Sunday, September 30, 2012

Hip
HopLil Boi: It
was around the winter of second year in high school and I was preparing for a
school festival. While digging through various websites for the MR of Drunken
Tiger’s “Stubborn Person,” I ended up joining a website called “Jungle Radio.”
They had a free board where people were allowed to upload their own recorded
sessions so I thought, “Hrm, should I try too?” With the same mindset, I
started recording and for about a year, I was constantly working on music that
it became a naturally thing for me opposed to coming to a conclusion and
saying, “I’m going to pursue in music.”Louie: I
first started off writing lyrics and in wanting to record my work, I bought a
3,000 won (roughly $3 USD) microphone at the neighborhood stationary store.
With time passing by up till present day, I guess I’m able to tell the public
that I’m pursuing in music because of the habitual routine I made myself go
through in recording and composing lyrics.

Nickname

Lil
Boi: The
nickname means “little boy” and I ended up using this because I’m short
(laughter).Louie: The
CEO, Rimi nuna, and Gamja hyung thought of this nickname together for me after
putting much thought into it. They gave it to me because they said I look like
an heir of France but I’m not so sure about it.

CrewLil Boi: I’m
under the crews Do’main, Buckwilds, and Cookiz. For Do’main and Buckwilds, I
joined the two crews naturally while for Cookiz on the other hand, I joined
through an audition.
Louie: I joined
JUJUBE which is where I first started exchanging music with my peers. I joined
Cookiz with Lil Boi and my friends in Do’main are those I chatter with when I
go to Hongdae and nod my head along with to hip hop songs. I’m not really the
type to go out and play but whenever I meet up with these friends, I become a
person who can be an outgoing whenever. We’re not just a bunch of cool peers
that exchange music together, but a group that can talk about the deep aspects
of life. For Buckwilds, I went to perform at one of the South Town Shows in
Busan and I met up with Jtong hyung but I can’t remember exactly since I was
pretty drunk but I remember him telling me, “Be a part of Buckwilds. You’re
a true lunatic that I even approve of” so since then, I became a part of
Buckwilds. They’re my colleagues who are very warmhearted people and sincere
towards music so to me, they’re very, very important.

Representative
trackLil Boi: For
my personal representative song, I think the track “Once” off of my personal
mixtape, “Good Time” and the reason being that I composed the lyrics truthfully
in regards to my family, friends, and music.
Louie: …

ActionsLil Boi: To
not do music for business, and that’s something I should abide by till I die.Louie: An
artist needs to have an efficient mindset for art and for a hip hop artist, I
believe that they have to work hard for the art genre that is hip hop. I
haven’t accomplished much in order to be prideful, but I always know that one
thing I need to keep habit of is “sincerity.” Your motive relies on the
responsibility of what you accomplish is how I look at it. As an emcee, you
need to take actions that aren’t embarrassing as written in your self-composed
lyrics, but also reflect over yourself once again and share that path; I myself
am working hard to become an amazing artist who can direct others into this
better path.

Respect

Lil
Boi:
I just set foot into the scene so as a fellow artist, I believe that paying
respect towards previous generation artists is a given fact. Of course, I
respect my fellow friends who started at the same time around as me as well as
to the younger generation also.

Louie: I always feel
gratitude towards the older generation artists of Korean hip hop. If it weren’t
for them, I think it would’ve been harder for me to be able to tweak my rhymes
or organize them. It’s given for awesome hip hop artists to be given respect
and for me to share the same backstage room as them is an honor, as I’m unable
to hide my overwhelmed feelings most times.

Role
model

Lil
Boi:
Kanye West.

Louie:
Like
the lyrics by my friend TakeOne, I want to consistently pursue in music in an
honest matter to the point where I don’t need to mention “honesty.” Many lines
of his lyrics inspired me and I want to be able to compose lyrics and make
music like that in return.

From
now on

Lil
Boi:
Geeks is preparing for our official 1st album. In order to put out
the best quality, we’re still trying hard to earn more inspiration. Louie: I’m working hard
with Lil Boi and we’ll try to have it out by this year.

Lastly

Lil
Boi:
For the fans and artists (hyungs, friends, dongsengs) who always keeps interest
in us, we thank everyone and I’ll always keep a student mindset of growing and
working hard to make music. Peace.

Louie: One love.

Reddy

Hip
HopReddy: To be
honest, I didn’t really engage into it but more so started off working on my
mixtape alone because I enjoyed listening to hip hop. I think that’s when I first
started rapping – I used to have more interest in singing so I bought more
R&B artists’ albums…but thanks to a friend who I got to know in the
military, my spectrum in hip hop music broadened; I used to listen to mainly
Korean hip hop before.

NicknameReddy: My
real name is Kim Hong Woo. People tend to have fun with the spelling of “hong.”
For example, younger friends would call be Hong hyung before…the “hong” doesn’t
mean the bright hong but the representative definition for it is usually red.
Also, I do happen to like red so I thought of the term “red” but in order to
make it easier for others to call me by, I added the suffix “-dy” so it became
“Reddy.” There’s no special meaning behind it.

Crew

Reddy: I’m a member of the crew called
The Cohort. At first, I was contacted through Twitter and the friend who had
contacted me was in America but he had heard of my mixtape and saw clips of me.
Since there are limitations to the internet, we decided to meet up the next
time he’d be in Korea so we set up a date and when I first met them, I had a
good vibe from them. The directions of our thoughts were headed in a similar
direction, and so I thought it’d be fun to hang around these guys. We’re not a
rapping crew – we’re a crew that likes culture. We also have different roles as
well. In Cohort, it’s only Jiyong (Okasian) and I that rap.

Representative track

Reddy: I’ve only had one
single and two mixtapes out, so there isn’t a lot however if I had to choose
one, it’d be the track “Buzzer Beater.” It was extremely difficult for me to
work on the single. While working on it alone, I felt pressured with the
feeling that this became a job almost and there were a lot of parts I was stuck
on. Though later on, it was like pricking my fingers and feeling really
relieved from the constipation when I worked on this track you can say. Rather
than the other tracks I held onto longer, I liked this track more for how it
turned out. To me, it still feels like a very refreshing track.

Actions

Reddy: Even before the day
I received the interview offer, I thought a lot in regards to actions and it’s
kind of baffling. Before then, I didn’t think much of my opinions and I guess I
just went with the flow of things? And with my actions flowing in that direction,
I began to see that my thoughts began to drift further away as well. I guess
you can think of it as a good experience to put it optimistically, however now
I kind of want to organize my actions and plan to work with the first feelings
and determinations I enjoyed and felt to when I first started producing. I
think that I’m going to work on awesome stuff from now on.

Respect

Reddy: I released a single
without knowing anything and it’s been about a year now. I feel the utmost
respect towards the artists who I listened to since elementary school and
junior high that the fact that they’re still involving music in their lives is
respectable. I feel at times that this is a very difficult lifestyle and to put
a lot of time into hip hop and not any other genres, that itself deserves
respect, hands down.

Role
model

Reddy: I don’t have a role
model, and I don’t have an ideal type either. I think that having a role model
and to become like someone narrows my vision. I want to be able to see as
broadly as I can and I don’t think that having a role model can do that – I
want to become an artist. A true artist.

From
now on

Reddy: I want to work on
things that can keep me thinking about myself more. If I think about it, I
don’t think I have much interest in myself. Anyway, I ask for much support
either way.

Lastly

Reddy: I’m at a stage of
just starting off and working hard to enjoy producing. Whether it’s illegally
or officially, I hope many of you can listen and for many of you to listen is
the most joyful result. Also, if you don’t like it, then you don’t and if you
do, you do – but make sure to tell me. I want as much feedback as I can get and
I ask for much support, not just for me but for Korean hip hop as well.

Kkalchang

Hip Hop

Kkalchang: If I can remember, the time when I
really had a big interest in hip hop was my third year of junior high
(equivalent to 9th grade in U.S. school systems). My friend was singing MC
Sniper’s “Korean” at the karaoke near the arcade and I think that’s when I came
across hip hop and developed a huge interest in it. Since then, I enjoyed
singing along while listening to it and around the end of high school, I met
Jtong through a friend and I think I really started getting into it. At the
time however, I didn’t have a set plan nor did I think that the hip hop culture
would take a great toll in my life – it just happened. It was about when I was
twenty going on twenty-one years old that this hip hop culture took a great
chunk of my life.

Nickname

Kkalchang: Everyone probably knows it as the
insoles people put in shoes to make others taller, but it was actually given to
me by the friend who had introduced me to Jtong. We used to joke around in
saying things like, “Hey~ that’s hella tight” whenever someone did
something and my friend had shortened the phrase to “Kkalchang, kkalchang.”
I got used to it and when it came around to me choosing a rapper name, I was
debating until I decided to go by what I was used to, Kkalchang.

Crew

Kkalchang: I’m currently under the crew Buckwilds
and it’s a crew led by Jtong. In this crew, there are probably a lot of members
who also did this interview. I think how I came to be a part of the crew was
that I met Jtong when the crew was starting up and naturally ended up joining,
and I’m still a part of the crew today.

Representative track

Kkalchang: I really like the 5th track titled
“About Me” from my mixtape “From the Ground” that I released this past
February. Not only do I enjoy performing it, but the hook itself is very, very
simple and even though a lot of people listen to it for the first time at my
performances, they end up singing along as well. And it’s also the track I
listened to the most off of my mixtape which is the reason I chose it.

ActionsKkalchang: There’s a phrase I really like and it’s
“Keep it real,” which I think depicts me perfectly. But for one’s
actions, I think you have to keep cool too, both on the inside and out. I want
to give off the vibe where if someone comes across listening to my music, I
want them to feel that I’m a cool person and that they’ll give me respect.

RespectKkalchang: I think those who put out a lot of
albums are really amazing. I think Jtong was the first person I saw up close in
how a musician works on their album and I don’t think it’s an easy task.
Although those are tasks that I will have to face later on, I think those who
have already crossed these experiences many times are truly amazing in my eyes.
As much as I respect them, I feel that I should work just as hard.

Role modelKkalchang: I used to have a role model, but now I
don’t necessarily have one. There are great artists out there and rather than
choosing one of them and becoming like them, I’d rather earn inspiration from
them and make something of mine.

From now onKkalchang: I’m working on an EP right now. I’m in
the stage of just sketching out for my EP, so I don’t have a big picture but
I’m planning on working just as hard to make good music. Before the EP release
however, I’ll most likely be coming out with a single.

LastlyKkalchang: Although I don’t have a big hit or
much in my discography, I plan on constantly releasing music so anticipate for
me and Buckwilds!! BUCKWILDS!!!

Friday, September 28, 2012

In the earlier generations, probably dating back to the first generation of hip hop, the music genre itself wasn't even a music genre back then. It was more like a type of music that select people enjoyed and was more of an undiscovered hobby that people had. In Korea, people labeled older lovers of hip hop as "마니아층," translating to "maniac-level" and defining it as only "maniac-leveled" people liked it. But with older generations paving way for newer generations, hip hop had the opportunity to be under the spotlight and is still under the spotlight today. Hip hop has kind of become a household name where everyone believes that throwing up random signs with your fingers, wearing overly excessive jewelry, and sagging your pants are all considered to be hip hop.But what hip hop really is (or was), is it's a community. While hip hop artists formed crews and worked with one another to build the genre of hip hop and their own community, "maniac" lovers of hip hop also formed a community that started from sharing their thoughts about their favorite artists and albums. Although the artists deserve much credibility for their hard work, the hip hop fans also deserve a round of applause because without their interest and devotion to the music and artists, it would've been a difficult path for hip hop to be even remotely close to the million dollar industry it is today. At times like this, the phrase, "the fans make the artist" come into play and how people believe that Justin Bieber is this crazily obnoxious kid thanks to his teeny bopper fans (shoutout to the Believers!). So why is it that when hip hop has made it big as one of the top music categories in the music industry today that the phrase "hip hop is dead" is going around? A lot of people associate it with the deterioration in quality of what hip hop has become which is partially true but I think it goes back to the community, that the people who were crazy over hip hop fell out of it and newer generations aren't really keen on building a hip hop community but more about slapping songs in their cars to project the image of themselves being "gangster."It's unfortunate to see that the in comparison to American hip hop, Korean underground is already such a small playing field and Hiphopplaya, the largest source and community for Korean hip hop, has changed into a magazine that people mindlessly flip through rather than housing a community of fans and artists. And having Hiphopplaya be the largest community of what Korean hip hop is, the lack of passion on both the management and the fans' end reflects what Korean hip hop is to the general public, and right now I can tell you that "Korean hip hop is dead."Although I haven't been into Korean hip hop as long as others might have, I guess I can consider myself a witness in part of how much Hiphopplaya has changed. Even though the mid-2010 era might be considered a fairly "noob" level, I was still able to see the quality drop from what I started off reading up till what it is today. The biggest change I felt was when the renewal of the website was announced in early January of this year.Although many people love the easy navigation of the new layout, the convenience of being able to purchase MP3s of new releases directly from Hiphopplaya, and being able to find artists and songs through their quick search engine, it wasn't these aspects that they needed to renovate on, but what Hiphopplaya used to be and reviving what it was before: a community.The issue was finally addressed a few days ago on the 'national music board' of Hiphopplaya, a member of the website titling the post, "Why did Hiphopplaya fail" and proceeded to explain why he/she thought so. The topic had 30 replies and although 30 may not seem like a lot, it says a lot that a post bringing awareness to a failing website and community has as much replies as posts about G-Dragon releases...In taking a look at the topic, the top three replies for the post definitely sums up the issues Hiphopplaya has been facing and the flaws they really need to work on.

1. corea312 [+7, -0] I think there's various reasons but first off, I think the problem goes back into the management of Hiphopplaya (shortened to HHP). HHP claims to be the No.1 sourced website for hip hop but I believe that they're beginning to carelessly manage HHP. If I was running a site I liked, I think that one should have a variety of entertaining reads. For example, another hip hop website has what's called "Artist of the Month" and I remember HHP had done this for a while where their old system was unique in which they'd paste an interview as something to read along with so that the readers were able to know more about the artists and even buy their album. But nowadays, it's all about pasting a photo and that's the end of it. Even if they weren't artist of the month, if they released a good album, they'd interview them and we were able to obtain more information about them. With lack of interviews releasing as of lately, it seems that Noise Mob is the end of it. Even for the title of "Rookie of the Month," it's as if they never even released anything and just vanished. Even weekly news releases ends with 1-2 sentences of who released a mixtape. There's nothing much for me to do on HHP nowadays as I read the 4-5 posts that get posted each day. Although there are worthy reads in the posts that get posted, some are just trash. This is why people don't have fun on HHP anymore and dare I even say that DC Hip Hop Gallery is more active than here? Anyway, my thoughts are that other sites in comparison to here are more fun and that the blame falls back on both the management as well as us.2. rla9659 [+5, -2]

This seems like a good debate topic. Every day I feel that
HHP is slowly dwindling and seeing it happen makes me upset, so I’ll write a
few things about it.

First off, the recent (could be old) renewal; since the
renewal, I found the site to be a little odd and have a lot of bugs. When a
site has problems or flaws that are brought up, normally the management is
supposed to check on it or reflect on their actions and give their feedback to
us but I feel that the management lacks the passion as they had before since
they’ve managed the site for too long, thus the lacking response which is very
frustrating.

They also seem to lack a drive. They announced that they would provide
benefits for users with higher level rankings after the leveling process but it
seems that those words became forgotten. Not only that, but they seem to not be
active in their website store. With the music market being so bundled up
nowadays, they’re supposed to receive a fixed price for albums but despite
purchasing albums, the shipping fee is the same, they take the accumulated
money as much as a rat’s tail’s length, and the Black Coins I have can only be
used if I’m lucky enough to purchase what’s worth the money (currently, I’m at
a legendary level and I still have nothing I want..). And that cycle of waiting
for something valuable to buy is very~ long. Also, it’s not like there’s a date
set for what’s to release and they update whenever they want so it’s not like I
can wait all day for it and I’m pretty much a slave to this system.

Also, when did HHP lay their hands on a fashion store. To be
honest…if you purchase from here, you’re really an idiot. If you go to the
Musinsa store, they have the brands that HHP carries and the mileage points as
well as benefits are incredible there. Since they specifically focus on that
area, the field they play on is fairly big so HHP’s fashion store can’t even
compare to the game they have going on over there.

And with the problems of the community, before they’d use to
warn and even ban the select members who were a bit crazy that caused havoc and
seeing this from before up till now, I see that they’re exhausted themselves. It’s
no wonder that as time passes by, people feel disgust towards the community and
don’t even bother to look at the freeboard.

So in conclusion

1.Take note and listen to the proposals made by
the users of the website.

2.Change or recruit new management who is more
passionate.

3.Apply benefits to the store (weekly updates for
Black Coin items, free shipping after a certain amount is purchased, free membership
renewal, etc.). Get rid of the fashion store and focus on selling CDs.

4.Needing a more robust community.

Well, this is it..I guess if I had to choose the similar
points in agreement, it’s that management needs to be fixed. This has been all
from a teenager who loved HHP.

3. bpt3747 [+4, +1]

As a member who watched from a long time ago…

I think that people left HHP for the reason that it’s not
fun anymore.. People say that the
website failed because of skinhead but when skinhead was really active, the
free board and the self-record board was fairly active.. It seems a bit random
to add this but “when there is evil, there is good and when there’s light,
there is dark”.. Because there was skinhead to go against the average HHP
users, there was chaos but I think that it brought up the debating
atmosphere.. Even during the chaos back then, on posts of people telling one
another to stop writing shitty posts,
there were a minimum of 8-10 replies per post. But look at it now; what
are the administrators doing running a democratization policy against the users
where if something seems to flow well, they just block the users. Is this how you
revive the free board?; Look at the
national music free board. The place is scattered with kids trying to hold a gentleman
concept and people just leave after obtaining info about Korean hip hop
artists so there’s no enjoyment.. And
as someone said before, “Does the free board keep flowing without the shitty
posts?”;; It doesn’t look like it’s flowing; Anyway, what I wanted to say
was that this place runs well naturally and that the administrators running it
don’t need to get involved and diplomat their weird policies.

I agree with the top reply by corea312 the most because he/she brings up points that I've had troubles with myself with Hiphopplaya. Running this blog itself is hard for me when I have no source to feed me the information. Sure, 1-2 sentences can get me the general gist of what's going on but when they don't release information that the artists themselves do through their Twitter accounts, you know that there's a problem. There's no consistent updates on the news released and if there is a follow-up, it's usually 3 days late. This is why most of my articles written are straight from the artists' Twitter accounts opposed to Hiphopplaya because hell, I can pull an article out the ass and straight to you faster than Hiphopplaya can report it, even if they are being spoonfed by the music labels with the press releases all written up.

Not only are press releases the problem but the creativity and passion is lost. I used to enjoy reading the long interviews of artists who were gearing for comebacks or just chilling around and sharing some good word on music and their whereabouts. As months go by, what were interviews that were probably 4 pages long on Microsoft Word are now photos slapped onto the sidebar of the home page titled "Artist of the Month" and "music playlists" by artists where it's the artists doing the work to salvage the remains of Hiphopplaya.

So in wrapping up this editorial, the ball is dropped as I'm sure everyone's thinking of the question: "What happens now?" Well, there's several options.

One can go to R.O.K Hip Hop to rely on Korean hip hop news and have to endure through amateur writers and management that pretend they're hardcore hip hop lovers when they just support their rookie friends...

...Or continue to go on Hiphopplaya and deal with the shitty PR and wait for 3-day old news to be "officially" announced.

There's also the option of going on DC Hip Hop Gallery, the 4chan of community boards, and deal with trolls who'll probably feed you information you don't really need, like "E.via is hot and I'd do her."

And my last option, something I'd hope to see in the next year or so: another established hip hop website build a better community. In this case, my bets are on Hip Hop LE or Rhythmer. Although they receive the same 2-5 replies per post on average for Korean hip hop news releases, it's better than nothing to start from scratch. And despite their main focus being on American hip hop & R&B, they still keep tabs with Korean hip hop artists and are doing a hell of a better job with creative editorials and interviews than what Hiphopplaya has been doing.

Considering this post was brought up on Hiphopplaya a few days ago (26th in Korean time) and the management hasn't even touched the post, I have no hopes in the revival of what once was a community and with that said, I pronounce Hiphopplaya dead. Time of death: 10:41AM. September 28, 2012.

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Disclaimer

The opinions stated in some articles are views of my own and does not reflect any artist or fan of Korean hip hop. I do not intend on putting Korean hip hop under a bad light in any way and the satire is all for shits and giggles.