With the hip hop game on similar topics of sex, drugs, and money by today's rappers, Staten Island New York rapper Heesun Lee is on a mission to make a difference with her own version of authentic rap. Lee pursues to deliver positive messages which leaves an impact whether her verses are on the subject of providing changes in hip hop music or real life situations like adoption which is recognized in her single "Leap," and the case of people dealing with anxiety which she rapped in details of their characteristics in her single "I'm With You."
Lee's quest for change is a strong quest for the artist, yet, parallel to her vision to inform people about her culture as a korean/asian rapper. Korean music is a major genre for the culture, and with Lee's passion along with dedication in rap, Lee continuously makes it known that her culture, and her belief in God as a christian artist, is just as important as music.
Check Out Heesun Lee's Interview below where she identified the current status of hip hop and details her vision in music:
News For People: When did you decide to become a hip hop artist?
Heesun Lee: So, I was like probably like around 14 years old. I was really into hip hop and I was just listening to a lot of rap songs and I was trying to pretend I was rapping their songs.
I had like a little karaoke machine that I would record myself on and I would just literally record, you know, memorize the rappers songs and then I would record by a machine to see how I sounded and after I started doing that I started realizing that; hey, I'm pretty good, or whatever, you know, and then I started wanting to write my own lyrics which wasn't anything crazy but you know something to start of with and then it was just like a snowball fest and after that I just kept on going. I had more of an interest in it, and by the end of high school... beginning of college, around age 18, 19, that's when I really started trying to perform in open mic spots so, you know, that's wen I guess it got really serious, lol.
News For People: In all of your music, you basically wanna change the face of hip hop. So, when did you officially make that decision?
Heesun Lee: That was always kind of in the beginning when I started doing music. I knew from the start that I wasn't gonna be like, you know, the female artists that are out. Obviously, they have the same agenda. A lot of them are super talented. They just have the same message. They talk about the same stuff. So, that was just never on my heart to do that. I just always wanted to right about facts that had meaning, that I guesses inspiration, encourages other people that are listening. I wanted to do something that was affected. I didn't just want to rap. I wanted to have a message behind what I was saying. It was always the beginning. I never switched it up. I was always that type of artist and as i kept doing music, it got more serious. Obviously, my platform got a little bigger. The message got even deeper I guess, lol.
News For people: Knowing that you wanted to deliver a message, do you feel like you are somewhat close to the same mindset as Nas or Tupac Shakur?
Heesun Lee: Uh mean, it's so weird to compare myself to them because their completley legends and stuff, lol. Uhm, it's funny that you said Tupac because Tupac is my favorite hip hop artist of all time. Uhm, and uhh lol. yeah, uh mean, at first i like Tupac because he was cute. I loved him because he was a poet. He wrote a lot of poems, and i do that as well but I loved his mind frame, and I love how he expressed himself, and even though he was very like... he was crazy at times. He would be rapping about something like, you know, the east and the west coast, and then he would talk about women, and all this crazy stuff but then he had all these positive uplifting songs, and he would talk about life situations, and uh mean, I respected Tupac for the fact that he was himself, and he said whatever he wanted to say, and he wad passionate about it. uh mean, nobody can deny that Tupac's passionate.I feel like, that's like completely missing in hip hop right now. There's really not a lot of rappers that you can think of that have that passion anymore. They're really doing it for the fame, and for the money or whatever. As I was listening to Tupac, he inspired me so uh mean, I'm obviously not on his level at all but if I were able to get to that, you know, that would be unbelievable, lol, you know. Uh mean, I wanna leave that input on them that you're not gonna hear like Nicki or what Cardi raps about , but I'm gonna be different. That can also be my downfall because if I'm not rap that stuff that Nicki and them rap about people won't play my music or they won't book me and stuff. It is what it is. i'm not gonna make this compromise of what I do.
News For People: "One thing everybody knows about you is that your a rapper of course, but what does it mean to be a christian rapper?
Heesun Lee: I guess it kind of ties in on what your saying about like having empowering lyrics than just rapping about the same stuff you hear on the radio.That's kind of what started is that I wanted to rap about something that's meaningful, something that has a message, and it will always fall back on God because that's what I am. I'm a christian. so, when I'm gonna have messages, I'm talking about the people through my music, it's unevadable I'm gonna relate it back to Jesus and trying to help people find themselves in God, bring them to church, you know talk to them about, you know, the bible, all that stuff.To me as an artist, I don't wanna oversaturate my music with so many like christian wise and everything where it turns people off. Like I wanna be able to have music where even if you're not christian you can hear my stuff, and be able to vibe to it.You know, and just say 'wow, she's not just a christian, she's a positive artist, you know, and even though I may not be christian, I can relate to what she's saying. So, wow, maybe I should looked to more of her stuff and get to know God a little bit more. You know, that type of thing.
News For People: Another thing that everyone know about you is that you also interpret your culture as a korean/asian artist, how important is that to you to continue doing so everyone can know about you?
Heesun Lee: When I started doing music, I would say, a majority of my career, I didn't promote that at all. People I work with, the shows that I did, there was no asian around me. Hip hop obviously, you know, african american people started it, so, it's like I'm asian so obviously people see me that way, oh my gosh,'there's this asian girl and stuff, you know.' So I wanted to show people that, you know, I'm Korean, I'm from Staten Island New York but I respect the culture. I respect where originated from and I'm not trying to copy it. I'm not trying to be somebody I'm not. I was always straight forward about that. The people that I always work with they were never korean. They were never asian and I like that because I felt like I will be more authentic. It wasn't so more recently I would say within the past five years that korean hip hop is very popular now. Like, not just in korea but it's just exploding, and I kind of put two and two together, and like; yo, I'm korean, and korean music is getting very popular in this case so I'm gonna jump on that and I'm gonna try and get into that genre as well but not loose who I am but I'm just gonna draft the same stuff but just with a different audience.
So, I think it work in both areas as a korean artist, they're like; yo, oh my gosh, she's korean but she raps that's so cool. I never seen it before. I'm rapping in front of non-koran people, and they're like; oh snap, I'm breaking stereotypes because nobody looks at a korean person and thinks that their gonna be a rapper. I feel like I'm trying to kill two birds with one stone type of thing. Its's great to get more into my culture because I never really done that. It's been feeling good.
News For People: The Fact that your ep "Flying Cars" has ended up No. 14 on the iTunes chart, what does that mean to you exactly?
Heesun Lee: That meant a lot. I have a very small team that I work with. I'm an independent artist so a lot of the stuff that I push, and where i put all my stuff out is really just a couple of people who are working with me, and trying get it out there. I've been doing music for a very long time but as an independent artist and because there's like a billion rappers out there, it's very hard to make it in this industry. There's a lot of things for me, and a lot of things against me. I think tat's been against me all of my career have really stop me advancing further and where I wanna go musically so being able to see that at 14, it didn't stay that long but it was there. It reminded me that Heesun, even though you struggle, and you have a small team, it will be hard to make it out there with all the steps against you.You are able to get up to that point. So as much and I feel like people don't hear me at times, they're not supporting me, they are. I just don't sometimes always see it. It was great to know that I have more support from fans by my side. They do support what I do. They're backing me up, and hopefully as I keep doing this it will grow and it will get better, it can get further lol.
News For People: What made you to decide to name your ep "Flying Cars?"
Heesun Lee: So I'm all about putting out positive messages and trying to change the game and stuff. I wanted to do an album that was about the future ,and how we can be the future, and what we can become if we really value our future. So I wanted to rap about not just something like; Ok, so we're complaining about what's going on in society right now but what are we gonna do about it? A lot of things are getting worse now but we're just complaining. I'm not saying everybody because there are people out there trying to make a difference.
I wanted to make an ep where a lot more people can step up and say; hey, I'm gonna change, I'm gonna do this. So "Flying Cars," obviously, when we think of a flying car, we think of the future because I'm assuming in the future sometime we're gonna have cars that fly. So I wanted to just name something that was creative that represented the future, and so we named it "Flying Cars," and I have a song on it called "Delorean" which is from "Back To The Future." We kind of just try to have everything work together, and cohesive, and make sense like 'Ok, that's why she named it "Flying Cars, lol.
News For People: You speak highly of your children, and you show that you motivated just to keep going for your children, how important is it to share a message of you being a mother, and being a hip hop artist at the same time?
Heesun Lee: So I guess that also goes into why I did the album about the future, and stuff like that because I do think of my children. I want them to live in a world that is better than the world we're living in now. I have a poem on the ep about that and it's actually called "Flying cars." I'm pretty much saying that my kids and all kids of their generation are the future, and we wanna make a good future for all these upcoming kids lol. They're very important to me. obviously, all parents thinks that their kids are important to them but because I'm an artist, and I do something that's so different, I travel with my kids to my shows. I bring them everywhere. They see me on stage. My little one I don't know if she gets it yet because she's still little but she see's me out there doing something but my older one, she knows. She talks about it all the time. Se tells people in school, the teachers that her mom raps and stuff. I think Im trying to constantly send a message where it's like you can go after your dreams. You can be somebody different. You don't have to perform to what you think or what your gonna think when you get older that to be you see your mom and that's not typical and I wanna lay that foundation down for them that they can be whatever they want to be as long as their doing something good in this world. I feel like me bringing them with me all the time, and they see me doing what I'm doing it's really gonna help them, and it's gonna open their eyes, and it's gonna open up their whole life. They see something different then I guess what an average child sees.
News For People: What were some of your proudest moments of performing in major shows?
Heesun Lee: I think, I've done show where there's a lot of people. You have them cheering and their hype and stuff. That's an amazing feeling as an artist on stage. You see the audience smiling, and that's what all artists on stage wants. They want that connection with the fans. I would say like my most memorable moments being an artist on stage is getting off the stage and connecting with them after, and when you talk to them, and they tell you their stories, and they tell you how your music empower them, and affected them in a good way I think that's more important than hyping up a crowd. Uh mean, hyping up a crowd is good because your connecting with them but it's really like the testimony they tell you afterwards like after they see you perform or after they herd your album, and they come up to you, and they just let you know how much you help them because that is overall pretty much why I do this. I think those are one of my most memorable moments when I get to connect with the fans in that way.
News For People: Do you have any upcoming scheduled shows in the near future to come?
Heesun Lee: I was recently doing a lot this summer, ended in September lol, and now it kinda died down a little bit. I'm working on new music so Im hoping by the time I put some singles out it will kind of vamp up again. I have a show coming up in November in George Washington University, and it's like a big korean summit, gathering with all theses korean professionals. It's weird because I'm like a hip hop artists and I'm in a very professional setting but that's dope. I like to do something like that. Anything that comes up, I'll be sure to update it on my website so you can check it out. Once new music comes out, I hope the ball starts rolling again, lol.
News For People: Do you have at least a time frame of when your expecting to drop new music?
Heesun Lee: I'm actually dropping this like Wu-Tang where Logic did a song called "Wu-Tang Forever," and I listen to it and I'm like 'Yo this beat is crazy. It's so east coast.' So I did like a cover for that and it's gonna drop in like two weeks but it's not or anything. It's really more for social media like a little video I did just representing where I come from Shaolin Staten Island, which is where Wu-Tang is from. So it's kind of like I'm paying homage to my city and also to Wu-Tang, lol.I'm hoping I can drop a single by the end of this year.I'll definitely have one by the end of winter-springish area, lol.
News For People: Do you have any advice for young artists out there or young artists who are parents in that matter?
Heesun Lee: If you really have it in your heart you want to pursuit this, being an artist, you see the things on tv, you listen to the artist on the radio or whatever, and it just looks so great to live a life like that it's just so much more than that. It's a lot of work. It's a lot of dedication. It's a lot of sacrifice, and I'm just being very realistic. It's a lot of the times your broke, lol. You invest in your future. Anybody who wants to become an artist it's not just about going on stage and getting people hype. It's a really big and hard grind. Sometimes they do not realize that and when they do realize it they realize they don't wanna do it anymore. When you have kids it's even harder because it's just extra baggage that your carrying along with you. As much as it can be harder with kids, it's also more rewarding because your realizing that your not just doing for yourself anymore your doing it for them, and to see them so proud of you, smiling, it makes you wanna do it more. It has its good and it's bad but definitely more good. I had people say don't support me being a mother or people on social media say it's not marketable, people don't wanna see that, and I'm like... I told them this is my market. This is my brand. I'm an artist. I'm a rapper who has kids. I'm a mother who raps, and I'm a wholesome rapper, and I think lot of people wanna hear those messages.They wanna have artists they can relate with. Like if a woman is listening to hip hop, sometimes you wanna hear music that you can relate to like a mom listens to something and she's like' Wow, she's talking about life. She's talking about her struggle as a mother. tire's not a lot of messages that are helping women to be more empowered and uplifted during the hard times and stuff. I feel relatable to these fans than a Nicki Minaj and a Cardi B. I have nothing against them, lol. I'm more of an everyday person and go through what everybody can relate to, and I think in a lot of ways it can help people.
News For People: Is there anything else you would like to add?
Heesun Lee: I hope you guys continue to follow me on my journey, and if you guys are into music, think of all the things that goes with it. i do pray and hope for the best for you, and make a difference. Change the world and be different.