Chinked-Out

I don't care how many guns you got
Coz I got Kung Fu and a badge!
I'll be whupping your ass!
From Shanghai to LA in economy class!!

I caught the end of a terrible Hong Kong action movie called "China Strike Force" on cable the other night. Starring Cantopop star Aarok Kwok and Coolio, from the director of 1997's Mr. Magoo. Sucked in by the curious cast, an end-of-movie gag reel and an infectiously cheesy closing rock number called "China White" (song featured above, though the visuals are taken from John Woo's Hardboiled).

"China White" is brought to us by singer/songwriter/actor Lee-Hom Wang.


Alexander Lee-Hom Wang was born and raised... in Rochester, New York...

In 1995, "while visiting his grandparents in Taiwan", he got signed to a professional recording contract...(!)

This American kid didn't begin learning Mandarin until he was 18 and he goes on to become this massive Asian pop star abroad. Stateside, no one's heard of him. Hop the right plane and suddenly he's a huge celebrity.

This begs the question,

Why am I still here???

Clearly, stardom awaits me if I can just get my shit together and renew my passport...

I'll just cut-and-paste this bit from the Wiki-Wiki-Wikipedia because I'm too lazy:

In his tenth album Shangri-La, released on the last day of 2004, Wang incorporated the often unheard music of Chinese aboriginal music into mainstream hip hop and coined this style "chinked-out".

He experimented with the tribal sounds of China, Tibet, and Mongolia, traveled to remote villages, carrying 15 kg of equipment while fighting bouts of altitude and food sickness. Despite the derogatory nature of the term "chink," Wang had wanted to repossess the term and "make it cool." Within ten days of its release, Shangri-La sold past an outstanding 40,000 copies, an excellent start as the first album to be sold in Taiwan of 2005. Within a month, the album sold over 300,000 copies.

Continuing the "chinked-out spirit" by infusing elements of Beijing opera and Kunqu into the songs, Heroes of Earth was released on December 30, 2005. Heroes of Earth was his eleventh album. He collaborated with American rapper Jin and Korean artists Rain and Lim Jeong Hee and again won himself Best Male Vocalist in the 17th Golden Melody Awards in 2006.

Heroes of Earth impressively broke the record of selling more than 1 million copies ten days after its release. The album stayed at first place in the G-Music Charts for 6 weeks. Ultimately, the album stayed in the charts for a total of 23 weeks and became third for the most sold album in Taiwan of 2006.

Goddamn. All bets are off. This guy wins.