Filipino-American Art includes art and music forms done by Filipino Americans. It has been growing in number in 2016. Filipino Americans are starting to be known for art, singing and even dancing. As we go back in history like Americans, Filipinos have been using the form of art to express themselves, to tell a story about their ancestors, to give a voice to those who feel like they do not have a voice or the right to speak up. Filipino American Artist also uses all types of art to have this sense of belonging and identity. Going back to history the Philippines was taken over by America and Spain, and since then some believe they do not know who they exactly are. Filipino Americans struggle to find their own identity, because like all Asian Americans they are looked down upon because there would be people who categorize them as only “Filipino” but there are other people who can also categorize them as only "American". This stigma results in identity loss, not being able to know where you belong and how to fit in. But with the help of different forms of art it gives the opportunity for Filipino Americans to be in touch with their Filipino roots as well as their American roots.
Filipino-American identity and hip hop
For many years hip hop has been an outlet for anyone who felt like they needed to express themselves or a calling to those who have felt oppressed. Filipino Americans throughout history have always been at some sort of identity crisis. “If this history is not remembered or associated with the experiences of Filipino Americans today, the colonizers’ historical records favor U.S. exceptionalism by not recognizing a pattern of white supremacy and imperialism.” (Bischoff) He explains that throughout history all we learn about is American history, and African American history etc. but you really do not see a huge chunk of Filipino American history. We do not hear about how America took over the Philippines, or how Spain and America worked together to fool the Philippines. Even education was not up to the Filipinos, America sent people to teach Filipinos the history of the Americans. So it is not a huge surprise when Filipinos migrate to the United States where they do not know who they are.
Hip hop plays a huge role into this identity crisis. Young Filipino Americans are affected mostly because of this because of all the racial comments they get from people. Hip-Hop has been put out there originating from African Americans rapping about how they were oppressed, or how they have been segregated for too long. Filipino Americans also used this as an outlet to talk about their issues with society. In the book "Writer in Exile/Writer in Revolt: Critical Perspectives on Carlos Bulosan" Viola talks about how Hip-Hop in general talks about the movements that has been made, it replicates the feelings that people had, how strongly they felt about what mattered to them the most. Hip-Hop is this form of expression that put what people wanted to fight for in a form of expression where everybody and anybody could listen to it. Filipino Americans also used Hip-hop to talk about how they are present now, that we are not the same as every Asian American, there are many different races and ethnicities and we have different backgrounds, different cultures than the different races.