J. Cheung

Cheung or Cryptik Soul, is a Hip Hop, Gangsta Rap, and Horrorcore Rapper and Songwriter as well as a Martial Arts Choreographer. J. was born in North London, UK. He was brought up in an average Chinese working class family, but for some reason he had a fascination for horror movies. He began training in Taekwondo at an early age. He furthered his knowledge in the Martial Arts by studying Kickboxing, Muay Thai, Wing Chun, Jeet Kune Do, Boxing, and numerous weapons including Nunchaku, Sword, Knives, and Bow Staff. His first recollection of Hip Hop was through "YO! MTV Raps" where he was exposed to artists such as Wu-Tang Clan, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Busta Rhymes, Kool G Rap, 2Pac, The Notorious B.I.G., Big L, LL Cool J and Big Pun and since his introduction to Hip Hop, it has played a major part in his life. J. admired the poetic form and story telling behind Hip Hop songs and he uses his love for horror films as inspiration for his lyrics. At 14 years of age, he became involved with the wrong crowd of people and this caused him to rebel against his family. His associates introduced him to drugs, sex and gangs. This lead to 9 years of the worst and lowest times in his life. He began hustling various drugs and became entangled with the notorious 14K Triad. J. became an asset to the Triad's when they began using him for his exceptional Martial Arts abilities. He became respected throughout London's Chinatown as a Triad enforcer who to this day is unbeaten in over 200 street fights. With a reputation like this, throughout Chinatown and the Drug Game, and being monitored by the Police, J. showed incredible courage by turning his back on the gang life and focusing his energy on the entertainment industry and was the Martial Arts Choreographer for a low budget film called Triads, Yardies and Onion Bhajees! screened in 2003. Even with his involvement in the gang world, J. was still in touch with his passion for Hip Hop, using it as an escape from the awful reality that had become his life. He was able to release pent up anger by using his experiences as the base for his rhymes and he looked up to Big Pun, Big L, Eminem and Cassidy to help perfect his rhyme flow and word play. He spent months locked in his bedroom cleansing himself from the drug culture he was involved so heavily in, and studying the ins and outs of Hip Hop, the beats, and he overflowed 3 books with his rhymes. Just as he had with his Martial Arts skills, J. took his rap to the streets, challenging other MC's at competitions or randomly engaging them in brutal rap battles in the streets of London, and just as with his street fights he may at times have been bloodied, but he was never defeated. After his recognition on Jump Off TV Rap Battle in 2005, he appeared on two underground Hip Hop DVDs, a British DVD called I Got Lyrics and an American DVD called Married 2 Da Streetz Part 2 featuring MC Jin, Juelz Santana and Cam'ron to name a few. Through the years J. has been meeting with and rapping to numerous famous artists such as Eminem, D12, Saigon, Kidz In The Hall, MC Jin, Fabolous, DJ Qualls, Guru (of Gang Starr), Fat Joe, Mos Def, Wu-Tang Clan, Immortal Technique, Xzibit, Ice-T, Ice Cube, Necro, De La Soul and Talib Kweli. In 2006 he co-starred and choreographed fight scenes for the film Ca$h & Curry which was screened in September 2008 at the Portobello Film Festival, and was offered a place at the prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, but turned it down, preferring to hone his talent on the streets. He became the fourth member of a LA based Hip Hop group called the Chosen Onez, and he is CEO & Founder / Martial Arts Choreographer / Stunt Performer & Coordinator / Visualiser for the action company Thr3guys. In 2012, J. moved to Hong Kong hoping to work in the music and movie industry, and found himself working for a independent and now disgraced Film Producer, who tried to abuse J.'s talents for his own advantage, promising to put together a slate of projects that would raise J. to the next level. But at least whilst working for him, he was introduced to Donnie Yen and his fight team, and this is where he studied action film making for 8 months. Through working with this indie company, he was also introduced to Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Louis Fan Siu-Wong, Louis Koo, and directors Yuen Woo-Ping, Wilson Yip and Ronny Yu, and his rapping and Martial Arts skills were widely recognised and J. was offered multiple projects. In 2013, J. as Cryptik came face-to-face with one of Hip Hop's most successful and influential entrepreneurs, Damon Dash. Damon was so impressed with his freestyling that Damon shot a short film called Beef & Broccoli on the busy streets of Hong Kong with Cryptik as the lead. J. has also worked as a stuntman and body double for the lead actress on the Roger Corman movie, Fist Of The Dragon, shot in Nanhai, China. He had the opportunity to work closely with director Anotony Szeto, lead stars Josh "The Punk" Thomson (UFC sports star) and JuJu Chan (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny). J. also provided the main song at the end credits for the movie, titled Critical State, which features one of his favourite childhood Rappers, A+. J. also plays the son of legendary Hong Kong action star and choreographer John Cheung in Dr. Z's independent Martial Arts feature The Stop Hit, which sees J. stealing the thunder from leading man Eric Jacobus as their fight scenes show just who is the master! J. is on the verge of international stardom in both the music and movie world, it's just a matter of time!