MC Jin: 'Anything is possible' in Chinese hip-hop

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By CGTN's The Point

China’s first ever rap reality show “The Rap of China” is coming to an end on Saturday evening. With many looking forward to the unveiling of the champion of the season, the legendary figure “HipHopMan” MC Jin’s return is also highly anticipated by the fans.

Ahead of the final event, MC Jin, also known as Jin Au-Yeung, talked about his understanding of hip-hop culture and his experiences in pursuing his dream of becoming a rapper to CGTN’s program The Point.

Similar to his lyrics, he was never the one who chose hip-hop. It was hip-hop that “pulled him in.”

While recalling his encounter with hip-hop music, Jin said he started as a fan in his teenage years, and at the beginning, he even wrote down the lyrics of hip-hop music line by line when listening to the radio or watching TV programs.

“By 16, already in my mind, I saw my journey, even in a very young and naive way, I saw I’m gonna be a rap star,” said the rapper, who could not hold back his passion for the music form.

Starting then, he gradually grew up to be one of the best Asian rappers in the US, and made a big break while participating in “Freestyle Friday” on BET's 106 & Park show, winning the weekly rap battle seven times in a row.

Jin became the first Asian-American rapper signed by a major record label and the winner of lots of competitions and battles in the US.

But mastering rap in English and Cantonese obviously is not his final destination. After accepting the invitation from “The Rap of China” by iQIYI, he started to rap in Mandarin Chinese, even though using a language that he is not familiar with might mean risks or even losing the competition.

Jin, however, never eyes rapping in Chinese as a weakness in himself. “Embrace the challenge,” he said. “The victory’s amazing, but what I really treasure is the defeat,” said Jin while talking about his early experience of wins and losses.

He views his journey with “The Rap of China” more as a period of enchantment, than just a competition to win. While speaking of his elimination on the reality show, he said “getting eliminated on ‘The Rap of China’ is the most amazing thing,” coming only after his marriage and the birth of his son.

Jin said hip-hop culture is like overcoming the difficulties in life. There are always things that are not ideal in someone's living environment, such as how to make a living, how to survive or how to take care of his or her child.

And it seems that hip-hop culture has inspired Jin in some way. Talking about China’s hip-hop culture, Jin said that “anything is possible.”

“Everything in life has a perspective,” he said, responding to the doubts of whether it is possible to rap in Chinese, a language with four tones, and whether the growing trend of China's hip-hop culture will die out after the show.

Speaking of the future, Jin said he is confident in the culture. With or without “The Rap of China,” as long as there are people who continue to know about the culture, “hip-hop lives forever.”

The Point with Liu Xin is a 30-minute current affairs program on CGTN. It airs weekdays at 9.30 p.m. BJT (1330GMT), with rebroadcasts at 5.30 a.m. (2130GMT) and 10.30 a.m. (0230GMT).

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