Getting out the Game: The Asian MC Explains Why He's Quitting the Biz
If a job is not the shit you wanna do, you go and tell the boss, "I quit." I didn't even think it was gonna be that big of a deal. I certainly didn't do it with the intentions of saying, "Yo everybody listen! That's it. I'm sick. I quit!" I did it just for me to vent. People think, His album didn't do too well, or Virgin didn't do him right. Not even so. It was just everything combined together, and then my own personal distatse with being in the music industtry. I be getting emials like, Damn Jin, how can you be in that position that people are dying to be in and not be grateful for it? I'm grateful. I'm the most humble and appreciative person on Earth. I'm a diehard hip-hop head. What I think they don't understand is the mechanics of being in this so-called industry. That shit'll get to you. I don't wanna say I'm not built for it, but it's not something everybody can do.
The music industry has a lost of elements that have nothing to do with hip0hop, like radio-friendly records. When I rcord music, that's something that I have a say over. But marketing plans, product placement, having a decent amout of records shipped the first week- things like that are out of my ocntrol. The Virgin-Ruff Ryder partnership, it's really not poppin' over there. They don't even have a deal with them no more. I'd do a record and Ruff Ryders would say, "This is the shit right here," but Virgin would be like, "This one is okay, but it might not have as much radio appeal." Virgin isn't gonna push it all the way. They're like, "What we really need from Jin is a 'Tipsy.'" It was like when your mom and dad are fighting and you're caught in the middle.
There was no direction on that album. I was just looking for hot beats and rhyming on them. We threw in records that might not be records that I would do now. My project came at the time when Ruff Ryders was going through they own issues. Eve was poppin' off, leaving. X was doing his Bloodline thing. I'll never lose the graitude I have for them and the opportunies they provided me. I would never look back and be like, Damn it's because of them the album turned out the way it did. On paper, I'm still on RRs, but I might as well not be, 'cause nothing's really poppin' for me. I just don't want there to be some sort of misunderstanding that I had a fallous with RR, because I didn't.
I wanna figure out waht I wanna do with my life. Lately, the things I've been appreciating the most are things I haven't been doing in the last 4 years, like hanging out with my mom at home. I'm still exploring opprtunities. The acting thing is always there. It's not a money-motivated issue, but the little checks I get outta the blue (for 2 Fast 2 Furious_ is like three shows right there. I'm looking into some high-profile comedy joints. I wanna take it seriously, so I'm talking about getting an acting coach. I ain't on some half-ass "Yo I'm Jin with the RRs." And I just started this youth organization called YOFAM. It's basically a non-profit youth organization that has the Asian community in mind. At this point it's just me and my vision, but I want it to be bigger.
I'm proud of all my accomplishments. A lot of people thought "Learn Chinese" was a gimmick. But fuck it, that's a groundbreaking hip-hop record. I"m still an MC at the end of the day, but Jin the recording artist is sick of it. Bobby Digital don't wanna rhymore no more, but that doesn't mean RZA ain't here. If anything, I'll probably pop up at more open-mics than before. That's where I started and that's what got me where I'm at now. It's like coming back full circle.
Source: XXL Magazine
If a job is not the shit you wanna do, you go and tell the boss, "I quit." I didn't even think it was gonna be that big of a deal. I certainly didn't do it with the intentions of saying, "Yo everybody listen! That's it. I'm sick. I quit!" I did it just for me to vent. People think, His album didn't do too well, or Virgin didn't do him right. Not even so. It was just everything combined together, and then my own personal distatse with being in the music industtry. I be getting emials like, Damn Jin, how can you be in that position that people are dying to be in and not be grateful for it? I'm grateful. I'm the most humble and appreciative person on Earth. I'm a diehard hip-hop head. What I think they don't understand is the mechanics of being in this so-called industry. That shit'll get to you. I don't wanna say I'm not built for it, but it's not something everybody can do.
The music industry has a lost of elements that have nothing to do with hip0hop, like radio-friendly records. When I rcord music, that's something that I have a say over. But marketing plans, product placement, having a decent amout of records shipped the first week- things like that are out of my ocntrol. The Virgin-Ruff Ryder partnership, it's really not poppin' over there. They don't even have a deal with them no more. I'd do a record and Ruff Ryders would say, "This is the shit right here," but Virgin would be like, "This one is okay, but it might not have as much radio appeal." Virgin isn't gonna push it all the way. They're like, "What we really need from Jin is a 'Tipsy.'" It was like when your mom and dad are fighting and you're caught in the middle.
There was no direction on that album. I was just looking for hot beats and rhyming on them. We threw in records that might not be records that I would do now. My project came at the time when Ruff Ryders was going through they own issues. Eve was poppin' off, leaving. X was doing his Bloodline thing. I'll never lose the graitude I have for them and the opportunies they provided me. I would never look back and be like, Damn it's because of them the album turned out the way it did. On paper, I'm still on RRs, but I might as well not be, 'cause nothing's really poppin' for me. I just don't want there to be some sort of misunderstanding that I had a fallous with RR, because I didn't.
I wanna figure out waht I wanna do with my life. Lately, the things I've been appreciating the most are things I haven't been doing in the last 4 years, like hanging out with my mom at home. I'm still exploring opprtunities. The acting thing is always there. It's not a money-motivated issue, but the little checks I get outta the blue (for 2 Fast 2 Furious_ is like three shows right there. I'm looking into some high-profile comedy joints. I wanna take it seriously, so I'm talking about getting an acting coach. I ain't on some half-ass "Yo I'm Jin with the RRs." And I just started this youth organization called YOFAM. It's basically a non-profit youth organization that has the Asian community in mind. At this point it's just me and my vision, but I want it to be bigger.
I'm proud of all my accomplishments. A lot of people thought "Learn Chinese" was a gimmick. But fuck it, that's a groundbreaking hip-hop record. I"m still an MC at the end of the day, but Jin the recording artist is sick of it. Bobby Digital don't wanna rhymore no more, but that doesn't mean RZA ain't here. If anything, I'll probably pop up at more open-mics than before. That's where I started and that's what got me where I'm at now. It's like coming back full circle.
Source: XXL Magazine
