1. Where are you from? How was your upbringing?
My family escaped the Khmer Rouge regime and found a safe spot where I was born, in a refugee camp in Thailand, and then we moved to America in 1989 when I was still a baby.
My upbringing started rough. My parents raised my sister and I in the Tenderloin. It’s compared to Skid Row and it doesn’t have the greatest reputation, but it raised me to become a wiser than normal person. Since Asian gang violence was big in the 90’s, I went outside the Tenderloin and found myself making friends with everyone else, staying away from Asian gangs.
If it wasn’t for music, I think I would be gang banging, selling drugs, or doing god knows what. It doesn’t mean I wasn’t mixed in the dirt but it wasn’t easy growing up there. My parents are still there, waiting for me to get them out one day. I will.
What really saved my life growing up was music, sports, and being forced to volunteer at church. My sister and I grew up listening to Tupac, Timbaland, Naughty By Nature, The Fugees, Boyz II Men, Lauryn Hill, and so many more Hip-Hop and R&B artists that helped with us cope with the outside world. I looked for artists that I was able to connect with.
2. How did you begin making music?
I tried making music several times growing up since my church had a band but it never really came to fruition. When I was 14, my friend, DJ Frisko Eddy and I started a DJ group called “The Untouchablez” with 2 other people at Horizon Youth Center in the Mission District. That’s when I learned how to scratch and mix, but I stopped because I needed to get a “real job.” Things were always getting in the way, but I found creative ways to keep myself in the music scene like promoting for clubs, connecting talent, and managing local artists.
I never really started making music until just recently last year, when my long-term girlfriend and I broke up. It was the worst breakup that I ever had because of what I gave up to be in that relationship. But…it brought me back to music. Maybe, music is my first love but I never paid that much attention to it before. It’s like a memory that I’m feeling again, a familiar nostalgic feeling of love.
3. How did you get your rap name?
I don’t think it’s a rap name. I chose Crossed The Golden Gate because my family flew over and crossed the Golden Gate Bridge when we immigrated to America. I don’t think I rap like that.
4. How would you describe your musical style?
I don’t know yet. All I know is that I wrote poetry and spoken word my entire life, and it comes out like that in my songs.
5. Tell me about “Own Nothing”.
My parents and I had never owned anything in our lives. I watched my parents help other families get what they wanted by helping them with their bills and mortgage, but I had never seen my parents help themselves.
I’m sitting on major debt and student loans right now and it’s only because I never had support. My parents couldn’t support me and my sister had to help me out a bit, but she was also struggling. My parents sacrificed so much for us and their relatives that it became normal for them. So, it’s a deeper meaning to “Own Nothing” than people think. Owning anything on Earth is not appealing for me anymore since we really never owned anything. I die without it anyway, so why even care?
6. What inspired you to create Own Nothing?
The struggle of my parents and my upbringing that I couldn’t tell anyone about.
7. How is it different than previous drops?
My first drop was a fun dance song, so this is really my first project that I dropped.
8. Is it part of a project? If so, can you tell me more about that?
I am the project.
9. What message do you want fans to walk away with after listening to “Own Nothing”?
Be a friend.
I want people to know that people aren’t what they seem and everyone is struggling. You just don’t know what they are struggling with. Stay curious but don’t judge a human just because you had issues with your projections. Just ask them how they’re doing. It’s not hard. We are all healing here.
10. What’s next?
I’m already working on a new album, but it’s going to be different from “Own Nothing.” It’s going to be my enlightenment album so who knows what that means once it’s finished.
11. Is there anything else you want to say?
I know there are a lot of artists out there claiming they’re great or popular, but I’m not chasing any of that. I know that I’m not the greatest. I know that I’m not rich or famous. All I know is that I tell the truth in my songs.
But.. If I can change one life, then I think I succeeded in music. I’m not here for the shiny things. I wish I could say that I’m doing God’s work, but I would be living in vain if I said that. Everyone is here to do God’s work. I just want to be aware of the impact of my work for God.