Blues music can be raucous and ready to party, but can also speak directly to struggle and social inequality. Nat Myers, a Korean American poet raised on hardcore and hip-hop, adds to the canon of songs that sound off on racist stereotypes. From his album of the same name, "Yellow Peril" is an up-tempo number that takes on the waves of Asian hate surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.
With a swagger that leaps out of the speakers, Myers plays slide on his resonator guitar to a rhythm straight from the Delta. "Everywhere I been somebody being abused / Never gonna win some of us are born to lose / Just wanna have a little fun before we die / There never ever was no difference 'tween you and I," he sings, punctuating his message with finger picking that is as precise as it is intense.
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