More West Meets East Collabs, Please!

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.

• Tracking “Mamushi” on the Hot 100 while looking back at other Western artists collaborating with Asian artists.

• A review of Justin Magnaye’s new EP.

• A super-sized #DiepCuts featuring Thuy, TopRankGang, Warren Hue, and more.

When I saw the tracklist dropped for Megan Thee Stallion’s Megan in late June, the first name I gravitated towards was Yuki Chiba who was featured on “Mamushi.” Upon hearing it, I knew it had the potential to get a push. The simple piano trap beat slowed Megan’s usual rapid-fire bars, making it prime for TikTok creators to think of cool choreography.

Over a month later, Megan’s “Mamushi” is bubbling up fast, and her fans are learning the words in Japanese and picking up on the dance trend. According to Blavity, the original choreographer of the “Watashi Wa Star” dance is @mona712_official. Megan would participate in the dance challenge, meeting up with MONA in Japan and earning praise from fans for giving her recognition. As expected, there’s a music video on the way. (Updated, Aug. 11, 2024: The video dropped on Aug. 9)

It’s not common for international collabs to get a live performance so soon. Megan and Yuki are budding best friends, performing “Mamushi” in London during the last stop of her Hot Girl Summer Tour. Yuki was her surprise guest and I expect the favor to be returned whenever he decides to do a North American tour.

“Mamushi” feels reminiscent of when the “Savage” remix featuring Beyoncé sparked the “Savage Challenge” on TikTok, propelling the song to go No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. A music marketing term I learned from Billboard’s Kristin Robinson is “glocalization,” which describes developing a product globally but is also adjusted for consumers in a local market. Megan is meeting her Japanese fans halfway and strengthening her relationship with them. Her fanbase is dedicated to dancing to her songs and creating TikTok virality, giving her singles a longer listening rotation in our short-term streaming consumption.

This month saw “Mamushi” debut at No. 68 on the Hot 100, moving to No. 45 in its second week and dipping to No. 51 in its third week. In its fourth week, the song is currently at No. 36. The record gave Yuki his first entry into the Hot 100 chart. Another notable debut was BTS’ Jimin and South Korean rapper Loco’s “Smeraldo Garden Marching Band,” earning Jimin his fifth career solo entry on the chart and Loco’s first-ever entry at No. 88. There’s always an online debate about people caring too much about chart positions, album sales, and streaming numbers over how much they like the music. To see a J-hip-hop artist and a K-hip-hop artist breaking through on the Hot 100 is a testament to the increased cultural exchange between West and East.

Running up “Mamushi” and “Smeraldo Garden Marching Band” streams took me down a rabbit hole remembering all the international collabs I enjoyed. Here’s a brief history of my favorites from the Blog Era and beyond. You can listen to the playlist on Spotify here.