Wu-Tang, Power & Possibility | Sophia Chang [BEST OF]
Good Life Project
Jonathan Fields / Acast
4.5 • 3.4K Ratings
🗓️ 5 April 2021
⏱️ 66 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Sophia Chang is a force to be reckoned with. A soft-spoken French-lit major in college and the child of Korean immigrants raised in Vancouver, when she first heard "The Message" by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five everything changed. Taken by the mix of urgency, anger, and pride that was hip-hop in the 80s and 90s, Sophia rerouted her life to New York, quickly becoming a fixture in the music industry and hip-hop scene, and finding fast-family with the legendary Wu-Tang Clan.
Over the years, Chang would end up not just a member of the Wu-Tang family, but also manage a number of the group's individual members, as well as other legends including A Tribe Called Quest, Raphael Saadiq, and D'Angelo. In 1995, she left the music business to train kung fu and manage a 34th Generation Shaolin monk, who would later become her partner and father of her two children, before returning to music. Now, after decades of being the force behind other amazing artists' stories, she's finally telling her own story in her breakout audiobook, The Baddest Bitch in the Room (https://amzn.to/3sQbE2S). We're so excited to share this Best Of conversation with you today.
You can find Sophia at:
Website : https://www.sophchang.com/
Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/sophchangnyc/
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | My guest today in this best of conversation is Sophia Chang or as she calls herself the |
| 0:10.6 | first Asian woman in hip-hop. |
| 0:13.2 | Back in the 90s, she became entrenched in the work and lies of the iconic 9-person hip-hop |
| 0:19.0 | phenomenon Wu Chang-Klan becoming not only family but also over the years managing a number |
| 0:25.0 | of the members individual careers as well as those of a tribe called Quest Raphael Sadeek, |
| 0:30.9 | DiAngelo and so many others. |
| 0:33.0 | This was a huge departure from the place and the way that she grew up. |
| 0:37.2 | Raised in Vancouver, the youngest kid of Korean immigrants, Sophia loved music but never |
| 0:42.4 | imagined she would actually build a living and a life around it. |
| 0:45.5 | By high school, she was into new wave and punk. |
| 0:48.4 | But the moment she heard Grandmaster Flash and the furious fives the message, it was like |
| 0:54.0 | something inside of her, a primal urge came alive. |
| 0:57.1 | She was hooked by the beats, the lyrics and the artists who were tapping the power of |
| 1:01.4 | music to speak with so much truth. |
| 1:04.7 | Sophia headed to New York and soon after found herself immersed in the music scene. |
| 1:09.4 | Be friending punk legends like Joey Ramone, working with the legendary Paul Simon and then |
| 1:14.8 | quickly dropping into the hip-hop scene in the late 80s and 90s where she'd not only build |
| 1:20.1 | a decades-long career in music but also build a real family. |
| 1:24.4 | In the middle of all this, Sophia stepped out of the music business for about a dozen |
| 1:28.4 | years to train in Kung Fu and manage a 34th generation Shaolin monk who she'd helped |
| 1:35.0 | build into a global name while also becoming partners in life and working and raising two |
| 1:39.4 | kids. |
... |
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