I see some homies here who came to my
TED talk I'm glad y'all to take some
time away from getting stoned and
playing xbox I try to dress up a little
but they would close that the turtleneck
spot and I'm trying to party after this
so I just dressed up for the next spot
y'all are looking at me like I can't
believe they book dumb I'm looking at
y'all like reads a Malcolm Gladwell book
once they told me look dumb you might
look dumb but I told him I'm gonna make
my momma proud like a good son I'm gonna
body Ted like a kid going to sleep on
his waterbed I'm gonna battle rap TED
talk and genre-bending
I'm a vet I could do this with my eyes
closed I've been on tinder for like five
years so what's another slide show this
is all freestyle I don't even need
rehearsing if Ted was a real life person
he'd be a virgin but that's what I would
say that's what the quick demonstration
of how I would battle Ted if he was a
real life person but he's not so don't
be offended Owen got hurt when I was 15
years old I ran went through a bunch of
terrible rap names until I landed on
dumbfounded yeah that was the best
option somehow I was a teenager
searching for his identity and I
happened to find it in hip-hop
specifically battle rap I was this
skinny nerdy class clown who get bullied
a lot and I mixed my love for hip-hop
and comedy to avoid getting beat up
I would verbally destroy my bullies and
always had the last laugh and then got
beat up after whoever said sticks and
stones may break my bones but words can
never hurt me was [ __ ] cuz that
should definitely could hurt you uh I
loved hip-hop it was raw unfiltered and
it was unapologetically black which
actually helped me become
unapologetically Asian but before all of
that you know I wasn't proud to be Asian
it wasn't necessarily that I was ashamed
to be Asian I didn't understand what it
meant to be Asian ironically I grew up
in Koreatown Los Angeles the largest
population of Koreans after Korea so you
would think I had this Korean [ __ ]
figured out but I actually didn't and it
seemed a lot of the kids in my
neighborhood did they weren't just Asian
they were super Asian we called them
because obviously Asian was too long of
word that it had to be shortened easy
ends had dragon or koifish tattoos drove
and race import cars and could run
through a pack of parliament lights and
one parking lot sitting or better yet
squatting but most importantly they were
proud of their heritage everything I
wasn't at the time and truth is I just
couldn't relate I was this Asian kid
agent skater oops
sorry Asian skater who grew up with
black and Latino kids and attended
underground hip hop events so
underground that we never even took one
high-resolution photo it and my parents
didn't help me through this awkward
stage either you know they were too busy
chasing the American dream which
ultimately destroyed our family my dad
was an alcoholic who followed my mom
every day until I was in the entire I
was like 14 years old and they split and
which allowed me a lot of freedom and I
don't have a lot of self-discipline airy
figures in my household but on a
positive side it allowed me to have the
freedom to explore the city soak into
culture and ultimately meet the people
that would change my life I remember the
first time I got in a battle it was a
freshman year in high school and we were
freestyling and during lunch time we're
in a circle everybody spend their rhymes
and this one kid next to me all of a
sudden spit a rhyme directed at me he
said I chew up these wrappers like juicy
fruit shoutout to the homie here Lucy
Liu uncanny resemblance yeah
but I remember that and this is
interesting bid that Dave Chappelle did
a couple years ago he said he saw this
white comedian on stage that was getting
heckled and the white comedian got so
pissed that he called this
african-american woman in the crowd the
n-word and this was caught on camera
phone and everything it spread and made
headlines but Dave Chappelle said when
he saw that dude on stage he himself
knew he was 80% comedian and 20% black
because although he was hurt the first
thing that ran through his head is like
damn this dude is having a terrible set
and that's how I felt when I got called
Lucy Lou I felt like I was 80% battle
rapper and 20% Asian because the first
thing that ran through my head was like
goddamn that was a good think of
something fast so the first line I
thought I was like yeah [ __ ] I am Lucy
Liu I'll twist your neck like a Rubik's
Cube and put my foot in your ass without
using Lube
I felt like Shakespeare but I heard the
oohs and ahhs I immediately got addicted
and you know it's amazing like it was
his feeling but most importantly I found
the first thing I could identify myself
as I was a battle rapper in and battle
rap gave me identity and you know you're
really passionate about something when
you're out in the city going around and
you're battling grown men using mean
poetry and then you come home with a
smile on your face without making a
single dime and you're like all in a
day's work that's how I vote that's why
I came home so after I became the best
battle rapper in my high school you know
I was filling myself and my friend told
me about this like open mic in South
Central Los Angeles called Project
blowed this was in a legendary
neighborhood of Leimert Park and if this
was home to the best rappers in the city
of Los Angeles even people from out of
town and rappers from out of town would
come here
this was the weekly open mic to test
their skills so me being a young cocky
arrogant rapid I was stepped up and
battled the first guy I saw there and I
instantly got destroyed it was humbling
a little bit traumatizing and it made me
go back to the drawing board you know
this place didn't care if you were Asian
brown black or white they just cared if
you're wack or tight you know and this
is where you know battle rap taught me
humility they even had this open mic
signup sheet where you can perform a
song on stage but this wasn't a regular
open mic if the host encouraged the
crowd to start chanting please pass the
mic if you were wack like during your
song and you'd have to just get off
stage so you know I'm like okay I'm
gonna bring some heat so I prepared a
song my best song it was called Wizard
of LA it was a song talking about the
city of Los Angeles using Wizard of Oz
references some real gangster [ __ ] I
just knew it would kill I went on stage
start performing 15 seconds in please
pass the mic it was like they practiced
this [ __ ] like an acquire something
[ __ ] were harmonizing and [ __ ]
please pass the mic
I got it was reminiscent to the Apollo
Theater in Harlem where people blew cats
off stage if they're not filling you and
you know I think there's two ways people
kind of take this instant criticism
first the performer might get mad
they're like f y'all y'all don't know
talent talent if it slapped you in the
face
second it lights a fire under your ass
and you come back every week making sure
you don't get booed and that's what a
place like Project blow did for me it
gave me thick skin
you know I sharpened my sword it was it
was my dojo
it was my Hogwarts of rap because my
hobby
keep the coming with all the gangster
references right there Hogwarts of rap
all right
but yeah so you know eventually I come
week after week and I became a part of
this family that I'm still part of today
and I started kind of getting good at
battle rap and I started battling people
on a national scale people from all over
the world and I noticed one thing I
noticed all the opponents that I was
battling they didn't have much knowledge
about Asian people they would hit me
with the same stereotypes over and over
again and I would get hit with the same
for Asian celebrities over and over
again but of course we're in 2020 now
the post crazy rich Asians era so
there's at least six Asian celebrities
they can hop in times have changed
times have changed yeah but but and and
another thing started happening all the
AZN kids from my neighborhood that once
alienated me started coming up to me and
giving me props like yellow thanks for
holding it down for our people you're
representing and in the words of dead
prez it became bigger than hip-hop
that's where I realized I was
representing and giving a voice to a lot
of people who might not have had a voice
and man that's that's when battle rap
taught me pride it gave me pride I felt
like I was a boy scout that earned his
AZN badge you know what I mean by the
way I think this character from up was
Korean actually shoutout to Pixar
but also it wasn't one-sided I would
battle a lot of people from different
ethnic backgrounds to and I caught
myself resorting to the same stereotypes
so battle rap taught me about my own
ignorance as well battle rap is debate
it's it's theater it's spoken word raps
stand up all in one it's a dialogue
requires a lot of listening and it
requires a lot of understanding of your
opponent's and the people you're
battling ultimately it's a lot of setups
to get to a few punchlines and to get to
that punch line you have to understand a
lot of people and you have to earn that
punch line I feel like my life has been
a series of hidden misses but I took
that shot and every shot brought me
closer to that punch line a good punch
line is when an audience is not
expecting that and I was something that
they weren't expecting you know so I
encourage everybody to take those shots
you know I'm saying and get to the front
line so you'll have your chance to spit
your punch line thank you
[Applause]