Search - Tasha :: Gemini

Love for my fellow bi-racial army brats....

Nelz Kwon Jenson | Oakland, Ca | 05/01/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"When you think of the hip-hop movement, the struggle for individuality and respect was well earned by flow artists in the 80's. But because of America's great freedom of speech laws (that seem to always be put to heck by censors), emcee's have been able to express with no political threat. Tasha and her folk (ie. The Drunken Tyger crew and the former Uptown) are true pioneers for the world hip hop movement, as they have suffered great political threat overseas and back home in America.



Overseas, her crews were all taken in by authorities because of the threat politicians thought the lyrics of her folks posed to the corrupt political systems and to the behavioral patterns of Korean youth. Their lyrics expressed free thinking in Korea, which was almost unheard of in the then filtered Korean music industry of the late 90's and early 2000. Tasha was forced to go into hiding so that she wouldn't suffer the same torture that her crew members suffered from being held captive by Korean officials(She was lucky to have been given a secret warning call by Drunken Tyger after her was taken in by authorities.). Though not tortured, she lived months in suffering with no direct contact to the outside world, living in a rat infested hell-hole and waiting in sacrificial hunger for messengers to bring her meals that she rarely got, and to bring her news on the status of the case that caused her to go into hiding. Tasha and her crews had built such a following that luckily, large rally's prompted judicial officers to thoroughly examine evidence that might convict Tasha and her crews (ie. Falsified evidence that she and her crews were avid drug users and distributors, an offense that would strip all their music from the air waves and deny them re-entry into Korea). Their innocence was proven and their freedom was re-established, but not without cost. The crooked industry has given Tasha much trouble, as record executives have held revenues from her, using the excuse that Tasha tarnished their labels' name because of her political status. And yet, she continues to release tracks promoting positive living and standing up for one's beliefs.



Many American industry critics, including citizens of our country, have expressed extreme prejudice towards Tasha and her crews claiming that they do not know real hip hop and are just emulating the sound of America. Such claims are only made out of ignorance, which are proven by Tasha's knowledge of the history of hip hop that is gracefully expressed in track three of "Gemini". She and her fellow artists live, breathe and eat hip hop. See for yourself: Tasha is a half Korean, half Black army brat that has lived between the ghetto's of Los Angeles and army bases in Korea all her life, with flows so smooth, conscious and skillful that she transitions from French to Korean to Japanese to English to Spanish and full circle like a hot knife through butter. And her fellow artists and producers, the Drunken Tyger crew, helped to tie binds between the Black and Korean communities after the Rodney King riots prompted the Black communities in L.A. to take out their anger on Korean businesses, a vendetta which was created out of ignorance because Koreans owned most businesses in their communities and the ill-conceived notion that because such business owners would watch shoppers to protect their domain, that they were prejudice (What people would be thick skinned enough to open up a grocery store in the middle of a crime-filled ghetto?...immigrants that want to start a new life for their family and understand that danger is just a stepping stone in the ladder of life...and would they open a business in the middle of a neighborhood populated by people they were prejudice against? Hell no...Drunken Tyger helped the communities to understand this by breaking down communication barriers, being the only Koreans to bust a dynamic flow at a centrally Black gathering, promoting togetherness through artistry, as two communities that have struggled throughout history should work together, not against each other...).



I urge everyone to experience Tasha's wisdom. Her albums have gotten me through many-a tough day, re-establishing the hope that there is a better day. Though I'm half Korean, I do not speak a word of Korean (other that the cuss words I learned from my mother yelling at me...heheh). Much of "Gemini" is in English, so American listeners can truly appreciate her words, but regardless, she flows with such artistry in any language, so I trust you'll be able to find appreciation in all her music.

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