Our Thursday night show in the Bay was headlined by Jackie Chain. If you don’t know Jackie, get familiar.. this Huntsford, Alabama bred rapper is Half-Korean/Half-White and All Southern Hip-Hop. His mom left him when he was 2, his dad booted him at 16. In and out of prison, he adopted the name “Jackie Chain” from the other inmates who kept tagging him as “Jackie Chan” with a drawl. Earlier in the day, Jackie shared stories of his struggle in ‘bama, cops having it out for him because of his dope-selling days, relationships with the strippers, the hardships of taking his show on the road. Jackie’s still never been to L.A. in his life. I’ve got mad respect for Jackie, and I believe in his artistry.

The other day I got into a conversation with one of our interns who so happens to be Korean-American. We were debating what it means to be a leader in the Asian-American community, and what our people need to progress. I’ve always been a little leery of “Asian-American” movements for “Asian-American” purposes. Seems so forced and manufactured, and it’s always done the wrong way by the wrong people. All the Asian-Americans I can vouch for who are doing truly incredible, revolutionary things for the community are the ones who stay authentic to their own individual passions (Eric Nakamura, David Choe, SuChin Pak, amongst others). Not because it represents their race in a particular way, but because it showcases them as people, and that in turn reverberates outwards. Jackie here is a true example of that.. if you closed your eyes and listened to his raps, you’d swear he was Black or White. But he’s just Jackie Chain, doing his thing, one step at a time in a very arduous uphill battle.

Support independent artists. Support Jackie Chain.

by bobbyhundreds