Mondega - Artist/Producer
Street Antikz Records & Montagnard Music, Inc.
Bom “Mondega” Siu, also known as B-General is an artist and producer in the underground music scene from Raleigh, NC. Since 2002, he's been in and out of the studio recording and producing rap. In Raleigh, Mondega is known as "that Asian dude who raps and make beats". Mondega have been involved in countless projects, from producing other artists, to making records of his own. Only an artist with his background and point of views can merge two different styles of rap that combines the different ideology of gangster and conscious rap.
Mondega was born on Wednesday, October 14, 1987 in a province known as Cheo Reo 2nd District, Vietnam. He was born to poverty and struggle. He was the 2nd youngest of 8 brothers and sisters in a home built in a Montagnard majority neighborhood, which is similar to black and white America, how different races and communities are separated. This was the same thing going on in Vietnam between the indigenous Montagnards and the mainstream Vietnamese people. His family was cash crop farmers and full time hustlers, who did everything from picking cow shit to sell, to selling fruits and vegetables just to make enough money for a cup of salt. In the late seventies and eighties, his father was an English interpreter working closely with American soldiers during the Vietnam War. At the time, Mondega's mother was raising the kids on her own, cause his father was always away. Mondega's mother came from a broken home after her parents passed away when she was only 2 months old. She grew up un-educated, because she always had to work. His father was a schoolteacher, who volunteered teaching English. He was selected by American soldiers to help interpret on the front lines during the war in exchange for a safe journey to the U.S. and provide a better life for his family. But after the Vietnam War was 'over', the promise made by the United States was broken. When the communist party took over, Mondega's father was sentenced to six years in prison for treason, while Mondega's older brother was battling cancer and eventually died.
As a child growing up, un-educated friends, who spent more time trying to make money rather than going to school, surrounded Mondega. No one really saw a bright future by going to school. People were more concern about what's going on at the moment, than to think about the future, because everyone was struggling to make change and never saw the light. Mondega was encouraged to go to school, but he never really followed the idea of it. At seven years old in Vietnam, he was nothing more than a careless child spending most of his time wandering off from house to house drinking, smoking and getting involved in the neighborhood streets, in which he calls "the real ghetto". Like every other Montagnard child in the district, Mondega got involved in gambling, stealing and fighting outsiders and Vietnamese kids. One day, while playing on the streets, a group of Vietnamese soldiers pulled over looking for his best friend's brother that was drafted for the Vietnamese Communist army. Over there, if the government recruits you, you have to join or go to prison or even die. His best friend's brother refused to fight for a government he hated, and was shot multiple times, while trying to get away. Mondega was stunned to see this going on, because he heard a lot of rumors, but never really saw something like that happen in front of his eyes. The loud gunshots and his best friend yelling and screaming in tears left Mondega scarred for life. He never told anyone about it. Since then, his mother would describe Mondega as the quiet child that showed no emotion.
In 1992, Mondega's father finally received papers from the U.S. that allowed his family to come to America. He received the documents unexpectedly, thinking it would never happen. It was a dream come true to hear such good news. Mondega's father began processing hundreds of paperwork, even bribing the corrupted government officials that handled such business. It took four years from 1992, and in 1996 the dream finally happened. Mondega and his family were finally on their way to America. Out of ten people in the family, only six came. It was heart breaking for Mondega to leave his brothers and sisters, friends, cousins, everyone and everything that he grew up around. His family had the vision that America would be a paradise where there are no worries, no violence and no struggle of any sort. But soon he would face reality.
Mondega and his family arrived in the U.S. on May of 1996. His family was placed in an immigrant project housing, which had a diverse group of people from different nations all in the same neighborhood. Mondega and his family lived in the West Campus apartment building on Ligon St. near Method Road and across the street from Kings Village, which was another project building in south west Raleigh. At the time, West Campus had a lot of other Montagnard families, which Mondega instantly became friends with. Every Montagnard family in the neighborhood was close, so they would always stick together. In Mondega's point of view, everyday in America had its good and bad times. The good was that they had stuff that they could never imagine having back Cheo Reo, like a TV, fridge and the basic things Americans take for granted. Everyday, Mondega's father would walk to work. His father was a Janitor at Athens Drive High School, his mother had a housekeeping job at the Ramada Inn and his brother washed dishes for a nearby sushi bar. At the time, Method Road was a hot spot for drugs, guns and violence. Their neighborhoods consisted of different people from different places, and everyone shared a different point of view. This became the main reason for random acts of violence. Mondega tried his best not to pay attention of those things. Getting into fights was a normal thing; Mondega and his friends were involved in numerous fights to gain the respect of the neighborhood just so they can have the yard to play in. But no matter what, he was always a positive kid, and tried his best to stay away from trouble. Cause the fact was, he was new to this country, and judging the consequences by what went on in Vietnam, Mondega was afraid the police might kill him if he committed a crime. School was another story; everyday he would wait at the bus stop; freezing to death in the middle of winter just because he didn't have a coat to wear. Living on food stamps and donated clothing, he was made fun of by other kids at school, because his clothes were torn and his jeans had holes. Mondega was a shy, quiet student. He didn't say much in school, never liked attention and never raised his hand. He felt like an outsider trying to make friends, and didn't fit in with the crowd. The same went for many Montagnard kids and foreign people who had to adapt to a brand new world. Mondega grew up watching his friends drop out and became lost youths on the streets. Mondega noticed that many of peers joining gangs and doing dirt to make money. Mondega, on the other hand, kept a positive mind state and tried his best in school. He eventually learned enough to write and read English and later on speaking fluently. How hip hop got in his life was the need to have a voice for his people struggling in Vietnam and in the U.S.
The first rap artist Mondega really listened to was 2pac, in 1998. Before that, every other rap song was just some crazy person saying 'yo' and 'ugh'. When Mondega understood English better, he was inspired by 2pac's knowledge and wisdom. How everything Pac said was real, and his poetry had real meanings. With this new love for hip hop, Mondega would listen to every artist that he came across. He would listen to whatever he would find, from Nas to Dr. Dre, to Snoop Dogg, to Eminem, Biggie, DMX, Canibus and everything he heard on the radio. Ever since he was introduced to rhyming and poetry, he gained interest in writing his own poetry. He would take time to read poetry books, figuring out what rhymed and what didn't. Overtime, this love for hip hop poetry and writing became a hobby. Mondega spent a lot of time on his own writing raps like the goofy 'got rice' Asian pride songs that was made popular buy some guy Mondega heard on his friend's cd. Mondega started writing anything that had a rhyme to it. He didn't care if it made any sense at all at first. But through this practice, he was able to elevate and build his own concept and meanings to his lyrics. Mondega never thought of pursuing music as a future career until 2002. In 2002, Mondega started recording himself on a tape player and listening to it over and over. One day, while sitting at the lunch tables in middle school, he watched as a group of people crowding the table nearby battling and freestyling. This was the official day that introduced Mondega to truly get better at what he does and get serious about it. So the next day, he came back to school with a verse memorized and started rapping. Not surprised, Mondega was taken for a joke, because his lyrics were weak and the fact that he was Asian. But it never bothered him much. He understood that being an Asian rapper was going to be a challenge, so he had no choice but to prove what he was made of through battling. This was the fuel to call himself ‘Nefarious’ which means ‘infamously devious’; cause people will always underestimate him, but he will surprise them in the end.
A few months later, he began researching hip hop on the Internet, and used the Internet as a tool to practice battling and get structural feedbacks on his lyrics. This was the key source that made him a better writer. Mondega started off recording in his room with a five dollar microphone and a program called Cool Edit. With that five dollar microphone, Mondega started recording consistently, finishing five songs a night. He became more than just another rapper. He was now an artist. He soon began networking with friends who were doing the same and formed a small rap group called 'Nothing’ But Artists’ which featured some people he grew up with. They began recording, and released their first album called "The Last of A Dying Breed" which was a compilation of different verses on different beats. Even though the album wasn't all that good, it was embraced well by the Montagnard community in North Carolina, because everyone was looking for something new in the Montagnard-American youths. Mondega and his friends began selling cds at school, on the Internet, community events and everywhere they had access to. With the small success of "The Last of A Dying Breed", Mondega; also known as ‘Nefarious’ began recording for a solo album called "Me Vs The World" which focused on inspirational messages like "Montagnard Life". While in class one day, he was passing out his cds, when his teacher asked to play one of his songs on her stereo. She was so inspired by Mondega's realism and poetry that Mondega was asked to perform for the school, but he turned it down.
But aside from the music, Mondega was going through a lot of stress. A lot of bad things were going on with the family and he just couldn't focus in school. His brother and sisters in Vietnam were ill. There were people being killed while protesting in Vietnam. His father filed for bankruptcy, his old friends were passing away, everyone was getting locked up and more Montagnard people were beefing with each other in a serious way. With the little fame among his community about his music, Mondega became a target for other upcoming Artists and a war of words became an actual war. And the very place Mondega would call ‘home’ was filled with arguments about money and bills. So Mondega started working and hustling on the side. The only joy he had was making music. But being out all night hanging on to your friends for love and support started affecting his attendance and grades in school, which lead to him dropping out. It wasn’t long before his real life issues were starting to affect his music and brought a lot of negativity and pain to his lyrics. At the time, Mondega was the leader of School Kids Productions, which was a local hip hop crew that featured Yung D, Flamez Inferno, Gains Luciano and more. They released 2 mixtapes and had planning for an official album. But again, more drama started unfolding as tensions were building between long time friends Yung D and Mondega. This tension later turned into a fight, and the group fell apart. Even though the group fell apart, the heat was steady building as a war of words began flying while people were choosing sides and things going towards unnecessary directions. Right after the split up, Street Antikz slowly started forming. Young Rook in D.C. founded Street Antikz Productionz, but at the time he was producing Mondega's album "My Point of View". Many called "My Point of View" a classic album that captured the true feeling that Mondega was going through. Mondega re-connected with Flamez Inferno and Gains Luciano and began making music under Street Antikz. At the same time Yung D was doing the same under ‘Track House Entertainment’ and this added on to the beef, turning a little misunderstanding into a personal issue about loyalty and betrayal. Everyone from both sides was prepared to shoot on the streets, until some people who were neutral with the situation cooled it down. After all that was settled, Mondega felt like he needed to get away for awhile to think about his future.
When Mondega returned, he had written a number of songs, and months after he returned, they released the classic "Mastermindz" album, which had excellent reviews, but it was never promoted right. Street Antikz performed the singles “No Heaven” and “You Don’t Know” at local clubs, but the project just came out at the wrong time. Street Antikz still haven't made any new albums since Mastermindz, but hundreds of records are un-released. When Mondega returned, things were good for a little while, but more and more drama came along with it. It’s been almost a year, and still no album, no mixtape. Mondega is still going in and out of trouble, still hustling, still trying to make money, still living, steady chillin', and always thinking about music. On the night for Friday the 13th, January 2006, Mondega and a friend were victims in a robbery/murder attempt that ended in gunfire. “I saw my life flashed before my eyes when the bullets started flying, I wasn’t scared of death, I was scared to die because my work was unfinished. I haven’t made peace with the LORD, I said ‘fuck god, I wont’ believe in him till’ he shows me a sign’ the week before, but when I realized I wasn’t hit by shots so direct and close with a full clip nine millimeter squeezed, god truly gave me a sign, that I have a destiny to fulfill, it was a miracle!” Mondega recently loss a few relatives, which have brought long rival families back together. "If you can walk through my shoes, you would understand...if it wasn't for music, I would be dead or in prison right now. Everybody struggles, but I’m a survivor. I don’t do music because I like it, or I want to anymore. Now it’s a hunger. This music I make will be the voice of my people, and an inspiration to the youths. This music I make will change the difference of human rights and political freedom."
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