Artist: Jin
Album: 100 Grand Jin
Label: Draft Records
Release Date: 29th August 2006
Track listing:
1. The Ambassador
2. 100 Grand Jin
3. F.Y.I ft. Young Mac
4. Long Winding Road
5. Money Comes, Money Goes
6. Mass Appeal
7. Politics as usual
8. Fuck Jay Z
9. Back Pack
10. Music Is For Life
11. Through Ha Days
12. Let Me (Be My Self)
13. Somethin’ About You
14. Food Fight ft. The Far East Movement
15. Upside Down
RAPCENTRAL REVIEW:
Jin’s second album. He starts his album stating that he’s representing the Asian community through the first track ‘The Ambassador.’ The track has a great beat to it and Jin raps to it well too. Through the track he states numerous times that he’s Asian and that he’s representing Asia. Going to his next track ‘100 Grand Jin,’ the quality of the beat drops. He’s rapping about rap battling other MC’s for money and not for free. This track isn’t effective through the beat the lyrical content is worth hearing. Some people thought Jin wouldn’t drop another album. He proves this in his next track ‘F.Y.I.’
Did you really quit? No. Do You Still Spit? Yes
A lot of people will want to know why Jin disses Jay Z by the track name ‘Fuck Jay Z,’ but the truth it, Jin doesn’t diss Z in this track. He raps about beefs in hip hop but none in particular. Why he names the track ‘Fuck Jay Z’ is a mystery but it is in no way a diss to Jay.
The track ‘Back Pack’ is an annoying track for me. The voice saying ‘back pack back pack’ is really annoying. However, what Jin raps isn’t. Jin talks about rap changing as in rap isn’t the same as it used to be. He gets the message through but the quality of this track could have been higher. The beat isn’t that tight but the lyrics are.
Food fight is a funny track. The beat is nice and the rapping is cool and it’s funny how the message is delivered. He’s talking about being hungry and getting food but there’s another message in the track. Bizarrely, he talks about beef through food. There isn’t a message in the track but there are small messages you can get out of it. He is talking about starving waiting it line and getting extra to eat. This could be interpreted as talking about poor kids in Africa who have no food. The track is a good sounding track and the lyrics are funny as well.
This album wasn’t all I expected but it was good nonetheless. Some tracks weren’t good but the others were of good quality. The album gets a 3.5/5 from me. The beats Jin used let him down this time but the lyrical content picked that up and made it a good listen.
[center]~Clear~[/center]
TOP TRACKS: 1. The Ambassador 14. Food Fight 15. Upside Down
RAPCENTRAL OVERALL RATING: 3.5/5
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Rap Search Review:
Jin is back, and soon than expected. Being so-called "Underground" now, Jin can bang out the albums a lot sooner. '100 Grand Jin' is definitely not water down though with the material Jin's releasing. "The Ambassador" starts with Jin proving he's reppin' the entire Asian community, which is insane. Never a lame on the spitting, "I blew up on a channel for black folks." Jin kills the sample, up-tempo track. "100 Grand Jin," Jin tells the haters/wannabe battle winners against him that only way to battle Jin is for money on the line. "F.Y.I." featuring Young Mac, Jin tells the reasoning behind his drop/leaving of Ruff Ryders. While Jin's flow falls for the first time, he does make up for it. With lines about his movie appearance(2 Fast 2 Furious), "Had some of y'all thinkin' I'm a real mechanic," or "I refuse to a let Hollywood punk me like Ashton."
"Long Winding Road" has promise of a stand out all by itself. Wthout a chorus, the track loses some steam. The sample is so smooth, and Jin of course with his lines, Jin kills it, "looking at me sideways like it's Next Friday." Jin's storytelling is improving also. His tales about careers downturns is completely fulfilled here. Even dropping lines about Roc-a-fella not clearing "Gotta Luv" off 'The Rest is History.' "Mass Appeal" is a quick throwback to the early 90's, where Jin shows his love of the early years spitting them hot lines. "Politics As Usual" is a Dipset sounding sample track with the cut up sample of the American President theme. This is the underground driven track off the start. Jin spitting about how bad the industry is for the small, new guy.
"Fuck Jay-Z," no this is not a diss record. Jin is not dissing Jay-Z. This is Jin mocking all of mainstream rap for their beefs, even kind of going at Nas for doing the "Fuck Jay-Z" at the start of "Ether" with the line, "Fuck Jay-Z(not Jin) right before the song starts." "Back Pack" is a annoying track all together. This is not Jin's best, even though he makes a good point. On the hook Jin spits, "If you ask me, wack is wack weather mainstream or back pack, back pack." "Music Is For Life" is the ode to love of music, where over a soulful background, Jin spit's his love for music for life. With a soft, yet powerful singing on the hook by a girl, this track is really mood setting. Following "Music" is "Through the Days," where is a used already sample that is just cut up to give the sample a new feel. The track by no means is disappoointing, just a let down. "Through the Days" is Jin storytelling about his early years where his father and mother sweat for his early well being.
'100 Grand Jin' is a cool album altogether. Jin kills the tracks like he usually does. Mostly hitting with smooth flow, and the destroy your career punchlines. Though this is all good, and you get what you expect, Jin doesn't stretch his reach to any new ground. Jin provides some storytelling, and goes into his personal life, but how long will he spit about Ruff Ryders, 106 & Park, and other early career downfalls. While Jin still has a few missteps in his albums, he's still one of the most impressive rhyme spitters in the game. Not many MC's are doing what he's doing. Finally finding his market, this is Jin's best work to date.
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props for the review
