Junoflo portrays experience through “Only Human”

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During the 2018 SXSW Conference and Festivals, we had the pleasure of sitting down with artist Junoflo, who was invited back to perform at Korea Spotlight Showcase (formerly known as K-Pop Night Out) alongside with artist including Crush, DPR LIVE, and Lee Hi.

Our first interview was held in August 2016 at a local cafe in Koreatown, Los Angeles (which remains to be one of my favorite sessions). Since then, Junoflo shook hands with Tiger JK of Feel Ghood Music, packed his bags and moved from Los Angeles  to the seemingly foreign city of Uijeongbu in South Korea. In the short span of less than two years, Junoflo has made extraordinary leaps within the Korean music industry, with his carefully curated singles ‘Deja Vu‘ and ‘Static‘, as well as his features in tracks with Superbee, G. Yamazawa, Ann One, Show Me the Money 6, and the UFC 3 Soundtrack by EA Sports.

After several months of sleepless nights at the studio in his efforts to experiment and cultivate his own sound, Junoflo released his latest EP titled Only Human, a six-track album featuring an impressive line-up of artists and producers. We sat down with Junoflo to discuss his experience as an Asian-American artist in the Korean music industry, as well as the creative process involved in the creation of his latest album.

The Interview

Please introduce yourself!
What’s up, my name is Junoflo. I’m a hip-hop artist coming from Los Angeles, California, and currently residing in Uijeongbu, South Korea. I’m part of Feel Ghood Music (FGM) — that’s the crew, that’s the label. Thanks for having me.

Since joining FGM, what has been the biggest change in your life as an artist?
I guess the biggest change would be that when I wake up everyday, all I do is think about and focus on music. Coming from working full-time and making music on the side. Now that I’m part of FGM, music is fully integrated into my life. Just being around dope artists all the time! I’ve always done music alone, in my bedroom type of thing. Now I have these amazing people and resources around me. I’ve been more inspired and more motivated, and I just been trying to hustle harder everyday.

Are there any challenges being a part of a Korean music label, in terms of your musical process?
The only challenges I have are personal things I have to overcome as an Asian-American artist. In terms of the label, there’s not much difficulty. I feel like when people think about FGM, about Drunken Tiger and Yoonmirae… they think: legends. They’re considered the musician’s musician. But it’s interesting because the label itself isn’t major and crazy huge. We’re still a small time label, and everything is run in-house. Everybody is still hustling. Feel Ghood is a family run business. And because Tiger JK is not only an artist but the CEO of FGM, he runs the company from the perspective of an artist. It’s not all about business. Numbers do matter, but he cares more about artistry. He’s trying to guide all of us under his wings in the right direction.

In terms of moving to Korea, everything kind of flipped upside down for me, in a good way. Things were so different. I’ve lived my life in LA and the OC, and I’m very much a Cali kid. But of course, I’m deeply rooted into Korean culture because my parents raised me that way. I only spoke Korean with my family and not much with friends.So speaking korean comfortably with people my age was a new thing to me. And the required respect, hierarchy of hyeong [older brother], dongsaeng [younger sibling] was also somewhat new to me.

It’s been a good couple of years. I wanted to get in touch with my motherland and my blood culture, because in the end, all we have is family.

In our previous SXSW interview, you mentioned that you worked on music from the moment you woke up and throughout the day. Would you say this EP is the outcome of that? Are you satisfied with this release?
I’m satisfied with the release.. but not fully content with the project. I see all the flaws in this EP. They say you’re your own worst critic, you know? In the end, I want to make music I can vibe out to. When I completed this EP, I was already thinking about the next move. Nobody should ever put out a project and stop that momentum.

Only Human is a good portrayal of what I went through this past year. A lot of people see me as this happy and bright guy. When this EP was completed, I listened through it and thought to myself, “damn, this EP is kinda depressing.” It’s definitely on the darker side, probably because I’m more attracted to ambient production, rather than happy stuff these days. The type of music that you’d cruise to, driving through the city at night with your windows down. That’s the vibe I’ve been on. Probably cuz of all the crazy shit that happened this year.

From album design to music videos, nothing went untouched – I wanted to make sure my vision was clearly illustrated in the presentation for this project. I think I can say I’m proud of this EP.

There has been a lot of growth from Fables era to your new EP. I’m interested to know if there was anything in particular that pushed you to grow as an artist.
The main push was the desire to be more than a rapper, and to be more of a songwriter. To create pieces and full bodies of work that’s not just a rap over a beat. Anyone can spit 16s these days. The goal is to make music that sticks. My main motivation is to create soundtracks for people’s daily lives.

Did you have a big hand on the production of this EP? Did you do a lot of composing?
First of all, shout out to all the producers who helped me put this project together. Each track is by a different producer. I wanted to experiment with various sounds for this EP. I feel like each song is different — it’s not just under one umbrella.

For example, ‘Grapevine (포도주)’ is like a new age R&B/rap type of track, and ‘Undercover’ is more of a trap banger.. ‘way2gone’ got this upbeat modern funk to it. I can be real picky when it comes to production. The smallest details can bug me if they’re not right. I’m probably real annoying while making music *laughs* But in the end, there’s no formula to this. You could crank whatever you want, if it sounds good to you then that’s all that matters. I’m very happy with the production of this EP.

Mad love to all the producers – Sam Ock, PAUL, Konquest, Big Banana, The Nuclearisms, and RI$E.

How do you feel about being invited back to South by Southwest this year to represent Korean music?
I’m glad I could come out to Southby and experience this again. It’s crazy how there’s so many artists in one area, all thanks to music. It’s so inspiring to just be here. Great time to take it all in and convert that energy into creating again.

I’m just a kid who did this in his dorm room. The fact that I’m here and can be a part of something so big and the culture is humbling. Thank you to everyone who has taken time out of their day to listen to my music. To anyone who hasn’t listened to my music, I hope you can dig into this EP. One of the best works I’ve put out to this day. And be on the lookout for my new shit! 2018 is going to be dope.

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