Chow Mane’s Sharp Contribution During AAPI Heritage Month
With a name like Chow Mane, you can kind of expect something that's fun but also unapologetically all about celebrating Asian cultures and heritages, and that's precisely what the Bay-Area Rapper has done with his latest project titled 'AZN Dragon: Cake Long'.
The name's a cheeky little wordplay that will be familiar to some on the younger side of things, as it's based on the popular animated series American Dragon: Jake Long. This album has been purposefully released during Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, to help celebrate joint Asian culture in the United States as well as spread awareness of the contributions and influence that they've had in every aspect of the nation's history.
Like a top chef, Bay Area rapper and producer Chow Mane is known for his diverse, unorthodox, but carefully crafted art. Sometimes sweet and sometimes bitter (but always tasty), the flavors in Chow Mane's music range from lighthearted and cheeky to melodic and sobering. Chow Mane combines infectious delivery, playful vocals, and complete soundscapes to create a fine balance between West Coast hip-hop, R&B and pop.
'AZN Dragon: Cake Long' may be light-hearted and fun, but it's no joke and it goes hard every time. with 13 songs in its runtime and 10 different collaborators, the album boasts an impressive variety and a healthy mood range, sonically bouncing between gritty club hip-hop and more modern trap stylings. If a bit of light-heartedness goes a long way to sell this album, so does the paradoxically gritty sound that I've already described because the cartoony artwork chosen for the album really belies much of Chow Mane's vocal profile and the character of his rhymes.
Though he's from the Bay Area, and you can certainly tell in his vocals, Chow does feel like he's just as influenced by east-coast hip-hop at times, particularly in tracks such as 'Go With You' (ft. FLANNEL ALBERT) and 'Shanghai Summers'. Now one of my favorite tracks in the entire album also relates a bit to this finer point, and it has to be 'Michelle Kwan Freestyle' (ft. BAYGO), a true high-water mark in the album. Not only does it combine great musicality and prodigious vocal dexterity but it also balances those east-west sensibilities served with fantastic lyrics that perfectly accomplish what the album sets out to do: It creatively and amusingly celebrates AAPI heritage month with heaps of talent and style.
Most recently, Chow Mane performed the new project LIVE at the first and largest Asian music festival: Sabaidee Fest. Thriving during his LIVE show, Chow Mane plans to deliver another performance of the full project at San Jose’s Regency Ballroom with Latin American rapper Kung Fu Vampire. And most recently, the Bay Area Hip Hop artist has received placements and high praise from some of Spotify’s top editorial playlists including Beats & Rhymes, Internet People, Fresh Finds Hip Hop, Monday Spin, and New Music Friday Philippines.
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