ナショナルジオグラフィックのインスタグラム(natgeo) - 9月11日 14時00分

Photo by Ismail Ferdous @ismailferdous | This is the Bangladeshi-American rapper Anik Khan (@anikkhan_) at the Product of Culture POP-Up during the Urban Desi conference in New York City. He also goes by Big Baba.

Khan emigrated to Astoria, Queens in New York when he was around 4, with his freedom fighter father seeking political asylum in America. Among South Asians, Bangladeshi immigrants are one of the newest and fastest growing immigrant groups in the United States, with nearly half of all Bangladeshi immigrants in this country. Residing in the New York metropolitan area. A major chunk is in the Queens borough. Queens artist Anik was inspired from the music he’d heard in his neighborhood and the spoken-word (kobita) his father would perform at family gatherings. Anik has become a vocal advocate of immigrant pride in his music. His lyrics are often about his dual identities as a Bangladeshi immigrant and a kid from Queens who often describes himself as “curry chicken meets collard greens”. He just released a new single, "Big Fax." The opening line of the song goes: "Damn… It Feels Good To Be An Immigrant." From belonging to a family seeking political asylum in America, to today becoming a face of the American dream, Anik Khan has come a long way. He thinks it's about time that we flipped the script on outdated immigrant stereotypes.

I did not know about Anik’s music before I moved to America. One of my friends from Boston brought his name up while I was researching my south Asian American project. In my first meeting with Anik I found him very amicable and his ability for spoken poetry stands out from a general conversation with him. We started speaking in Bengali right away. Often times it is a confusing to talk to a Bengali-American: Shall we start in Bengali or English? I think many of south Asians could relate to this confusion.

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