i opened my eyes last night.
re: <魂: Map the Soul> and epik high.
here is my honest opinion: i don't like any of epik high's songs except "girl rock," "love love love," "선곡표," "one," and "1분 1초." i've never liked rap. i don't like 80% of the hip-hop out there. i like the "girly" kind of music: R&B, pop, pop-rock, alternative, ballads, etc.
even so, i say that i like them. why? because i do. i love their words. i appreciate their effort put into writing songs. some people say that their music are the works of geniuses, but what is a work of genius? something that gets stuck in your head easily, something that has an ocean-deep meaning, something that is played on MTV every other second? my definition of a work of genius is something that you've worked on as hard as you can. and afterwards, you stand back and look at it and you can say to yourself, "oh my god, i am proud of this."
but the main point of this post is that i think that people are going totally ballistic because links to <魂: Map the Soul> has been posted.
"As an Epik High fan I beg you, PELASE, take this off."
"These boys have been working nonstop, pulling all-nighter after all-nighter, it's the least we can do to repay them."
"PLEASE take this post off and support Epik High."
this is hypocrisy. i'm not saying that i don't pirate music because if i bought every single song i have then we'd be dirt-poor and starve and i wouldn't have a house to live in! i agree, they've been working so hard and most likely deserve high album sales. but what you're saying to me is that just because they've publicly spoken about their disappointment that they're the only ones who get to have their albums taken down, everyone else doesn't get that privilege?
don't tell me that you don't download albums you can't find and don't pay for it. don't tell me that you don't snatch one song out of the whole album because that's the only one you like. don't tell me that you don't nab indie albums because you can't buy it online. and if you do buy everything you listen to, that's absolutely wonderful, and most of us should probably learn to follow in your footsteps.
edit: you should go read tori's post about this. :)