Beenzino is finally returning from his long military service. Refresh your knowledge about this outstanding artist in our Artist Spotlight!
SXSW Artist Spotlight: pH-1
One of H1GHR MUSIC’s newest recruits, pH-1, is making waves as the next Korean-American rapper to bring his brand of hip-hop to South Korea.
SXSW Artist Spotlight: Jay Park
Jay Park is an artist that needs very little introduction. His rise from idol group notoriety to the first Asian-American artist signed to one of
SXSW Artist Spotlight: Keith Ape
He’s one of Korean hiphop’s most polarizing figures, and he plays both sides unapologetically. About Keith Ape Keith Ape isn’t new to music. Back in
SXSW Artist Spotlight: Crush
In the past five years Crush has well established himself as one of Korean R&B’s most creative and sought-after talents. Read about Crush and his showcase at the 2018 SXSW Music Festival!
SXSW Artist Spotlight: DPR LIVE
One of the most dynamic debuts of 2017 came compliments of rapper DPR LIVE, who will be performing at the upcoming Korea Spotlight during the
Artist Spotlight: offonoff (Colde and 0channel)
In this episode of Artist Spotlight, guest writer Amy shares her passion for the HIGHGRND collective offonoff.
The Discovery: offonoff
offonoff are a collective of the sub-label HIGHGRND. The duo consists of vocalist/lyricist Colde, and producer/DJ 0channel. The artists are also members of Club Eskimo, an underground hip-hop crew formed by DEAN in 2015.
I don’t quite remember exactly when I stumbled across offonoff, but I’m certain it was through the ritual of clicking of related videos on YouTube. I came across a song that immediately caught my attention ‘Photograph.’ I must have replayed this song more than twenty times just in that afternoon. ‘Photograph’ is where it all started for me.
Fast forward a few weeks, I attended a hip-hop festival featuring a number of different Korean artists. While listening to some opening acts, I noticed a familiar voice: it was offonoff’s ‘Photograph.’ The unique live vocals of Colde caught me off guard — it was really something else. After that hip-hop festival, I went home and began researching offonoff, only to discover very little information online (at least not in English). I found their YouTube and SoundCloud links easily enough, but I wanted to know more about the duo behind the music.
A Google search will state that offonoff falls under the genre “kpop” but it seems like this a frequent tribulation when English writers are putting up information about Korean artists. The term “kpop” seems to be an umbrella term which doesn’t really define the distinct styles that each artist actually falls under. Personally, I think offonoff’s style gives more of an alternative indie/R&B/electro fusion feel.
Colde (Kim Hee-Su) and 0channel (Seo Ji-Ho) were both born in 1994 and were discovered by DEAN through SoundCloud, and subsequently invited the duo to join Club Eskimo. They released their first album Mood in 2015, and subsequently their singles “Photograph” and “Moon, 12:04am” in 2016.
Their second album Boy (July 2017) is one of my most played albums of all time. This album was so beautifully articulated! This album features a number of artists, including Club Eskimo members DEAN, Punchnello, Rad Museum, Miso (another underrated artist), as well as Tablo of EPIK HIGH. I feel that this album absolutely requires a listen (from start to finish) to appreciate the full effect of offonoff. Each track flows seamlessly into each other and the album as a whole is a nice listen from the first track to last.
Recommendation
My 5 ultimate offonoff song picks:
- Photograph – a song about sharing a moment with someone “as if the world has stopped” like a photograph
- Overthinking – as the title suggests, offonoff describe beautifully how we feel during a long night when we are overthinking in search for an answer
- Dance – a cute and more upbeat song about a romantic interest who shows the singer new things — and in return, the singer wants to share everything with that person
- Good2Me – another fairly upbeat song about a love so good it makes the singer “feel like Kanye”
- Mind – a short song about missing someone even after a lot of time has passed since parting ways
If you are looking for an artist to soothe your soul and tell those emotions which you can’t quite express yourself, I highly recommend listening to offonoff. There’s no going back though!
Follow offonoff:
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Artist Spotlight: Benini
Pascal is a huge fan of rapper/producer Benini and decided to share his passion for Benini’s music with you via HiphopKR’s Artist Spotlight. Read on and discover the surprisingly great number of famous artists Benini has worked with.
Artist Spotlight: G.Nine
The second article in our Artist Spotlight series is here! This time, fellow Khiphop fan and guest writer Eigell tells us how she discovered a promising artist of the underground scene, and even interviews him!
[x_alert heading=”ICYMI” type=”success” close=”true”]The first article in our exclusive Artist Spotlight series was written by Chris. He introduced producer Pe2ny.
[x_button shape=”rounded” size=”small” float=”none” href=”https://hiphopkr.com/miscellaneous/artist-spotlight-pe2ny/” info=”none” info_place=”top” info_trigger=”hover”]Read it here![/x_button][/x_alert]
Hey,
my name is Eigell. I’m a 17‑year‑old Filipino girl who lives in Denmark. I’ve been listening to KHH for about a year now. Music is a huge part of my life. I honestly don’t know how I will be able to live without music. You can follow me on Twitter where I tweet about songs that I like and how much I adore Sik‑K‘s grills.
G.Nine
I love finding new music on SoundCloud. It’s a place where you can find unique and independent artists. Rappers like Swings, Penomeco and Donutman release their works on SoundCloud. It’s a platform where anyone can upload a song and people can listen for free.
As I was surfing around SoundCloud I stumbled across this artist named G. Nine. A 15‑year‑old rapper, producer, singer and student. Even though he has only released a couple of songs and a minitape you can clearly hear from his works that he’s got potential. Also, it’s not everyday you find a 15‑year‑old boy, who has such an amazing minitape almost at the same level as Sik‑K’s EPs. He’s a very talented producer and rapper for his age. He got K.vsh to feature on one of his tracks, and the underground rapper Ben Bizzy as well.
Hyunjin Kim is from Bundang, South Korea, but now lives in Bangkok, Thailand. He started creating music after watching ‘Show Me The Money’, a Korean hip‑hop TV show. He then started digging into music and rapping afterwards. Later on he became a part of a hip‑hop crew formed in 2016 called Air Force 1 (AF1).
Interview
I was so lucky to have an interview with G.Nine himself, so here it is:
Can you explain your stage name “G.Nine”?
G.Nine in Korean pronunciation is “지구” (read: gee‑goo) which means “earth” if translated to English. Since I want the whole earth/world to know me, I chose the name G.Nine.
Where do you draw inspiration from when you write songs?
Almost all the songs are based on what is happening in my life. So for example, I’ve been recently having a crush on a girl I know, and I’ve been producing more RnB‑ish tracks than before.
Can you tell me more about AF1 and how you became a part of it?
AF1 (Air Force 1) is a crew formed in 2016 currently made up of 3 members: Roman Kayz, G. Nine, and PE:BLE. Roman Kayz is a 15 y/o RnB Singer/Rapper and is the leader of the crew as he came up with the idea of creating a crew. Lastly, PE:BLE is a 16 y/o rapper and also a member of another crew called DIV_IN with rapper NO:EL. I became part of this crew because since Roman Kayz and I started making music together since middle school, he also let me in the crew.
What are your songs mostly about?
Recently, it’s mostly about love. However, there are a lot of songs that I didn’t post which isn’t about love. So stay tuned…
Favorite Tracks
Here are some of my favorite tracks of G.Nine that I would like to share with y’all!
G.Nine released a minitape earlier this year called “12:00.” Already after listening to “Stay (Intro)” I fell in love with the nice and chill beat mixed with his rapping. It’s a pretty impressive minitape that holds three tracks.
“Free” is my ultimate favorite from all his works, so I hope you listen to it! It’s a track that will really make you feel “f-ing good.”
Here is the last song called “Swim.”
[x_button shape=”square” size=”small” float=”none” href=”https://hiphopkr.com/translated_lyrics/g-nine-swim/” info=”none” info_place=”top” info_trigger=”hover”]Translated Lyrics of “G.Nine – Swim”[/x_button]
You can follow G.Nine on Instagram to see what he is up to! And on SoundCloud.
[x_button shape=”square” size=”small” float=”none” href=”https://hiphopkr.com/artist-profiles/g-nine/” info=”none” info_place=”top” info_trigger=”hover”]Check out G.Nine’s profile![/x_button]
Much love to Eigell for digging up this jewel of an artist, sharing what she knows and even interviewing him!
Sounds like fun? You too are a big fan of a Korean hiphop artist, no matter if producer, rapper, DJ, designer, active or inactive, 1st generation or rookie? And you think the artist is not getting the recognition and attention they deserve, or fans just don’t know much about them? This is your chance to support your favorite artist! Tell us about you and the artist you’d like to write about.
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It doesn’t matter if you haven’t written an article before or if you’re not confident of your English skills, we will do our very best to support you if necessary. It is up to you if Artist Spotlight continues as a series or not – don’t let anything hold you back from showing your love!
(Please note that more famous artists like Dok2 would not match this series’ concept as everyone already knows them. If you are unsure whether the artist you’d like to write about fits the concept, do send us an e-mail anyway!)
Artist Spotlight: Pe2ny
HiphopKR’s new series is written by you, the fans! In each part, a fan introduces one of their favorite artists, sharing all the important facts and their favorite tracks! In this first installment, Chris introduces you to Pe2ny.