this first group of teens who called themselves “KrewMagna.” They
are a hip hop/breakdance group of nine or ten members from Milwaukee and they even had a manager for the
group. In my interview with the group, I found out that their lead, Chewy Vang, was the one that brought all the
members together to form KrewMagna.
Chewy said, “I wanted to bring talent together in one place, to unite talent.” In doing so, she created this “family”
of dancers, forming bonds, and bringing everyone closer. When asked about their inspirations, the group
replied that their main inspiration are the elders and Hmong parents who do not really understand the younger
generation and who are not used to this kind of thing that they all love doing. They want to show their elders and
parents that what they do is more than just a hobby. Even more so, Chewy said they want to embrace “new” into
the Hmong culture and share their talents with the Hmong community.”
My next interviewee was a soloist in her performance. I felt very privileged to meet her as she was one of my
most unexpected encounters at the New Year celebration. She goes by her stage name “Sushi Lor” but her real
name is Shoua Lor. She is one of the few female rappers among the Hmong community. Her rapping career
has been on-going for about six years already. She started rapping because she wanted to “take a risk and do
something different.” From our interview, Sushi stated that, “Personally, I feel like an idol.” To her, she feels
there is no pressure from her parents or from being part of the Hmong culture for doing what she does. She
simply wants to “put the Hmong name out there.”
From what I observed and from the people that I met and interviewed at the 2011 Milwaukee New Year
Celebration, today’s Hmong youth are greatly influenced by hip hop. There is something about being “Hmong”
or rather a part of the Hmong culture that affects their outlook on identity and who they are as a person or as a
group. The Hmong culture may not be the exact reason or cause, but it indirectly gives them an incentive for
what they aspire to achieve and what direction they want to go with those aspirations. There is much hope for
greater achievements and greater heights for these young and ambitious youths of the Hmong community that
we have yet to see.
Keng Lor is a student at UW-Madison. This story was written for Asian American Studies 240, a service-learning
class by Asst. Prof. Jan Miyasaki.
Growing up in a traditional Hmong family, I never really knew what hip hop was. It was always around me and
yet I never realized it. It was not until I was about 14 and already starting my first year of high school that I really
got into hip hop. I went to a predominantly African American school in the north side of Milwaukee and everyone
at the school listened to rap and was into hip hop. There were very few Asian kids at the school. I quickly got to
know the Asians who did attend the school and became good friends with them since there were so few of us.
Yes, most of them were coincidentally Hmong as well. But like everyone else there, my friends were also into
hip hop. As I came to understand hip hop more and more, I fell in love with it. Hip hop is so much more than just
rap music, dance, graffiti, art, or beat boxing; it is a universal culture.
I can recall reading an article about Afrika Bambaataa who is regarded as the “Godfather of Hip-Hop” where he
said “hip-hop is colorless and not racist.” To me, those were very powerful words since the society I was
brought up in was one where racism ran rampant in everyday life and people were defined by the color of their
skin. I found that this culture brings people all over the world together. People of all different races, nationalities,
and backgrounds found something in common in “hip hop culture.”
Being a member of the Hmong community myself, I know that the Hmong culture is very strict in our traditions
and very different from others here in the United States. The current generation of modern day Hmong youths,
however, has diverged from the norms and traditions of the Hmong culture. They have integrated themselves
with the cultures here in the U.S. Hip hop is one of the cultures that many have acquainted themselves with. The
majority of today’s Hmong youths, unlike me, grew up with hip hop, rap, and dance. Today, there are many
young people in the Hmong community who are bringing others in the community together and spreading their
talents.
On the 10th and 11th of December 2011, I had the chance to attend one of the biggest events and celebration of
the Hmong community: The 2011 Hmong New Year Celebration in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It is one of the only
times of the year where the largest gathering of Hmong people come together to celebrate their own culture. At
the New Year celebration, many people wear traditional Hmong clothes and participate in the festivities, ball
toss games, and enjoy the food! They also have contests and beauty pageants and lots of performances for
entertainment.
During the second day of the celebration, to my surprise, I was able to experience something quite interesting: a
gathering of 20 to 30 young Hmong kids anywhere from the age of 9 to 15. They all grouped up in a large circle,
and in the middle were two or three kids battling or showing off their break dancing skills. I was truly amazed at
how young some of these kids were and how good they were at what they do. Later on that day, I heard there
were going to be hip hop performances so I called a good friend of mine who knew the hosts and people in
charge of the performances and staging. He got in touch with one of his friends who were working backstage
and I was able to get some information about the performances. Luckily enough, I was also able to meet and
interview some of the performers who were dancing and rapping.
I was extremely excited when I got to meet this first group of teens who called themselves “KrewMagna.” They
are a hip hop/breakdance group of nine or ten members from Milwaukee and they even had a manager for the
group. In my interview with the group, I found out that their lead, Chewy Vang, was the one that brought all the
members together to form KrewMagna.
Chewy said, “I wanted to bring talent together in one place, to unite talent.” In doing so, she created this “family”
of dancers, forming bonds, and bringing everyone closer. When asked about their inspirations, the group
replied that their main inspiration are the elders and Hmong parents who do not really understand the younger
generation and who are not used to this kind of thing that they all love doing. They want to show their elders and
parents that what they do is more than just a hobby. Even more so, Chewy said they want to embrace “new” into
the Hmong culture and share their talents with the Hmong community.”
My next interviewee was a soloist in her performance. I felt very privileged to meet her as she was one of my
most unexpected encounters at the New Year celebration. She goes by her stage name “Sushi Lor” but her real
name is Shoua Lor. She is one of the few female rappers among the Hmong community. Her rapping career
has been on-going for about six years already. She started rapping because she wanted to “take a risk and do
something different.” From our interview, Sushi stated that, “Personally, I feel like an idol.” To her, she feels
there is no pressure from her parents or from being part of the Hmong culture for doing what she does. She
simply wants to “put the Hmong name out there.”
From what I observed and from the people that I met and interviewed at the 2011 Milwaukee New Year
Celebration, today’s Hmong youth are greatly influenced by hip hop. There is something about being “Hmong”
or rather a part of the Hmong culture that affects their outlook on identity and who they are as a person or as a
group. The Hmong culture may not be the exact reason or cause, but it indirectly gives them an incentive for
what they aspire to achieve and what direction they want to go with those aspirations. There is much hope for
greater achievements and greater heights for these young and ambitious youths of the Hmong community that
we have yet to see.
Keng Lor is a student at UW-Madison. This story was written for Asian American Studies 240, a service-learning
class by Asst. Prof. Jan Miyasaki.
(Left photo) Keng Lor (left) with youth hip hop group Krew Magna; (Right photo) Keng Lor and with female
rapper, Sushi
rapper, Sushi