American-Chinese rapper Jin Au Yeung has reached across a cultural divide in Hong Kong this month with the release of his first album sung entirely in Cantonese.
Born and raised in the US, the 26-year-old (above), better known as MC Jin, is in town to promote ABC (short for American-born Chinese), which he says has helped him appreciate his family roots.
'This album is more than a Chinese guy rapping. To me, it has a lot of meaning to it. It gives me a chance to really appreciate my culture, my identity, who I am and then beyond that to put it in music and let people hear it.
'For the people who are ABC as well, they can relate to it [and say], 'Oh yeah, that's me too' and for people who are not ABC, let's say Chinese people who are born and raised in Hong Kong, they can listen to it and what they take away from it is, 'Oh, that's what he thinks about? That what goes on in the mind of an ABC? Wow, he was raised in the States but he knows about this ... interesting.''
ABC is Jin's fourth album since 2004, and his first to be released in Hong Kong. It includes songs that point to Jin's Chinese roots, such as 1997, ABC, Speak Can't Read and Wun Lern Chon (Make a Living).
Born into a traditional Chinese family, Jin's father migrated from Hong Kong to the US in 1971. He ran a small Chinese takeaway in Miami. Every now and then, Jin would visit Hong Kong with his parents on holiday to stay with his grandparents. But his return this time for the release of his album has been the longest stay yet.
Does he see himself as American or Chinese?
