Who is Jackie Chain, the rapper who mentored BTS in 2014 and just congratulated them on their VMA win?
Asian-American rapper Jackie Chain revealed that he once mentored BTS when they were rookies hoping to break into the US market, all the way back in 2014. But his post has some wondering just who is this rapper that helped the K-pop act long before the global audience knew who they were?
Chain hopped on Twitter to drop a little note following BTS' successful run at the MTV Video Music Awards this year. He shared, "This was 2014, I was asked to meet with and mentor this Korean group who was trying to breakthrough in the USA, they probably didn't remember anything I said cuz I didn't speak Korean and they had an interpreter but…" and linking to an image on Instagram of him with J-Hope, Jimin, and Jungkook of BTS. The Instagram post completes the rapper's thoughts, adding, "...fast forward to present time and they're performing at #mtv #vmas congrats to #bts."
This was 2014, I was asked to meet with and mentor this Korean group who was trying to break through in the USA, they probably didn't remember anything I said cuz I didn't speak Korean and they had an interpreter but… https://t.co/wCaC6abxjR
— Jackie Chain (@JackieChain74) August 30, 2020
In 2014, BTS had just completed their 'school trilogy' series of releases that they debuted with ending with the EP 'Skool Luv Affair'. The group's oldest member, Jin, was just 22 while their youngest member Jungkook was just 16. Their international breakthrough wouldn't come till much later, with the release of the song 'Blood Sweat & Tears', the lead single off their 2016 hit album 'Wings'.
BTS was arguably one of the top groups in South Korea already by that point, but the shift from their boyish look and sound to a more mature one that delved into philosophy and psychology as overarching themes drew in a much larger fanbase than anyone could have predicted. But prior to their big breakthrough, BTS was just like any other idol group: extremely gifted and promising, highly marketable and filled with a burning desire to dominate the global market. And that's when they met Chain.
Hailing from Huntsville, Alabama, Chain's career began while BTS was still just an idea on the minds of the Big Hit executives. Born to an American Army drill sergeant and a Korean mother, Chain's formative years were split between Korea, Texas and Germany, but by his teens, the family had settled down in Huntsville, and Chain would finally have the stability to discover his own passions.
But this wasn't an easy task, especially considering how few other Asians were in the region at the time. "There were three other Asians at my school," Chain shared in an interview with Vice. He discovered an early love for hip-hop while in high school, rapping at local talent shows all while descending into some legal troubles around prescription medications.
The latter endeavor culminated with Chain, aged 19, face-down on a pharmacy floor, the result of a sting operation to take him and his crew out. Chain spent some time in prison, where he was forced to shave his head and earned his nickname "Jackie Chain". The experience made him vow to keep his hair long for the rest of his life.
Chain started gaining an audience for his music in 2008, and by 2012 with the release of his mixtape 'After Hours', he had already made a name for himself in local circles. Speaking to Vice, Fool’s Gold label co-founder Nick Catchdubs shared, "Jackie was ahead of his time. He was a social media-friendly guy who peaked before those tools were as powerful as they are now. He was the perfect artist for weed-themed tours and dance festivals with rap stages before those things existed."
Chain's influence on the rap genre is evident in him being one of the first artistes to fuse southern rap with club music, thus bridging the gap between the two genres in a way that would go on to define how music was created in the following years. Chain, over his long career, has collaborated with everyone from Big Sean and Riff Raff to Diplo and Mike Posner.
But a changing industry and label issues often threatened to derail the rapper's career, and for the most part, he remained largely unknown to the outside world. But within the rap scene, he earned the moniker, "everyone's favorite down-south trill Asian rapper". A mouthful, for sure, but one that highlights both Chain's skill as well as the unique niche he carved for himself.
The year 2014 saw the release of Chain's mixtape 'Bruce Lean Chronicles Vol. 2'. Prior to this release, Chain was still being lauded for his breakthrough song, 2009's 'Rollin'' featuring Kid Cudi, which saw him rap the infamous lyrics "Rollin', rollin', rollin', ain’t slept in weeks" over a sample of Gucci Mane’s 'Pillz'. This mixtape offered fans 12 new tracks and featured appearances from Big K.R.I.T., Juicy J, Lil’ Wyte and Crime Mob’s Diamond.
The mixtape received rave reviews, with many highlighting it was a solid indication of what more was to come from the acclaimed rapper. Yet, it does seem odd that Big Hit would seek the advice of Chain over other artistes from the same time period who were dominating the charts and streaming platforms.
But Chain was, in fact, the perfect mentor for BTS. He was, after all, Asian-American, and could offer a unique perspective on the industry. But additionally, he was a rap and hip-hop artiste making waves within the American market, which was precisely what BTS was at the time, though their music has shifted towards something entirely different in the years since.
And on top of all of that, Chain was a visionary who took the genre he was in and turned it into something fresh and unique to himself, which is exactly what BTS ended up doing with their own sound, so much so that their expansion globally facilitated the redefining of K-pop as a genre in and of itself.
Following their brief time together in 2014, BTS would go on to release hit after hit, taking over the international market and setting records even they could not have truly anticipated. Chain went on to drop his acclaimed 2016 mixtape, 'On the Run', sharing with the world lyrics like "Rappin’s just a hobby, lemme tell you what I’m really on," on the track 'Cali Leanin'.
What he was on, as it would turn out, was weed. In 2016, Chain and his crew were well into their journey of cultivating marijuana in grow houses which they would sell to local dispensaries. Chain's links to drugs, as it turns out, was the video for 'Rollin'' never got made — Cudi, who had just gotten sober and refused to promote any substance use, declined to do the video on the day of the shoot.
Not long after in 2011, Universal Motown dissolved and left Chain stuck in a defunct label scenario, and while he did get picked up by Universal Republic, he'd lost the momentum his early hits afforded him. His label would be unwilling to spend money on the rapper, leading Chain to fund his videos and tours before finally breaking away from Universal. Undeterred, Chain kept putting music out while in Los Angeles, but after more setbacks and legal troubles, threw himself into the weed business fulltime.
Speaking about his experience, however, Chain points out there's more to that industry than meets the eye. "When I had my clinic I assumed it was just gonna be stoners, but I noticed a lot of cancer patients, people with glaucoma, sleep disorders, and eating disorders. This plant really helps them." And thus, despite his clinic being shut down, Chain continued on in the business, this time growing the plant instead.
"I got so engulfed in this weed culture that I wasn’t putting nothing out," the rapper stated. He later beat a felony charge back in Alabama, something that would push him to find his way back to music again. And soon he was back in the booth, putting together what would eventually turn into 'On the Run'. And the rest, as they say, is history.
It's hard to know exactly what went on in the mentoring sessions BTS and Chain shared. Perhaps he helped them learn what it meant to throw two seemingly incompatible genres together to create a new sound? Or maybe he gave them advice on how to take their existing lyrical themes and advance it to the next phase of their lives? Or maybe he simply gave them an understanding of what it meant for an Asian act to make it big in the Western music world.
Regardless of what specifically he taught them, it's clear Chain holds the experience in high regard and continues to cheer on those seven young lads he once met who were hoping to one day make it big in the world.