For RAMENGVRL and Yung Raja, deciding to work together was a no-brainer.
Having been admirers of each other's work for a long time, the hip-hop artists knew that they had to link up when the opportunity to do so presented itself in the form of 'MING LING'.
"It was no doubt that, that both of us aligned on so many levels, not just about like the style, but [also] the kind of vibe, the kind of energy, the kind of videos we like, [and] the kind of outfit especially. [There are] so many things that are quite synonymous between us," Yung Raja told Bandwagon.
Energetic, infectious, and uninhibited, the single — which was launched on 12 August — is everything one would expect from a collaboration between two of the most talked-about Southeast Asian rappers at the moment.
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Aside from being a delight to the ears, the "bravado I’m-the-sh*t" number is an important part of RAMENGVRL and Yung Raja's mission to combat stereotypes of Asian people.
"'MING LING' is, for me, one of those common Chinese names. I think it's the equivalent of the name Putri in Indonesia. Putri means princess and you know that's, ironically, my real name. So there's a certain expectation of the name Putri. Maybe you have long hair and you're like one of those good girls next door. It's kind of the same with ‘MING LING’ for me. I think it represents a certain outsider view of me," explained RAMENGVRL.
The Indonesian artist added: "We want to show teeth. We want to [say], 'Hey, man, this is us and we might not seem like what you think we are, but we [are] still f***ing dope [and] we still slay."
While 'MING LING' is not the first team-up between artists from Southeast Asia, it certainly makes a strong case for why creatives from the region should not stop seeking out opportunities to work with each other.
Writing and recording 'MING LING' quickly grew into a cultural exchange as RAMENGVRL and Yung Raja made new discoveries about each other's languages.
"I definitely learnt a few Tamil [words] here and there. I really appreciated that Raja put this translation literally next to each Tamil word [when he submitted his lyrics]," recounted RAMENGVRL.
"I was just like, 'Oh man, I didn't put any like English translations to my Indo words. I'm lazy huh!' It be like that," she joked.
The product of that exchange is a multilingual track — with lyrics in English, Mandarin, Tamil, and Bahasa Indonesia — that flows as smoothly as the process that led to its birth.
Yung Raja shared that blending the different languages was something that happened naturally: "Ramen is from Indonesia, I'm from Singapore. She mixes Bahasa with English, and I mix Tamil with English. We're all still connected at the core as Southeast Asian artists, right? So when we bring our flavours and our cultures together, there's no real difference because it all gels together because we represent our cultures and languages and our ethnicities and backgrounds seamlessly already."
He added that the goal was to find a way to create a piece of work that was "bigger" than the two of them.
Once work on the track was complete, RAMENGVRL and Yung Raja took to a different medium to continue paying homage to Asia. Entertaining, offbeat, and chock-full of references to the region and its pop culture, the music video for 'MING LING' is the perfect visual supplement to the memorable number.
RAMENGVRL explained the music video's concept: "I felt like noodles is just a big part of Asian culture. I felt that the music video had to have noodles in [that] it had to be a central part [of the story]. But Drea (director Andrea Wijaya) took it to the next level [and] turned it into this whole like noodle mafia storyline where me and Raja were being chased by [the] noodle mafia because we had the goods."
With a visual style that is influenced by crime films from Hong Kong, the video is also a treat for cinephiles.
"I'm pretty sure you guys have seen the screenshot of Chow Yun Fatt with the cash and with the cigar and everything. But yeah, that movie. Basically, Hong Kong mafia movies, said RAMENGVRL.
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Through 'MING LING', the rappers hope to show the world the real Southeast Asia and give it a glimpse of what the region's hip-hop artists have to offer.
RAMENGVRL shared: "Everybody knows that Asian hip-hop is rising. Everybody knows it's been on the map for quite some time. But when people talk about Asian hip-hop, it's, it's usually only a certain subdivision [of it].
"There are a lot of like other artists in Southeast Asia but people still do not know about [them] yet. And I think that's what we kind of bring forward. I think this track, as well as with any other tracks from Southeast Asia, is a build-up to that (Southeast Asian acts gaining more recognition)," she added.
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