This Week On Billboard: Far East Movement f. The Cataracs & Dev

This Week On Billboard is where I unabashedly critique the current no. 1 hit on Billboard.com, the major yardstick for what's "hot" in music today. In order to simplify the review for those who don't want to read the whole article, each song is given a "!" rating, in which the finest grabs five of them. It's been gone for a while, now it's back after a 22-month hiatus.

A review of this week's number one single right after you, Far East Movement, The Cataracts, and Dev get slizzard






There had been artists with Asian heritage that reached the top of the Billboard charts in the past: the Black Eyed Peas with Filipino Apl.de.Ap as a member has three no. 1 hits; TLC with half-indian Chilli has four; Ne-Yo, Jay Sean, and Bruno Mars, who incidentally had last week’s no. 1 hit, all have some Asian blood in them and all had runs as Billboard’s best. However, none of them—Black Eyed Peas excepted because Apl is relegated to being a mascot of the group at this point of his career—wear their Asian-ness on their sleeve quite like Far East Movement. I mean, they named themselves Far East Movement after all. And me being Asian, I can’t help but feel some sort of pride in this achievement.

However, Far East Movement is really only Asian by genealogy, and not by culture. The members of the group represent different generations of Korean, Chinese, Japanese, and Filipino ancestry, but they were all born in Los Angeles and grew up in Korea Town. You can’t really hear any Asian influences in “Like A G6”, not even anything that resembles the somewhat Westernized, current Asian pop landscape, which is governed by Korean pop acts like The Wonder Girls or 2NE1 or Japanese pop stars like Namie Amuro or Hikaru Utada. “Like A G6” is more inspired by the Ke$ha, LMFAO, “Boom Boom Pow” drunk-in-the-club post-booty bass genre that’s been populating radio lately. It would be wonderful if someone from my side of the world snuck into the charts and garnered enough popularity to go no. 1, sort of like what Punjabi MC accomplished with “Mundian To Bach Ke” which reached the top of the charts in other countries but only climbed as high as 33 in Billboard. Nevertheless, I’m still happy that Far East Movement made it.

But I have to put my pride aside, and actually find reasons to praise the single other than it’s performed by a group of Asians; frankly, doing that would be a little racist. You don’t expect a white guy to praise a song simply because the artist is of French and Danish descent. Luckily, “Like A G6” has tons of highlights to compliment that have nothing to do with Far East Movement’s race. The beat, produced by The Cataracs, is sparse yet booming. It’s hissing hi-hats, synthesized handclaps, and glossy bass stomp all mixed in a gleeful electro concoction. Without even knowing it, you’ll be moving to this. It’s impossible to deny this, so don’t even try.

It helps that “Like A G6” doesn’t pretend to be anything more than dumb party music, and all it intends to do is to rouse drunks who are easily roused to begin with. Dev makes this a club anthem all by herself. She’s not classified as a terrific singer in the conventional sense, but she demonstrates that you don’t have to have the best voice to lead a party. I’m assuming that it’s her, and not the acidic production or the various mentions of alcoholic drinks o, that’s effectively connecting with the masses. Are you a little tone deaf? Not a problem. Dev only really uses one note in the chorus—two if you we’re being generous—so “get slizzered” and “feel so fly like a G6” and yell it out as loud as you can. Unabashed swag is what a night out should be like anyway, and Dev exemplifies that.

(t5!) score: !!!!!