Interview by. Jef Catapang
It’s so easy to typecast Jin. He’s known primarily for two things — being a battle rapper and being Chinese. But these days, Jin’s all about personal growth. Fans first got a taste of the new Jin in 2005 when New York’s HOT 97 radio station played a song mocking the victims of the deadly tsunami that hit South Asia that year. Jin responded with an incendiary response track defending “his people.”
Though he insisted he wasn’t a political activist, Jin later lyrically attacked Rosie O’Donnell for her racist comedy, recorded a song in memory of students slain at Virginia Tech, and threw his support behind Barack Obama (which landed him on Obama’s MySpace Top 8 friends).
I REMEMBER IN YOUR “TSUNAMI SONG” RESPONSE YOU SAID, ‘DON’T TAKE THIS IN A POLITICAL FASHION / I’M FAR FROM A HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST.’ AFTER ALL THIS TIME, DO YOU STILL FEEL THAT YOU’RE NOT POLITICAL?
Jin: [laughs] You know man, it’s so crazy because to me when I do those types of records the ultimate agenda is really just me using music as a vehicle to express how I feel about particular incidences… Like I said, I’m not a senator, I’m not a political rights activist; I’m not any of that… I kind of take it all with a grain a salt because it’s a very ill position to be in. Who am I to be speaking for the masses? For the one billion Chinese people out there? If somebody says, ‘Yo, I support Jin, he’s speaking on behalf of me,’ then it’s an honour to me… I’m not here to say I’m a leader of this great revolution. But if it happens to spark some change — great!
SPEAKING OF SPARKING CHANGE — THE TRACK YOU DID ABOUT ROSIE O’DONNELL MAKING “CHING-CHONG” NOISES ON “THE VIEW” — YOU’RE ONE OF THE PEOPLE WHO SPOKE OUT, [AND THEN SHE WAS FIRED]. YOU DON’T THINK YOU PLAYED A ROLE IN THAT?
Jin: Yeah I dunno, like that’s crazy! Relating to that and back to the tsunami thing, when they did that, I believe there were sponsors that pulled out. And at the end of the day with these big corporations… the best place to hit ’em? It’s the pockets, bottom line. What I’ve learned is a lot of times these things get brushed under the rug real quick. Particularly with the Asian community — there’s a lot of disgruntled people out there. We do get the short end of the stick a lot of times in the face of media… It’s just about decency, that’s all. When I watched it, and I saw her little “ching-chong ching-chong” thing? I didn’t find it funny and this was my reaction to it. So be it.
THEN YOU DID THAT JOINT IN SUPPORT OF BARACK OBAMA.
Jin: You can only rhyme about the girl with the fat ass so many times. And I personally rhymed about the girl with the fat ass already. It has a lot to do with my personal growth… You know I’ve never voted? From when I was 18 up until now, there was really no interest in it. Then the next election that came around there was that whole “Vote or Die” P. Diddy thing. I didn’t vote. I didn’t die. [But] eight years done past, and as you get older you just start looking at things different, different world views and things of that nature. So this year in particular I was like, ‘Yo, I really want to find out about this voting thing.’ And one of the candidates that stuck out to me was Obama.
WHAT IS IT ABOUT THIS DUDE THAT’S SPEAKING TO THE HIP-HOP GENERATION?
Jin: The one thing that caught me the most about him, and this is probably the most indirect answer, but it’s a gut feeling. I believe that this guy’s genuine about what he’s saying. And more particularly with Obama, a couple of key things that caught me, was this concept he’s bringing to the table of trying to unite the government within itself. Not focusing so much on being a Democrat about it, or being a Republican about it, or a Liberal, or a Conservative. It’s like, blue states/red states? No. It’s the United States.
TELL US WHAT WE CAN EXPECT FROM FROM THIS DAY ON, YOUR FORTHCOMING ALBUM.
Jin: Oh man, I’m so excited for From This Day On because I feel like it’s my most socially relevant album thus far. And it’s probably my most, how do I say it… most profound. That’s the whole concept of From This Day On at some point in your life, you have to say to yourself as an individual, ‘From this day on, I’m gonna change. I’m gonna do this differently. I’m gonna grow.’
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