There is an almost theatrical character to this shameless imitations of popular black culture; so much so, that Asian-American hip-hop acts establishing such theatrics become fodder for countless jokes.
But for chart-topping electro-hip-hop Quartet far East movement, they are slightly different than the stereotype.
A look at their debut album jacket shows all four decked out in retro 80s gear with shiny blazers, white-framed sunglasses, skinny jeans and kitsch Reservoir Dogs-style narrow bands, making them look more like the Asian doppelgangers of Kraftwerk than a rap Act.
But they are very proud of their Asian roots.
"It is an honour that our community feel what we do, and they recognize and that they are proud of," told Nish The Korea Herald via email.
From the left), J-Splif, Kev Nish, Proghress and DJ Virmin
But while the group is the title of the first Asian band has to hit number 1 on the Billboard charts, the members say that they are just your average Americans.
"We grew up like L.A. children," said Nish.
"We grew up every which way as Americans first, so in our perspective, it's more an honor for us as artists who have grinding, who have struggled, who've been eating $ 1 tacos each day to save money."
The four, composed of a Korean-American couple, a Filipino-American, and an American-Japanese have driven the proverbial gravy train as their debut single "Like a G6" topped the Billboard charts for two weeks, making her the first Asian-American band to do this.
The track is a club banger that the band hollering about popping bottles, "getting slizzered" and drunk.
The song Platinum selling features of the Group of official "homegirl," singer Dev, and is punctuated with artificial beats reminiscent of the 1980s-era German synthpop.
The three original founding members Kev Nish (Kevin Nishimura), Proghress (James Roh), J-Splif (Jae Choung) all in the notoriously tight world-in-a-world of Korea town or k-Town grew.
If the high school friends, the trio often locally run around the clubs that dot the streets of Los Angeles notorious nocturnal scene.
The fourth member of the band, DJ Virmin, had his spinning for local hip-hop radio station Power 106 prior to joining the band in 2008.
"For whom calls Los Angeles home, drink and eat in a Korean BBQ restaurant is as natural as eating out at an Italian restaurant," said Nish.
"Although our music life that we have led in the melting pot of different cultures that L.A. reflects define, we do not believe that Asian has a lot of correlation with our work. when people read a book, look not to the color of the skin of the author to determine that whether they like it or not, they judge on the basis of what is written."
"I think our band identity is more in harmony with us are children of the L.A. than Asian-Americans."
The band says Korean artists looking to break into the North American market should focus on conquering the local charts first before thinking about heading on foreign territory.
"Where you from, the most important thing is to get your name out there locally," said Proghress.
"You should spend your time fixing your worth in the country you're from first."
By Song Woong-ki (kws@heraldm.com)
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