The Fung Brothers are a Chinese-American duo consisting of comedians and rappers, Andrew Fung and David Fung. They have a successful Hip Hop foodie and streetwear YouTube channel, with almost 2 million subscribers.
Here’s my interview with them. We talk Asian American obstacles, overcoming excuses, social media growth tips, dating & wealth advice, and more.
How has your Asian upbringing been a hindrance and benefit to your success? What have you done to manage this?
Being the children of immigrants has given us a mission, more motivation to be successful – our parents did have a high-achiever mindset for their children. In terms of a hindrance, it probably made our art a little more conservative or reserved than it should have optimally been for the American audience due to cultural or family pressure.
I don’t know if we’ve really figured it out fully yet. If you have ‘high-expectation Asian parents’ who sort of put you in an archetypical silo growing up, there are so many pros and cons, I do think it’s a tough puzzle to crack.
Asian American Millennials tend to be shy because of their emphasis on academics and lack of focus on social experience growing up. Y’all have been able to make so many friends and network so well. But they have a strong ambition to become wealthy and succeed socially. How can they overcome their setbacks to improve their quantity and quality friendships and dating life?
Everyone’s situation is so unique from each other so it’s tough to comment. But I do understand what you’re saying about Asian culture (and I don’t mean to blanket them all with one brush because they are distinct in many ways) valuing academic-prowess much higher than social-prowess in terms of priority. However, we are growing up in America which tends to almost put them at equal importance.
I think that Asian American millennials would have to realize that Asian culture is significantly different from Western culture (speaking generally), especially when it comes to how to handle social norms and how to be perceived ‘as a fun outgoing person’. And based on their starting point, make the necessary adjustments that will get them to their desired end-point.
So many people aspire to do what they love for a living online but fail. What have been your top 3 biggest breakthroughs on social media? What made the difference?
The Fung Bro’s top video, with 6 million views, 18 types of Asian Girls:
I haven’t really seen someone try 100% and fail. I’ve seen people not reach their desired level and subsequently quit, but I’ve never seen anyone pump out a bunch of passionate content that they poured their hard work and heart into and get nothing for it.
For me, you’ve just got to add value to the audience, whether it’s information, entertainment, showing people how to do things, or revealing something. You’ve got to add significant value to an audience – whether that’s ultra-niche or more so general on the spectrum.
What are your top 5 tips for Asian American men to succeed in wealth, purpose, and love?
1) Listen to Jay-Z and truly understand his lyrics and mentality
2) If you play sports, try and mix it up and play with non-Asians at least sometimes
3) If you’re scared to talk to a girl, just do it because even if it doesn’t work for whatever reason, you won’t regret it
4) Know yourself so you know how to put yourself in successful situations
5) Travel lots and just talk to people
Top 5 favorite places in the world for foodies?
1) 626 – San Gabriel Valley
2) Manhattan NYC
3) Hong Kong
4) Seattle/Portland
5) Tokyo
Not all of our readers live in a big city. How do you suggest they achieve their life goals when it seems like location, race, and other circumstances seem to be against them?
Life, in some ways, is pretty mathematical. There’s your starting point, your tools, your choices, your environment, your networks. Then, the endpoint is expectations. Happiness is sometimes the gap between where you are and your expectations. If you’ve ever met a friend who became more successful than their wildest dreams, they’re usually pretty happy. You might have a friend who is relatively successful but unhappy due to a massive gap between their current snapshot and their expectations.
So obviously if you move, it shifts immediately Environment + Networks almost immediately. So if you do shift cities, it’s not a guarantee that you’ll be happy but it is a guarantee you shift at least 2 major factors in the equation. So, I do recommend moving potentially to be on the list.
