The Man Who Sold the World on Asian Hip-Hop

Sean Miyashiro’s quest to show the world that Asians could legitimately rap began on the roof of a Bronx parking garage.

Two years ago, Miyashiro had to escape from his girlfriend’s thin-walled dorm room at the nearby Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He liked to stay up late playing loud music—especially from rappers in Indonesia and South Korea, whom he came across on the internet—but other med students complained. Miyashiro took refuge on the top level of a nearby garage, where he could park his car and play music at hubcap-rattling volume. He could get a Wi-Fi signal, allowing him to commune online with the rappers, as well as food at a nearby McDonald’s and a local deli. There was no restroom up on the garage, but it wasn’t a problem.