Jin exploded into the scene after reaching the Hall of Fame on BET's 106 and Park, after Battle Rapping on
Freestyle Fridays. However, it wasn't his 7 consecutive wins that made him popular. Jin brought something different to the table. He was an Asian man who was amazing at battle rapping. Through his clever choice of words and witty comebacks, he got the attention from
Wyclef Jean and DMX's RuffRyders (Virgin Records). Because of this, Jin took a step into hip-hop history, and became the first mainstream Asian rapper.
However, Jin's run in the industry didn't last very long. After dropping one album under Ruff Ryders, Jin declared himself
out of the game. In an interview with
XXL Magazine, he stated that he could not be his true self in his record. As well he was disgruntled with overall politics of the music industry. Jin decided he wanted to go back to what is true to him, which is battle rapping.
Although it was a respectful decision, it was something I still find hard to understand. Not everyone can achieve their dreams, and Jin was able to. Yet, he couldn't find happiness. When a person is in such a grand position, sometimes they have to
look beyond their individual needs, and look at the grand scale of the power they hold. Jin represented a symbol to the Asian community; that dreams can be achieved. If you look at President Barrack Obama, the man faces constant scrutiny daily, yet he manages to fight through every single day for what he believes in. Yao Ming is another example, his first few years in the NBA, he was lit up, embarrassed, and called a bust by every possible sports analyst. What these two guys hold in common was they they over came all the BS, all the politics, and put themselves aside, and fought for the people that believe in them. It's like getting into the college you want... that's the easy part, getting through your program and graduating is the tough part. Jin did not graduate,
he quit.
So since leaving the Ruff Ryders, Jin kept true to his word. He went back to the Mic and started battling again....however this time it was different. Emcees that battled Jin came with complete fire. Similar to a sports team who won a championship, he was a target for hungry sharks. Jin was
completely burned in the battle scene. He then decided to live in Hong Kong, explore his opportunities, as well tour Asia for the next few years.
While remaining fairly low-key in the United States for the past few years, there is a
new buzz floating around Jin. A Battle Emcee by name of Dizaster and the president of Grindtime's Northwest division "Immaculate"
challenged Jin to a battle. Skeptics believed that Jin would not come back to battle rapping in North America again. However, Jin responded in a video that he accepts the battle with Immaculate and Dizaster.
So what can we expect from Jin? While he was touring and making canto hip-hop tracks, the battle scene has grown significantly. Such institutions as GrindTime have found and developed some of the finest battle rappers in the USA. It's hard to say if Jin will have the fire we once saw on Freestyle Fridays, to think of it, was there a point in his career where he topped that? Stepping out of the scene so long, living in another country that speaks another language, their has to be lingering rust. Furthermore, emcees have so much dirt and information on Jin that will give them an endless ammunition of attacks that go way beyond stereotypical asian jokes. It maybe one of Jin's last chances to
protect his integrity as a battle rapper. Therefore he must take this seriously and annhilate his opponents. If he can do so, count on the fans already declearing
"Jin's Comeback". Only time will tell, if Jin's legacy will be remembered as the Golden Child...... or the Golden Lemon.
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