Chengdu’s Higher Brothers are China’s biggest-profile rap group. They dab, wear Supreme, and rap over trap beats just like most young American famous rappers, but they aren’t lyrically bustin’ any joogs, totin’ any sticks, or sippin' any mud—the affect is Migos, the content Macklemore. Asian hiphop has been poised to go worldwide ever since Korean MC Keith Ape blew off the doors with 2015’s “It G Ma”—but the cultural conversation at the heart of all this is still fraught. On one side there are Asian rappers with dreads or ones calling themselves “Rich Chigga,” and on the other side there is Black American rappers’ rampant fetishization of Asian women, unrelenting anime references, and, occasionally, freely flying slurs. So, hiphop once presumed that young whites bumping Ice-T would end racism here—we saw how that worked out. Will it be mutually assured exploitation or a chance to grow? by Larry Mizell Jr.