Jianbo’s ‘Everything For The Family’ hits home

Today, Jianbo releases his first full-length project, a 12-track mixtape titled ‘Everything For The Family’.

Released via Eastern Margins, the mixtape, which was written on tour and in the aftermath of tragedy, presents the diaspora artist’s most personal and cohesive music to date, produced by VVilhelm and Hilts.

In the past few years, the South-East London-based MC has been steadily gaining momentum thanks to cult singles blurring grime and hip hop like ‘S.H.A.O.L.I.N’ and ‘Mongkok Madness’ from 2022’s ‘Yellow Peril’ EP to more recent cross-genre collabs like the Denham Audio-produced ‘Fuel’.

Also integral to Jianbo’s rise have been his impeccable, Hong Kong cinema-coded visuals—and ‘Everything For The Family’ is no exception, with “A1” quality music videos, as one YouTube commenter put it, for ‘Cradle 2 The Sky’ and ‘Exhale (Point Hill)’ feat. INDIA BLUE shared leading up to release day. Four more are still yet to come.

Among Jianbo’s entourage of collaborators is fellow Hong Kong-Chinese Londoner and photographer Humothy, who joined him (along with producer and friend Hilts) on his 2024 Asia tour, documenting travels across China, Japan, Malaysia, Vietnam and Korea. Humothy’s photos of the tour are shared exclusively with Mixmag Asia for this feature – having only been seen before now in a limited zine published in collaboration with Carhartt.

With textured productions that often veer into the orchestral and that embrace influences from UK jazz, grime, and post-punk, ‘Everything For The Family’ explores various sonic worlds while remaining cohesive. Its heart, though, lies in being a tribute to family in its many forms, as Mixmag Asia learns.

I'll start with the obvious question: how does it feel to finally release your first full-length project?

I guess the first emotion is relief, you know? It was a long process, a spiritual journey last year of going through a lot of grief and emotions and putting it into a product. It's almost scary to think about all these moments of life that have been condensed into 12 tracks and to show them to the world. It's been a lot of hurdles getting here and I’m just happy for it to come into the world at this point. But, also, it's a relief because the pressure of harbouring this thing and not being able to show anybody for a while—it's been killing me inside a little bit, to be honest.


Yeah, I can imagine that you can't wait to show people! I’m curious, when did your relationship with Eastern Margins begin?

I guess to the industry, Eastern Margins looks like a record label but to me it's a community. I met [Eastern Margins co-founder] David and the cohort pretty early on in my music career, like 4 or 5 years ago?

Right at the start when I’d dropped one single, they kind of already knew who I was and we were always, talking, hanging out a little bit, you know what I mean? In London, it's a bit of a hub for meeting other East and Southeast Asian people, obviously.

And like, who is in Eastern Margins? That's a big question, right? From the industry side, you could say David and [Head of Operations] Jay, but, really, I feel there's a lot of people who are involved spiritually. So, I feel like even before I was like signed to Eastern Margins, I was already kind of part of the Eastern Margins family, you know?


Read this next: “A unique and special moment”: Margins United is Europe’s first festival celebrating alternative ESEA culture


When did you guys make things official, so to speak?

I guess when I really felt like a genuine part of the community was the Margins United show. They did this really big show at EartH, which was a legendary night. Yeah, that was like the best show of my life, to be honest.

I had 50 people on stage with me, it was JIANBO & FRIENDS that night. All of the community was out: I had my oldest boys, my celebrity friends, Benedict Wong turned up, he was on stage with me, Phil Wang, all these comedians and stuff… It was just a real moment and that's when I really felt part of Eastern Margins.

So, that was the catalyst for me signing this mixtape to them. You know, there's a reality when you do these sorts of things, you do get options, but there's more to this game than just money, you know? And I just felt like these people really cared about me and had my back, so it felt like the natural move.

Let's talk about the tour, I hear you were writing music throughout?

Yeah, definitely. I mean the process of touring was super inspiring for me. I'm surprised more people don't make music on tour. When I talk to other people they’re often like, “No, I'm too busy”, but I just felt like I was living such a mad life experience going to all these places and doing these shows and meeting these people. I had so much to say and so many feelings.

At the same time, my life was in a whirlwind because my best friend had just passed away and then this tour that we had planned for months was starting in like two, three weeks’ time. I pretty much cried straight for like two, three weeks and was just in a real state of despair, and then suddenly I had to pick myself up and fly to Shanghai to do a show and then start my months-long tour.

It was almost a blessing though because I think when you're in that kind of state of mind, often having a real way to escape is kind of how you need to cope with it in the moment. So, I found solace in being on tour at the time.


Read this next: "Moved by networks": how Hahoe Festival is reflourishing Korean culture


What was the writing process like? Was there any influence from regional voices?

Yeah, some of the songs we made in China, Tokyo, Korea, and Malaysia were very much inspired by people that we'd met there and I guess the process really boils down to just doing it wherever we could, like hotel rooms. We brought a little set up with us so we could do it like that.

Obviously, the ideal thing was always trying to make some connects so we could go to studios and make a proper little event of it. On one of the songs, ‘Pray for Change’, one of the credited features is Big Animal Theory. He’s a Tokyo-based producer. Cool kid.

‘Famous’, we made that in Tokyo, too, but that was by Hilts, who I brought on tour with me as a support act. He actually produced a lot of this mixtape, so it was great having him around to be there for us to have these little emotional releases. I don't know how anyone gets through a whole tour without having some sort of outlet, you know?

It's crazy to me, especially if you're going through something—I don't know how my other friends cope. For me, it just feels natural to do it and then before you know it, you've got a 12-track project.


Is there anything else you want to mention about the project?

Yeah, I mean it's dedicated to my friend Dominic Mark Morgan. I think that has to be told because even a song like ‘Exhale’—‘Exhale’ was a song that when Dom passed, his mum gave me his guitar pedal that he had always saved guitar loops on. So, I managed to make a song with him from beyond the grave. That's like the most literal version of it, but this mixtape wouldn't have happened without him, you know, like if I didn't feel the types of ways that I've felt from his passing.

This was my closest friend from when we were real, real young. My mom still has a photo of him on our fridge and we did everything together. It's almost like I laugh about it sometimes, I think about it like, “If you knew, Dom, that you'd make me so fucking sad with you passing that I'd make the best music of my life.”

[Images via Humothy]

Mengzy is Mixmag Asia’s Music Culture Columnist, follow her on Instagram.

Cut through the noise - sign up for our weekly Scene Report or follow us on Instagram to get the latest from Asia and the Asian diaspora!