Last week I had a phone and email interview with the members of the Far East Movement (FM), whose songs have gotten radio play on the West Coast, and in movies like ‘Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift’, and ‘Finishing the Game’.  They have a great sound and are starting to get some mainstream attention from TV channels like MTV.  Below is Part I of our interview.

Here is link to their Myspace where you can check out some of their songs.

Here is a link to their own website.

If you want to purchase their first album ‘Folk Music’, you can find it here.

Please introduce yourselves (names, ages, roles)?
The FAR EAST MOVEMENT.. FM ON YOUR DIAL.
Kev Nish, MC
Prohgress, MC
J-Splif, MC
DJ Virman, DJ
We’re all mid twenties.

How did you all meet, how did you come up with your initial name?
We were friends in highschool, freestyling in parking lots and recording on home computers with downloaded instrumentals. Back in 2001 we had the name ‘Emcee’s Anonymous’ because during those times we were unaware of Asian Americans in hip-hop and we had the thought in our mind that maybe people wouldn’t like our music because we’re not the ‘norm’ in hip-hop. One of the first songs we recorded was called “The Far-east Movement”, talking about what we want in music and mainstream media - a FAR EAST MOVEMENT. As we were recording the song, the name Far East Movement felt so strong it kicked us in the head and made us realize we can’t and shouldn’t hide the fact we’re Asian, especially during a time when there were few to no Asian American hip-hop artists… we had to make a statement with our name and change the way people view Asian American music by allowing ourselves freedom to sound however we feel - as fun as we want, as sexy as we want or as hip-hop as we want our music to sound. We met our manager Carl Choi in 2003 while putting at charity show called “Movementality” raising money for a drug rehab house in Koreatown and through workin with him in this event we felt we found someone who shared the same vision and goals, someone who had faith in us and someone we could build with. We’ve been riding this crazy ride as a team ever since… which lead us to find Dj Virman from LA radio station Power106 who has helped to take this team even further.

Who or what are your major influences, and what are you trying to be?
Our major musical influences are as scattered as an ipod playlist. We grew up listening to Tupac, the Dogg Pound, Gun’s n Roses, Nirvana, Biggie, Smashing Pumpkins, the Cure, Outkast and even the artists we hear on the radio today to keep our tastes relevant. Outside of music, the LA lifestyle and our journeys on the road from the cities we visit, the cultures we experience, and the people that bless us along the way are huge influences and inspirations to us. A motto we have is “We moving east, one city at a time until the whole world is folks and family to us”, and thats exactly what we’re tryin to be through our music.

How do you come up with your songs or make your music? Are there any main themes or messages you want to express?
When creating a song.. our goal is to make music that people in every city we visit can relate to while staying true to our character as Asian American dudes growing up in Los Angeles, and as rappers, song writers, producers, and fans of music, our main theme and message is to bring out an emotion from the listener through our beats and experiences… creating music that every listener no matter the race can relate to personally. When we get in the studio, our goals are the same as a platinum recording artist or a young rapper at home recording for the first time, to make a song that people want to listen to more than once! hahaha

What was it like making your first album, ‘Folk Music’?
It was a learning experience. Recording this album let us experiment with all types of music we were fans of, different rap styles, and touch a wide array of topics that held true to us. This album helped mold a sound we’re all comfortable with and take us to the next level in our careers. We always say “No One’s Home for the Holidays”, “Beautified” and “The Good Stuff” helped get us in the mindframe to make “You’ve Got A Friend” which was our first song on major radio. Writing, recording, producing and marketing this album really taught us how to work together as FM… showing where each of our strengths and weakness as artists and businessmen lie.

What is it like being an Asian American band trying to make it?
More than a band.. we’re striving to be an Asian American Brand… and walking down this road of working to break this brand into mainstream pop culture is like walking through a mine field in the middle of war trying to make it to an embassy that will take us in. No matter how hard we push we’re always walking on eggshells surprised by the next opportunity that finds us. We constantly run into the same roadblock as companies being unsure on how or who to market us to. We live by a ‘HOMELESS’ mentality… overseas in Asia we’re considered “Americans” and foreigners, and in our home country of the beautiful United States of America we’re categorized as Asian first over American.. so we’re forced to create our own culture and lifestyle inspired by both sides and we’re happy to do so and embrace any one that’s down to live this lifestyle with us. We’ve done shows in Korea or China where English is sometimes frowned upon, especially coming from an Asian face, and thru the energy and performance we’re able change their perspective. We’ve also had shows with all Latino crowds or an all African American or Caucasian crowd and at first they wouldn’t know what to think, but after the show those people would come up to us with positivity wanting to learn more. Through our songs, sometimes people are shocked to find out we’re Asian.. they think we’re Latino or anything but Asian when they hear us on the radio hahaha.

How has your music evolved since you first began playing music together?
Our music and performance now is much more focused and confident. With every song we write and show we perform we’re learning more and more.. and we can never stop learning. We’ve learned how to say much more with less words, and how to move a crowd with much less movement. Through our newer songs we’re able bring much more out of a song topic and structure our story better.

What has been your biggest challenge as a band, and what do you do about it?
The biggest challenge we face is time… there’s not enough time in a day or week or month for all the things we want to do in building this brand… lack of time forces us to organize better, since we have a large team we learn to trust each other and delegate different tasks to each member to make this business run.

Part II is found here.



27 Comments

that’s really cool how they met and stuck with it. they’ve come so far!

Nice, awesome piece Alvin!

They’re pretty talented. I like how they’re “striving to be an Asian American Brand.” That would be cool…