"No Risk Involved" from 20-year-old Vietnamese-Chinese Canadian artist Nilo Blues is the definition of the "stay on your side" mentality. As an Asian living in Canada, he would prefer outsiders not meddling with Asian culture in a disingenuous way. And for those who have created a box for Asians to exist within, whether that's submissive behavior for men or a fetishization of women, Blues is taking a sledgehammer to those walls. All of this is rapped over a distorted punk guitar riff.
Director angelicamilash plays off the way some men view Asian women by setting up an auction where caricature representations of the anime fan and lady in red are sold to the highest bidder.
In an email, Nilo Blues spoke on some optimism for the future: "Mindsets are opening and I'm happy to see us making progress as a community and our stories being heard. Shout out to the legend Awkwafina for being the first Asian woman in Golden Globe history to win Best Actress. Shout out to Simu Liu for being the coolest fucking Asian dude I’ve ever seen on TV. Shout out to every Asian artist sharing authentic stories and creating genuine work.”
Look out for a new EP from Nilo Blues this summer.
Photo: Alimzhan-Alan-Sabir