Awich has been called the Queen of Japanese Hip Hop, but soon that title might be expanding to Asian and beyond. She did what no other rapper could do and got four other major stars on one track for ‘Asian State of Mind.’ LiFTED Caught up with Awich to discuss MaSiWei, Jay Park, KR$NA, and VannDa, who she would marry or date out of that crew, females who should be on the remix, and what she’s learned from RZA producing her album, which will be out in the summer.

Tell us a little bit about the reaction to the ‘ASIAN STATE OF MIND’ so far. Was it what you were thinking would happen before it came out? What has surprised you?

I definitely knew it was gonna be big because I gathered all the superstars of each country, but I was still nervous because it was something that had never been done before. I was still nervous about the language barriers. What surprised me was that people really cared for the concept and they valued how we prepared six different subtitles. For the Japanese audience, we created an MMA fight intro to explain how special these people are. Even if you don’t know who they are, now you know.

What surprised me was people embraced the song more than I expected, especially Japanese people. Even if it didn’t do well in Japan, I knew it would make noise in the rest of the world. But it did make noise in Japan and all the hard work paid off.

You’ve picked MaSiWei, Jay Park, KR$NA, and VannDa for your single ‘ASIAN STATE OF MIND.’ Why did you pick each one?

I picked them because they are my friends. It’s not like I didn’t know them and we thought for this particular project they would be a good fit. No. We always talked about how we Asians need to stick together. We always exchange info. We hang out. We visit each other's neighborhoods and things like that.

They are my friends and we’ve been talking about the Asian state of mind. When I finally got the track from Diego Ave in LA, the hook came to mind, “What you do it for?” and that was perfect for talking about our purpose, who we are, and where we come from. I called up everybody and said it was time.

Were there any other MCs that didn’t make the song that might be on the remix?

Yeah. I’m asking everybody. I know some people but I’m trying to get info from everyone.

Along those lines, if you could do a remix of the song with the baddest women in Asian Hip Hop, who would you choose?

Camo from Korea. Lil Cherry. MILLI from Thailand. A lot of Korean rappers, like Jessi. RAMENGVRL. Suboi. I just got info on a girl from Malaysia. Lil Asian Thicc. She’s dope.

What challenges did you encounter in coordinating and producing a project involving artists from various cultural backgrounds, and how did you overcome them?

It took a year to do because everybody was busy and we needed to shoot the video before it dropped. So shooting the video was a pain. I wanted everybody to be in one spot but it didn’t happen so I went to every country. I got to spend time and work with them in their environment.

My dream is for all of them to be in one spot one day. All five of us are on one stage. And we just stand there like the f*cking Avengers. Someone call Rolling Loud.

And the final question, we’re going to play marry, kill, date. Out of the people on your single, who would you marry? Who would you kill? Who would you date?

I would marry VannDa because he’s a gentleman. We share a similar view on the spiritual world. He always prays before a show and I do that as well. He also pays homage to the ancestors all the time. His team took me to pay respect to the country’s spirit. That’s something I would do if somebody came to Okinawa. So our connection to nature and the spiritual and ancestral world is very similar. That would go a long way if you are married.

Kill no way. That’s not fair. I’m not killing any of them.

Date? I think MaSiWei. He’s very fashionable. Swaggy. He knows how to have fun. He liked to drink. He likes to go out. He’s got a nice studio with a lot of liquor and shiny toys. He might not be a suitable husband, but he’d be fun to have fun with.

We saw that RZA is producing your album. Is there a date on that? What is something you have learned from RZA?

Album is coming out in June or July. What I’ve learned from him is to be true to your heart. In the Beats commercial, he says you have to listen to your heart. How does this beat feel? How do these words feel? Be true to that. Be able to articulate what it is that you like and what it is that you don’t like. What are the things that you want? Know yourself. Know what you want. That’s what he enforced in me that I probably knew before. I knew that from being married to a Five-Percenter. Their number one thing is knowledge of self. Ever since my marriage, I’ve been true to that. And RZA was like stay true to that. You’re not wrong about that.