88rising


88rising, formerly known as CXSHXNLY, is an American mass media company that founder Sean Miyashiro describes as a "hybrid management, record label, video production, and marketing company".
The company has gained popularity as a musical platform and label primarily for Asian American and Asian artists who release music in the United States, such as NIKI, Keith Ape, Rich Brian, and Joji. The New Yorker writes about 88rising, "With artists like Rich Brian and Higher Brothers, Sean Miyashiro's company is an authority on how to create pop-culture crossovers." "Asian rap collective 88rising has quickly become one of the most popular, and groundbreaking, crews in music.", says Rolling Stone. A Paper article stated that "88rising provides not only the cultural support, but also the strategic and technical know-how to help emerging Asian artists cross over in an efficient but meaningful way." In 2019, 88rising was awarded Label of the Year by Netease, one of the largest music streaming platforms in China.
Headquartered in New York City, the company also has offices in Los Angeles and Shanghai. Outside of its core group, the company has collaborated with many artists, most notably Ghostface Killah, 21 Savage, XXXTentacion, Swae Lee, Major Lazer, Playboi Carti, Trippie Redd, Ski Mask the Slump God, Kris Wu, KOHH, Yaeji, Jackson Wang, Phum Viphurit and Chung-ha.

History

88rising was founded in 2015 by Sean Miyashiro & Jaeson Ma. The company first started as a music collective and management company called CXSHXNLY which oversees and began to make contact with up-and-coming artists that they found on the internet. The company's inaugural artists includes Brian Puspos, Dumbfoundead, Josh Pan, and Okasian. Miyashiro said that their music collective goal is "to become the most wavy, iconic crew" and "trying to represent for not only Asian immigrants, but for all immigrants".
In 2015, Dumbfoundead showed Miyashiro the music video of Keith Ape's single titled "It G Ma", Miyashiro began to work with both artists to release the remix version of the single which features A$AP Ferg, Father, and Waka Flocka Flame. The single was released on July 27, 2015 by OWSLA and the music video was premiered by Complex.
In May 2016, the company uploaded their first video content on YouTube as 88rising and began to work with other artists such as Rich Brian, Joji, and Higher Brothers.
In November 2017, 88rising announced a tour across Asia featuring Rich Brian, Joji, and Higher Brothers with stops in nine major Asian cities: Seoul, Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Bangkok, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, and Jakarta.
In February 2018, 88rising presented its inaugural North American tour at The Warfield Theatre in San Francisco, The Shrine Expo Hall in Los Angeles, and Terminal 5 in New York City. The sold-out tour featured Rich Brian, Joji, Keith Ape with surprise guest appearances from other artists such as Charli XCX and Ski Mask the Slump God.
2018 also saw the debut studio releases from many of 88rising's flagship artists. On February 2, 2018, Rich Brian's released his debut album Amen to critical and commercial acclaim, charting at #18 on the Billboard 200 in its first week. The album also made iTunes history by being the first album released by an Asian artist to top the iTunes Hip-Hop Chart. On July 20, 2018, 88rising released their first compilation album titled Head in the Clouds. The album contains 17 compilation tracks - including the RIAA-certified Gold record "Midsummer Madness" - featuring its label core roster and guest appearances from other artists including GoldLink, Playboi Carti, BlocBoy JB, 03 Greedo, and Verbal. On October 26, 2018, Joji released his debut album BALLADS 1, which includes the RIAA-certified Platinum single "SLOW DANCING IN THE DARK" and Gold single "YEAH RIGHT". The album made Billboard chart history as the first album by a solo Asian artist to top the Billboard R&B / Hip-Hop charts.
88rising presented its first Head In The Clouds Festival on September 22, 2018 at the Los Angeles State Historic Park. The festival's lineup included a roster of diverse hip-hop and R&B acts from both the US and Asia including Rich Brian, Joji, Keith Ape, NIKI, Higher Brothers, Anderson Paak, Zion.T, Toro Y Moi, Nosaj Thing, Yung Bans, Yung Pinch, Dumbfoundead, and more. The festival also hosted the debut United States performance for Japanese rapper KOHH. In its recap of the festival, Billboard called Head in The Clouds "the Asian Festival You Need To Know". The festival was followed by the 88 Degrees and Rising tour in Fall 2018, which featured a lineup including Joji, Rich Brian, NIKI, AUGUST 08, Don Krez, Sen Morimoto, and KOHH.
In 2019, 88rising saw sophomore studio releases from artists Higher Brothers and Rich Brian. On February 22nd, 2019, Higher Brothers released Five Stars, their followup to their 2017 debut Black Cab. The album featured many prominent hip-hop collaborators, including Schoolboy Q, J.I.D., Denzel Curry, Ski Mask The Slump God, Guapdad4000, Soulja Boy, Rich Brian, NIKI, and KOHH. Five Stars became the top album on Chinese streaming platform Netease in Q1 of 2019 and the Higher Brothers were crowned Hip-Hop Artist of the Year. Netease also bestowed 88rising the Label of the Year award. On July 26, Rich Brian released the sophomore studio album, The Sailor, which was primarily produced by Bekon and The Donuts and featured guest appearances from RZA and Joji.
On July 17, 2019, Billboard announced the 2nd annual Head in the Clouds music festival for Saturday, August 17, 2019 at Los Angeles State Historic Park with an additional dance music stage and an expanded lineup of music artists. Californian food festival 626 Night Market curated the food vendors. The 2019 festival saw the North American festival debut of K-Pop group iKON as well as performances by Joji, Rich Brian, Higher Brothers, NIKI, DPR Live, & many more. The festival was dubbed by Rolling Stone and Los Angeles Magazine as the "Asian Coachella".
88rising also released its followup compilation album, Head in the Clouds II, on October 11, 2019, which featured artists like Swae Lee of Rae Sremmurd, Jackson Wang, Phum Viphurit, CHUNG HA, and many more. A duet from the album, "I Love You 3000 II" by Stephanie Poetri and Jackson Wang, quickly topped the Billboard China Social Chart.
On April 29, 2020, 88rising announced details of its Asia Rising Forever festival, an online concert featuring Asia talent from around the world streamed on 88rising's YouTube and Twitter accounts on May 6.

Artists

Current artists

Studio albums

Compilation albums

Extended plays