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Touted as the world’s first Chinese rapper, he’s worked with Wyclef and rapped for Obama, so why has MC Jin come to Hong Kong? By Hamish McKenzie

It’s standard practice for a reporter to end an interview by asking the interviewee if he has anything to add. Most of the time, there’s little gold to be uncovered from such mining, but for American-Chinese rapper MC Jin, aka Jin Au-yeung, it’s a chance to show off his formidable freestyle skills. After a pause to chomp on the dregs from a coffee-shop pasta salad, the affable 26-year-old declares: “This is what I want to say.” He swallows the cold carbs and delivers his story, comprehensive and up-to-date, in 97 words and 90 beats-per-minute:

“See back in the States, I was missing sales,
So I took a trip out to Hong Kong, like Christian Bale.
Yeah I’m nice, if I said you were better,
You could call me a Joker, that’s word to Heath Ledger.
I’m overseas getting that dough, it’s less drama,
But I will be back in November for Obama.
From 106 & Park to the days at Ruff Ryders,
You could say I’ve grown as an artist, I’m much wiser.
I’ve never been known for topping the charts,
But you’ve gotta respect the way I tear MCs apart.”

Read between the rhymes and you’ll get an idea as to why Jin – who had an international hit in 2003 with the Wyclef Jean-produced song Learn Chinese – is in town. He’s here to promote the release of his Cantonese album ABC, which explores the meaning of being an American with a Chinese background. The album, Jin’s first in Chinese, was released in the US last year, but Universal Hong Kong has picked it up for the local market. It should be a nice way for Jin to line his pockets after a lull in commercial prospects back home.

After getting a start on Black Entertainment Television’s then-massively popular Freestyle Friday (a part of the 106 & Park music countdown), in which he destroyed seven MCs in successive rap battles, Jin was signed to hip-hop label heavyweight Ruff Ryders, who helped promote him in the US as the world’s “first Chinese rapper.”

The moniker might not have been that helpful. As a way to get a new artist’s name out there, it proved effective, but after the novelty of an Asian rapper and the initial successes of Learn Chinese and debut album The Rest Is History wore off, Jin wasn’t left with many sales and, after a mutual agreement, parted ways with the label. Still, Jin has still enjoyed a high-profile career that has seen him collaborate with Kanye West, appear in Hollywood movie 2 Fast 2 Furious, and introduce Presidential candidate Barack Obama at a feverish campaign rally in New York City last year.

The ‘Chinese rapper’ brand, however, has stayed with him. Jin calls it “a blessing and a curse” that has helped him stand out from the crowd, despite some people thinking he doesn’t belong in what is widely regarded as a black man’s industry. “Any magazine that I could think of that I could never imagine being in, I ended up being in,” Jin says in a loud, confident American twang that rebounds off the coffee shop walls. “From Rolling Stone to Newsweek, The New York Times did an article about it, and their fascination… was the ethnicity factor. It was at that moment that I realised, holy moley, this was a big deal to the rest of the world.”

ABC is largely about Jin making sense of his cultural duality, and defying the dichotomy others seem wont to impose on him. “It might not necessarily be about making a choice about which one you identify with, but more just appreciating and learning about both,” he says. “I’m not going to let you make me decide which one I am. The facts are, I’m born in the United States, my birth certificate will tell you I was born in the United States, but at the same time, culturally and my ancestors, my ethnicity, I’m Chinese.”

It’s a scenario familiar to many Hongkongers, which should stand the album in good stead for airplay in the territory. And he already has the respect of the (admittedly miniscule) hip-hop community here. “It’s cool, because he’s put a lot of people in check,” Brandon Ho, aka Ghost Style of local hip-hop posse 24Herbs, says of Jin’s arrival. “He definitely brings hip-hop flavour into Hong Kong – so for all the rappers who’ve been faking it, he’s putting it into perspective.”

Though he stresses his judgments are based on only two months in the city, it’s clear Jin thinks the scene here could use some growth. “If you talk about the hip-hop artists that are releasing records, you can count them all on one hand – and you don’t even need to use your whole hand.”  

But if there’s anyone who can help, he’s the man. “I want to contribute to the scene,” he says, adding that he’s “absolutely” open to idea of staying on in Hong Kong if things work out well. “Ultimately, the only way a scene can grow is if people contribute, the community supports it, and there are options.”

If he can shake up the scene even half as much as he shakes his battle-rap opponents, we’d owe him a debt of gratitude.

ABC is on sale now.