Singer and RAPtivist (a colloquial for rap activist) Aisha Fukushima is also the founder of RAPtivism (Rap Activism), a global hip-hop project that provides a platform for change and a voice for the suppressed. The California-based singer, who recently released an EP, titled The Cypher, is currently in Nepal for the Earthquake Commemoration Concert, that took place on April 23. The artist will in the coming weeks be performing at different venues in the Capital and Pokhara. The Post’s Marissa Taylor caught up with her to talk about music, her projects, and her two-week stay in Nepal. Excerpts:

Can you tell us a bit about your music?

I think my music comes from a place of love and compassion, and more importantly justice; justice that is rooted in love and how we treat each other to respect each other’s humanity. Through my music, I hope to build bridges that can help us work together, because oftentimes conflict and wars pull people apart. My music is really about bringing people together and showing how powerful we can be when we work together. 

How did you start your career as a musician?

My parents were booking agents in the music industry; so from a very young age I was surrounded by artists, mainly American artists like James Brown, Funkadelic, George Clinton and the like. I was listening to all their music and was witnessing how music could move people and give them hope, even moving them to action. My love for music started with listening. 

It was in elementary school that I started singing. I was always listening to music but was not pursuing it as a career yet. My mum, who was working at a lot of jobs then, signed me up for musicals after school. When I sang for the first time to an audience, I felt something bubble up inside me: I found a sense of purpose that I knew I needed to follow. 

Can you tell us a bit about the Earthquake Commemoration Concert?

The main objective of the concert is to promote youth engagement and empowerment. It is about remembering the earthquake and also about remembering all the people who have come forward to somehow make a difference in such a challenging time. I think it is also to give hope. Everyone needs hope and inspiration to stand together and work together. At the end of the day, it is a small world; it is all about solidarity building and recognising that we all need to work together.

What are your other plans in Nepal for the next two weeks?

We’ll be performing at several venues at Kathmandu and Pokhara in the upcoming two weeks, every day. We will also be focused on our workshops for which we will be meeting with different schools, like the Nepal Breakdance Foundation; different non-profits; and basically young artists who are interested in hip-hop and American culture and history. We will be tracing the history of hip-hop and Raptivism, which could help address some of the problems the youth of Nepal are facing right now. Most importantly, we’re going to make some music together while we are here. 

What does Raptivism entails?

I started Raptivism in 2009. When I was in high school, I faced a lot of racial, gender and class discrimination—these were things happening in my hometown Bellevue, as in the rest of the world. I wanted to do something about it. It did upset and angered me, but I wanted to channel all that energy into something positive that would bring about change. I believed then that we needed more education, more dialogue to change the discrimination that was prevailing. 

I could see then that art was a way of reaching out to people. When I started writing poems in school about what was going on, I realised the power of words. Conversations often triggered people to be defensive, whereas poems often drew in sympathy and connected people. This realisation kind of made me see that art and social justice could be related. I started my first project when I was 15 years old. I got my community to do free workshops in arts, crafts, and issues that were prevailing in society like gender equality, class, racial discrimination, et cetera. This evolved into Raptivism over the years.

When I was in France, as part of a scholarship student programme, I was amazed at the presence of the hip-hop community there. People took to rap to talk about things all around the world, and it made me see that there are different standards of hip-hop all over the world. That is how I dreamed of doing my Raptivism project: to make people listen to each other’s music and be aware of each other’s movements, and use this platform to unite everyone.

How do you think music plays a role in bringing people together?

I think music has always been at the core of many social movements around the world. I think it is a crucial tool, although not the only one, to bring about change. 

What keeps you motivated to keep doing what you do? 

I think what keeps me motivated is all the change that we are responsible in bringing. We have a responsibility towards society in bringing about positive change and that is what keeps me going, in addition to the music, of course.