China Mac
American rapper and activist From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Raymond Yu (born February 5, 1981),[1][2] known professionally as China Mac, is an American rapper, entertainer, activist, and former gang member.[3][4]
Early years
Yu was born and raised in Brooklyn to Chinese immigrants, from Hong Kong.[3][5] He moved into a group home at the age of 8.[6] Yu joined the Ghost Shadows gang when he was 12.[3] In his teenage years, he would partake in freestyle rap battles with other kids at the juvenile detention center.[3]
Career
Summarize
Perspective
2000–2013: Incarceration
At the age of 18, Mac was sentenced to three years in prison for gang related crimes in 2000.[3]
On November 9, 2003, Mac was involved in an altercation with MC Jin at a bar in Chinatown, Manhattan, where he shot Jin's acquaintance, rapper Christopher "LS" Louie, in the back.[7][8] Mac later went on the run for over a year and was apprehended in Seattle, Washington when he tried to leave the country with a fake passport.[3] In prison, he was nicknamed "China Mac" by the Mac Ballers gang. He was released on parole in November 2013 and founded the Red Money Records record label and a pet store with the money he saved up while in prison.[3][7][6]
2014–present: Music production and activism
Mac returned to prison for an accused parole violation and was later released in 2017.[7] Since then, he has uploaded video content, including the food show Mac Eats, onto his YouTube channel, China Mac TV.[4]
Mac released his album MITM in 2017.[9][10]
In 2018, Mac was a prominent critic of Lil Pump's single "Butterfly Doors", which used the pejorative ching chong slur.[4][11]
In 2019, he released the dual EP, Yin and Yang.[12] That same year, Mac released a Chinese/Spanish record with Tali Goya.[4]
In July 2020, amidst the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, an 89-year-old Chinese grandmother was assaulted and set on fire in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn.[13][14] Mac and actor Will Lex Ham organized a march in that neighborhood on August 1, 2020 as a response to raise awareness about anti-Asian hate crimes.[14] The "They Can't Burn Us All" rallying cry transformed into a national protest for "unity amongst all people against hate crimes and racism."[15] The duo later held rallies in both Los Angeles and San Francisco.[16] The events had hundreds of attendees.[14][15] China Mac's activism led him to release the single "They Can't Burn Us All" on October 30, 2020.[17][better source needed]
Personal life
His father was a part of the Chinese-American gang, Flying Dragons, that was active in the 1980s.[3]
See also
- Stop Asian Hate—a series of demonstrations, protests, and rallies against violence targeting Asians and Asian Americans in 2021
References
External links
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