🐉 I'm Back

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.

• Rick Ross is helping me reawaken my entrepreneurial spirit.

• New releases by Joji, XG, Karri, Awich, and LNGSHOT.

• Diep Cuts is back from hiatus, featuring Chloe Qisha, Nicole Han, $tupid Young, MC Jin, and MNNK Bro.

Last week in our group chat, I texted Neil Martinez-Belkin, co-author of Rick Ross’ new book, Renaissance of a Boss: Notes From a Creative Reawakening, that this read was exactly what I needed as I navigate through my own creative rut. If you couldn’t tell from the May 2025 edition, I was hitting a wall with writing Golden Dragon. During the new job I started, I got too busy and burned out that I didn’t have the energy to write two newsletters a month.

This space was always for me to express my voice, and I’m dusting off beehiiv in hopes I get back into a flow. I’ll share some thoughts on the status of this newsletter in another post. For now, I wanted to highlight what I’ve been listening to. Even if I couldn’t put my words into a Google Doc, I’ve been religiously keeping up. Big bank, big bank.

Happy AAPI Heritage Month. Thank you for supporting Golden Dragon.

Joji, Piss In The Wind

Four years after 2022’s Smithereens, Joji releases his first album not under 88Rising. Usually, this means an artist has fulfilled their contractual obligations, and they’re free to create whatever they want. I never got the sense that there was bad blood between Joji and 88Rising, as he was one of the flagship artists alongside Rich Brian and a draw at Head in the Clouds. Piss In The Wind marks a new beginning for the former YouTube star, a chance to switch up his style or fully embrace his atmospheric, lo-fi R&B.

Joji goes for the latter on Piss In The Wind, a melancholic, somber album where the sadboy vibes are more dramatic. Joji was made to break the bamboo ceiling; in 2018, he was the first Asian-born artist to top Billboard’s R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart with Ballads 1, and in 2022, he scored a top 10 debut on the Hot 100 for “Glimpse of Us.” While Piss In The Wind is admittedly missing Joji’s own vulnerability, these are songs made for people in their feelings. He pulls in Giveon, 4Batz, Yeat, and Don Toliver into his brooding world, reaffirming that melodic rap and R&B don’t always have to be toxic. Just really sad, to the brink of crying. He layers trap textures on "Pixelated Kisses," explores psych-rock on "Love You Less," and delivers a darkwave banger on "Sojourn." His formula still works for me, and now he has full creative control to take us on a new journey. [Listen]

XG, The Core

XG (Xtraordinary Genes) released their first full-length album, The Core, at the start of 2026. It was one album that I wanted to write about for Golden Dragon because of the hip-hop ties: Lyricks of Year of the Ox is credited as a lyricist on several songs, including “PS118” that features Rapsody. The Core showcases the seven members as a sleeker version of the Wu-Tang Clan, if Wu-Tang did dancey pop-rap and R&B instead of lyrical onslaughts over RZA beats. 

XG is made up of Japanese members, but they’re globally accepted in K-pop spaces. The diverse set of genres is all elements of their core of “X-Pop,” where house, dance, early 2000s pop, pop punk, boom bap, and more intersect. The septet masters reinvention, embracing who they’ve become through self-confident messages and delving deeper into who they are. The Core is another evolution of the XG brand, a newfound maturity that grounds their current era. [Listen]

General on sale for XG’s tour begins on May 29. More details here.

Karri, Slider II

Karri and P-Lo, regulars on Golden Dragon, co-produced Drake’s “2 Hard 4 The Radio,” a nod to Mac Dre’s classic. Karri was my artist to watch in 2025, and it’s been great to see him get recognition as a potential 2026 XXL Freshman and a producer. Last December’s Sliders II is 1,000 percent late-night driving music, from the vibey tracks to the moody love songs; this is Karri stepping into his role as a master of lo-fi and slowed-down, woozy vocals. He has a way of building worlds as if we’re constantly in an after-hours nightclub: the three-song stretch of “1am in decatur,” “risky,” and “strip” is for a dark oasis of neon signage. I’ve been gravitating towards “Is This Love” by Leon Bridges, ending the album on a bright note. I’m sure he gets a lot of requests to sing at weddings, but singing this one would be beautiful. [Listen]

Awich, Okinawan Wuman

The hip-hop gods blessed fans like me when Awich announced she was making an album produced by The Abbott. Awich homes in on the vintage aesthetic for Okinawan Wuman, time-warping us back to boom bap prominence when only beats and bars mattered. Awich raps in English and holds her own next to guys like Lupe Fiasco, A$AP Ferg, Joey Bada$$, MIKE, and Westside Gunn. I’ve always said that Awich should be bigger in the States than she is now, embodying the essence of an MC and delivering messages that tie to her Okinawan culture. The album also has skits, a nice touch for the Wu heads.

“Fear Us” is one of my favorites, a declaration for unity because banding together is what they fear the most. [Listen]

LNGSHOT, 4Shoboiz Mixtape + 4Shoboiz Vol. 2: 4Shoville

Yuki Chiba sneakily has another banger on his hands with “Annyeonghaseyo.” There is a 4SHO remix featuring Ryul of LNGSHOT. LNGSHOT is a name you’ll be hearing more of as they’re the first boy group under Jay Park’s MORE VISION. The members are in their 20s, with the main vocalist being 16 years old. In 2026, they’ve dropped three projects, but I’m focusing on the 4Shoboiz mixtapes. The first is pop rap through a loose K-pop framework, catering to the Western palette through melodic flows, polished hooks, and beat switches. My immediate comparison is that they’re like the R&B quartet 2BYG, but more free to express their individual sensibilities.

Joined by their producer and CEO Park, members OHYUL, RYUL, WOOJIN, and LOUIS’s second volume of 4Shoboiz shows how committed they’re to releasing quality, even if they’re not well-known yet. “Run It Up” has Park’s fingerprints all over it, dipping into Travis Scott’s rage rap and high-energy turn up. “MOYA” is catchy, uptempo hip-hop. It’s the direction LNGSHOT wants to take. They don’t want to be boxed in, and hip-hop needs more artists who color outside the lines. [Listen]

MC Jin - “Humble Flex”

Ask any rapper in Asia who their biggest influence is, and most will say MC Jin because of his historic seven consecutive rap battle wins on 106 & Park’s Freestyle Friday. According to Variety, MC Jin launched Family Style Records, a hip-hop imprint under Pacific Music Group. The roster includes Korean artists Lil Cherry and Goldbudda, Indonesian rapper Nada, and Chinese American rapper Khantrast. “Humble Flex” is nostalgic for me, where a dusty beat is the canvas for MC Jin to address the haters in his comments trolling him. MC Jin’s opening bars pay homage to Black Sheep’s “The Choice Is Yours (Revisited).” I love Native Tongues!

Chloe Qisha - “He Likes Boys” (Unreleased)

In April, I capped the best week of my life by taking my fiancée to her favorite venue in L.A., the Echoplex, to see Chloe Qisha on her Modern Romance Tour. The Malaysian-British singer is an emerging star who makes alt-pop with an ‘80s twist for Gen Z-ers. She calls herself a “21st-century cool girl,” strutting on stage with assless chaps and ready with dance moves to all her songs. While I expected known songs like “Sex, Drugs & Existential Dread” and “I Lied, I’m Sorry” to get this sizable crowd going, her unreleased tracks stuck with me after the show. One is called “He Likes Boys,” which I immediately thought was good. Rarely do you see a teaser get an instant like from a live crowd. Drop this now.

Nicole Han - “Run!”

Nicole Han is a L.A.-based singer-songwriter who makes pop music. Shout out to Kayvan Daragheh for always keeping me in the loop about artists he’s excited about. Han released her There Is Magic in the Room EP back in April, and one of the records I’ve been digging is “Run!” It’s about diving headfirst into a new relationship and feeling deeply in love. If you’re a fan of Lorde, give Nicole Han a listen. She wrote about dreams, nostalgia, and love on her EP – all things that spark memories of your own joy.

$tupid Young f/ Blueface - “IYKYK”

I’m half Cambodian, and I always respect $tupid Young for sharing the history and culture of our people during his interviews. On The Truth Hurts podcast, he opened up about the traumatic effects of the Khmer Rouge and stated dreams of being the “Asian Jay-Z” of this shit, being the next Asian rapper to break through.

Before his new album Welcome to Cambodia Town drops, the Long Beach rapper links with a heavily face-tatted Blueface again for “IYKYK.” It’s been a minute since “Thotiana” took over the game, so it’s cool to see Blueface back outside. A classic L.A. strip club song.

MNNK Bro. - “Shutoko Tokyo”

Takashi Murakami and JP The Wavy are a duo named MNNK Bro. (Mononoke Brothers), introducing their music to the world through one-off releases here and there. Fresh off a cover story with Complex, MNNK Bro. make their proper debut with “Shutoko Tokyo.” You know Murakami’s name through his music collabs with Kid Cudi and Ye. JP the Wavy has been a staple of POP YOURS, a hip-hop festival based in Japan.

I have never been to Tokyo, but when I Googled Shutoko, it told me this is an expressway prominently featured in Japanese street racing culture. “Shutoko Tokyo” and the extended 30-minute version certainly give off Initial D and Akira coolness. This is a duo I’d love to see more music from.