Black Friday: Jessie&Friends

Black Friday: Jessie & Friends was a cross-cultural hip-hop live production held on November 28, 2025 at Mercury Lounge in New York City. The project was conceived and creatively led by Yuhan Xin, who served as Lead Show Producer and Creative Director, overseeing the overall artistic vision and production direction. The event aimed to build a cultural bridge between Mandarin-language hip-hop and the birthplace of hip-hop in the United States.
Headlining artist Jessie, known for her appearance on a major Chinese rap competition platform, represents a new generation of Mandarin-speaking hip-hop artists with growing influence. Now based in New York, this performance marked a pivotal moment in reframing her artistic identity within an international context—from domestic recognition to cross-cultural presence.
Framed around the timing of Black Friday, the event recontextualized a commercially driven day into a moment of cultural gathering. In addition to Jessie’s original works, the show featured guest performers from diverse backgrounds, reinforcing the “Jessie & Friends” structure as a symbol of community cohesion and artistic exchange. The production integrated Mandarin rap, bilingual audience engagement, and live performance traditions rooted in American hip-hop culture, creating dialogue within New York’s historic music landscape.
In her role as Lead Show Producer and Creative Director, Yuhan Xin directed the overall creative framework and production execution, including concept development, visual identity design, marketing strategy, show flow architecture, and on-site coordination. The visual language centered around a high-contrast “Black Friday” aesthetic, leveraging Mercury Lounge’s intimate spatial dynamics to heighten audience interaction and energy exchange.
The event achieved over 90% ticket pre-sales and drew a near-capacity audience, composed of New York-based hip-hop listeners, Asian creative communities, and international students.
More than a live performance, Black Friday: Jessie & Friends functioned as a cultural convergence point, demonstrating how diasporic artists can cultivate community and redefine identity through thoughtfully curated live production.