Jin the MC learns to actually talk Chinese. About Jesus.
Posted on 18. Jul, 2010 by Simon in Music
Remember Jin? He of Freestyle Friday fame back in the day?
Jin parlayed his cable success into a label deal, unveiling a giant Ruff Ryder chain during his final appearance on on BET’s 106 and Park. What followed was moderate fame, with a minor acting role in 2Fast2Furious and a debut album that the music world received with a palpably unimpressed shoulder shrug.
So what’s Jin up to now? The same thing all faded rappers do — he went to Hong Kong! Jin signed with Universal records in his motherlands. He’s released a couple Cantonese albums, done some low key television gigs. Oh, and also, he’s cutting Christian rap.
Jin’s “Angels” was posted by a friend of mine on Facebook and it seems the former DMX acolyte is now a regular attendee at a popular ex-pat evangelical church in Hong Kong’s financial district. It’s a nice church, I’ve been there and bunch of my pals consider it their home congregation these days. Still, the rapper-preacher path is littered with good intentions. To say skepticism is my default reaction would be putting it mildly, even if the dude is getting vouched for by my personal friends.
Speculatively, perhaps it’s due to the influence of DMX (who apparently is an aspiring Christian minister these days, mentored by Ma$e, himself a rapper who retired to preach the gospel) that Jin has started to look decidedly upward for inspiration. Perhaps it’s just coincidence.
Jin’s single isn’t going to take over the world (or even Hong Kong I would think) but in the world of rap, his story seems at the least pretty unique.
Remember that single ‘Learn Chinese‘? Guess it’s a good thing Jin took his own advice. Most rappers don’t get a second chance.
Jef
Jul 20th, 2010
After losing like he did to Solomon — http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bo0CtX3PMzM — I’d probably hide in Asia and find Jesus too. Jin seems like a nice dude though and he’s done so much for Asians, I’ll probably always support him. Er, maybe not by buying his records, but you know, in spirit. He’s still one of my favourite interviews ever, and “The Emcee’s Properganda” was a decent, solid album (the one he made after his Ruff Ryders flop), I’d still recommend it.