Jin “Following the Way of The Master”

Jin “Following the Way of The Master” | Written by Raymond Steward

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DaSouth.com caught up with one-time Ruff Ryder labelmate and BET 106 & Park battle rapper champion Jin to learn more about his recent newfound life in Jesus Christ and current relationship to the hip hop game.  We find out quite a few interesting facts and Jin shares his heart and testimony.  How fitting is it now that Jin, of Chinese descent, is now following “The Way of the Master,” who is Jesus Christ! Chizz: So Jin tell us what has been going on in your life, what is a typical day like? Jin: I’ve been living in Hong Kong for over a year now. I moved out here in June of 2008. The main purpose was because Universal records licensed an all Cantonese album I recorded and released in the states back in 2006 when I was going the independent route. Once I landed on June 10th of last year, it’s pretty much been a non-stop adventure. That album came out in August of 2008 and the momentum just kept building and building. The release of that album opened up many other doors allowing me to venture into other platforms beyond just music. A few product sponsorship deals, movie gigs and I’m currently a host on a weekly TV show called Cooking Mama. Basically, each episode we showcase a regular home maker and what her specialty dishes are. It’s a far cry from my Ruff Ryder / battling days, but it’s fun and I get to expand my horizons. Right now, I’m planning for the release of my next Cantonese album, sometime around March of next year. Also, I’m aiming to start working on an English project soon as well. Overall, just continuing to build the Jin brand. Praying for God to grant me direction as well. Chizz: How has your life changed since Freestyle Friday and signing with RR? // ‘+ts+’/script>’); // ]]>// <![CDATA[ var referer = escape((document.location==top.location)?document.location:document.referrer); var ts = "3008"; var CLICKS = "http://www.burstnet.com/ads/ad18113a-map.cgi/BCPG140904.198873.239017/SZ=300X250A/V=2.3S//REDIRURL-"; var url="http://bigapple.contextuads.com/dyn/"; var loc = ''; document.write(loc); // ]]>. Advertisement &amp;amp;lt;a href=”http://www.burstnet.com/ads/ad18113a-map.cgi/ns/v=2.3S/sz=300×250A/” mce_href=”http://www.burstnet.com/ads/ad18113a-map.cgi/ns/v=2.3S/sz=300×250A/” target=”_top”&amp;amp;gt; &amp;amp;lt;img src=”http://www.burstnet.com/cgi-bin/ads/ad18113a.cgi/ns/v=2.3S/sz=300×250A/” mce_src=”http://www.burstnet.com/cgi-bin/ads/ad18113a.cgi/ns/v=2.3S/sz=300×250A/” border=”0″ alt=”Click Here” /&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;gt; Jin: Wow. If I had to find one word to describe it, I’d probably say: drastically. The Freestyle Friday experience and signing with RR is probably two of the biggest milestones of my life so far, especially career wise. Mind you, this was in 2001. So we are about a year and a half away from the 10th year anniversary of all that madness. Time flies I tell you. The journey so far has been an incredible one filled with it’s fair share of ups and downs. Victory and defeat. I’ve said this so many times in interviews as well as expressed it in various lyrics of my songs. If I could go back and do it all over again, I wouldn’t change one single thing. Chizz: You have some of the most popular battling videos on Youtube, how do you feel now looking back at those battles? Jin: For me, the freestyle battle aspect of my career has always been key. To this very day, the one comment that I still encounter the most when I’m out and about is, “Man, I watch all your battles online! You’re amazing!”. It’s flattering but I definitely aim to keep a humble state of mind about it. Honestly, I doubt I’ll ever battle again. I always use to picture one day I would do this big “I’m done and this is my last battle” announcement. Press conference, press release and all. Haha..Guess it didn’t turn out that way, which is fine with me. Although it may be something that I’ve outgrown, I still admire and respect those who are passionate about the art of freestyle battling. It’s definitely evolved over the years and the culture is taken a new direction with platforms like Grindtime, etc. There’s so many talented individuals in that league it’s crazy. I gota say, as someone who totally understands the concept of a “battle” and that it’s a war of words and wit, I feel like the more I grow closer to God I reflect about the overall negative connotations of some of the things that are actually being said in a battle. It has it’s entertainment value, but at what costs? Maybe this is the reason why battling is not high on my list of to dos. For example, if I’m trying to find favor in God’s eyes, I couldn’t rhyme about how I “slept with your girlfriend”. I understand battling is an important essence of MCing and Hiphop Culture. At the end of the day, if you were to ask me, “Do you love Hiphop or God more?”. I’m going with the latter. Chizz: Which battle sticks out the most to you? Jin: The second week that I was on Freestyle Friday was a memorable one. I shocked everyone the first week I was on by pulling off the upset, but by the 2nd week I think I confirmed that I belonged up there. Just as a side fact, the first week I won against Skyzoo and I’ve bumped into him a few times randomly over the years. He is a cool dude and extremely talented. I’m happy to see that he is still doing his thing in the independent circuit and killing it. However, as far as battles go, the one that’s given me the biggest self revelation and really changed me as a young man was actually a battle that I lost. I read a comment regarding the youtube video I posted (“From battle rapper to Christian rapper?”) that said, “THE WAY SERIUS JONES CRUSHED YOU, I’D START DOING CHRISTIAN RAP AS WELL! HAHAHAH!”. Initially, I read that comment and it struck a nerve. I suppose that’s only natural. I have emotions like any normal person. Then I thought about it and in retrospect I realized maybe it’s not that big of a deal. If battling has taught me one thing in life it’s how to deal with winning and losing. To do both with grace is not an easy task. No one likes a cocky winner.. or a sore loser. God says to find the best in our fellow man. I can say one thing Serius did in that battle was humble me. I thank him for that. At the end of the day, it’s just a battle. I wish him the best! What’s interesting about that whole story is that losing that battle to him made me refocus. A few weeks later I won a battle that was for 50k. The battle I lost was for 10k. Imagine me going into the 50k battle with the same overconfident state of mind that I went into the 10k battle with. God works His wonder in ways we can’t understand. Chizz: What was your experience like with RR? What did you learn from this? Jin: Signing with RR and the time that I spent on that label as an artist was and has been one of the most memorable experiences of my life. I still remember the day that the papers/contracts were actually signed and I was sitting on the subway with the advance (a check made out to Jin Au-Yeung) on my way back home to queens. At the time, I had just moved to NY for almost a year  and was doing any and everything possible to take my career to the next level. At that stage of my life, to actually sign with a major label and see the one dream of my childhood years start to come to fruition left me with a feeling that can’t really be explained in words. Like I said before and have always said, although there were definitely many major ups and downs throughout my time spent with RR, I would not change one thing about the whole experience. I guess the key thing I learned from the whole situation is the true meaning of perseverance. I also learned alot of the ins and outs of the music industry which at the time was a new element for me. These things taken into consideration, I may not have come out of the situation with much financial wealth, but as far as a new found knowledge of self, I did okay. Chizz: The stats show that “Battle rappers” have never transitioned into record sales? Is this what hurt getting a “buzz” w/ your first project? Jin: I mean, the whole “battle rappers don’t transition well into artists” stigma has been around even before I came into the picture. Not sure if I helped break or re-inforce the theory. lol Either way, regarding my first project.. In retrospect I think what happened was that everyone was so excited and caught up in the hoopla, but no one was really sure what the heck was going on. Myself included. In a nutshell,  I come off BET from the battles.. We drop the Learn Chinese record. At the time, some loved it. Some wasn’t feeling it. Felt it was gimmicky. Then we dropped Senorita. I think that may have threw lots of people off. Like I said, that’s how it all unfolded and I wouldn’t change a thing. Chizz: What is the HIP HOP scene like in Hong Kong? Jin: Compared to the states it still has alot of room to grow. The general population has a preconceived notion of what they believe Hiphop to be and I think that’s the stereotypical view that a large part of people all around the world who are not particularly into the Hiphop culture share. It will take time to spread the knowledge and share with everyone what the history of Hiphop is and how the culture has evolved over the years. In due time! On another note, in the last year or so, more and more artists are publicly declaring their faith and proclaiming Jesus Christ as their Saviour which at a time was unheard of. Praise the Lord! Chizz: What major differences do you see between secular hip hop and Christian hip hop from your experience?? Jin: Well, it may be a bit early to answer this question because as far as experience in doing Christian Hip Hop or music worshipping the Lord, I have still a long way to go. The concept of wholly using my music to worship and glorify the Lord is something that I am just starting to explore. What I can say is, it’s been an awesome and rewarding experience so far. I never imagined what an outpour of support I’d be receiving. Surely, you can’t expect all the feedback to be positive. For every 20 people that are celebrating and cheering for my new found personal revelation you will have an individual who wants to question or criticize my actions. Never one to focus on the negative, I must say that the positive feedback is immense. Lots of emails, messages, comments all across the board sending words of encouragement and people telling me that they will keep me in their prayers. The body of Christ can be a loving family. One sentiment I’ve come across a few times is, “What, now that he’s rapping about Jesus, that’s suppose to make him dope?!” This actually makes me ponder.. “Can someone write a wack rhyme about Jesus?” Probably. Yet Jesus would probably still love it as long as the person who wrote it did so from his heart. Food for thought. Chizz: Have you listened to much Holy Hip Hop aka Christian Rap? If so, who you jamming? Jin: I hope not to offend any of the artists that I mention if they don’t happen to be want to be put in any one category… Lately, I’ve been getting loads and loads of recommendations from all across the board as far as different groups and artists to check out. On my own, I browse the net (youtube, myspace) and come across tons of awesome Hiphop artists glorify God and just worshipping the Lord. A few names off the top that blew me away out the gate: The 116 crew, Lecrae and co.. Seda sent me an mp3 of a song called I’m a Christian featuring him and a few other artists. They all blew me away with their verses! There’s lots more I’m sure. Chizz: On your youtube video you said that you are a Christian that raps. What topics are you going to deal with on your next projects? Jin: To be absolutely honest, I’m still a bit overwhelmed by the all the latest developments myself. I think there’s been some discussion amongst the Hiphop community (secular and  non-secular) as far as what this all means.. “Jin’s a Christian rapper now!!?” Some are shocked. Some mock. Some are praising God’s glory. Whatever the opinion is, I accept and respect it. However, I think what is most important at the moment is that I continue to mature spiritually. First and foremost, I need to be right with God. From there, I think we’ll see what He decides to do with my art and my life. Am I ready to fully submit? Absolutely!! Chizz: When are you coming back to the states? Jin: At the moment, I am definitely spending a majority of my time in Hong Kong mainly because the momentum is still picking up regularly. God has and continues to bless me in abundance. I’m praying for His guidance not only as I mature spiritually but also for direction as far as where He wants me to take my career. We shall see… Chizz: Tell people how to get in touch with you? Jin: I have my main artist website ayojin.com as well as my trusty myspace page which is still up and running since ‘04. That’s myspace.com/therealjin . Also, people can hit me up directly at // <![CDATA[ var prefix = 'ma' + 'il' + 'to'; var path = 'hr' + 'ef' + '='; var addy36226 = 'ayojin' + '@'; addy36226 = addy36226 + 'gmail' + '.' + 'com'; var addy_text36226 = 'ayojin' + '@' + 'gmail' + '.' + 'com'; document.write( '' ); document.write( addy_text36226 ); document.write( '' ); //\n // --> // ]]>ayojin@gmail.com // <![CDATA[ document.write( '' ); // ]]>This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it // <![CDATA[ document.write( '' ); // ]]> . I try to read and reply to as much of it as possible but please pardon me if I happen to take some time to do so.