Happy Birthday, 비

Today is Rain's b'day, so a quickie note note to send birthday wishes. I also needed an excuse to post gratuitous pics. Oh well. Happy 26th 비!

Pic courtesy of Hancinema

Pipe Full of Dreams

Probably the man with the longest reach in the Korean music industry JYP (Park Jin-Young's initials in the English-friendly name order), a.k.a Rain/Bi's former producer, is certainly a force to be reckoned with. After conquering the Korean market he helped bring forth the Hallyu wave to the rest of Asia by engineering the rise of one of the biggest stars there is over there; Bi/Rain. There are other groups that he has produced as well, but since I really do not give a could care less, they shall not be mentioned.

Rain and himself parted company last year, due to creative differences. Ever since then I have gotten repeated whiffs of someone trying to be younger than he really is. Especially when he dances. Justin Timberlake and Usher certainly don't move anything like Chris Brown and Omarion. Why? With age comes the realisation that sexy does not necessarily mean flashy. In trying to go up against his younger, hotter, better looking, if slightly (read: a heckuva lot) dumber ex-protege he has gone through all manner of age-defying processes all of which has done nothing but earn him the moniker "gorilla".

Rumours of plastic surgery, extreme weight loss and dodgy taste in clothing aside, JYP is still a good producer. Good as in not revolutionary, as in a 6 on a scale of 1 to 10. He's good enough to have worked with some of the bigger names in the American music industry, but on a personal note, it tends to be the music I skip, because everyone else produces music in a similar manner in the R&B/hip hop field nowadays, less than memorable album filler that masquerades as a mjor release (don't worry I won't start that again). On the other hand I have liked the production on Rain/Bi's albums including my current favourite "With U".

Which brings me to the ultimate reason for this post: his latest bid to take over the world (i.e. the American music market) involves five gamine girls aged 15 to 19 called the Wondergirls. Winsome and pretty with voices that can barely hold a tune (think Cassie), I shocked the living daylights out of myself by actually liking their new single "I'm So Hot". Light, frothy and which as much depth as a hair on a mosquito's behind, it is the type of song that could have been a summer hit in the US. Enjoy!

Bits and Pieces of Epik High Goodness

I love me some Epik High and they, in their infinite wisdom decided to grace us denizens of the real world with a new album Pieces, Part One. With their usual blend of k pop and hip-hop-with-a-twist, Pieces is a solid addition to the Epik High anthology, if not a particularly revolutionary one.

There is some good stuff on there, particularly their lead single One, with its Ace of Base sound-alike tune which immediately takes me back to the 1990's electronic dance music hey days. The remix further reinforces the fact. It's awesome!



Then there's The Future which is a track aimed at other Korean artists, a call to arms so to speak, telling them they need to get over themselves and focus on the music instead of aiming idiotic "diss" tracks at other more successful artists. The gritty, hard, almost gangsta vibe is so unlike the more recent poetic Epik, I was taken aback by its ferocity. And loved it. Lest we forget, Epik High is fronted by a Stanford graduate and a poet, so gangsta seems absolutely antithetical to their background, which is a baseless idea, really, as their earliest albums will attest to.

The one disturbing thing however was that it sounded too much like the 50 Cent/Justin Timberlake/Timbaland Ayo Technology track, which to be truthful is rather annoying. Epik High is musical ambrosia precisely because they sound like no one else. Still a fantastic song.

The main issues with this album is that it doesn't seem to be as big a paradigm shift as Remapping The Human Soul was from their previous works. The tracks hearken back to their album Swan Songs with the more American sound, but still has enough of their poetic nature somewhat intact so as not to totally disappoint. This is an album not quite sure where it wants to be and there is hope that Part Two gives it a firm push and places them in the musical sphere they want to occupy.


4.25 Out of 5 0.25 Deducted for the AYO remix. Oh for shame!

The Reason I wish I Spoke Korean More Fluently

So I've been trying to teach myself Korean and have stalled somewhere at learning how to read it, but having no vocabulary or grammar basics on which to build on. That's code for too lazy to progress any further without intervention. In steps rap group Epik High with their 2 Disc album Remapping the Human Soul (2007). Consisting of Tablo, Mithra and DJ Tukutz, Epik High is one of my new found favourites, and I can only hope that their music truly progresses an improves. I love this album for both rekindling my somewhat flagging fervor for the Korean language, and for making me realise that contrary to what Nas said, hip-hop is not dead, it's just morphed and moved somewhere far, far away.

Now one big part of why I like this group is Tablo. Canadian-Korean by birth, he graduated from Stanford with a Master's in English Literature, and he now is a rapper that manages to straddle comfortably both the pop and conscience driven world he works in. He nevertheless comes across as an easy going, fun dude who dances a little too much like a girl. His English lyrics are just as moving and telling as his Korean ones, which as long as they don't degrade women, glorify violence or stultifyingly boring i couldn't care less. I give them props for trying to have a message and delivering.

The other part has to be DJ Tukutz. Even though most of the time I have no clue what either Tablo or Mithra are saying I can listen to this album over and over again solely because of the production of the music itself. At times reminiscent of 90's euro-pop other times paying homage to hip hop great Dr. Dre, this album is definitely set up for some good listening, which I fully intend to do for a good long while. He also grooves in the same sort of vibe that another Korean favorite of mine, Clazziquai, does, reaching out to a lot of genres to create a smooth well connected sounds that sort of rests quietly in the background while the MC's do their thing

Below is the video for my favorite track (a.k.a my current ringtone) on the Album: Fan. Enjoy!