i'm lost in translation

Things that I think about when I am at work

When I first heard about this Chinese rapper, Jin, I thought it was the ultimate marketing move. An Asian rapper with some talent - apparently he wowed audiences on BET's 106th and Park and is signed to a legitimate hip hop label, Ruff Ryders Records. I don't want to have to make any comparisons to Eminem....but I will. I find artists like Eminem and now Jin refreshing because they rattle around the image of hip hop a little. Not in the way they look - that is just a side note. The fact that they force hip hop audience to appreciate a different type of face is not the point. What is the point? Any new artist is going to freshen up the face of hip hop - and different backgrounds tend to brighten up that face as well. It also struck me that if white middle America embraced Eminem the way it did - imagine the impact on the Asians of America.

So here is what confuses me. This guy drops his single and nothing happens.

I thought this guy had the perfect formula. Jin should be the music hero to every skulking, spiky haired boy in Flushing and Chinatown. I should hear his first single, Learn Chinese, bumping out of every tricked out Honda Civic and Acura Integra in the Tri-State Area. These boys graduate from geek to gangster chic in their teens and download every song by 50 Cent, Jay-Z and DMX into their IPOD's. So, what happened here? Are they marketing this guy all wrong?

His album, The Rest is History, doesn't hit stores until March 23rd. Hopefully, we will hear more from him.

posted by Jin @ 2:33 PM