Mr & Ms K-Town

Shin-B

Ktown213: Shin-B, give Ktown your 30 second intro!
Shin-B: What's crackin' Ktown! Yeah Yeah! It's your girl Shin-B representin' and holdin' it down for all them lady emcees out there. Come check out my events and watch the inner beast in me get unleashed! Uh-oh!

KT213: I'm sure you get asked this many times, but not only do you face challenges being an Asian-American hip hop artist, but also being a female artist. Describe the hurdles you face everyday...
SB: My oh my is it a pain! A lot of cats assume Asian American hiphop to be quite wack, but I just call that ignorance. You ought to get out and experience it and see for yourselves that there's so much more to it than just the music. Asian American hiphop is the essential foundation of maintaining an identity. Ok I'm sounding like a freakin' preachin' activist. Moving right along, being a female hiphop artist is wow quite the ordeal. Dealing with the criticism and the hate left and right often took an emotional and mental toll on me in a way like none other. I had so much pressure to come harder than a male emcee. It was unbelievable! Well, unbelievably annoying! Haha. I was told that I had to come off better than a male. However over the years, I slowly began to realize shoot, the hell with them. I'm gonna do what I wanna do and represent what I wanna represent. I started to create my own style and worked on perfecting it. I've been performing for 4-5 years now and in the beginning, man oh man, there was this one DJ in particular that acted "buddy buddy" with me but then I ended up hearing that he was ragging on my rapping. Talk about two-faced ey? After that incident, I was fully motivated and pumped up to prove him and all the haters DEAD WRONG! I was driven in showing them suckers all up! It became a 24 hr obsession of mine and I literally practiced from sun up till sun down until my throat got sore. Now now, I know I'm still not totally fantabulous and I still am working really hard, but I can honestly say that I am no longer that little weakling femcee I was back then. If it wasn't for that one DJ and all those haters in the past, I wouldn't have pushed myself harder and be where I am at today. It's been a long journey with many ups and downs, but I can only hope to see nothing but good things from here on out.

KT213: When did it all start for you? When did you decide to grab a mic and spit lyrics?
SB: I started listening to hiphop when I was around 11 years old. I would listen to a lot of the female emcees such as, Queen Latifah and MC Lyte. The reason I listened to them was because I was intrigued by their accomplishment in "making it" into such a largely male dominated spectrum. I wanted to be just like them and I respected them. They didn't just make it, but they made a statement! And so, I started initially just by following along to their raps and studied the depth of their lyrics and how they were arranged. I then started to write my own chicken scratch lyrics, hah, right on after that. I became more serious about it when I was entering high school. I would perform my raps at little talent shows at little events and I thought I was so cool. Haha. Eventually then afterwards, I began performing at more established and big events such as, the very first Asian Hiphop Summit and etc.

KT213: How do your friends and family feel about what you do?
SB: Some of my friends support me all the way and actually come out to my shows, however, there is quite an amount that don't and it kinda sucks. I can understand that hiphop isn't really their thing and that they don't enjoy such events, but it's their support, their presence, that really counts to me. Hmm...my family? They are even worse! My parents do not support me AT ALL! Never have and never will! Since day one, they have been totally against it and that too is pretty difficult. My sister thinks it's embarrassing and she never wants to come to my performances. I remember she came out one time but that was only because her friends forced her into going because they themselves wanted to see me. She had her back turned the whole time and didn't even watch. My parents also think it's embarrassing and disgraceful, as well as, very unlady-like. *Rolls eyes* Yeah whatevers! Their friends tell them that they see me on the paper and they just brush it off and instead, yell at me for attracting attention. Even after winning 1st at this year's L.A. Korean fest, which btw was for JYP, they still wouldn't accept it. Just recently, I was also interviewed for an article on the Korea Daily (Joong Ang Il Bo) and the editor asked me how my family feels about me rapping and it was pretty sad. The editor couldn't even believe it.

KT213: Who has been your biggest inspiration, and why?
SB: My biggest inspiration has basically been all the femcees like Queen Latifah, MC Lyte, Tasha, Bahamadia, Rah Digga, Jean Grae, etc, and especially Yesoul. Yesoul is a femcee in Korea right now and she's my biggest rival haha. I'm gonna top her, just you wait and see! I just really respect femcees in Korea and America and hope to create a buzz as big as them. Aside from emcees though, my inspiration has also come from all my supporters out there. Every single time I get at least one prop after a performance, it only motivates me to work even harder. You know, not being able to get much support from family and some friends, makes me sensitive to even one prop coming from a random person in the crowd. That to me, makes it all worthwhile and tells me that I must be doing something right.

KT213: Where can we see more of Shin-B? Where can we see you perform?
SB: At all your Ktown sool jibs! Hah j/k. Well, I've been basically at every big event in Ktown lately. Just over the past weekend, I performed at the Velvet Room. I perform at concerts and events mostly in Ktown. Actually, a majority are always in Ktown. I will be performing at this year's Asian Hiphop Summit this Saturday, the 16th, at the Los Angeles Leadership Academy on Wilshire and Catalina at around 6:30 pm so yall come check that out. I will also be performing at this year's Kollaboration on November 13th at the Wilshire Ebell Theater. For more information on my performances, contact me at shinb_mc@hotmail.com. My website is still in the making but will be up shortly.

KT213: I'm sure you're extremely busy, but what do you like to do in your spare time, outside of music?
SB: During my spare time, I still work on my music. I write and write and write. I sit on my office chair and think, think, think of catchy hooks and melodies as well. Music is my life and without it, I don't know how I'd live. I eat, breathe, sleep music. However, I do love to travel. I plan on going to Africa in the future after I've gathered up a fair amount of money so that I can go on over there and donate a bit of it to those in famine or in need of treatment because of AIDS. And I am dead serious about this. Hah, I tell homies and they're always like YEAH RIGHT!

KT213: How do you feel about Koreatown, or Ktown as we know it? Where do you like to hang out?
SB: I love Ktown. I love how it's like a little Seoul. You go to Koreatown Plaza and even the emergency signs are in Korean. Hah! I just really hate the traffic though. It's a pain in the hole! ROAD RAGE! No, but on a serious note, I love Ktown because it's not just a center for Koreans but it's like a community. When Ktown was first established, it was small, but now it has grown to be the biggest! And it's still growing and growing and growing! There is just no stoppin' it now is there ey? Hmm, I like to hang out at all the cafes and bars and norebangs. In particular, you'll catch me at Majinga, OB Zone, Yigaju, and Ding Dong Deng a lot. Sometimes you'll catch me shooting pool but man I've gotten so rusty at it that it's ri-di-cu-lous!

KT213: Where do you see yourself five years from now?
SB: Hopefully as an established artist doing successful. Then after my peak, I want to go into producing and eventually become CEO of my own record label. I also want to open up my own hiphop club BUT wishful thinking huh? I've got some unrealistic, just totally bogus dreams don't I?

KT213: We thank you for your time Shin-B, and we sincerely wish you success in whatever you do!
SB: Thank you, thank you. I appreciate it. And...I thank YOU for this lovely interview. May ktown213.com continue to grow and be a success! Much love. Shin-B out.