Dogeaters
Jin "The Emcee" got beat in a Freestyle Battle at Fight Klub Monday night. That's fine, you win some, you lose some. I thought Jin's first album was terribly disappointing, but he did record a very intelligent, powerful response to the "Tsunami Song", Hot 97 NYC's racist travesty mocking Asian Tsunami victims.
What was particularly interesting about Jin's loss this week to Serius Jones was how exactly he lost:
Jin began the battle with knockout lines like “He couldn’t milk the game for what it’s worth if he was playing with cows.” However, Jones humorous, but racially charged insults appeared to wear on the Asian rapper.
The crowd erupted after Jones spit, “You’ve been wack your whole career/ ain’t there two billion people in China, you can’t even go platinum over there.” In rhyme, Jin retorted that he would be “assassinated” if he struck back with bigoted raps about African Americans in the Fight Klub. Nevertheless, Jones stormed back with, “You ain’t a Ruff Ryder, you on the back like one of them broads/ DMX tried to kill him for trying to cook one of his dogs.”
I couldn't believe this when I read it. He used the "eat dog" dis and it killed? If the crowd was that wack, why didn't he just use "I'm rubber and you're glue!" The line wasn't just racist, it was old, tired, wack and racist. The only thing worse than biting other rappers rhymes in your freestyle is biting crackas racial slurs in your freestyle.
I mean seriously, the racist American mainstream can sit around and not do shit when our own communities have ignorant fucks like Jones and the crowd at the event parroting their racist drivel around for them. And it's not like it's a one way affair--David Chang, what the fuck was Ghettopoly?!
Some observers defended Jones saying, "thats the way it goes, hip hop is from black people and we can do what the fcuk we wanna wit it."
African Americans certainly made hip-hop and should show some pride in that. But Jones' words weren't hip-hop--they were rap. African Americans didn't make rap. White record execs tricked artists to become ventriloquist dummies and now we are stuck with rap. That's why there's no mainstream hip-hop empowering folks of color anymore, there's just rap--a gatt we use to shoot each other in the face.
I'm not mad that Jin lost. I'm sorry he cared so much about winning that he complained about not being able to use slurs himself. He should have just thrown the mike into that wack crowd and told them to pose on white man's racism on somebody else's time.
What was particularly interesting about Jin's loss this week to Serius Jones was how exactly he lost:
Jin began the battle with knockout lines like “He couldn’t milk the game for what it’s worth if he was playing with cows.” However, Jones humorous, but racially charged insults appeared to wear on the Asian rapper.
The crowd erupted after Jones spit, “You’ve been wack your whole career/ ain’t there two billion people in China, you can’t even go platinum over there.” In rhyme, Jin retorted that he would be “assassinated” if he struck back with bigoted raps about African Americans in the Fight Klub. Nevertheless, Jones stormed back with, “You ain’t a Ruff Ryder, you on the back like one of them broads/ DMX tried to kill him for trying to cook one of his dogs.”
I couldn't believe this when I read it. He used the "eat dog" dis and it killed? If the crowd was that wack, why didn't he just use "I'm rubber and you're glue!" The line wasn't just racist, it was old, tired, wack and racist. The only thing worse than biting other rappers rhymes in your freestyle is biting crackas racial slurs in your freestyle.
I mean seriously, the racist American mainstream can sit around and not do shit when our own communities have ignorant fucks like Jones and the crowd at the event parroting their racist drivel around for them. And it's not like it's a one way affair--David Chang, what the fuck was Ghettopoly?!
Some observers defended Jones saying, "thats the way it goes, hip hop is from black people and we can do what the fcuk we wanna wit it."
African Americans certainly made hip-hop and should show some pride in that. But Jones' words weren't hip-hop--they were rap. African Americans didn't make rap. White record execs tricked artists to become ventriloquist dummies and now we are stuck with rap. That's why there's no mainstream hip-hop empowering folks of color anymore, there's just rap--a gatt we use to shoot each other in the face.
I'm not mad that Jin lost. I'm sorry he cared so much about winning that he complained about not being able to use slurs himself. He should have just thrown the mike into that wack crowd and told them to pose on white man's racism on somebody else's time.
posted by Xian Franzinger Barrett at 12:01 AM
9 Comments:
Thanks for your perspective. I've been to half-a-dozen battles, but it's not like I know much about the scene.
I do realize that nothing is sacred and every single battle I've been to, I've heard racialized rhymes surfacing. Shit, I've heard skin tone based dissed spit multiple times by black MCs.
But battles should be determined by skills vs. wackness. Serius Jones can say whatever the fuck he wants, but I expect the crowd to reject cheap gimmicks, especially white racial slurs on folks of color.
In the end, hip-hop and battling deserve just as much respect as what they can do to uplift our community. I can have respect for an MCs flow or ability to move a crowd, but if that's all they are, when they are gone, what the fuck do we have to show for that? An artist who can spit and elevate everyone within earshot, that's truly something to behold.
But hey, you are right, aside from the Tsunami reaction piece, it's not like Jin has displayed much of either. His album was painful to listen to, and Serius' snipe at that was warranted and creative. That's why I focused on the "Dogeaters" reference rather than the "Billion Chinese" line.
I'll try to check out Blue Note. Thanks for the knowledge.
man these foos are wack, just because jins asian doesnt mean he cant be a rapper.
jin's tha only asian rapper i know and hes pretty good shit better than me!
well niggas are jealous cause asian peeps can rap.
You guys are pathetic. The dog line was original and funny not because it's just making fun of asians, it was a clever line because it tied together the fact that Jin was in Ruff Ryders, a camp that DMX is on. Everyone knows how DMX loves dogs, the line was just clever and funny, you guys need to stop crying. I saw nothing racist about the 2 billion people in China bit. Get a life, losers.
so many people who have battled jin have used the race card, it did not seem to bother him then, so why now. like the last poster, the lines that jones dropped were creative and got the crowd laughing and like jones said, it's not about freestyling it's about the money. jin does not always freestyle but he got beaten here fairly even in the sudden death round.
get off jin's cock..
stop cryin bcuz serius jones made ur asian hero cry like a lil girl deal wit it kids stop cryin like a ho hes an asian in hiphop u shudnt be suprised stop cryin damn...black ppl run hiphop DEAL WIT IT
i think everyone's seen serius jones vs. jin and everyone's aware of racial slurs that can occur during a battle. the thing is, racial slurs exist and everyone is guilty of saying something that comes out of their ass every once in awhile...i did feel a bit of a sting when the bit about dmx's dog was said but i feel like jin should have came back at jones using his disses against him. for instance, eminem caught a lot of flack for being a white rapper but i believe because he really is talented that helped him take main stream hip hop over. the difference between jones & jin is that jones was a starving lion in his prime without a care in the world what anyone thinks about the words coming out of his mouth...u could see the fear & frustration in jin's eyes and hear it in his voice...he needs more time to develop into himself...jones was just spittin' what ever he could think of to guarentee the title...much love to serius jones and jin...don't stop........slo_dee
Later anonymous people:
I'm not hearing anything new to the discussion. As I said above, I thought the album crack was clever.
But it doesn't change the fact that he used an obvious, over-repeated white racist insult to slur a person of color.
You could get the most skilled white battle rapper on the planet and I would hope that if they used a tired "niggers are lazy" slur, I should as hell would hope that he would lose.
To me, it was just like when those old guys get on TV and say "Fer shizzle" and think they are being all clever and shit.
oh my god. look at all the whites trying to talk like they're ghetto. I love wiggers, they crack me up.
ChicagoAnt, the problem is that Jin CAN'T say use race in a battle. Because he's Asian, the crowd is Black, and they'll flip out and call him a racist even though he clearly isn't. Jin realizes that anything goes, but he also realizes that he can't do the same thing, which IS unfair. Race should either be thrown out or everyone should be allowed to racist things -- even non-Blacks. You don't get it, do you?
Anon, no one said that the two billion thing was racist. Please read. And let me put it this way: The "dog" comment was clearly racist. If Jones couldn't use race, the joke would fail. We are NOT stupid. We GET the joke. The point is that Jin CAN'T make jokes like that or he'll be branded a racist. How about you not only get a life, but learn how to read at a high school level at least? Thanks.
Anon, thanks for insulting everyone with your stupidity and racism against yourself. You're an embarrassment to black people. Thanks.
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