MC Jin

Jin Au-Yeung (simplified Chinese: 欧阳靖; traditional Chinese: 歐陽靖; pinyin: Ōuyáng Jìng; 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.

2001–2006: 106 & Park and Ruff Ryders

Jin’s big break came in 2002 when the BET program 106 & Park invited local rappers to compete in a segment known as Freestyle Friday. Unlike other competitors, Jin occasionally spoke Cantonese 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. It contained a sample from song “Blind Man Can See It”, by James Brown (also sampled by Das EFX and Lord Finesse). The second single for the album was originally supposed to be “I Got a Love”, featuring and produced by 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 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 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)” in which he explored the history of hip-hop’s greatest artists, using lyrics. The legendary DJ Kool Herc, 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 pop artist Leehom Wang’s 2005 album Heroes of Earth. Together, Jin and Leehom performed their “Heroes of the Earth” collaboration live in Shanghai on February 16, 2006, at an event arranged by China-resident American A&R exec Andrew Ballen. 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

MC 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’s Top 8 list on MySpace.

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 Trikz, Ludacris and Hot Sauce.

He released his first all-Cantonese 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 to promote the re-release of his Cantonese album ABC. In an interview, Jin commented, “I think with various artists, Cantonese hip-hop was starting to become more and more widespread.” ABC debuted at #1 and achieved gold status in Hong Kong. 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 Malaysian rapper Point Blanc in a track titled “One Day” (2008).

He also put the song “Welcome to the Light Club” on his Myspace page. 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 (陳奐仁) to release another Cantonese album 買一送一 (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!” (起錨), 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, Jin participated in the Artistes 311 Love Beyond Borders 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, 回香靖 (Homecoming), in Hong Kong.

2012–2017: MC Jin Returns 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, MC 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 and a reference to the concept of 15 minutes of fame. The album features Teesa, Hollis, Stacie Bollman, Tim Be Told, Bére, and Storm.[citation needed] 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.”

MC 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.

MC Jin – Studio albums and major releases

• The Rest Is History (2004)
• The Emcee’s Properganda (2005)
• 100 Grand Jin (2006)
• I Promise (2006)
• ABC (2007)
• Say Something (2010)
• 回香靖 (Homecoming) (2011)
• Crazy Love Ridiculous Faith (2012)
• XIV:LIX (2014)
• Nobody’s Listening (2017)

MC Jin Collaboration albums

買一送一 (With 陳奐仁 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

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