Dumb was Found Dead (and Jin)

With all of the flashy outfits and complicated choreography of boy and girl bands in the Asian pop industry surrounding us, we forget about the Asian rap artists. I'm most familiar with two Asian rappers: Dumbfoundead and MC Jin. I discovered Dumbfoundead, a Korean American rapper, when I was watching a Jay Park (K-pop artist) video. I saw “Clouds - Dumbfoundead ft. Jay Park & Clara” in the “Related videos” section and was curious about the clever, but rather morbid name “Dumbfoundead.” I watched a few videos on his channel and saw that his rap style was just as clever as his stage name, especially the song Dumb Raps. The lyrics were “Don’t need them / we want them / but we can’t afford them / we watch it / we listen / then move on from boredom.” However, each “them” could also be heard as “dumb” (or “boredumb” instead of “boredom”). It feels different to listen to a song for its word play rather than the melody, harmony, rhythm, or some other musical aspect. Check out Dumb Raps below:

                                    

I discovered Jin when I was obsessed with Wang Leehom, a popular C-pop artist. Jin is a Chinese American rapper who sometimes collaborates with C-pop artists. He was both the first East Asian and Chinese solo rapper to be signed to a major record label. He also won all seven rap battles in a row on BET’s Freestyle Friday, which enabled him to be inducted in the Freestyle Friday Hall of Fame. His style is a bit more serious than Dumbfoundead’s, but entertaining nevertheless. Check out Shoot for the Moon below:

-Sherry

Miss A, Block B, and Cornrow C

To get updates from a few of my favorite Kpop bands like Miss A and Block B, I have to rely on Youtube. Especially since I live here in Cornrow C, also known as Illinois (See what I did there?). Understandably, these updates come slowly, and therefore, I don't check my subscriptions all too often. 

So imagine my surprise when I discovered new songs by Miss A and was referred to new songs by Block B by Sherry. After jumping around my room to the rhythm of the music for at least 10 minutes (which is a great way exercise for the average Asian pop fan), I went back and listened to all of their other songs as well.

Miss A is a girl band, like more than half of the other bands in the Kpop industry. However, their image is much less cute and more independent than others in the industry, such as SNSD, Orange Caramel, T-ARA, and the list goes on. Before they debuted, they caused a stir with teasers that advertised very strong dancing, but didn't offer much information about the band itself. My favorite song of theirs is "Breathe," a really peppy and catchy song with a great rap section. The music video (below) illustrates their ability to create unique songs that still appeal to their Korean audience, who tend to like cute songs.

Block B didn't have the same success as Miss A. However, I believe their songs deserve the same credit for being unique. Most Kpop boy bands stick to the "Hallyu" style made popular by SM Entertainment -- slick dance moves, smooth singing, and lots of smart suit jackets with skinny jeans. However, Block B breaks away from that style completely to offer music strongly influenced by rap and hip hop. If the music video for "Nillili Mambo" below doesn't seem different, I don't know what does.

I think this music video needs to be extended into a Kpop movie version of Pirates of the Caribbean, and Zico (Mr. Pink Dreadlocks) needs to be Jack Sparrow. Anybody with me?

--Julia

Top Combine

When I checked out my comprehensive Eastern-Western-pop-music-update website yinyuetai.com, I was psyched to see that one of my favorite C-pop groups had come out with a new song. Top Combine went MIA after debuting in 2009 with their song "Cotton Candy," and now they're back with "At Least I Still Have You." When I saw their new music video, I noticed that a lot had changed since their debut. First of all, their original five-person boyband had become a four-person group. The five members, Li Mao, Zhang Yuan, Ma Xueyang, Lin Zhoucheng, and Korean member Kim Eunsung were  chosen back in 2009 from a singing competition, with the exception of Kim Eunsung. Earlier this year, Li Mao, whose initial career choice was acting, left the group to pursue his acting dream. Li Mao was the rapper of the group, so with him gone, the new song lacked a rap section. I was used to the Korean pop song format (which Top Combine's new song seemed to follow) of a long melody leading up to a breakout of rap and kept expecting to hear the rap part in their new song. Naturally, I never heard it, but I didn't feel that this took away from the song at all. In fact, I thought that it made it stronger. Since the song was supposed to be very sorrowful and melodic, a random, energetic rap in the middle of the song would have seemed out of place. 

Another change I noticed in the group was that of its musical style. "Cotton Candy" was literally a very sweet song that gave off a calm and happy vibe. However, "At Least I Still Have You" is darker and more depressing, contrasting dramatically with Top Combine's debut style. Even the overall theme of the music video for "At Least I Still Have You" is black and white, with the members wearing mainly these two colors. Top Combine certainly has changed a lot. 

"Cotton Candy" (至上励合 is Top Combine's name in Chinese):

"At Least I Still Have You":

 

-Sherry

Japan time!

I have to admit, talking about Vocaloids as an introduction to Japanese music may not have been the best idea. 

To rectify my wrongdoings, this week's post deals with human singers in Japan. In my experience, Japanese music seems to be fond of cuteness, kawaii things, and school uniforms, which isn't to my taste.

However, a lot of well-known Kpop bands have a history of doing well in the Japanese music industry, especially Big Bang and SNSD. For example, SNSD has just released a new music video in Japanese, Flower Power. 

But I want to talk about a Japanese artist. A while back, I discovered a Japanese-American singer named Hikaru Utada. Her debut album, First Love, is the all-time best selling album on the Oricon charts, the equivalent of the American Billboard charts. She also sung the theme song of Disney's Kingdom of Hearts. The reason Utada stood out to me was her emotive voice and the scope of her vocals, ranging from acoustic songs to fast-paced video game theme songs.

 

 Simple & Clean by Hikaru Utada

Utada is definitely worth checking out. Some other notable Japanese artists are:

• AKB48
• Kumi Koda (who is currently topping the Oricon chart)
• Kalafina
• Ayumi Hamasaki
• Arashi
• KAT-TUN
• Namie Amuro 

--Julia