{"id":57454,"date":"2019-02-02T03:53:45","date_gmt":"2019-02-02T03:53:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mixedracestudies.org\/?p=57454"},"modified":"2019-02-02T04:56:59","modified_gmt":"2019-02-02T04:56:59","slug":"jhene-aiko-and-the-problem-of-multiracial-self-representation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/?p=57454","title":{"rendered":"Jhen\u00e9 Aiko and the Problem of Multiracial Self-Representation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jhen\u00e9 Aiko and the Problem of Multiracial Self-Representation<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Hapa Music is Black and Brown<\/a>
\nDiscover Nikkei<\/a>
\n2019-01-29<\/p>\n

Sonia C. Gomez<\/strong><\/a>, Postdoctoral Fellow
\nMahindra Humanities Center<\/em>
\nHarvard University<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>
\nJhen\u00e9 Aiko<\/a>. Photo courtesy of The come Up Show.<\/em><\/small><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

At the 2018 VH1<\/a> Mother\u2019s Day music tribute concert titled, Dear Mama: A Love Letter to Moms<\/em><\/a>, Grammy nominated<\/a> singer and songwriter Jhen\u00e9 Aiko<\/a> recited this poem<\/a> she wrote for her mother, Christina Yamamoto<\/a>, a woman of African American and Japanese ancestry:<\/p>\n

\u201cI found another grey hair today but I was not bothered at all. I feel like I earned it. I\u2019m better, I\u2019m wiser, I\u2019m leveling up overall. I am becoming my mother, my beautiful mother, who taught me with age, comes might. I’m becoming my mother, my beautiful mother, she is love in the flesh, what a sight.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Afterwards, Aiko and her young daughter, Namiko Love, serenaded the audience<\/a> with an original song Aiko wrote titled, Sing to Me<\/em><\/a>. The performance was a touching display of affection between three generations of women, and as such, offers an opportunity to reflect on the role Aiko\u2019s mother\u2019s racial heritage has played in Aiko\u2019s musical career. After all, she is her mother\u2019s daughter.<\/p>\n