There is a video interview on YouTube from the 88Rising channel released in 2017 where various American rappers reacted to the song “Made in China” by the Higher Brothers and the one thing that all the rappers mentioned that even though they couldn’t understand the lyrics, they appreciated that the Higher Brothers brought their own twist to hip hop lyrically and sound wise and that the hip hop scene in Asia is the next thing to blow up. A clear-cut example of this is at the 2:45 mark in the video, rap artist Smino says, “I appreciate that, my culture, our culture, reaches so f*cking far, all the way around the world bruh.” In most of the artists eyes the Higher Brothers not trying to fit into the culture, but instead taking it and adding their own twist through their sound, lyrics and image, just like Eminem did when he first started his career.
Rap has always been a way of self-expression since the day it was created in The Bronx, New York. It seems that to be successful in such a large and upcoming industry you need to be new and different to stand out, but also draw from the past so that you can build and create a brighter future. Artists such as the Higher Brothers have been able to have this opportunity because of Eminem’s career and all of the negativity he had to face as a white rapper in a predominantly black culture.