Yellow in Black and White: Representasi Identitas Asia oleh Rich Brian dalam Musik Hip-Hop di Amerika Serikat

Abstract

The representation of the Asian race in the US music industry is still relatively small. However, Rich Brian, a person of Chinese descent with Indonesian nationality, succeeded in his career by carrying out the hip-hop genre that was firmly rooted in African-American (black) racial groups in the United States, a country which was dominated by Caucasian (white) races. This study aims to uncover how Brian represented his identity in the US hip-hop music scene using Stuart Hall's circuit of culture theory. The object of this research is the lyrics of several songs in Rich Brian's album. Through the analysis process, it was found that Brian did not cover the nationality and race identity he had. He precisely positioned himself on the spectrum of social identity. This then affects the representation of identity that he does in his songs, including revolving around the theme of the meaning of identity and stereotypes of the Asian race, as well as the struggles experienced by Asians who are part of minority groups in the United States.AbstrakRepresentasi ras Asia dalam industri musik Amerika Serikat masih tergolong sedikit. Namun Rich Brian, seseorang keturunan Tionghoa dan berkewarganegaraan Indonesia, berhasil berkarir dengan mengusung genre hip-hop yang berakar kuat pada kelompok ras Afrika-Amerika (black), di negara Amerika Serikat yang didominasi oleh ras kaukasian (white). Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengungkap bagaimana Brian merepresentasikan identitasnya dalam skena musik hip-hop Amerika Serikat menggunakan teori sirkuit budaya oleh Stuart Hall. Objek dalam penelitian ini berupa lirik dari beberapa lagu dalam album milik Rich Brian. Melalui proses analisis, didapati bahwa Brian tidak menutupi identitas kewarganegaraan dan ras yang ia miliki. Ia justru memosisikan dirinya pada spektrum identitas sosial. Hal ini kemudian memengaruhi representasi identitas yang ia lakukan dalam lagu-lagunya, diantaranya berkisar pada tema pemaknaan identitas dan stereotip dari ras Asia, serta perjuangan yang dialami oleh orang Asia yang merupakan bagian dari kelompok minoritas di Amerika Serikat.