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Who the hell is OnlyWon (a play on Obi-Wan, get it?!), you ask? You’re not alone. Won, aka Baldwin Chiu, happens to be nerdcore-esque singer who’s managed to earn serious acclaim from hardcore fans as well as mainstream publications like CNN and The Washington Post.
Won has a lot of fascinating info behid his storied history: he’s hailed as one of the original Cantonese/English rappers, getting his start all the way back in 1991 when he was influenced by RUN DMC and Public Enemy. He also helps choreograph stunt work in the film industry and works as a mechanical engineer (which two of his songs will attest to), thus finding only a little time here and there to devote to music.
That’s why we’re here. If gems like “Rolling in the Deep (With a Fruit Ninja)” –which he performed with talented singer Larissa Lam — and any of his other cleverly tongue-in-cheek nerd covers of Top 40 hits continue to fly under the radar, we’re just going to have to draw that much more attention to them. Won not only celebrates stalwartly nerdy careers like programming and engineering, but also looks for a positive message in many of his tracks: “Jeremy Lin is Still in the Game”, for instance, is a tribute to staying strong in tough times, as well as maintaining a positive outlook even when pressure builds to a boiling point and people’s love for you wanes.
Other songs, like the reggae-tinged “I Wanna Be a Engineer” (which also earned him national acclaim a couple years back), challenge the age-old stereotypes of nerdy careers — much in the same vein so many other nerdcore rappers’ lyrics like Sucklord challenged the stereotypes of collecting action figures:
It’s been a couple years since I’ve been single so
you can find me working late and living off Ho Ho’s.
Brain food for the intelligent, sometimes I like to complement
myself for being smart, but you can call me brilliant.
Yeah…Call me a geek or maybe even nerd
but face the facts, we da ones be ruling this world.
Exactly. And as the remake of Red Dawn would suggest, inciting GLOBAL DOMINATION! Anyways, you can check out more of Won’s stuff on his YouTube page or some of the more in-depth biographical info on him on his blog. In the meantime, we’ll keep you posted on his newer stuff — even though it can be a while til the new stuff gets released, it’s often worth the wait.
Jeff Nau – who has written 1264 posts on The Jace Hall Show.
Jeff Nau is a main contributor to the Jace Hall Show covering pop culture and music trends in the nerd community. He has contributed to San Diego City Beat, 944, and Ill Literature, amongst others, and spends his spare time working as an artist and photographer.

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