ghhs 1 (1) pp. 13–23 Intellect Limited 2020
global hip hop studies
Volume 1 Number 1
© 2020 Intellect Ltd Article. English language. https:
doi.org/10.1386/ghhs_00002_1
www.intellectbooks.com 13
Received 22 September 2019; Accepted 1 Fe
uary 2020
ABSTRACT
Ba
er culture frequently intersects with hip hop. Ba
ershops often incorporate
ap music, street wear apparel and popular culture into their daily environment.
In tandem, an important part of hip hop culture is the haircuts and designs that
people choose to get. Many Filipino-Americans across the United States utilize
a
er and hip hop culture to help create their own unique sense of identity – a
sense of identity forged in the fires of diaspora and postcolonial oppression. In
this first instalment of the GHHS ‘Show and Prove’ section – short essays on
hip hop visual culture, arts and images – I illustrate the ways in which Filipino-
Americans in San Diego use ba
er shops both as a means of entrepreneurialism
and as a conduit to create a cultural identity that incorporates hip hop with their
own histories of migration and marginalization. I interview Filipino-American
entrepreneur Marc Canonizado, who opened his first San Diego-based business,
Goodfellas Ba
ershop Shave Parlor, in 2014. We explore the complex linkages
etween ba
ershops, Filipino-Americans and hip hop culture, as well as discuss
his life story and plans for the future.
KEYWORDS
a
ers
a
ershops
Filipino-Americans
haircuts
hip hop
San Diego
CHRISTOPHER VITO
southwestern College
Shop talk: The influence of
hip hop on Filipino–American
a
ers in San Diego
ghhs
Global Hip Hop Studies
Intellect
https:
doi.org/10.1386/ghhs_00002_1
1
1
13
23
© 2020 Intellect Ltd
2020
ARTICLEs
https:
doi.org/10.1386/ghhs_00002_1
Christopher Vito
14 global hip hop studies
Imagine opening up your first ba
ershop in the heart of San Diego. With
fresh paint on the walls, five
and new chairs complete with fully equipped
workstations and a sleek designer logo, you are ready to do a grand open-
ing for your family and friends. During the gathering, a fellow ba
er spots
the famous battle rapper, Supernatural, at a nea
y store. You frantically try
to catch him to show your appreciation for his work and contributions to
the game, all while trying to promote your newly opened shop. Supernatural
walks into the family event, and even proceeds to bless the cele
ation with a
freestyle shouting out the local business.
I still recall when Marc Canonizado, a Filipino-American ba
er and
co-owner of Goodfellas Ba
ershop Shave Parlor, texted me immediately after
his ‘family and friends grand opening’ describing how ecstatic he was to have
Supernatural stop by. To this day, he cites it as one of the greatest moments in
his career.
The next time I was in the chair getting a fresh fade from Marc, his expe-
ience with Supernatural reignited our long-lasting conversation about how
haircuts and hip hop have tremendously shaped who we are today.
HAIRCUTS AND HIP HOP
Ba
er culture frequently intersects with hip hop. Ba
ershops often incorpo-
ate rap music, street wear apparel and popular culture into their daily envi-
onment. Conversely, an important part of hip hop culture is the haircuts and
designs that people choose to get. Alexander XXXXXXXXXXhighlights these intersec-
tions by conceptualizing ba
ershops as a space of cultural cu
ency, or cultural
communities where information such as music and cu
ent events can be
shared and relationships can be created. As just one notable example, HBO’s
2018 series The Shop features Le
on James alongside guest stars discussing
social and cultural issues in sports and entertainment as they receive haircuts.
Ba
ershop culture first garnered mainstream popularity in the United States
with the Ba
ershop film franchise XXXXXXXXXXIt featured an ensemble cast includ-
ing Ice Cube, Cedric the Entertainer, Anthony Anderson and Eve. Mukherjee
(2006) contends that the film series is a reflection of the ‘ghetto fabulous
aesthetic’ of hip hop culture, which emphasizes the success of the black entre-
preneur but simultaneously critiques the hegemonic discourses of neo-liberal
capitalism. While much of the literature and mainstream media focus on black
a
ershop culture, you can similarly find many Filipino-Americans across the
United States who also utilize ba
er and hip hop culture to help create their
own unique sense of identity – a sense of identity forged, like that of African
American communities, in the fires of diaspora and postcolonial oppression.
Similar to Mukherjee (2006), in this first instalment of the GHHS ‘Show
and Prove’ section – short essays on hip hop visual culture, arts and images – I
illustrate the ways in which Filipino-Americans in San Diego use ba
er shops
oth as a means of entrepreneurialism and as a conduit to creating a cultural
identity that incorporates hip hop with their own histories of migration and
marginalization.
FILIPINO–AMERICANS AND HIP HOP
Previous research has highlighted how Filipino-American culture has been
long intertwined with hip hop. For example, Wang XXXXXXXXXXdocuments the
Shop talk
www.intellectbooks.com 15
Fil-Am Bay Area mobile DJ scene from the 1970s to the 1990s. A cornerstone
of this genre-defining movement, Legendary DJ Q-Bert, garnered national
attention and eventually joined the Rock Steady Crew to win the 1992 DMC
World DJ Championship. Female DJs also played a central role to the 1980s
party scene. Wang interviews women who regularly snuck out of their tradi-
tional Filipino homes to stay out late and perform gigs ranging from garage
parties to nightclubs. On the mic, Los Angeles Fil-Am rappers Kiwi (Jack
DeJesus) and Bambu (Jonah Deocampo) gained popularity after their release
of Ba
el Men in 2006 as the rap group Native Guns (Viesca XXXXXXXXXXDrawing
on their experiences from the Los Angeles Riots, both rappers organized to
support
oader movements of cultural activism rejecting neo-liberalism, class
inequality, police
utality and racism. In particular, they used hip hop to navi-
gate their own identities as Filipino-Americans in conjunction with the strug-
gles of other racial minorities at the time.
Hip hop’s reach in the Filipino-American community has also extended
well beyond the music industry, and has long been intertwined with sports,
film, clothing and fashion, and even hairstyles. For instance, accompanying
the Bay Area DJ scene of the 1990s was a distinct sense of style and iden-
tity that utilized street
ands and unique hairdos (Wang XXXXXXXXXXJavier (2014)
similarly highlights how Pinoy Apparel merged u
an fits with Filipino repre-
sentation. Their projects ranged from the Revolt Jacket of 2009, which incor-
porated the Filipino flag in a half-zip cotton hoodie, to the PI/LA Snapback of
2010, a collaboration with MC Bambu and DJ Muggs of Cypress Hill and Soul
Assassins.
Today, ba
ers across the United States still use hip hop as a source of
inspiration for their u
an style haircuts. Rich Mendoza, aka Rich the Ba
er,
is the owner of Filthy Rich Ba
er Shop in New York. He attributes his success
to his growing Instagram following and rap-star clientele, which includes the
likes of Drake and Big Sean (Potkewitz XXXXXXXXXXOn the West Coast, Jay-R Mallari
has similarly created buzz around his craft. He resides in Vellejo, California
and works at Legends the Ba
ershop on landmark Fairfax Ave. His clientele
most notably features Stephen Cu
y of the NBA Golden State Wa
iors, but
also includes Los Angeles Clippers’ coach Doc Rivers and DJ/Record Producer
Carnage (Quijano XXXXXXXXXXTheir influence has been part of a larger movement
of Fil-Ams incorporating their own histories into ba
er and hip hop culture.
This article thus aims to contribute to the aforementioned research by examin-
ing the complex linkages between ba
ershops, Filipino-Americans and hip
hop culture.
THE BARBER: ON BARBERSHOPS, FILIPINO–AMERICANS
AND HIP HOP
Marc Canonizado (Figure 1), 36, is a Filipino-American entrepreneur who
opened his first San Diego-based business, Goodfellas Ba
ershop Shave
Parlor (store logo shown in Figure 2), in 2014. He studied sociology at CSU
San Marcos, focusing on human interaction and the formation of culture.
Using his knowledge of people and culture, Marc chose to become an entre-
preneur and enrol in ba
er-college. He started a business out of his parents’
ackyard, cutting friends and family to build his clientele while working full
time as an instructional teacher’s aide at a local elementary school. Despite
Christopher Vito
16 global hip hop studies
cultural expectations from the Fil-Am community to work a traditional full-
time job, Marc chose to do an apprenticeship at a local ba
ershop to gain
experience. He remembers having to make the decision to go ‘all-in’ on cutting
hair. To this day, he still credits his family, mentors and friends for helping him
learn how to start and run a small business.
He eventually began working at Goodfellas Ba
er Shop, which was
created in 2008 by Aaron Anderson. They worked together to build the
and
and a client base heavily rooted in u
an culture. The ba
ers cut in a shop
that blasted rap music, discussed cu
ent events, and even had the occa-
sional turntable session. On any given Monday, you could find them skate-
oarding outside or free styling over a beat. Notably, they were also able to
ing together ba
ers from different racial and ethnic backgrounds to come
together and form a tight knit community. Marc recalls one of his favourite
memories: cutting alongside his long-time mentor and cousin from the East
Coast, Khalil Malamug. He discusses how inspiring it was to see both East
and West Coast, regardless of race and gender, coming together to cut hair.
Marc, a first generation Filipino-American, credits hip hop culture (specifi-
cally rap music, art and u
an streetwear) as major influences growing up in
the San Diego Filipino-American community in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
As it became clear in our ba
er shop reminiscences, we both recall growing
up often having our Filipino identities relegated to the household and within
ethnic enclaves. Our families spoke to us in both English and Tagalog, taught
us our own family histories and incorporated Filipino cultural traditions and
practices. Yet, to avoid standing out beyond our own community much of our
Figure 1: Marc Canonizado cleaning up his client’s beard at Goodfellas
Ba
ershop Shave Parlor. All image credits: Marc Canonizado (@gfbsshaveparlor,
Instagram) and Ga
ett Tartt (@findyourplayground, Instagram). Website:
https:
goodfellas-ba
ershop-shave-parlour.business.site.
https:
goodfellas-ba
ershop-shave-parlour.business.site
Shop talk
www.intellectbooks.com 17
cultural identity stayed in the home. We were instead encouraged to assim-
ilate into ‘American’ culture, which included speaking English first, learning
American customs, and adopting popular culture. Hip hop spoke to both of
us and provided us with a means to