China Mac may pass for many as just another American rapper but he is more than that. He was a member of a very violent and dangerous Ghost Shadow Gang that saw him spend up to 11 years behind bars after he shot another rapper, Christopher Louie, on the lower back, leaving him partially paralyzed.
When he was behind bars, he read so much on business and sold drugs. Thanks to this, he had over $7,000 dollars by the time he regained his freedom. He used the money to start a music label, Red Money Record. He also started a pet store which his mother now runs.
China Mac’s Bio
While in the world of hip hop he is popular as China Mac, the rapper was born Raymond Yu on July 12, 1982, in Brooklyn, New York. He was birthed to a father who was never there for him as he was himself a member of the Flying Dragons gang. The gang was greatly feared in the 1980s because of the violence and crime it was linked to including drug trafficking, murders, and kidnapping.
Of Chinese descent, his father was never around for him as he was growing up and that made him hate the older man. Although he wanted to be completely different from his father, he refused to go to school and instead, joined a gang, Ghost Shadows Gang when he was only 12.
Even before becoming a gangsta, China Mac got introduced to hip-hop when he was only 8. It didn’t take him long before he loved the genre of music and was even writing songs and getting involved in rap battles.
Shortly after he joined the gang, he started getting all the respect he wanted. This is because he realized that the more he was feared, the more respect he got. This made him work extra hard in being ruthless and violent. More so, there was no way one would fail in what one was ordered to do as a member of the gang.
He got involved in various kinds of criminal activities as a member of the gang, including robbing people. Also, they were made to watch gambling houses and were paid to do that and to ensure that rival gang members do not come close.
With a strong thirst for crime, he later landed in prison in 2000 when he was 18 years old and was handed a three-year sentence. A few months after making it out in 2003, he would find himself in deeper water when he got involved in a clash with another Asian gang.
On the said day, China Mac and his gang were at the New York City club Yello at around 2 AM. As claimed by Mac, Jin, another rapper disrespected the wife of one of his gang members who was in prison. An argument then ensued and Raymond Yu pulled out a gun on Jin. Christopher Louie who was with Jin, stepped in to defend his friend but ended up being shot at the lower back.
China Mac fled and continued running for a year before he was caught in Seattle, Washington with fake passports. His plan was to flee to Canada. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Facts About China Mac, The Ghost Shadow Gang Ex-Member
1. According to him, when he was joining the gang at the age of 12, it was pretty much simple for him since there were no complex initiations or anything of the sort. All one had to do was to profess one’s loyalty in front of the gang in a ritual in which one would drink chicken blood.
2. While the age of his father when he was born is not known, his mother was either 17 or 18 when she gave birth to him. With a father who was never there, his mother had to take a couple of jobs in order to be able to support herself and her young son.
3. While he was in prison, one of the things that helped him in many ways was his rapping skills. He claimed that he once escaped drug search because he could rap. During the search, there was Indian hemp in the cell which belonged to his cellmate, he rapped for the guards and they didn’t search his cell.
