Chluy Talk

In this episode, I have a conversation with the author & collaborators of a newly released book titled "On the corners of Argyle and Glenwood which documents Khmer Refugees living in Uptown Chicago in the early 90s. As a young graduate student in photography in the early 1990s. Stuart Isett found himself on the corners of Argyle and Glenwood streets in Chicago, photographing Cambodian refugees who had settled on the city’s north side near his apartment. Isett entered a world which would define his practice, spending much of the next 25 years working in South East Asia, often returning to work on issues affecting the Cambodian diaspora.  Nearly 30 years later, in collaboration with Cambodian-American activist Silong Chhun and Pete Pin, a Cambodian-American photographer, Isett revisited the Chicago work. Together they re-sequenced and contextualised the series. Chhun and Pin would have been the young boys in the back of the room in many of Isett’s images, watching their older siblings who were Isett’s main focus, as they struggled to adapt to life in America while burdened with the trauma of war and genocide.  Sequenced by Pin, with words from Chhun, this book explores the complexities of the early diaspora, not only the streets but also the tender moments of a community in transition, held together by family (“krousar”) and tradition.   Source & book purchase link: https://www.catfish.asia/books/on-the-corners-of-argyle-and-glenwood

In this episode, I speak to my friend Sean Radiant Son from Philadelphia. Sean is a first generation Khmer immigrant who's family settled in Camden NJ in the early 80s. They then moved to Philly where were a lot of khmer refugees settled. I met Sean through a colleague of mine a few years ago he's always smiling and had a good attitude and that "go getter" mind set. After going from retail job to retail job, Sean shares his story about seeing a facebook post about a real estate gig, and he responded to it. That decision changed his life because he then met his real estate coach and mentor and the rest was history. One day Sean got fired from his 9-5 job at Timberland then decided do real estate full time. On his birthday, he spent $2K on a real estate education course that changed his life forever. I admire Sean for that because he bet on himself and won. Investing in yourself and investing in the knowledge is priceless and Sean made his money back and more with his first closing earning $10K in his first 3 months. Now, Sean closes deals on the regular and he purchased his first home, moving his family out the ghetto. I love the person Sean is, he's always positive, always smiling, and has the mindset to succeed in life. We hope this episode inspires and motivate others that anything is achievable if you put in the work and invest in your craft and never quit.

In this episode, I interview Loeun Lun, a deportee/returnee from Tacoma Washington.  I remembered seeing the PBS documentary, “Sentenced Home” in 2006 and I recently noticed that Loeun has a YouTube channel where he shares his experiences living in Cambodia as well as interviewing other deportees and former gang members. I ended up binge watching his videos and I had to reach out to him to see what he’s been up to and to see how I can help spread awareness on immigration issues and build that relationship with him and other deportees who were ripped from their families for past crimes that they did their time for. Loeun was only 17 when he had the gun charge which was changed to wreckless endangerment where he already paid his debt to society by serving a full year in Tacoma County Jail. It was good to connect and share a conversation with Loeun and I'm happy that he's in good spirits and living his life day by day. My goal is see his channel grow so he can keep providing content for other deportees or people who are on the waiting list to have something to watch and to have someone like Loeun to reach out to. Please support Loeun's Youtube Channel by subscribing at the link below and donate directly to his cashapp: $sentencedHome

In this episode, I interview Rose Khun of Eureka California. Rose is a daughter of Khmer Immigrants who settled in Modesto California in the early 80s. She shared a heart felt story about her Father's murder in San Jose by a Khmer Gang during a robbery of their family owned VHS store. There are so much emotions in this episode and I am thankful Rose was able to share it with all of us. Rose, explained why she decided to forgive her fathers killer and even wrote a letter to him telling him that she has forgiven him. It takes a takes a lot of strength and courage to do what Rose is doing and she's even fighting to get "Bob," her father's killer out of prison because she feels that he's a changed man and wants to make amends with her father and her family. Currently, Rose is a Holistic Nutritionist and continues to teach about the mind, body, and soul to her clients. She also plans on starting her own podcast and she has my full support. We hope you guys enjoy this episode and we hope it inspires you to learn how to develop a forgiving mind through empathy.

In this special episode. I reconnect with an old friend and Khmer Hip Hop legend, Khmer Kid. We talked about his humble beginnings and what is was like growing up in Chicago in the early 90s. He was born in 1984 at Khao-I-Dang refugee camp and was named after it. Soon after, his family immigrated to the Uptown neighborhood of Chicago. Khao's story is very interesting because I've learned so much about him that I never knew before. He shared so many experiences in his life that made him the man he is today. He developed a passion for making music at the age of 15 and credits Willy for inspiring him to rap in Khmer. Willy, was the first person we both heard at the time rap in our native tongue. His song "Khmer Pride" was recorded and released in 1996 and somehow circulated nationwide. Immediately, Khao started to write and rap in Khmer and his first recording studio was his sister's computer and a recording software called Cool Edit Pro. Having close friends who supported his music and one of them gave him the name "Khmer Kid" and the rest was history. His first song ever recorded was "Represent Khmer Pride for the 99" and that same year he recorded his instant classic "Smoke Weed" during Khmer New Year while everyone was a the temple. He did expect it to go viral in the era of dial up internet. I remember seeing the song on P2P softwares like Limewire, Kazaa, and Napster. Currently "Smoke Weed," has over 4.3M views on youtube from a random fan who uploaded it. Khmer Kid just now re-released the song on all streaming platforms because someone uploaded the song and pretended to be him on reverb nation which caused a lot of frustration for him because was unable to claim the songs at the time. Aside from the music, Khmer Kid had a run in with the law where he had to do prison time. His prison experiences are surprisingly positive because he was well respected, he kept it real with everyone and was drawing artwork for inmates and got along with everyone. He kept writing lyrics, had a spiritual awakening, read the bible, and got released early for good behavior. Long story short, Khmer Kid is revamping his independent record label Khmer Entertainment Records and has signed his first artist, Young Spyder of Cambodia. We plan on collaborating together so be on the look out for new music and visuals! 

In this episode, I share a great conversation with Samrach Sar of Beaverton Oregon. Samrach is a Khmer American immigration attorney who serves the Portland metro area. It was always his dream to become an attorney and now he finds joy in helping his clients with all immigration matters. We actually have a lot of mutual friends in the pacific northwest so we can relate about a lot of things. We hope you enjoy this episode and find valuable information regarding immigration and invite everyone to reach out to Samrach if they have any questions or have family who may be facing or are facing deportation and need immigration information or advice.   More on Samrach Sar: Samrach "Sam" Sar, exclusively represents clients in all immigration matters before the United States government.  He is a graduate of Willamette University College of Law where he received a Juris Doctor, and graduated from Portland State University where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Philosophy. In law school he was the President of the American Constitution Society, Editor of the International Law Journal, and Treasurer of the National Asian Pacific American Law Student Association.  He served as a law clerk at the Oregon Court of Appeals for a Judicial Clerkship, and clerked at prominent Portland law firms while in law school.  He received the Civil Rights Award honor at Willamette Law upon his graduation. Prior to entering private practice, Mr. Sar worked in-house for large multi-national insurance companies and self-insured employers advising them in their industrial insurance and workers compensation law matters.  Mr. Sar has intellectual property experience in trademark law as well. Mr. Sar's practice is driven by securing his clients the best results.  Mr. Sar is an immigrant himself as a son of refugees, so he has a direct connection with the immigrant community.  He understands the stakes involved for individuals during their immigration matters.  Therefore, he is dedicated to providing competent and compassionate immigration legal services. Source: https://www.immigrationpdx.com/ss

In this episode, I interview Hannah from Atlanta. Hannah is a Khmer American small business owner who started her own online Southeast Asian  sarong comfort wear store, The Sarong Company. After getting laid off from her job in the beginning of the pandemic, Hannah decided to learn how to sew scrunchies out of the Khmer Sarong fabric and she posted them on her Instagram where it drew interest from potential buyers. From then on, she started selling sarong of various colors and designs and more recently she added jade pendants and necklaces. I enjoyed speaking with Hannah and I really admire her motivation, drive, and positive attitude towards life, the daily hustle, and her love for her daughter. Hannah and the Sarong company have my full support and I think Sarongs are important piece of our culture and for it be available online to purchase is a beautiful thing, not just for Khmer people but for everyone to wear in the comfort of their home or anywhere they please. Please give the Sarong Company a follow and purchase some merchandise at https://thesarongco.com/

In this episode, I interview my childhood friend Lada Beatz who is also the youngest brother of AP Muzzika that interviewed in episode 20. I wanted to speak with Lada because I wanted to personally thank him for his contribution to my music as promote him on my platform. Even though we grew up together, he was a lot younger, so I really hung out with older brothers more. We talked about how I found out that he produced beats out of no where, and how I wanted to work him one day. Well the day came in 2019 and we released a full 5 song EP, 4 songs of which he produced and it was a success. Lola Lola has over 200K Youtube streams and became reaction videos for youtubers in Cambodia. We also talked about our musical influences and favorite producers what are long term goals are in music and in life. I hope you guys enjoy this episode and have some good takeaways from it. Lada Beatz is one of my favorite producers I've worked with and I pray he makes it to the top! All his links below, so make sure you follow him and support him by checking out his beats and purchasing and or leasing it for your next project. Fun Fact: Lada served in the U.S. Army as a 13F Forward Observer from January 18, 2005 to May 30, 2009

Kicking off the New Year with a solid interview  of Long Beach's premiere  Hip Hop artist,  G Funk Supreme. We talked about what it was like growing up in Eastside Long Beach, California, musical influences, his love for poetry and how he began rapping in middle school. Gfunk Supreme has been putting in the work for many years and its been paying off. He released a few albums and singles, accompanied with quality music videos. What I admire about G Funk is that, is a go getter, self taught audio engineer and is now shooting and editing his own music videos. He takes his crafts seriously and continues to level up with each project. Currently, G Funk has a new album that he plans on releasing soon and its definitely something to look forward to this year.

For the final Chluy Talk Podcast episode of 2020, I interview a fellow Podcaster, Randy Kim of Chicago. He gave my first podcast interview earlier in the year so it was fitting for me to have him on my show. We talked about his background, growing up in Illinois and and how he started his Banh Mi Chronicles podcast. Randy is currently a board member of the National Heritage Museum in Chicago and has been connecting with community leaders on to discuss important issues that AAPI folks face everyday.