For Foxy!
Alright, so I made a YouTube playlist and a Spotify playlist of stuff similar to the song that came on when we were running to grab pizza over New Year's. The Spotify playlist is a pretty long one with lots of stuff. The YouTube playlist is a little shorter, kinda like a "greatest hits" list. And then I thought "well, I'd kinda like to mention some stuff here and there about some of these". I figured I could point out a few of my favorites and talk about them here while leaving some stuff on the playlists for you to listen to without my bias ranting. If ya like it, yay. If ya don't, no big deal. Either way, thanks for letting me share some stuff I'm really into with you. POTATO.
Ugh by BTS
This is the song that actually spurred this whole thing. It was the one that came on in the car and I said I loved it. Which is true, I really do love it. It's on a BTS album but it features just the rap line: RM, J-Hope, and Suga [or Namjoon, Hoseok, and Yoongi if you want actual names]. What's notable about this group of rappers is that RM and Suga were actually in the underground hiphop scene in Korea before they were in BTS. Suga is from the streets of Daegu which is, from what I gather, kinda like the Detroit of Korea. He showed up on the scene with that kind of rough kid with a chip on his shoulder attitude, but dude's got some serious skill to back it up. RM grew up in a nicer area but still had that angry edge that a lot of young rappers do. J-Hope, on the other hand, had to actually work at being a rapper. He was a dancer who got picked up by their record company back when the group was originally going to be just a rap group. They needed someone who could move and J-Hope is a dance god. So he's had to work exceedingly hard to keep up with the other two. Even in the early days of BTS, the rappers got a LOT of flack about being fake and leaving the hiphop underground to go "dress like ladies and wear make up" in a group. So they have some feels about those that spoke ill of them, obviously. Almost every BTS album gets a rapline track, it's their chance to kind of let loose on the naysayers from their past and present and just get out some frustrations. "Ugh" is the most recent entry in that category. They're angry at having been angry before, at taking some of the insults too personally at times, but acknowledging that they're learning to ignore that sort of thing now.
Click to view대취타 (DaeChwiTa] by August D
I'm putting this one on the LJ list because I thought you should know who August D is. He's Suga from BTS. August D was his underground name before joining the group. So when he releases solo stuff, it's under the August D name. This one is his latest solo single. He generally get's a little more wound up on his solo stuff, he let's loose a bit more I suppose. It's really good, imo. His first solo album [which I have tracks from on the playlists] even dips into mental health issues that are generally too taboo for most to discuss. Boy's got skills and feels. Can't help but respect that. This one, however, is about people still treating him like a newcomer and a kid regardless of what he's accomplished so far. "I'm so thankful I'm a genius" may seem kinda pompous, but if you look at his accolades and accomplishments, he's not exactly wrong. He and RM (along with imput from the rest of the group) write not only their solo stuff, but almost all of the BTS songs as well. In K-Pop it's pretty unheard of for the artists to actually write and/or compose their own music but it's been a staple of BTS and their success thus far. Also, this song's just a banger. [Just a funfact about the video: The two dudes that get into an fight after Suga pushes past them in the street are Jin and Jungkook from BTS. They came to the shoot to support him and he let them have a small part in the vid. Cute!]
Cypher 4 - BTS
Yes, another rapline track. Look, I had to share this one ok. I mean I put all the Cypher tracks on the playlists, but this is the live version of #4. #4 is probably my favorite of the numbered Cyphers. They're just so done with people being dicks to them for being in a group. RM's first verse mentions his "diction" and "face not an idol" because some of the rappers from the underground made fun of how he spoke English and said he was too ugly to be an idol. Those specific remarks seem to have really haunted RM as he's referenced a couple of those incidents more than one. Also, "too ugly"? Fuckin rude, yo. And why the live version here? Because BTS live is insane. But also because they get a lot of hate for lip synching. They don't. BTS have never lip synched in a live show. They hate the idea. Suga has several times stopped rapping in certain songs just to prove it, but some people still bring it up. So here's the rapline, live.
Do You by RM
Another solo effort from the BTS dudes. This time RM, or as the video info lists him, Rap Monster. He used to go by the full thing, but now he's just RM as he decided he wasn't a "monster" after all and transitioned to just being RM. Anyway, I like this one but you can't find it on Spotify. I'm not sure why his first solo album isn't on that platform. The second one is, but not that first one. Weird. Anyway, I like this one, it's a bit rough but it was 6 years ago so he's had time to polish a lot since then.
Airplane by J-Hope
Alright, I thought it was only fair to include a solo track from the last of the BTS rapline before I show you stuff from people who AREN'T in the group. lol This one is a more chill track but I think that's because J-Hope just doesn't have quite the same street edge that RM and Suga do. Hobi's always been more the breath of fresh air than anyone else so I suppose it makes sense. This one's about how he used to watch planes and dream about going somewhere and now that's just his life. It's kind of a look back to appreciate where he came from and where he is. I love J-Hope. Dude just makes me want to hug him and I generally don't hug people anymore so kinda a big deal I guess.
Okey Dokey by Zico and Mino
Alright, so they're not from BTS! They are, however, still from groups. Zico was in Block B, a group that was really promising but their manager basically took their money and fuckin RAN with it. Like they still can't find that guy, the Block B guys never really got paid for a lot of their work, and Zico made ends meet by putting out his own stuff. He's pretty great, I love Zico. Here he pairs up with Mino from the group Winner for a fun back and forth about success and what it takes to achieve it.
형 (Hyung) by Dumdfounded (ft Dok2, Simon Dominic, & Tiger JK)
You want some K-hiphop, here's some. Dumbfounded isn't from a group, just a straight rapper. I particularly enjoy this one. Also, the video's pretty funny imo. Basically it's about being a "hyung" or older brother, someone who commands respect, though he's saying he's been a hyung since he was young meaning he was to be respected even when he was younger than those he's adressing. It seems complicated but it's kind of a play on the power/honorific structure.
Veni Vidi Vici by Zico
I know, I already have a Zico song up there. But that was a duet, here's one of Zico's first solo tracks after he'd been busting his ass to get back to work in the music industry once things had blown over with his former manager. (There had been court cases and junk since the Block B dudes were still *technically* under contract with the MIA manager and they had no pay checks and all. It was actually pretty groundbreaking when it all went down and because of what happened to Block B, rules in the K-Pop world changed so that artists had at least some assurances they wouldn't be just boned like Block B had been.) It's a good listen, but I really like the lyrics too (the translation is in text on the video), he's just so scrappy! I like his fight.
Spirit Animal by Jessi
Gotta have some ladies on the list, right?! This is Jessi. I love her. She's a badass. And, while she's a K-rapper, this one is pretty much all English. She had a tough time in Korea trying to make it on the scene so she spent some time in the states (New Jersey, actually) and then went back. She, like Zico, is also very scrappy. She's got some beef on the scene with a few other lady rappers, but in general she's pretty popular and I like her lots.
Hello Bitches by CL
Ugh, CL such a tragedy! She's got a good voice and her rhymes are good! Her label stopped supporting her though because she didn't want to go on starvation diets. She's not like Lizzo big, but for a Korean she had more curves than they usually want on their "idols". Thing is, she wasn't an idol, she was a rapper who was likely embracing the way both ladies and dudes in the West like their thicc chicks. She had such potential, I hate that her label pretty much left her stranded (she was under contract so not much choice to go off on her own) just because she was a healthy weight. I like her spunk and Hello Bitches is just fun!
No Thanxxx by Epik High ft Mino, Simon Dominic, & The Quiett
Epik High is an old and pretty prolific hiphop group. A lot of the rappers in Korea look up to them from what I've gathered. I think it's interesting that, while a lot of rappers credit them with being their inspiration, they're not as "hardcore", I guess, as I'd expected them to be. Based on which rappers point to them as big influences, I had expected they'd be like NWA or something. They seem a little more ... playful, I guess? Like they're good enough that they don't care if people don't like their stuff. It's pretty good!
KBB by Jessi‚ Microdot‚ Dumbfoundead‚ & Lyricks
KBB or 가위 바위 보 [Kai Bai Bo] is Rock, Paper, Scissors in Korean. It's pretty catchy and, honestly, I just like how easily these guys flow between Korean and English. And Jessi. Jessi always wins in my book.
뱁새 [BaepSae] by BTS
Yeah, I know, we've come back to BTS. Honestly, they're the ones I listen to the most and am most passionate about. This was easily one of the first songs of theirs that really stood out to me. Musically, it's pleasing to the ear, got a nice groove to it, a good baseline, all that. Reading the lyrics, it's a pretty good one as far as meaning goes too. It's about how the generation before them treats them as less than. It's the same as our Boomers telling the Millennials to just pick themselves up by their bootstraps and stop being lazy. Same thing, but for them it's not just a generational thing, but also a class thing. I mean the song is about being a try hard. Baepsae is a crow tit, the word is used to describe someone being a "try hard" because they birds work so hard for so little. It's one of those rock-and-a-hard-place things, the old folks want you to work hard, but working hard gets you so little and then you're mocked for being a "try hard". It just hits different when you know what it's about, I guess. Anyway, I love it.
Mic Drop Remix by BTS ft Steve Aoki
This one really is more like one of the Cyphers, honestly, most ARMY look at it as Cypher #5 ft the rest of the guys. They deserved to be in on it though, the whole group was getting hate, like idol groups do, but BTS was out there working their asses off and selling out any venue they showed up to. Haters gonna hate, though, I guess. So they finally got one big group "fuck you" to those people. Not fair for the rapline to have all the fun, right? lol Anyway, I put the lyric version on the YouTube playlist for ya, but this is the live one below. I just figured it was pretty impressive to see the dance part of it too and appreciate the fact that these guys do that for like 2 hours every few nights. Well, they did in "the before times" when we could still go to concerts and junk. Seeing this one live with the extended dance break was, omg, so amazing! I miss them.
땡 [Ddaeng] by BTS
I'm adding this one because it's not on Spotify and I love it. It's my phone ringtone, actually. In 2018 the guys made this for Festa (annual celebration of the group's debut essentially). They wanted to start incorporating some more traditional bits in their songs and this one was one of the first they tried it out with. It slaps, imo. It could easily fit into the Cypher series, but they chose to leave this one as a standalone.