Chronic Whispers: The Mind of Chan

[Dialectic]

It's been a privilege working with Snacky Chan and Dynasty Muzik, and we hopt this leads to bigger things in the future.

Snacky spent a good deal of time on our interview and poured a lot of his mind and soul into it. If you have any comments or questions or just want to let him know whassup, leave them here!

[kalbi]

Chan,


Thanks for signing my CD dawg. If you ever have a gig in NYC or LA, I'll definitely come show my support. Never give up, man - never give up! Chase your fawkin' dream, and do us proud.

[snackychan]

No prob bruh..thank YOU for coppin the cd..just know that you're little contribution has done something significant to keep me goin! Hope u like the album!

[Dialectic]

I wanna emphasize and comment on the parts of the interview that hit me most deeply.

Did you ever feel pressure from your folks to be a respectable professional? How do they feel about you building a rep and dropping your first LP?

Iíve always felt pressure from my parents to be a Doctor, Lawyer, etc. like most Asian-Americans. They still try to talk me into it, assuming my failure in music. It hurts sometimes to see their lack of confidence in me, but I also understand that theyíre concerned with my future. Music is a hard hustle Ö it definitely takes a lot to just eat decently. At times I feel they view me negatively just because of the career path Iíve chosen.

I definitely feel you there. In my case, every time I mentioned something about being an artist or a writer, they'd immediately suggest alternatives and talk about realistic goals and plans, and the "conversation" proceeds from an assumption of my failure. I've felt the same way about how they viewed me, and we got into a lot of pretty vicious arguments about my life, particularly with my dad. Things are better now 'cause they've somewhat accepted what I'm about, but that shit does linger.

As for the kids growin' up tryin' to make it Ö first off Iíd say focus your energies. Donít try to be a poet, porn-star, mc, chef, and b-ball player all at once. Choose one. Master one thing, then use that success as a stepping stone to other challenges.

I generally agree with that sentiment, but I'm not sure how far it goes. Definitely, it's better to master one thing than to fuck around with many; at the same time, though, I feel that if you can, you should master one thing, and get pretty damn good at several others while you're still young so that you've sewn the seeds for improving yourself in those other areas later.

Who and what do you care about most?

It may sound kinda selfish, but I care about my career the most. Thatís what I spend the majority of my days concerned with. My family, certain friends and relationships are right up there too. I feel like the more successful I am with my career the better my all around relationships will be.

I wanna hear what all you 44s out there think of this comment. I never really looked at things this explicitly before, but I'd actually say a similar thing: my artistic and career goals do come before everything else.

The most significant themes in my music would have to be that itís just good overall Ö ha, canít think of no way else to put it. Respectable, real hip hop, regardless of race, just good shit. I mean I try to create something different every time. I have a lot of Asian themes in my music, but lately Iíve been trying to stay away from that. Donít wanna overplay the gimmick. In terms of the direction of my music, I just wanna create the illest albums right now.

We take a similar philosophy for this site. This is part of the reason there's no overt reference to Asianness in the name or motto of The Fighting 44s.

Chan, I'd like to thank you again for your deep and considered responses. 44s, speak up!

[blockthebox]

It may sound kinda selfish, but I care about my career the most. Thatís what I spend the majority of my days concerned with. My family, certain friends and relationships are right up there too. I feel like the more successful I am with my career the better my all around relationships will be.

Looking out for your career is looking out for yourself. It's not selfish - in a bad sense - to make sure that you come first in life. Like my mom says, "No one else is going to take care of you but you." And it's not just a case of "looking out for number one" just for the sake of being selfish. Once you make sure your needs (physical, emotional, spiritual, psychological) are met, then you're better able to take care of/care for the other people and things in your life that matter. Why? Because at that point, you're probably a much more whole person, healthier and maybe even happier, and able to have, as Snacky said, better relationships all around.

This makes sense intuitively, but I think it's harder in practice. It's only recently - maybe within the last few years - that I've been trying to be more selfish and to make sure I come first. I didn't realize how selfish I wasn't until family and friends became concerned about my overall wellbeing and had to say something. One of my friends jokes about how I'm like that Joy Fuck Club character who never takes the best shrimp or whatever. That's pretty sick, eh?

Looking out for yourself, your career and goals is easier when you have an objective and clear vision for what you want in life. It's a lot easier to navigate a path when you can see it in front of you. So taking care of my needs first forces me to think about what's important to me and for me.

The most significant themes in my music would have to be that itís just good overall Ö ha, canít think of no way else to put it. Respectable, real hip hop, regardless of race, just good shit. I mean I try to create something different every time. I have a lot of Asian themes in my music, but lately Iíve been trying to stay away from that. Donít wanna overplay the gimmick. In terms of the direction of my music, I just wanna create the illest albums right now.

It's like I always say - being Asian (and American) is only a sliver of who I am. There's so much more to me that makes up who I am as a person. And if someone can't see that, fuck 'em. I won't waste my time.

Great interview. I'll be sure to buy an album and let all my friends know!

[generaltojo]

Looking out for your career is looking out for yourself. It's not selfish - in a bad sense - to make sure that you come first in life. Like my mom says, "No one else is going to take care of you but you." And it's not just a case of "looking out for number one" just for the sake of being selfish. Once you make sure your needs (physical, emotional, spiritual, psychological) are met, then you're better able to take care of/care for the other people and things in your life that matter. Why? Because at that point, you're probably a much more whole person, healthier and maybe even happier, and able to have, as Snacky said, better relationships all around.

This makes sense intuitively, but I think it's harder in practice. It's only recently - maybe within the last few years - that I've been trying to be more selfish and to make sure I come first...

Looking out for yourself, your career and goals is easier when you have an objective and clear vision for what you want in life. It's a lot easier to navigate a path when you can see it in front of you. So taking care of my needs first forces me to think about what's important to me and for me.

This, I agree with. And it is easier said than done.

I think the key to making your selfishness work for you (not against), to have it build you and make you stronger (as opposed to screw you over in the end) is really being aware of all the consequences of your choices, options, and actions - what you'll gain, what you'll lose, what you can possibly revisit when you're more right in the soul, what is available to revisit when you're more right in the soul. Making an informed choice... and being fully (or mostly) aware of the consequences, and taking those consequences like a man if your selfishness comes crashing down all around you (which could also be important for the soul.)

Generosity is great - even imperative in the long run. Thing is, it's safe. The only bad thing that'll happen to you is you'll be disappointed (how someone handles that is another matter entirely - never been good at that, but getting better.) Being selfish implies taking serious risks, and losing as much as winning... and being able to deal with losing. That's totally central to growing up.

At least, that's my take on it.

I didn't realize how selfish I wasn't until family and friends became concerned about my overall wellbeing and had to say something. One of my friends jokes about how I'm like that Joy Fuck Club character who never takes the best shrimp or whatever. That's pretty sick, eh?

Used to be me, too. A few years ago, I'd skewer myself for being a sucker... until recently, I realized how valuable it is to be able to (or desirous of) being generous. At the risk of sounding treacly, it's food for the soul. It feels *great* to be nice.

The way I see it, you can't be productively selfish without having been generous in the first place.

"Into the great wide open... a rebel with a clue."

[bluejives]

LOL... a friend of mine was listening some snacky-c at work. a black coworker of hers commented that it sounded great and asked who was the artist. she explained that it was an azn underground hip-hop artist and the black guy was dumbfounded. he refused to believe it. she showed him the cd cover that had a pic of roy kim on it. he looked at it and still wouldn't believe it.

Gotdammit, white guys, black guys, and azn guys should have a three way deal where we all agree to acknowledge that white guys can jump, black guys can do martial arts, and that we can be pretty fly for an azn guy and rap too.

[Dialectic]

I dunno how many serious hiphoppers there are here, but definitely contact www.snackychan.com and www.masiaone.com and see if they wanna get in on some Chicago mixes.