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Dexter Thomas is from San Bernardino, CA.

As a scholar, Dexter’s most recent academic post was at Princeton University. He holds a PhD in Asian Studies from Cornell University, specializing in underground Japanese hip-hop cultures. At UC Riverside, his alma mater, he established the world's largest publicly-accessible collection of Japanese hip-hop music and cultural materials. He has also taught a course on the concept of 'cool' in Japanese pop culture at UCLA.

As a journalist, he worked an on-camera correspondent for VICE News Tonight, with documentaries appearing on HBO, VICE TV, and Showtime, covering topics from policing and opioids in the US to hip-hop in China and elections in South Africa. He was also host and producer of RESET, a 10-episode TV series covering the dark side of video games.

As a musician and DJ, he has written music appearing on HBO and VICE TV, and has performed in various small clubs in upstate New York and Tokyo.

He is a Fulbright Scholar, worked on Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage while at the LA Times, and also recipient of three News Emmys.

Dexter did his PhD on Japanese hip-hop, graduating from Cornell University. He has produced documentaries on drugs, extremism, prisons, and videogames for HBO and VICE, and has written for WIRED and The Guardian. His work has earned him three Emmy Awards and a Pulitzer Prize (with the Los Angeles Times).

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credit: Jesse Seidman

credit: Karen Ye