THE NIGHT STUFF
Jin Tha MC heads this way, we think

By Derek Paiva
Advertiser Entertainment Writer

Jin Tha MC is scheduled to perform at Volcanoes tonight. The hip-hop artist has had a mixed reception among Asian Americans for portraying culturally insensitive stereotypes. Gannett News Service Jin Tha MC Doors open 7 p.m. today Volcanoes Nightclub $15 934-9889 For all ages Also: In Hilo: 10 p.m. Saturday, Shooters Nightclub, CD pre-release party

Jin Tha MC is coming!

The aspiring MC touted as the first Asian — or more specifically, Chinese-American — rapper has promised a Honolulu gig several times over the last few months only to cancel days before show. What makes yours truly think it'll actually go down this time?

Uh, who says I'm not still crossing fingers here?

One thing, however, is crystalline. For a guy whose debut CD "The Rest is History" has yet to see the light of day after a year of missed release dates — it's currently promised for July — the 21-year-old Jin (last name: Au-Yeung) sure has been getting a lot of press.

Rolling Stone magazine last year named Jin one of 10 artists of "the next wave" to watch in 2003. (Better make that 2004). After going undefeated in seven consecutive weeks of Black Entertainment Television's "106 & Park: Top 10 Live" freestyle battles, Jin was famously signed by Virgin's Ruff Ryders label (home of DMX and Eve) late last year.

The not-so-great news? While much of the media's attention has focused on Jin's being the first solo Asian-American hip-hop artist awarded a major label release, he has also been taken to task for perpetuating culturally insensitive stereotypes in his work. Still others have called him an all-too-willing pawn in a blatant Virgin attempt to grab its share of the lucrative Asian-American music-buying market

"Learning Chinese," the first single from Jin's upcoming CD, features him boasting about being "the original chinky-eyed MC" while portraying Chinatown as a gangsta paradise not unlike N.W.A.'s Compton of the 1990s.

"I wish you would come down to Chinatown. Get lost in town, end up in the lost and found," raps Jin. "Eyewitnesses? You must be crazy. We don't speak English. We speak Chinese."

Jin's lyrical flow can be as razor-sharp funny as it is wickedly clever — "We should ride the train for free, we built the railroads." But lines like, "I ain't ya 50 Cent. I ain't ya Eminem. I ain't ya Jigga man. I'm a China man" aren't exactly winning Jin the wholehearted support of the Asian-American community.

"Either they're behind him 100 percent or they think he's a terrible misrepresentation," Asian-American music scholar Oliver Wang told Entertainment Weekly in February, acknowledging the importance of Jin's presence on the hip-hop scene while questioning his polarizing way of stating the obvious.

Of course, "Learning Chinese" may just be a guaranteed attention-getting opening salvo from an artist and label looking to get the most bang for its initial buck. Eminem — whose breakneck lyrical flow music critics most often compare Jin's to — launched his career with skeptic-quelling boasts about his whiteness before becoming one of hip-hop's preeminent lyricists and social commentators.

By that token, the sum of "The Rest is History" may actually amount to much more than that of one of its parts. Here's hoping.

Reach Derek Paiva at dpaiva@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8005.

Night Notes:

First up, all the small things. Blink-182 has changed the date of its Honolulu show again. The sold-out Blaisdell Arena gig will now happen Aug. 13, moved up from October. The Maui Arts & Cultural Center show, rescheduled for Aug. 15, is reportedly canceled, though still on the books at MACC. Discuss.

And psychedelic surf band The Mermen finish up a two-evening gig at Anna Bannanas tonight at 9 p.m. The San Francisco-based cult faves are known for trippy guitar-driven surf-rock experiments that wipe out previous Dick Dale-ian memories of the genre. Seven bucks gets you in.