"DJing as a Filipino Thing" by Antonio T. Tiongson

Nouriyah Saleh

April 10, 2017

Blog Response: "DJing as a Filipino Thing" by Antonio T. Tiongson

I first heard about this topic from a couple of my friends who took this course last year. I was anticipating reading this article and learning about the origins of Filipino DJing. I have to admit I was caught slightly off guard with the way the information was presented, but regardless, I learned a lot more about the subject than I thought I would.

Having grown up in Seattle with extended family in Sacramento, I had little knowledge of the Bay Area. It wasn't until I came to Davis that I learned that a majority of the students were from a bunch of cities spread along the coast. As I got more involved in the hip-hop dance scene on campus, I realized that my dancer friends shared a similar taste in "bay area music". This was more common among my Filipino friends and those who I knew of in MK and FilAm. I never questioned or thought about this phenomenon until after reading this article.

Although this article centered on how Filipinos created an identity through hip-hop and Djing, I found myself focused on the racial aspect of it. Throughout middle school and high school, I never understood why my Filipino peers considered themselves "Pacific Islander" and not "Asian/Asian-American". At the time, it seemed like they were screaming "I'm different and that makes me special!" which is prevalent and obnoxious during the teenage years. Now, it's solidified in my mind that an ethnic label extends beyond regions and borders and includes history and culture. It's extremely important for people to have an identity and to feel validated by it. No one should take that away. Djing is what gave Filipinos in the Bay Area hip-hop culture a sense of individuality and pride, thus contributing to their "Filipinoness".