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Jin Au-Yeung
Chinese name	歐陽靖 (Traditional)
Chinese name	欧阳靖 (Simplified)
Pinyin	Ōuyáng Jìng (Mandarin)
Jyutping	Āuyèuhng Jihng (Cantonese)
Birth name	Jin Au-Yeung
Ancestry	Hong Kong
Origin	Hong Kong
Born	June 4, 1982 (1982-06-04) (age 27) Miami, Florida, United States of America
Occupation	Rapper, songwriter, actor
Genre(s)	Hong Kong hip hop, Chinese hip hop, R&B, Christian hip hop
Label(s)	Ruff Ryders, Virgin, Crafty Plugz, Draft Records, Imperial, Universal Music Group
Years active	1997–present

This is a Chinese name; the family name is 歐陽 (Ouyang).

Jin Au-Yeung (traditional Chinese: 歐陽靖; simplified Chinese: 欧阳靖; pinyin: Ōuyáng Jìng; Cantonese Yale: Āuyèuhng Jihng; born June 4, 1982), who performs under the stage name MC Jin, is a Hong Kong hip hop rapper, songwriter and actor. Growing up as an overseas Chinese, he decided to reside permanently in his motherland, Hong Kong^[1][2]. Because of his multicultural background, he is fluent in both Cantonese and English. Back in the United States, he was the first Asian solo rapper to be signed to a major record label.^[3][4]

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early life 1.2 2001: Freestyle Friday 1.3 2002–2005: Ruff Ryders Era 1.4 2005–2008: After Ruff Ryders 1.5 2008-present: Universal Music Era 2 Discography 2.1 Studio albums 2.2 Other albums 2.3 Ruff Ryders 3 Filmography 4 Further reading 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Biography

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[edit] Early life

Jin was born Jin Au-Yeung on June 4, 1982 in Miami, Florida.^[5] He was raised in Miami by his Cantonese parents who ran their own restaurant.

[edit] 2001: Freestyle Friday

In 2001, he decided to move his family to Flushing, Queens, New York City. Jin decided to forgo college^[6] and began performing freestyles and selling his own mix tapes on the streets, in hip-hop clubs and wherever else possible. His big break came when the BET program 106 & Park began inviting local rappers to hold battles in a segment known as Freestyle Friday.

[edit] 2002–2005: Ruff Ryders Era

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 hip-hop group 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.^[7] 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.

In 2003, Jin made an appearance in the movie 2 Fast 2 Furious as a mechanic named 'Jimmy'. His song "Peel Off" was featured on the 2 Fast 2 Furious soundtrack. Jin was also featured on the Taipei-based pop artist Leehom Wang's 2005 album Heroes of Earth. He also collaborated with British Indian Bhangra artist, Juggy D, in the song "Kohl Aaja (Come Closer)", when he was in London doing some promotion for The Rest Is History.

In November 2003, Jin was in involved in an argument with another aspiring rapper named Raymond Yu, who was a gang member linked with the Ghost Shadows street gang. This led to the shooting of Jin's friend Christopher Louie who is also known as LS.^[8]

[edit] 2005–2008: After Ruff Ryders

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", which was 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)" where Jin displays his lyrical talent in explaining the history of hip-hop's greatest artists. The legendary DJ Kool Herc, who is credited as the founder of hip-hop, appears in Jin's music video. After signing with an independent label, CraftyPlugz/Draft Records, Jin released his second album, The Emcee's Properganda on October 25, 2005.

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

On Jin's MySpace, Jin mentioned that he is working on another English album named "Birthdays, Funerals and Things In Between". Jin premiered a song called "Open Letter to Obama" on April 24, 2007, which made him become 1st on Barack Obama's Top 8 list on MySpace. ^[9]

On April 16, 2007, Jin made a tribute song to the victims of the Virginia Tech massacre called "Rain, Rain Go Away".^[10] Recently Jin has decided to make his November 1, 2006 Internet album, I Promise, available in retail stores. It will be out on October 23, 2007.^[11]

Jin released a new song through his MySpace page. The song is titled "Fill In The Blanks", and Jin encourages his fans to record their own verse into the song. ^[12]

[edit] 2008-present: Universal Music Era

Jin signed to Universal Music Group Hong Kong in July 2008 along with 8 other artists like Eva Chan, Keeva Mak, Mr. in a promotion called "8-Figures on 2008 Newcomers"^[13]. While in Hong Kong, Jin re-released his ABC Jin album, repackaged with new art work, a bonus song, and a dvd of four music videos.^[14] In January 2009, Jin released a mixtape in Hong Kong called Free Rap Mixtape under Universal. As of right now Jin is working on his second Cantonese album.

Jin has done a collaboration with an Malaysian MC Point Blanc track titled "One Day"^[15]. The Music Video can be viewed on YouTube.

He has recently released a demo song called Worst Enemy which has garnered over 130,000 views on his Myspace.^[16] He also put the song Welcome To The Light Club on his Myspace page. ^[17] Jin is a Christian, stating in his song "Welcome to the Light Club" he was baptized in '08. ^[18]

He has featured in Far East Movement's "Millionaire".

He has done a track over a DJ Premier joint titled "World Premier".

[edit] Discography

[edit] Studio albums The Rest Is History Released: October 19, 2004 Label: Ruff Ryders/Virgin Records Chart positions: 54 Jin Presents: The Emcee's Properganda Released: October 25, 2005 Label: Crafty Plugz/Draft Records Chart Positions: - I Promise Released on MySpace: November 1, 2006 - November 27, 2006 Label: Crafty Plugz Released in stores: October 23, 2007 Label: Crafty Plugz/Phase One Communications Chart positions: – ABC Released: February 20, 2007 Label: Crafty Plugz/Catch Music Group/Imperial/Raptivism Chart positions: –

[edit] Other albums 100 Grand Jin' Released: August 29, 2006 Label: Crafty Plugz/Catch Music Group/Draft Records Chart positions: – Free Rap Mixtape Released: January 25, 2009 Label: Universal Music Hong Kong Chart positions: –

[edit] Ruff Ryders The Redemption Vol. 4 Released: June 22, 2005 Label: Ruff Ryders/Artemis Chart positions: 40

[edit] Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2003	Jin: Making of a Rap Star	Himself
	2 Fast 2 Furious	Jimmy	Minor role
2007	No Sleep Til Shanghai	Himself

[edit] Further reading

• Jay, Jennifer W (2008). "Rapper Jin's (歐陽靖) ABC: Acquiring spoken Cantonese and transnational identity through restaurant culture and Hong Kong TV". Proceedings of the 20th North American Conference on Chinese Linguistics: 379–391. http://chinalinks.osu.edu/naccl-20/proceedings/20_jay-j.pdf. 

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official website
• Jin at the Internet Movie Database
• Jin at MySpace