[BTS] A World I Didn't Know [Hip-Hop and Rap]

A sudden dive from a life with no connection to rap

The image of rap and rappers

I have probably lived my life more familiar with music than the average person, but since my foundation was basically classical, I had almost no exposure to street genres like hip-hop.
Naturally, my only image of rap was 'people wearing caps backward and thick gold chains, rhyming while saying HEY YO'.

I am once again impressed by the power of 'Permission To Dance' that it managed to pull a Japanese person with this level of awareness into a Korean group that actually has three rappers. Strategically, I think it was a huge success.

So, although I was late to the party, I realized 'Oh, there's rap... wait, a hip-hop idol?' and started studying, but naturally, it was a series of surprises.

Why is hip-hop/rap popular in Korea?

To begin with, if you trace the history of Bangtan, you end up at the point where Bang PD was into hip-hop.

1. Pdogg PD joins the hip-hop cafe (something like a composition community?) that Bang PD was running online

2. A song posted by Pdogg PD catches Bang PD's eye, leading to him joining Big Hit

3. Pdogg PD is introduced to Nam-san by a local friend (Sleepy-san)

4. Pdogg PD introduces Nam-san to Bang PD

5. The hip-hop team (Bulletproof Crew) plan centered on Nam-san is launched

6. The direction is changed to idols, and the hip-hop idol group BTS is born

Looking at this flow, you arrive at the question, 'Why is hip-hop so major in the Korean music industry?' Of course, I looked it up!

Even when we say rap, it is diverse, and when listening to the rap line, I can see that they are devoted to research, for example, Nam-san teaching V 'this is how you do it with the currently popular flow' and SUGA wanting to try new styles.
My knowledge of rap is composed only of Bangtan, so I am very grateful. Thank you for always showing me a world I didn't know!

A new world I discovered through Bangtan

Having only had a vague image of rap and rappers, I acquired some makeshift knowledge this way and began field training with BTS songs.

Rap is a form of singing

The first thing that surprised me was that "rap is singing" (/ω＼)

When listening to Namjoon's album behind-the-scenes, he often mentions things like "rap has melody too, so if the key of the song gets too high, it becomes something else" or "I ended this part on a low note, so it was hard for Hobi to continue," so I understand that even if it's not in a form that can be written down on a musical score, the process of creating rap is songwriting and composition.

The catalyst for my learning progress

My learning about rap progressed all at once when Suga's movie "D-DAY" was released.

Since it was my first BTS movie experience, there was no option not to go. However, since it was a first-time experience of going to a "
concert movie of a Korean rapper", I braced myself, thinking I had to prepare for it!

Because of that first impression, I intentionally put off studying SUGA's solo songs, so I ended up having to listen to them all at once, and I thought I was going to drown. It's intense. Good kids, please follow the dosage and usage instructions and consume appropriately!

Looking back, this cramming through preparation, going to the "D-DAY" movie repeatedly, and the August license revocation incident changed the distance I felt toward SUGA. I clearly started calling him "Yoongi" more often. It was a potent medicine, but the result was all right. Or was it?

Rap songs that changed my impression

I overwrote my stereotypical preconceptions with BTS songs and added "D-DAY" to the mix. Helped by my love for the rap line, my image of "hip-hop & rappers" was steadily corrected, and I acquired the values to feel that rap is "cool."

Neiro's level has increased! Ta-da

Among them, I'd like to introduce the songs that brought about a big change for me.

『First Love』: SUGA

In my mind, orchestral music with layers of melodious, flowing sounds and hip-hop, which has a strong image of beating out rhythms with turntables and drum bass, were things that didn't coexist at all. But this song is piano-driven, and if you listen only to the accompaniment, it sounds like movie background music, and there are also arrangements with thick orchestration, so my fixed ideas were shattered. I was surprised!

Listening to it again from that perspective, BTS's songs are incredibly diverse, and while some include orchestras, rap exists naturally in all of them.
Realizing that rap is not just a "technique used in hip-hop" but one of the expressions used to convey a message, I felt once again the maturity and expansion of it as a culture.

"Haegeum": Agust D (SUGA)

As I've written in other articles, I love folk music and traditional instruments. So, I was knocked out from the very beginning of this song. I love it...!

I see, if string instruments and orchestras are fair game, then something like this should work too, I thought, slapping my knee in realization. It makes sense once it's pointed out, but I never would have thought of it until I actually heard it. A lifelong amateur.

I don't know the Korean rap scene outside of BTS, so I don't know if this is a new attempt, but I felt like I was witnessing hip-hop and rap, which entered as American military culture, mixing with indigenous Korean tones and being reborn and blossoming as a unique culture.

As music spreads across the world, it's a natural flow for it to fuse with the local elements of each land and establish new genres, and I thought this was one of those instances.
I admire their ability to blend different cultures without any sense of incongruity and infuse them with the blood of their homeland!

"Umbrella": Namjoon & YUIKO

The video of Namjoon duetting an Epik High song with Japanese vocalist YUIKO (who was a student at the time) on "Duet Song Festival (2016/07/01)" was shocking.

In the scene where their voices overlap in "Nae nun-en neomu keotdeon usan (2:21~)", they are singing the exact same lyrics with melody and rap, and I was genuinely surprised that this was even possible!
The way the vocals shift from doubling to harmonizing is like the wind clinging to and slipping through a tree, and the way the main axis of the song freely swaps between the two is very impressive.

YUIKO's singing voice, which has a certain nostalgia, seems to wrap around Namjoon's words as he strikes out his painful thoughts, and their youth made this song shine. It was beautiful!
It was like watching a short drama, and I listened to it over and over again.

By the way, here is the footage of YUIKO being selected and the airport welcome.

After this, during the comment time, YUIKO misspoke and said "Thank you for kissing me" instead of "Thank you for choosing me," and Namjoon was confused, like, "Huh?"
The MC teased him by calling him "Kiss Monster," which is cute lol

Here is the original song by Epik High.

It seems YUIKO is still active as a vocalist, and you can listen to her songs on YouTube. She has also covered BTS songs!
I'll leave my favorite, "Wild Flower," here (´- `*)

That's all!

There are other epoch-making songs (and since I lack knowledge from the very starting point...), but this time I introduced three songs that I have a particularly deep attachment to.

These songs broke down the "images" that had been residing within me without me even realizing it.
The surprise they brought reminded me that music has a freer, more visceral beauty, and I felt a fresh sense of wonder.
In that sense, they are memorable songs that I want to listen to again and again.

Although there are many songs that have surprised me when listening, not limited to rap or hip-hop, these are particularly unforgettable because of the images I held and the timing of when I listened to them.

For example, since my knowledge that "rap includes dissing" was thin, for Hobi's "MAMA," the thought "Is this gospel!?" won out over "Positive rap without dissing!?," and by the time Namjoon's solo album "RPWP" was released, I had come to accept it as the genre of "BTS songs" regardless of hip-hop, so I settled on the impression that "even insults are art when Namjoon does them."
If the first movie I went to see was "RPWP" instead of "D-DAY," and I was suddenly hit with "DOMODACHI," I think I would have been shocked lol

Even though my range of acceptance has expanded, there are still a vast number of BTS songs. Moreover, through their solo work, the genres are continuing to expand.
I cannot say that I have heard and understood everything, so as I listen again and encounter new videos, I am sure more surprises will be born.
I am very much looking forward to seeing what kind of world I will see then 💜