“When you start your music video with a parody of hip-hop culture, caricaturing black people, it’s not gonna go over well,” said Salima Koroma, director of Bad Rap, a documentary about Asian-American rappers.

Imanuel says: “There were a lot of people that I feel like didn’t even want to listen to the music just because of the name.”

Today, the 20-year-old goes by the name Rich Brian and is showing that he not only has a genuine love for hip-hop culture, but also that he belongs.

He became the first Asian rapper to top the iTunes hip-hop chart in 2018 with his album Amen, with guest appearances by the likes of Offset and others, and with last year’s Sailor, collaborated with RZA and other key names in hip-hop.

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This month, he released a new song, Bali, and is hoping to grow his momentum, though planned performances at major festivals like Coachella have been put on hold after concerts were shut down because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“I’m very inspired by [hip-hop] and this is what makes me happy,” he says during an interview in Los Angeles. “I listened to hip-hop so much … I feel like that as long as you pay homage to it and as long as you respect it, it’s cool to show that appreciation.”

Since his first viral hit in 2016, Imanuel has racked up billions of views on YouTube, and released two studio albums. Sailor debuted at the No 62 spot on the Billboard 200 albums chart last year.

Imanuel isn’t huge in the United States, but he’s making inroads. He spends a lot of time in Los Angeles, thanks to Sean Miyashiro, the founder of the Asian-centric label 88rising. The Los Angeles native flew Imanuel to the United States, getting permission from the rapper’s parents, after seeing Dat $tick and becoming mesmerised.

“The look was crazy. And he could rap,” says Miyashiro, a former concert promoter. But Miyashiro knew Imanuel had several obstacles to finding success in North America, chief among them his problematic stage name and the claims of cultural appropriation that dogged him.

He is not the only Asian star to face such accusations – K-pop acts such as BigBang and Chinese artist Kris Wu have also been accused of cultural appropriation.Even Awkwafina, the Asian-American star who started off as a rapper before finding success as an actress in Crazy Rich Asians and last year’s acclaimed film The Farewell , has been criticised for speaking in “blaccent” and acting with exaggerated mannerisms that some feel play to black stereotypes.

Hip-hop has been exported all over the world, from Bollywood film to K-pop songs. But Koroma says “hip-hop culture, and by way of association, black culture” often get effaced and misrepresented.

Miyashiro says: “A lot of Asian rappers do appropriate, to be honest. And there’s a lot of appropriation in back and forth.”

Miyashiro says virtually anyone anywhere can be inspired by hip-hop, but the key is to respect and appreciate the history and message of hip hop. To that end, Imanuel changed his name in 2018 to Rich Brian and apologised for past mistakes on social media.

The growth was made clear on last year’s Sailor. Imanuel called it his “personal journey” – with stories of his move across the continent and life away from home.

One of his songs, Kids, is an ode to people like himself “who immigrated and left their countries to pursue something better”.

“I feel like I would have been too scared to do it. But at the time, I don’t remember being scared,” Imanuel says as he recounted his experience of coming to America without his family. “My dream was just like so big. And I was just following this huge dream so I didn’t have time to be scared.”

Imanuel, who has collaborated with artists ranging from K-pop stars to Chinese and American rappers, says his goal was to focus on the unique side of himself and inspire others to do the same.

His message is already engraved on Kids: “Tell these Asian kids they could do what they want. Might steal that mic at the Grammys just to say we won. That everyone can make it, don’t matter where you from.”

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Indonesian rapper moves past anger to wide acceptance

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