Canadian-born Hong Kong actor and musician Edison Chen came to USC on Friday to speak to students for an AAPI Heritage Month event hosted by USC’s Asian Pacific American Student Services (APASS).
The L.A.-based artist got his start doing commercials in 1999, but would later appear in several movies, television shows and even a video game. His first film was Takashi Miike’s “Dead or Alive 2: Birds,” and later achieved acclaim with the “Infernal Affairs” trilogy, “Initial D” and his cameo in “The Dark Knight.”
He also created a global fashion brand named CLOT in 2003, which has collaborated with major brands like Adidas, Nike and Disney.
Throughout these endeavors, Chen released music from 2000 until 2018. Primarily a rapper who performed in Cantonese and Mandarin, he has recently begun working on a new album that will debut entirely in English.
He hosted a private listening session with a group of USC students where he played his latest iterations of the upcoming songs. Although he has experimented with translating some of the English lyrics to Chinese, Chen mentions the difficulty in conveying the same depth of emotions and ideas.
“I write English super duper easy,” Chen said in an interview with Annenberg Media. “My first few rap albums were written by other people, so I had to learn it. I’m still learning it. So, my expressive range is much wider in English than in Chinese.”
He hopes that this potential album can also serve as a “time capsule” for his daughter to listen to when she is older.
Chen came to USC because he is looking to break into the Western music scene and wanted feedback from young people who understand him as a Chinese artist to provide sincere feedback on the early development of these new tracks. He explained that he is always finding ways to take what he learns from others and incorporate it into his artistic expression, including people like students.
“Right after COVID, I went back to China and I saw a lot of the youth and I saw the kids, and I made it a point to go and meet the youngest rappers, the producers, the photographers and everything,” Chen said to Annenberg Media. “I was amazed… so when I came back to America because I live here with my family, I thought ‘I need to talk to these guys too, because in my mind, they were the same people, but we have maybe been given a different perspective.”
After the listening session, Chen appeared in a public meet-and-greet event where students met with the artist for a photo. CLOT collaborated with USC for an exclusive line of clothing featuring both brands. Fans had the opportunity to have Chen sign their merchandise while they snapped pictures together at the USC Bookstore. All proceeds from the event would be used to benefit APASS.
Being an artist of many expressive mediums, from acting on screen, recording new tracks and designing new clothes, Chen says the best way to approach creativity is to be authentic.
“It’s unfiltered,” he said to Annenberg Media. “There’s no lens, I don’t have a manager, I don’t have a music producer, I don’t have a boss behind me saying ‘Hey, this is what you should do, what you should wear,’ and I think that it’s a rare thing, especially in Asian entertainment.”
In connecting with students and supporting groups like APASS, Chen shared the message he hopes to impart on the next generation.
“Have a reason, have a purpose to do something, don’t do something just to do something,” Chen said to Annenberg Media. “I’m talking about purpose in life, of why we’re here, and everyone has to find their own purpose… It’s not really what university you go to, it’s not what job you have, it’s what you’re here for. Like, right now, my purpose in life is to be the best father that I can for my daughter, sure I’m still doing music and I’m doing all these other things, but that trumps everything, and I wake up at 5 a.m. and I’m making breakfast for her and I don’t feel bad at all.”
In the meantime, between his personal life and balancing a multifaceted career, Chen hopes to continue inspiring others through his art and values.