East West - The Asian American Lifestyle Magazine

 
Jin Aueyeung is not your average rap star.  The 23-year-old, better known as Jin, prefers hanging out with his parents and watching movies at home to living large like others in the industry, glamorizing their lives through music videos.

As the first Asian American rapper to be signed to a major record label, Ruff Ryders, it’s not just Jin’s modest lifestyle that throws people off, but also his music.  Branded as the Asian version of Eminem, Jin’s music, on his debut album “The Rest is History,” couldn’t be more different than the brash, controversial sounds of the Grammy award-winning rapper.

“I understand there’s this whole thing about there never was a prominent Asian artist or rapper or whatever, but is that really controversial?  What’s so controversial about that?  It’s very obvious that hip-hop has been diverse for the longest time already,” Jin says. 

It’s a misunderstanding that Jin has had to deal with from the beginning, starting with his early days in freestyle rap battles on the streets of New York. The vibrant, underground hip-hop scene provided a challenged, but also gave the artist an opportunity to develop his passion and hone his rapping skills. 

Jin’s manager, Kamel Pratt, admits that the first time he saw Jin, he was quick to dismiss Jin’s talent based solely on his appearance.

“Being that he’s Asian, I didn’t even expect him to be rhyming, to be emceeing … but when it came to Jin’s turn, I saw him alive and he was incredible just rhyming off the top of his head,” Pratt says.

Pratt’s voice of confidence was enough to convince Jin to pursue his passion professionally.  Hitting various hip-hop circuits, Jin had his first big break appearing on the BET show, “106 n Park,” that featured a rap-battle segment called “Freestyle Fridays.” Coming in as the underdog, Jin surprised everyone by dethroning the reigning champion with his quick wit and self-mocking humor.  With seven straight wins, Jin became BET’s resident star. 

“He’s the best freestyle rapper that I’ve seen … He’s just able to pull so many different elements out of the top of his head,” says Kendra Ellis, marketing coordinator for Ruff Ryders. 

Jin’s performance, style and charisma convinced Ruff Ryders to take a chance on the baby-faced rapper.  It was an unusual move for a music label that normally signs hardcore street artists such as DMX and Jadakiss.  But the company finally felt ready to expand and diversify their image.

“In this business, it’s all about taking risks.  When Murder Inc. signed Ashanti, they didn’t have an R&B singer and they did well with her.  Jin is the first Asian rapper to get a rapping deal so it looks good for us,” Ellis adds.

It looks good for the Asian community as well.  Asian hip-hop fans finally have someone that they can root for and identify with in a music genre that is dominated by African American artists.  Although Latino and Caucasian rappers also have been grossly underrepresented, the commercial success of rappers such as Fat Joe and Eminem proves that these minority groups have a slight edge in mainstream hip-hop over Asian artists.

“I want them (Asian Americans) to support me but at the same time, the artist side of me is like, don’t just support me because I’m Asian.  If the music is horrible and you don’t like it, don’t like it.  Don’t be like, ‘Yeah, you’re Chinese and I’m Chinese so I support you,’” Jin says.

Often, fellow Asian Americans are the ones who want to see him fail the most, Jin adds.

“It just seems like anytime someone is trying to advance it tends to be the people of the same ethnicity that try to pull them back.  It’s just part of the package.  It’s a frustrating part at first, but I don’t lose sleep over it,” he says.

Although Jin would like the focus to shift from his looks to his music, he is fully aware how much image often takes precedence over talent.  Whether he likes it or not, his Chinese heritage makes him an anomaly in the hip-hop world.

“It certainly does overshadow what I’m trying to do with my music and just being an artist.  I’m waiting for the day when people talk about Jin the rapper on Ruff Ryders and not that Chinese dude on Ruff Ryders,” Jin says.

But that may take a while.

“We’re not marketing him as an Asian rapper," Ellis says.  "But when we put him on MTV and BET, you can tell obviously that he’s an Asian rapper.”  

He’s an Asian rapper that is caught in a difficult balance.   Jin is criticized for playing too much off his Asian image with songs such as “Learn Chinese,” which has lyrics like, “Stop, the chinks be all over the game/ This ain’t Bruce Lee/ I watch too much TV.” And at other times, he’s flagged down for not doing enough to address the issues of race and ethnicity.

“I don’t think there will ever be a point that I reach where everybody will be content … I was trying to find a personal medium for myself, where at the end of the day I’m just content with it myself and that’s all I could do,” Jin says.

The last thing this former Miami native wants to be seen as is just another gimmick or the latest fad, which William Hung proved is possible when he found his 15 minutes of fame as a rejected “American Idol” contestant.

“When you have people like William Hung, it sets the whole Asian movement back 50 years,” Pratt adds.

Pratt also says the media’s focus on Hung only reinforced the nerdy stereotypes, which are often pinned on Asians.  He believes that is one reason why people have a hard time accepting Jin as a true hip-hop artist.

“You can’t learn hip-hop, it’s just in you … I don’t think Jin is trying to be black.  He just is who he is,” Pratt says.

Jin could be described as an amalgam of many things.  He is a product of hard-working Chinese parents who never forgot his roots and identity.  He is a hip-hop enthusiast who had enough passion to go after his dreams.  He is a grown man who would rather make dinner dates with his parents instead of with a woman.  And he is a rapper who sets realistic goals for his future.

“I never went into this thinking ‘I plan on becoming filthy rich and having a mansion’ and all of that nonsense," Jin says. "I think that if those things are supposed to come, they’ll come."

And if names are any indication of a person’s success, Jin — which according to the rapper means precious, gold, and righteous — may be destined for great things.

“He carries a light inside of him," Pratt says. "Once you see it, you know automatically that you’re seeing a star.”

photocredit:  photo by Daniel Hastings © July 2003