Awich is Bringing The “ASIAN STATE OF MIND” From Japan to the World
For nearly two decades, Japanese hip-hop artist Awich has used music as a means to traverse complex subject matters, including love, life, and forgiveness. Her introspective journey began in Okinawa, which, although small in size, possesses a rich history and culture. Due to Okinawa being the biggest hub for American military bases in Japan, Awich became heavily immersed in American culture — particularly becoming fascinated by the art of rap. Utilizing her poetry skills and the works of Tupac, Awich labored endlessly to make her new-found dream come true. In 2006, she released Inner Research under her self-founded company Cipher City and subsequently moved to Atlanta, Georgia, where she balanced college and the production of a new album.
At the age of 20, Awich released her first full album, Asian Wish Child, which would unexpectedly be her only release for almost a decade. Shortly after moving to Atlanta, Awich met and married a New York native, who was tragically killed as a result of gun violence. This event prompted Awich to move back to Japan with her daughter, where she focused her attention on her pre-existing company — putting her budding music career on hold indefinitely.
In between an increasingly busy schedule, Awich connected with EnVi over Zoom to discuss the intersection between her artistic and personal growth as well as her latest global collaborations.
Finding Solace in YENTOWN
Although she didn’t know her fate, Awich used music as a crutch — funneling her complicated emotions into songs that might’ve never seen the light of day. For nearly a decade, she kept these songs only for herself, on her phone, until she came across YENTOWN, a Japanese hip-hop collective, who offered her stability. “YENTOWN [were the ones] who picked me up when I was coming out of the depression,” Awich stated with an earnest gratitude. “I didn’t know what to do with my career. I was always writing, and sometimes I would go into the studio and record a demo, so I would always have [songs] on my phone. When I went [to meet with one] of YENTOWN members, he was like, what do you do? What do you like? What are you working on? and said, ‘I don’t know, but I have songs like this.’”
After listening to the songs Awich presented, they were blown away by her artistry and immediately offered her a spot in the crew as their first and only female rapper. “[They] were like, what? What is this? Why are you not working on your music full-time? And they introduced me to all the members of YENTOWN, and they were like, ‘Yo, you have to work on your music! We are gonna get the budget for you, and we are going to produce your album. You should join us so you can have our platform,” she explained, reminiscing on the moment that changed her life. “If it wasn’t for them, I couldn’t be where I’m at right now.”
Awich’s first official release under YENTOWN came in 2017 with the full studio album 8 — marking her return after nearly a decade. The album includes seventeen songs and has features from fellow YENTOWN member kZM, and her daughter, Yomi Jah.
The crew, created and led by producer Chaki Zulu, thrives on the concept of building a community of individuals with distinct identities. The crew’s name originated from the 1996 Japanese crime film Swallowtail Butterfly, which revolves around the fictional city Yen Town, where people from all over the world gather to acquire the Japanese yen — the world’s strongest currency in the film. The protagonist is Ageha (Ayumi Ito), an orphan who survives in the city along with other outcast immigrants. “[That film] explains the basis of our crew. [Our] concept is to embrace different styles. So if you listen to all of the rappers and producers in YENTOWN, we have very distinct, very different styles from each other. But we embrace that difference and live together even though we’re different,” Awich stated.
Like Ageha, Awich gained solace through YENTOWN, and for that, she is forever grateful: “[They] gave me a home — a comfortable place where I can be myself. [They] gave me [the] love and support I needed to go on.” Following the tender and vulnerable moment, Awich switched gears, mentioning a new and exciting project that YENTOWN has coming soon: “[This] year we’re gonna come out with an album, like a collective album that we never, ever worked on before, just because we are so different. I hope you’ll be on the lookout for that.”
“ASIAN STATE OF MIND”: One For the Ages
While you’re waiting for the YENTOWN album to drop, you can check out other promising works Awich has to offer this year, including the global collaboration single, “ASIAN STATE OF MIND,” that features rappers hailing from five countries across Asia. Representing South Korea is multi-hyphenate artist Jay Park; from India, the Desi hip-hop pioneer KR$NA steps up to the plate. Masiwei, a Sichuan native and the leader of hip-hop collective Higher Brothers, represents China, and last but not least is VannDa, a Cambodian artist who masterfully interweaves Khmer instrumentals with hip-hop. The microphone relay cipher track aims to express Asia’s unity, grandeur, and strength while inspiring listeners worldwide. As each of the five rappers takes the floor, they tackle the song’s central question, “What do you do it for?”
As Awich broke down her “ASIAN STATE OF MIND” verse, a clear message of resilience and aspiration echoed throughout. In the opening lines, she references the loss of her husband and explains that the situation, although harrowing, is something she wears on her sleeve as she moves forward in her journey of bringing her culture to the world. “Who do you know? Come from the bottom, a mother, a widow, a diligent soldier / Put on for Okinawa and Japan, on my shoulder.” In the lyrics that follow, Awich further expresses her desire to connect with her listeners past the surface level — she isn’t just her because of her looks. “This ain’t no moment for Kodak / I’m not a model, I am the blueprint.”
Never forgetting to acknowledge those who have influenced her both personally and professionally, Awich included references to famous figures such as Karate Kid’s Mr. Miyagi and the Wu-Tang Clan and followed with a shout-out to the artists who featured on the song — pointing out the things they achieved in their homeland.
As her verse comes to a close, Awich notes the origin of her stage name and how that shaped her mission from the beginning: “Awich is short for ‘Asian wish child,’ which is the meaning behind my real name, Akiko,” she explained. “I translated it into English, shortened it, and [made it my stage name] when I was fourteen, and I haven’t changed it ever since. ‘Ay 亜細亜、希望、負う name…’ that’s what I’m saying here in Japanese, meaning my name carries the Asian wish — they wished for a change. They wish for somebody that will speak for them, and I carry that in my name.”
Getting multiple top stars in one location proved to be difficult, so Awich decided to travel to each of the four countries, taking full advantage of the captivating scenery each destination had to offer. “It was a crazy schedule, but it was worth it — every second of it,” she said. “None of the rappers thought that I would come. [But I said], ‘No, I’m here. I’m here to show you I really appreciate you getting on this record, and I appreciate you representing your home.’ I [went] to show respect, and show love to the actual soil of their home. It was amazing connecting not only with the artists, but also their team, and the [local people].”
Every destination had amazing experiences to offer, but the one that stuck out to Awich the most was KR$NA’s homeland: “I had never been to India. That was my first time. The energy was crazy,” she revealed with a still looming excitement. “I [often watch] their movies, read their books, and [watch] YouTube videos of the gurus from India. So all the things that I experienced, especially the food, it was amazing.”
An Intersection of Greatness
Awich’s second major collaboration of the year took her to the United States, where she would work with American rappers RZA and A$AP Ferg. The plans for the collaboration came about by chance as Awich first met RZA during his trip to Japan, which involved a completely different project. Being recruited to guide RZA around Japan, the pair engaged in an authentic moment of cultural exchange, which resulted in Awich earning an opportunity to work with the “the legend and the god,” as she called him.
“[RZA] just needed somebody to guide him through the Asian Japanese music scene. I was chosen to be [the guide]…and when we started talking, I told him I’m from Okinawa, and in his passion for the kung fu movies and all of the martial arts, he of course knew about Okinawa [being] the birthplace of karate,” she explained. “I told him everything about my dojo, the spirituality of Okinawa, and the conflicts that we have surrounding the military base, and…he was like, I wanna go to Okinawa. So he came for a week. I showed him around and took him to my dojo, the bars, the sacred places, and even the military base. [Then] he was like, ‘All right, I wanna work, let’s work on a project. I wanna work with you.’ And, of course, I wanted to work.”
The openness she expressed when sharing her own culture wasn’t the only thing that caught the attention of the hip-hop legend. Awich revealed that she unexpectedly surprised RZA with her knowledge of an obscure practice: “Another reason why me and him clicked is that my husband who passed away was a Five Percenter, which is what RZA is.” Five Percenter refers to members of the Five Percent Nation, an Afro American Nationalist movement, who believe that the living god is Black men are God, or Allah. “They have certain lessons, and they have certain lingos, and my husband always gave me that knowledge, so I knew how to speak the language. And RZA was like, ‘How are you all the way over here in Okinawa with that knowledge?’”
The story behind her meeting with Ferg began similarly, with a simple trip to Japan: “[Ferg] was in Tokyo, and we met through a mutual friend,” Awich said. “We were hanging out, and he asked me, ‘What kind of project are you working on?’ And I had a lot of projects at the time, but the one he gravitated towards the most was the RZA one.”
Although Ferg himself is a major player in the hip-hop game, he was shocked to hear of the ensuing collaboration and asked to be a part of the experience: “He was like, ‘RZA, the RZA? That is crazy! You have to really cherish that because you know he is just an indisputable legend period…and [then] he was like, ‘Get me on,’” she laughed. “And I promised him if I have something really good that I would send it to him. And that’s when “Butcher Shop” came,” she said. When I was working on ‘Butcher Shop,’ I was like, ‘That’s definitely the one.’ And I sent him, and he was like, ‘Fire, let’s get it done.’”
Come Down to The “Butcher Shop”
The synergy between the three rappers was immense, as everything from the song recording to the music video filming for “Butcher Shop” was completed in a matter of weeks: “I traveled to New York for a Jordan event, and [I told Ferg], I was there. And he was like, ‘All right, let’s get in the studio,’” Awich explained. “We got in the studio, we worked on his verse for ‘Butcher Shop,’ and then he was like, ‘Let’s shoot a video,’ [But] the next week I had to go back to Japan. And [it wasn’t until] the week after I came back to shoot the video.”
The spontaneity of the music video filming process began with Awich booking a sudden flight from Japan to LA to film the opening music video scene with RZA — who couldn’t make it to the primary filming location in New York. “It was just so quick. I traveled by myself, no manager, and the director came from New York,” she said. “We met up in LA, and we shot that part with RZA at his office. He got this box and said, ‘Oh, let’s use this for a storyline. I give it to you, and you give it to Ferg,’ What’s in the box? We’ll never know,” she explained with a laugh. “After that, we went to New York and shot the [rest of the music video with Ferg].”
With everything moving quickly, there was little time for standard production practices such as location scouting and storyboarding — but that didn’t prove to be a problem at all for the inventive duo. “We didn’t plan [anything]. There’s no storyline. It was just a ragged [concept], [showing] the streets, the break dancing scene, and the butcher shop,” Awich explained. As the pair walked the streets of New York, anything and everything had the potential to become a filming location: “[We were like], Alright, we are in front of the meat market. Let’s shoot the video there. Then, the jewelry shop. Do you like jewelry? Yeah, I like jewelry. Let’s go there.”
Although the expedited process may be tiring for some, Awich expressed great satisfaction with the results: “It came together very well because we have strong characters [and identities]…I’m talking about Okinawa, I’m talking about Japan, Tokyo fast life. But at the same time, we’re talking about the intersection of that in New York because the beat is from RZA, and we featured a very strong New York character in the song, which is Ferg.”
A Message For You
As the interview came to a close, Awich shared a message of gratitude for those who are interested in hearing her story. “I’m appreciative of [the] people reading this because it means a lot to me — for you to try to know who I am and my story. What I always strive to do with my music is to be vulnerable with my experience and my feelings so that people going through the same struggle [will have the courage] to get out of their situation or get good with their emotions. So, if you can keep that in mind, that is the core of everything I do. And I hope you stick around with me and my journey; that would be appreciated.”
Be sure to keep up with AWICH on Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, and X. Listen to her music on Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube Music!
Ready to add another global artist to your playlist? Check out our interview with Taiwanese jazz singer Whyte (?te) here!
