7 Artists to See at New York's Head in the Clouds Festival

Welcome to Golden Dragon, a newsletter by Eric Diep about Asians in hip-hop and my takes on trending topics in AAPI pop culture. Golden Dragon is a rotation of interviews, reviews, news, critical perspectives, and random blogs about music I recommend.

Here’s What I’m Unleashing Today 🐲

• A guide to some of the artists at Head in the Clouds in New York this weekend

I’ve been to several 88Rising shows living in New York. My favorite was at Pier 17 for the label’s 88 Degrees & Rising Tour in 2018.

After its inaugural Head in the Clouds in Los Angeles, they took a handful of 88 artists on the road, featuring a lineup with Rich Brian, Joji, Keith Ape, Higher Brothers, Kohh, Niki, the late August 08, and Don Krez. This marked the first time they were performing together and promoting their compilation album Head in the Clouds with the single “Midsummer Madness.” 

I was writing a story on Keith Ape as he prepared to make his U.S. debut with his Born Again EP. This was three years after seeing Keith Ape and his Underwater Squad pack out SOBs for his performance of “It G Ma,” which had bloggers like VIBE’s Mikey Fresh and me capturing the moment at a legendary proving ground for new artists.

The mission of Head in the Clouds has always been to amplify Asian and Asian American talents across the globe and to spotlight underappreciated voices. On this day in October, I smiled when “It G Ma” still hyped the crowd up, yelling “Don’t forget” in Korean back to Keith Ape. It felt good to see people appreciate a non-American artist rap in his native language. A shift began with Head in the Clouds, providing an opportunity to showcase Asian diaspora acts for the American audience.

In February 2024, 88Rising shared their latest HITC lineup with the South Korean girl group (G)I-dle and lo-fi extraordinaire Joji serving as co-headliners. When I saw this lineup, I was instantly transported back to my 20s when I was hopping from stage to stage and getting into festivals early to see the openers. In that spirit, here are some artists you should check out.

Awich

I first heard of Awich through the 2019 documentary Asia Rising: The Next Generation of Hip Hop. Awich, who represented one of the six artists featured in the doc, is from Okinawa, Japan, telling her story about being fascinated by the American military bases growing up that directly influenced her love for hip-hop. She shared that her husband died of gun violence, forcing her to raise their young daughter alone in Okinawa. Her resilience has developed her masculine and feminine strengths, creating a commanding presence in her music. She’s a badass without precedent.

She continues to be fearless and empowering while letting her down-to-earth side come through in her songs. With a fondness for American rap and inspired by 2Pac, she switches between Japanese and English as a unique voice for a wide audience. I expect Awich to prove she’s the next global hip-hop star, performing setlist favorites like “WHORU?,” “Link Up,” “Shook Shook,” and “Queendom.”

Watch her From the Block Performance for a taste 👇

Balming Tiger

When you listen to Balming Tiger’s debut album, January Never Dies, your first feelings are this is chaotic as fuck. The multinational collective comprises 11 members, including rappers Omega Sapien and Mudd the Student, singer-songwriters sogumm and bj wnjn, DJ Abyss, producers like San Yawn and Unsinkable, and background folks like a writer and visual artist. With that many creative personalities, it’s pretty cool to hear the group’s alternative K-pop is not one recurring genre, but an adventurous approach to music where they can release whatever they want.

The genre of K-pop is polished and perfectly synchronized boy bands and girl groups, so Balming Tiger makes it their mission to turn it upside down. They preach that the group maintains its strong and clear identity as individuals. You hear that on January Never Dies, where one song doesn’t sound like the last, a roller coaster of influence from shades of Aesop Rock to Anderson. Paak. Expect a lot of interaction with the audience and pure fun.

Bibi

Bibi is a relatively new South Korean singer-songwriter, rapper, and producer, who made her debut with 2019’s “Binu.” I was cooking dinner listening to her debut album Lowlife Princess: Noir, admiring her sweet vocals and imagining her live performance filled with energetic choreography that fits the pain, heartbreak, and revenge stories in these songs. She’s a chameleon who can seamlessly blend genres: dark pop, futuristic EDM, alternative R&B, Latin, and hip-hop.

I love that her style of K-pop isn’t so linear and she can dip in other genres. “Amigos” with Becky G and "Bibi Vengeance" are trendy in fusing musical and cultural elements from South Korea, the United States, and Latin America into global bangers. She can smoothly switch from Korean to English, flexing her rapping on “Lowlife Princess.” She’s about to have NY talking with her debut in Queens.