Jin Au-Yeung (; born June 4, 1982), known professionally as MC Jin, is an American
rapper, songwriter, actor and comedian of Chinese descent.
Jin is notable for being the first
Asian American solo rapper to be signed to a
major record label in the United States.
Early life
Jin Au-Yeung was born on June 4, 1982 in Miami, Florida to
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...
immigrants of
Hakka
The Hakka (), sometimes also referred to as Hakka Han, or Hakka Chinese, or Hakkas are a Han Chinese subgroup whose ancestral homes are chiefly in the Hakka-speaking provincial areas of Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Sichuan, Hunan, Zhej ...
descent.
He was raised in the general Miami area, where his parents owned a Chinese restaurant and Jin attended
John F. Kennedy Middle School in
North Miami Beach. Jin went on to attend
North Miami Beach Senior High School
North Miami Beach Senior High School (NMB High School) is a secondary school located at 1247 NE 167 Street in North Miami Beach, Florida, United States. Its current principal is Randy Milliken. NMB High School was built in 1971 as an overcrowding ...
, from which he graduated in 2000. After graduating, Jin decided to forgo college and begin his rap career. Shortly afterwards, his parents closed the restaurant and the family moved in 2001 to
Queens
Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...
, New York City.
Career
2001–2006: ''106 & Park'' and Ruff Ryders
While in New York, Jin participated in many
rap battles with his peers.
Jin's big break came in 2002 when the
BET
Black Entertainment Television (acronym BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting African-American audiences. It is owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global via BET Networks and has offices in New York City, Los ...
program ''
106 & Park'' invited local rappers to compete in a segment known as
Freestyle Friday. Unlike other competitors, Jin occasionally spoke
Cantonese
Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding a ...
in his freestyle verses. After winning seven battles in a row, he was inducted into the Freestyle Friday Hall of Fame. The night of the ceremony, he announced that he had signed a deal with the
Ruff Ryders Entertainment label.
His first single under Ruff Ryders was titled "
Learn Chinese" featuring Haitian rapper
Wyclef Jean
Nel Ust Wyclef Jean (; born October 17, 1969) is a Haitian rapper, musician, and actor. At the age of nine, Jean immigrated to the United States with his family. He first achieved fame as a member of the New Jersey hip hop group the Fugees, ...
. It contained a sample from song "
Blind Man Can See It", by
James Brown (also sampled by
Das EFX
Das EFX is an American hip hop duo. It consists of emcees Dray (also known as Krazy Drayz, born Andre Weston, September 9, 1970) and Skoob (also known as Books and Boogie Bang, born William "Willie" Hines, November 27, 1970). They named the ...
and
Lord Finesse). The second single for the album was originally supposed to be "I Got a Love", featuring and produced by
Kanye West
Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and fashion designer.
Born in Atlanta and raised in Chicago, West gained recognition as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records in the ea ...
. The album was originally scheduled to be released in the summer of 2003 but was delayed for over a year by the label. In October 2004, Jin released his debut album, ''
The Rest Is History
''The Rest Is History'' is Jin's debut album. It was released on October 19, 2004.
Background
Originally titled ''Almost Famous'', the album was delayed for over a year. Originally slated for a Summer 2003 release it was pushed back to an Oct ...
'', which reached number 54 on the ''
Billboard'' Top 200 albums chart.
The two singles, "Learn Chinese" and "Senorita", were not major mainstream successes and the album only sold 19,000 units in its first week.
Jin left the label in 2006.
On April 23, 2005, Jin and rapper
Serius Jones
Saleem "Serius Jones" Bligen (born December 25, 1982) is an American rapper from New Jersey who is widely known for his freestyle battles. Jones won 12 consecutive battles at New York's Monday Night Fight Klub before facing and beating former Fig ...
engaged in a rap battle. The battle was featured on Fight Klub DVD.
On May 18, 2005, Jin revealed that he would be putting his rap career on hold in order to explore other options. To make this clear, he recorded a song titled "I Quit", produced by the Golden Child. The announcement was widely misunderstood to have marked the end of Jin's rap career. However, he later re-emerged under a different alias, The Emcee, and
freestyled over such songs as Jay-Z's "Dear Summer." He released a single called "
Top 5 (Dead or Alive)
''The Emcee's Properganda'' is Jin's second studio album. It was released on October 25, 2005. The whole album was produced by Golden Child with the exception of "Properganda", which was produced by Demo. The album was recorded at No Mystery St ...
" in which he explored the history of hip-hop's greatest artists, using lyrics. The legendary DJ
Kool Herc
Clive Campbell (born April 16, 1955), better known by his stage name DJ Kool Herc, is a Jamaican-American DJ who is credited with contributing to the development of hip hop music in the Bronx, New York City, in the 1970s through his "Back t ...
, who is credited as the founder of hip-hop, appears in Jin's music video. With independent label CraftyPlugz/Draft Records, Jin released his second album, ''
The Emcee's Properganda'', on October 25, 2005.
Jin collaborated in 2005 with Queens-born rapper
Creature on his song "Never Say Die," which also featured
Slug and
Busdriver.
Jin was also featured on
Taiwanese
Taiwanese may refer to:
* Taiwanese language, another name for Taiwanese Hokkien
* Something from or related to Taiwan (Formosa)
* Taiwanese aborigines, the indigenous people of Taiwan
* Han Taiwanese, the Han people of Taiwan
* Taiwanese people, r ...
pop artist
Leehom Wang's 2005 album ''
Heroes of Earth
''Heroes of Earth'' () is American-Taiwanese R&B Mandopop singer-songwriter Leehom Wang's eleventh Mandarin studio album. It was released on December 30, 2005, by Sony Music Taiwan.
Since Wang's debut, this album is the most successful, shipp ...
''. Together, Jin and Leehom performed their "Heroes of the Earth" collaboration live in
Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Chinese, Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four Direct-administered municipalities of China, direct-administered municipalities of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the ...
on February 16, 2006, at an event arranged by China-resident American
A&R exec
Andrew Ballen
Andrew Craig Ballen (born April 27, 1973) is best known in China as Da Long (大龙), or Big Dragon. He is a familiar foreign face on Chinese TV, widely known for his role as host and producer of China’s internationally broadcast travel series, G ...
. Ballen was also the first promoter to bring Jin to mainland China in 2003 for his "The Rest is History" tour.
2006–2007: Independent label
Jin released two albums in 2006. The first, ''100 Grand Jin'', was a mixtape that was released on August 29, 2006. The single released from the album is "FYI", for which the rapper shot and released a music video. The second album is Jin's third LP, ''
I Promise''.
On his MySpace, Jin mentioned that he was working on another English album named "Birthdays, Funerals and Things in Between". Jin premiered the song, "Open Letter to Obama," on April 24, 2007, which made him become 1st on then-Presidential nominee
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...
's Top 8 list on ''MySpace''.
[Staff writer]
"Jin Explains Barack Obama Tribute"
'' XXL'' (April 26, 2007). Retrieved on September 21, 2015.
On April 16, 2007, Jin made a tribute song to the victims of the
Virginia Tech massacre called "Rain, Rain Go Away". Later that year, Jin decided to make his November 2006 online album, ''I Promise'' available in retail stores; it was given an October 23, 2007 release.
In 2006, the
PlayStation 2/
Xbox video game ''
NBA Ballers: Phenom'' featured MC Jin as one of the
rapper characters along with
Ludacris and Hot Sauce.
He released his first all-
Cantonese
Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding a ...
language album, ''
ABC'', in 2007.
2008–2011: Success in Hong Kong and newfound Christian faith
In 2008,
Universal Music Hong Kong flew Jin out to
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...
to promote the re-release of his Cantonese album ''ABC.'' In an interview, Jin commented, "I think with various artists,
Cantonese
Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding a ...
hip-hop was starting to become more and more widespread."
''ABC'' debuted at #1 and achieved gold status in
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...
. He frequently starred in commercials there and made numerous appearances on
TVB like ''Big Boys Club''. He is also seen as an important part of recent Asian hip hop trends and was once deemed "the changing face of
Cantopop."
Jin did a collaboration with
Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federal constitutional monarchy consists of thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two regions: Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo's East Mal ...
n rapper Point Blanc in a track titled "One Day" (2008).
["Going into rap-tures"](_blank)
'' The Sun'' (Malaysia). December 17, 2010. Retrieved on September 21, 2015.
He also put the song "Welcome to the Light Club" on his Myspace page.
["Battle rapper Jin finds the Light"](_blank)
'' Rapzilla''. August 29, 2009 Jin is a Christian, stating in his song "Welcome to the Light Club" he was baptized in 2008.
He has featured in
Far East Movement's "Millionaire". He has done a track over a
DJ Premier-produced joint titled "World Premier". He also collaborated with producer Trendsetter (aka Mark Holiday).
He has recently thrown out a Hip-Hop Census in honor of the 2010 Census and
Chinese New Year, 2010. As said by Jin, this mixtape is open to anybody and will be mixed from the general population along with Jin. He released a mixtape entitled "Say Something", on May 15, 2010. Jin released an album with his friend Hanjin Tan in 2010. On July 10, 2010, Jin collaborated with singer Hanjin Tan () to release another Cantonese album (Buy one get one free). Jin also released a music video for his English single "Angels".
During his time in Hong Kong, Jin has appeared in films such as
''Gallants'' and ''
Bruce Lee, My Brother''.
In December, 2010, Jin released a Christmas music video entitled "Rap Now, 2010" with
Hong Kong Chief Executive,
Donald Tsang. The video, with lyrics penned by Jin, featured a number of lines ending with "
Act Now!" (), echoing a Hong Kong government slogan. It garnered in excess of nine million views on the CE office's YouTube channel.
A
CNN report described the video as an "official eyesore" and "a political message thinly veiled as a Christmas card," and further criticized Jin's rapping as resembling "awkward nursery rhymes," in contrast to his earlier performances.
However, local newspaper ''
The Standard'', in response to critics, stated in an editorial that "Tsang, like the millions who post videos of themselves or their loved ones, only wants to have fun."
On March 7, 2011, Jin released a music video for a song from his upcoming English album entitled "Charlie Sheen," collaborating with artists
Dumbfoundead and
Traphik. Jin released an EP titled ''Sincerely Yours'', a Christian-oriented and self-improvement-oriented EP featuring positive messages about life and self-reflective insights into his own life. After the
2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami
The occurred at 14:46 Japan Standard Time, JST (05:46 UTC) on 11 March. The Moment magnitude scale, magnitude 9.0–9.1 (M) Submarine earthquake, undersea megathrust earthquake had an epicenter in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Oshika Peni ...
, Jin participated in the ''
Artistes 311 Love Beyond Borders
Artistes 311 Love Beyond Borders () was a major fund raising campaign held in Hong Kong for the victims of the Japan 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. The event was organized by the Hong Kong Performing Artistes Guild and began at 7pm on 1 Ap ...
'' celebrity charity concert on April 1, 2011 to help raise funds for Japan's disaster recovery effort. The 3-hour event raised over HK$26 million (USD$3.3 million).
On May 16, 2011, Jin released the track "AIYA" featuring label-mate, Toestah. On August 8, 2011, Jin released his second Cantonese album, (Homecoming), in Hong Kong.
2012–2017: Return to the United States
In 2012, Jin announced that he was moving back to the United States to raise his son with his wife in New York.
In February 2012, Jin released a re-vamped version of his EP, ''Sincerely Yours 2.0'', featuring some of the same lyrics, but many others changed, slightly altering the overall feel of the record. In August 2012, Jin released his English album, "Crazy Love Ridiculous Faith", for free download, an album in which he positively addresses both Christians and non-Christians. In December 2012, Jin released the
''Brand New Me'' EP.
In late 2013, Jin collaborated with independent label, The Great Company. The first track released on the label was called "Hypocrite (The Gold Chapter)." On December 21, 2013, Jin released the first EP under the label called "Hypocrite."
On October 21, 2014, the label released Jin's first album under their label: ''XIV:LIX'', which is "14:59" in
Roman numerals
Roman numerals are a numeral system that originated in ancient Rome and remained the usual way of writing numbers throughout Europe well into the Late Middle Ages. Numbers are written with combinations of letters from the Latin alphabet, ...
and a reference to the concept of
15 minutes of fame.
The album features Teesa, Hollis, Stacie Bollman,
Tim Be Told, Bére, and Storm. The album was not a commercial success.
Jin began performing
stand-up comedy in New York City in 2015.
2017–present: Success in mainland China
In 2017, he competed in the Chinese rap competition show, ''
The Rap of China'', in a masked attire, under the alias of "HipHopMan."
Jin has since released several songs in Mandarin, including "Zero", a promotional song for the 2017 movie
''The Foreigner'' starring Hong Kong actor
Jackie Chan, who considers Jin to be his friend.
In 2021, he joined the cast of ''
Call Me By Fire'' as a contestant. He was eliminated in episode 5, only to return later in episode 6, following fellow contestant
Henry Huo Zun's withdrawal from the show in light of recent controversies.
Personal life
Jin married his wife Carol on February 12, 2011 in
Puerto Rico. The couple met at a concert at where Jin was performing. They had a son the following year.
Jin became a
born again Christian in 2008.
He was converted by Chinese American pastor
Jaeson Ma
Jaeson Ma (Traditional Chinese characters, Chinese: 馬正遠; pinyin: Mǎ Zhēngyuǎn; born November 11, 1980) is an American serial entrepreneur, artist, and media executive. He is the founder of the east-west talent, brand strategy & investme ...
.
He has since released several
gospel themed projects expressing his faith.
Jin endorsed
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...
in the
2008 United States presidential election
The 2008 United States presidential election was the 56th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 4, 2008. The Democratic ticket of Barack Obama, the junior senator from Illinois, and Joe Biden, the senior senator fr ...
. Proceeds from his song "Open Letter to Obama" were donated to Obama's campaign.
In 2019, Jin announced on Twitter that he was officially endorsing presidential candidate
Andrew Yang in the
2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries. He has released two songs supporting Yang: "Drew Yang Gang, That's Who I Hooked Up Wit'" and "#8MileYang". Jin also toured with Andrew Yang's campaign events.
In April 2021, he released “Yang for New York,” a song and video in support of Andrew Yang’s run for mayor of New York City. The three-minute video features such lyrics as “Everyone — white, brown, yellow and black / It’s time to come together, what’s ironic is that / NY forward will bring New York Back.”
Catchphrases and fan culture
Jin's catchphrase is "Aiya!" (), a
Chinese interjection roughly equivalent to "Oh my gosh!".
Fans pictured with the logo were able to appear in the music video for his song "Aiya!" (featuring Toestah). Jin also refers to his fans as his "AIYAfambam" or as the "AIYAmani.
After his success and popularity on the Rap of China, Jin gained widespread respect and popularity throughout China, and also with the Chinese people worldwide. A China fanbase is secure with an official account on Weibo "MCJin欧阳靖全国粉丝后援会" on August 12, 2017. Jin then officially named his Chinese fans "不帥團隊" (Team Bu-shuai), a name which he came up with due to the focus on looks-oriented artists. Bu-Shuai means 'not handsome' in Mandarin, and Jin joked with his fans that although he is not handsome as compared to many artists, he is proud to be so as he is secure in himself as an 'un-handsome'. The official slogan for Team Bu-shuai is "生活愉快、越來不帥", which means to live joyfully and become more and more 'un-handsome'. A series of official Team Bu=shuai merchandise such as tees, hoodies, windbreakers, and caps donning the slogan and team name (designed by Jin) is also available on Taobao. Jin also released the song "不帥" with an official music video made by him and Team Bu-shuai. The song talks about the special relationship between Jin and his beloved Team Bu-Shuai, promoting the slogan "生活愉快、越來不帥". The fanbase 'Team Bu-shuai' has an official account on Weibo, with over 55,000 followers. Jin actively interacts with its members online, and is known to sometimes arrange to meet them in different cities for movies and coffees offline.
Members of Jin's fan club on Twitter are known as Emojins. He referenced them in his 2018 song 'Debut': "Shout out to the emojins, and the emojins only."
Discography
Studio albums and major releases
*''
The Rest Is History
''The Rest Is History'' is Jin's debut album. It was released on October 19, 2004.
Background
Originally titled ''Almost Famous'', the album was delayed for over a year. Originally slated for a Summer 2003 release it was pushed back to an Oct ...
(2004)''
*''
The Emcee's Properganda (2005)''
*''100 Grand Jin (2006)''
*''
I Promise (2006)''
*''
ABC (2007)''
*''Say Something (2010)''
* (Homecoming) (2011)
*''Crazy Love Ridiculous Faith (2012)''
*''XIV:LIX (2014)''
*''Nobody's Listening (2017)''
Collaboration albums
* (With aka Hanjin)
EPs
*''Sincerely Yours EP''
**Released: May 2011
**Label:
Catch Music Group
*''Sincerely Yours 2.0''
**Released: February 2012
**Label: Catch Music Group
*''
Brand New Me EP''
**Released: 12 December 2012
**Label: Catch Music Group
*''Hypocrite''
**Released: 10 December 2013
**Label: The Great Company
Songs in
*''
2 Fast 2 Furious''
**(''
2 Fast 2 Furious'' soundtrack)
**Songs Included: "Peel Off"
**Released: 27 May 2003
**Label:
Def Jam,
DTP
**Chart positions: 5
*''
The Redemption Vol. 4''
**(
Ruff Ryders Artists Album)
**Songs Included: "Aim 4 The Head"
(with Cassidy and J-Hood)
**Released: 22 June 2005
**Label:
Ruff Ryders/
Artemis
**Chart positions: 40
*''
NBA Ballers: Phenom''
**(
NBA Ballers: Phenom soundtrack)
**Songs Included: "Choices"
**Released: Mar 29 2006
**Label:
Midway
**Chart positions: N/A
*''
Fast & Furious 6''
**(''
Fast & Furious 6'' soundtrack)
**Songs Included: "HK Superstar"
**Released: 17 May 2013 (iTunes); 21 May 2013 (CD)
**Label:
Def Jam
**Chart positions: NA
Music videos
Filmography
Awards
MC Jin at chinesemov.com
/ref>
Rap battles
See also
* Asian rapper
* Chinese people in New York City
References
Further reading
*
External links
Official Website
*
Jin battle rap profile on Rap Grid
*
*
*
*
, -
! colspan="3" style="background: #DAA520;" , TVB Anniversary Awards
, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jin
1982 births
21st-century American male actors
21st-century American rappers
American evangelicals
American expatriates in Hong Kong
American male film actors
American male rappers
American male television actors
American musicians of Chinese descent
American people of Hong Kong descent
American born Hong Kong artists
American rappers of Asian descent
Converts to Christianity
Hakka musicians
East Coast hip hop musicians
Hong Kong Christians
Hong Kong people of Hakka descent
Living people
Male actors from Florida
People from North Miami Beach, Florida
Rappers from Florida
Rappers from Miami
Ruff Ryders artists
Songwriters from Florida
Virgin Records artists
21st-century American male musicians
American male songwriters