User:Steff10o3/sandbox

Early Life
Chops and his family never stayed in a certain location for a long time. They were constantly moving from place to place which caused Chops to have short term relationships. Though he did not have long time relationships with his friends he did share a common interest with his brother; making music. Chops passion for making beats began with his friend from high school. His friend took to school a device that transformed Chop’s life forever. It was a drum machine and Chops began to copy beats from his favorite song, “Walk this way” by Run DMC. Ever since Chops got his hands on that device he couldn’t stop, making beats was his life. Since his family was constantly on the move he had one thing that wouldn’t change; music, so his mother bought him an electric keyboard and his brother a guitar. Chops always was supported by his family; his mother and brother. “My brother has a band and I do mostly key.” Chops enrolled in many music courses while attending Penn State but did not major in music. His parents did not want him to major in music because they thought it was not a stable career.

Mountain Brothers
Mountain Brothers which includes Chops; Scott Young, Peril-L; Christopher Wang, and Styles Infinite; Steve Wei. All who met while attending Penn State and being neighbors because they all lived in the same dorms. They all shared a common interests; making music which is how they became friends. At Penn State there was an electronic music lab in which they took advantage of by using it as their recording studio. With a recording studio in their hands they began their band by creating demos. Mountain Brother’s goal was to get signed to a major label so their music can be known nationwide. Their method was to send their demos to a variety of music labels; somewhat anonymously. Chops stated, “We didn’t want people to prejudge based on us being Asian so we would send a demo and a letter saying, ‘We have a picture, but it doesn’t matter what we look like if you don’t like our music.’ People that knew music, it was their job to like music, so they loved our music and then we sent them our picture; their mind was blown!”

Strength in Numbers
After the Mountain Brothers went their own ways Chops still produced music. Chops’ passion is and always will be music so he decided to continue to pursue it. Chops became a father and started to question how he can contribute to the world in order for it to better for his daughter; societal norms. Which is what lead to Chops’ creation of the album; Strength in Numbers, which consists of a collaboration with talented Asian American artists and himself. Strength in Numbers was completed over a period of two years; started in 2011. Chops wanted this album to be a mixture with himself (producer) and artists to create a great album composed of pure Asian American artists that had great talent. The birth of this album was because Chops wanted people to dismantle the stereotypes and let the music speak for itself instead of the way the artists’ looks. Chops as other Asian American artists have been prejudged that they are not capable of creating great music because of their ethnicity. Mainstream media does not have many Asian American rappers so Chops believes that this album is a way for everybody to listen that Asian Americans; as any other race, has the talent and should be acknowledged. Chops album Strength in Numbers consists with over thirty artists. When Chops was is in the Mountain Brothers; they would step on stage and everybody would assume their music would not be good, but after they performed everybody was amazed of their talents. “I remember this one guy connected with a big label that said, ‘You know what ya should do? Wear karate suits and hit gongs, ya know what I mean? Stuff like that, stuff with yo culture.’ I was born in New Jersey man.”