MC Jin

MC Jin

Jin Au-Yeung (simplified Chinese: 欧阳靖; traditional Chinese: 歐陽靖; pinyin: Ōuyáng Jìng; jyutping: Au1joeng4 Zing6), also known as Jin, Jin tha MC, 100 Grand Jin and The Emcee is an American rapper born on June 4, 1982.

Early life

Jin was born in Miami, Florida and was raised in North Miami Beach, Florida by his Chinese immigrant parents who ran their own restaurant. In junior high, he became fascinated with hip-hop music and dreamed of becoming a professional rapper. He was inspired by artists such as Nas, Wu-Tang Clan, The Notorious B.I.G., LL Cool J, Jay-Z, Big L and other New York rappers from the early 1990s, an era now referred to as The Golden Age. When first taking up rapping, he struggled with the form of music but with much practice he realized he had a talent for freestyle rap. He soon began performing for his classmates, co-workers and whoever would listen. Jin began entering freestyle battles in local hip-hop clubs where he was usually the only Asian around. He was often underestimated due to his ethnicity. But Jin's talent won crowds over, and he went on to win many battles. He quickly developed a reputation as Miami's most clever hip-hop lyricist. But in the hip-hop world, Miami is better known for bass music than clever lyrics. He knew this would be another obstacle to overcome in order to gain acceptance.

Big Break

In 2001, he decided to move his family to Flushing, Queens, New York City. He began performing freestyles and selling his own mix tapes on the streets, in hip-hop clubs and wherever else possible. He quickly gained a huge following, just as he had done in Miami. His big break came when the BET program 106 & Park began inviting local rappers to hold battles in a segment known as "Free Style Friday." Ready for the national exposure, he auditioned and again was underestimated due to his ethnic background. But he proved everyone wrong by winning the battles week after week. His first battle was against Hasan, who had six straight victories and was one victory away from being inducted into the hall of fame. Jin began the competition by delivering strong rhymes during his round. Hasan countered during his thirty second round with rhymes however, with ten seconds left in the battle, Hasan lost his focus and was unable to deliver any more lyrics and stopped his performance. Jin was then declared the new champion. After winning for seven weeks straight, Jin was inducted into the show's Hall of Fame. The MCs he battled against during that period were:

• Week one: Hasan
• Week two: Sterling
• Week three: Skitzo
• Week four: Logan
• Week five: Luck Luciano
• Week six: Skyzoo
• Week seven: Sean Nicolas

Ruff Ryders Era (2002-2005)

That same night of his Hall of Fame induction, he announced that he had signed a deal with the Ruff Ryders. His first single under Ruff Ryders was titled "Learn Chinese". It took a sample from the 1992 song "They Want EFX," from rappers Das EFX. The second and final single for the album was originally supposed to be "I Got a Love" featuring Kanye West, but was later changed to "Senorita" because Roc-A-Fella Records didn't want to over-expose Kanye West. 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, which reached number 54 of the Billboard Top 200 albums chart. It sold 26,000 copies in the first week. To date, the album has sold more than 200,000 units, and both of his singles, "Learn Chinese" and "Senorita", failed to be major mainstream successes. Nonetheless, Jin's music video "Learn Chinese" was the first video ever to be played on MTV Chi with backing vocals of Andy Tang. Jin was also featured on the American-born Taiwanese pop artist Lee-Hom Wang's 2005 album "Heroes of Earth". Due to the long delay on the album, sales and where the contract was going to lead him, he decided with his manager to leave. When he left the Virgin label he also left the Ruff Ryder label. But, his contract with Ruff Ryder is still active to date and Jin is in good terms with them.

Beyond Ruff Ryders (2005-present)

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." 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)" where Jin displays his lyrical talent in explaining the history of hip-hop's greatest artists. After signing with an independent label, CraftyPlugz/Draft Records, Jin released his second album, The Emcee's Properganda on October 25, 2005. Though it failed to reach the Billboard 200 charts, the album sold 7,000 copies in its first week.

The rapper was featured in the NBA: Phenom video game, where players are given the chance to battle him in a freestyle contest.

Jin released two albums in 2006. The first one, 100 Grand Jin is a mixtape/album that was released on August 29. The single released off the album is "FYI," for which the rapper shot and released a music video.

Jin's third LP is called I Promise. Instead of releasing the album in stores, Jin released it on 11/1/06 through his MySpace with the first batch being autographed by himself. It was then sold on CDBaby.com with limited copies being pressed. The first single for this album is titled "36-24-36 ( Apple Bottom Jeans )", a song in which Jin gives praise to Asian girls. Jin shot a music video for the song in December but it has yet to be released.

Jin was a guest judge on BET's Freestyle Friday on 12/15/06. Jin has recently stated that he does not like Rosie O'Donnell because of her "ching chong" incident. He has also recorded a song that insults Rosie titled "You're Fired." The song features voice clips of Donald Trump and uses the beat from famous Nas diss song "Ether". The song can be found on Jin's Xanga page and the website for his upcoming ABC Jin album.

During the end of 2006, Jin worked on another album called ABC Jin. The album was recorded almost in entirely in Cantonese. Jin officially launched his ABCJin website on January 10, 2007. Jin premiered his music video for the first single, "ABC" on MTV Chi on January 26, 2007. The album was produced entirely by the Far*East Movement and features a guest appearance from Hong Kong actor, Daniel Wu.

Recently, on Jin's MySpace, Jin mentioned that he is working on another English album. Jin premiered a song called "Open Letter to Obama" on April 24, 2007. Also Jin has recently made a new personal MySpace so he can get closer to his fans. His official MySpace is now maintained by someone else.

Jin made a tribute song to the victims of the Virginia Tech Massacre called "Rain, Rain Go Away", which can be heard on his MySpace.

Jin has released his first single off his upcoming album From This Day on. It's called "Going Going Gone". He also changed the album's name to From This Day On to The Voice.

Discography

Albums

File:Jin - The Rest is History album cover.jpg	The Rest Is History Released: October 19, 2004 Label: Ruff Ryders / Virgin / Crafty Plugz Chart Positions: #54 U.S. RIAA certification: U.S. Sales: 100,000+ Worldwide Sales: 200,000+ Singles: Learn Chinese, "Senorita/So Afraid", "Get Your Handz Off"
	The Emcee's Properganda Released: October 25, 2005 Label: Crafty Plugz/ Draft Chart Positions: n/a U.S. Sales: 7,000+ Worldwide Sales: 8,000+ Singles: "Top 5 (Dead or Alive)"
File:Jin-I Promise.jpg	I Promise Released: November 1, 2006 Label: Crafty Plugz Chart Positions: n/a U.S. Sales: n/a Worldwide Sales: n/a Singles: "36-24-36 (Applebottom Jeans)"
File:Newback.png	ABC Jin Released: February 20, 2007 Label: Crafty Plugz / Catch Music Group / Imperial / Raptivism Chart Positions: n/a U.S. Sales: n/a Worldwide Sales: n/a Singles: "ABC", "Yum Dom Cha"
	The Voice To Be Released: 2007 Label: Crafty Plugz Chart Positions: n/a U.S. Sales: n/a Worldwide Sales: n/a Singles: "Going Going Gone"

Other Albums

File:Couplesongs.jpeg

100 Grand Jin Releases: August 29, 2006 Label: Crafty Plugz / Catch Music Group / Draft Chart Positions: n/a U.S. Sales: n/a Worldwide Sales: n/a Singles: "F.Y.I."

Mixtapes

• The Yellow Tape
• The Definition of History
• Lost in History
• History in the Making
• The G.A.R.T.E.E.S World
• Super Lyrical World Champion
• I Quit
• No Sleep Til Shanghai

Singles

Year	Song	U.S. Hot 100	U.S. R&B	U.S. Rap	Album
2003	"Learn Chinese" (feat. Wyclef Jean)		74		The Rest is History
2004	"Senorita/So Afraid"				The Rest is History
2004	"Get Your Handz Off"				The Rest is History
2005	"Top 5 (Dead or Alive)"				The Emcee's Properganda
2006	"F.Y.I." (feat. Yung Mac)				100 Grand Jin
2006	"36-24-36 (Applebottom Jeans)"				I Promise
2007	"ABC "				ABC
2007	"Yum Dom Cha "				ABC
2007	"Going Going Gone"				The Voice

Collaborations

• "Hypnotic Love" - Adrienne Lau feat. Jin
• "Kohl Aaja (Come Closer)" - Juggy D feat. Jin
• "Yo! Yo! Ma" - Sphere of Influence feat. Jin
• "Aim 4 The Head" - Ruff Ryders feat. Cassidy, Jin & J-Hood
• "Heroes of Earth" - Lee-Hom Wang feat. Jin
• "16's Wit Us" (remix) - Ya Boy feat. Jin
• "Down So Long" (2007) - Ya Boy feat. Jin
• "Comin' to Getcha" - Israel feat. Jin
• "Food Fight" - Far East Movement feat. Jin
• "For the City" - Far East Movement feat. Jin
• "What U Know Bout Me" - Creature feat. Jin
• "Mr. Right Mr. Wrong" - L.S. feat. Jin
• "What Up Gangsta" - L.S. feat. Jin
• "Protect Ya neck" - Yung Mac, L.S., Far*East Movement, Southstar, Thai, Snacky Chan, Jin
• "El Presindente" DJ Honda feat. Jin
• "(There's Gotta Be) More To Life (Remix)" Stacie Orrico feat. Jin

Filmography

File:2fast2furiousJin.jpg

Photo of Paul Walker, Tyrese Gibson, Jin Au-Yeung, Devon Aoki, Ludacris in 2 Fast 2 Furious

• Untitled Independent Film (2007) - N/A
• No Sleep Til Shanghai (2007) - Himself
• 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003) - Jimmy
• Jin: Making of a Rap Star (2003) - Himself

Trivia

• His song "Peel Off" was featured on the 2 Fast 2 Furious soundtrack.

• Battles are often argued over who the true victor was, considering there are no official judges unless it is a tournament. Jin has defeated Verse, Wrekonize, Shells, and Pro Green.

• Jin has a tattoo on his neck of his given name written in Chinese done by Infamous Ink of New York City.

• Jin has made references to the films Catch me if you can, X-Men, Game of Death, Scarface, Kill Bill, 2 Fast 2 Furious and City of God in his songs.

• On January 17, 2005, a New York-based radio station, Hot 97, caused controversy when they released a song, "USA for Indonesia," making a joke out of the 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake, which was notably offensive, especially to Asian Americans. The incident was followed by an argument between shock jock Miss Jones and co-host Todd Lynn, and Asian American co-host Miss Info, who was attempting to avoid the joke. Jin immediately wrote a song in protest, to Miss Jones, titled "Fuck the Tsunami Song."

• The legendary DJ Kool Herc, who is credited as the founder of hip-hop, appears in Jin's music video, "Top 5 (Dead or Alive)."

• Jin attended John F. Kennedy Middle School and North Miami Beach High School. Both are in North Miami Beach, Florida.

• Jin held the Fight Klub battle championship until he lost the title and a $10,000 purse to challenger Serius Jones. Although often thought to have been a racially-driven battle and mass speculation of using prewritten lines by Serius, Jin lost the title. Two weeks later, Jin defeated all contestants in the Fight Klub Championship held in the Bahamas for $50,000 (Serius Jones also entered the contest, but was defeated in the 1st Round by U.K rapper Professor Green). Jin challenged Serius that same night to a rematch after the tournament was over for $10,000, but Serius was disappointed with his loss and "lack of crowd" and therefore, did not participate in the battle.

• Jin is usually compared to Eminem for his freestyling ability and for being part of the rap artist minority (non-blacks).

• Jin's single "Learn Chinese" was featured on an episode of The Andy Milonakis Show.

• Jin has had beef with rappers SunN.Y. and Serius Jones.

References

• Article on attempted shooting of Jin
• Interview with Jin An interview with Jin (October 5 2006)
• Jin Shoots Back At Rosie O'Donnell, Says "You're Fired!"
• The DJ Booth: Jin Interview (Feb '07)

External links

• Official website
• Jin at IMDb
• ABCJin.com
• Xanga Site
• Template:MySpace
• Template:MySpace-music
• JINatics.net
• The Rest is History Official website
• Template:MySpace
• Template:MySpace