Fans’ Q&A with Choi Sam

On April 1, Choi Sam opened her ask.fm account to fans for about two hours.

Since it was a rare occasion, I quickly grabbed the questions and answers before she closed it again, and translated the most interesting ones for you, including the most important question: Chicken or pizza? “What is hiphop?”
(Music-related questions are bold and other questions in italics.)

 

When will your next mixtape be released?
I don’t have any plans for my next mixtape yet, I could release one now though

Potatoes or sweet potatoes?
Sweet potatoes

Take me T_T
Come here

What do you think about tattoos? Do you have any? Plan to get any?
I originally wanted to get one but I heard that if you get a tattoo you can’t donate blood for one year so I didn’t get one. I don’t think I can

Sigh …… you’re so charming …
Is it April 1?

Chicken+beer or chicken+cola?
What do I do if I don’t like neither beer nor cola?

What do you think about love?
I think it is a mysterious and the most beautiful thing but at the same time it has an ugly side to it

Performing on stage or lying around in your room?
Performing on stage

Why do you like black so much?
It’s beautiful

Unnie I love you, go on a date with me
If I have time someday

How tall are you?
165 cm

They say that the possibilities of two people starting to go out is higher on April 1
Seriously ..

If you don’t like beer and cola, what do you drink when you eat chicken?
Lemonade

You’re totally pretty! You’re my ideal type; captivating eyes, white skin and long hair!!
+a bad personality

Chicken or pizza?!
Chicken

What color do you like best after black?
Red

Your flow is quite distinctive!! I like it a lot hehe Such a versatile flow doesn’t exist that often, does it? How did you end up rapping with that flow?
I think it’s due to my dialect, I also often hear that I talk strangely

When do you have time? I can wait, let’s date then
Next year?

What’s your ideal type?
Someone who laughs a lot, laughs prettily and is cute, even better if they are nice

How long have you been growing your hair?
6 years, I think??

Older or younger [boyfriend]?
Older

Since when has your voice been the way it is now? It’s super charming, a woman with your voice is my ideal type T_T
In second year of elementary school my class teacher told me to shut up, so I guess since then?

What do you think is hiphop?
A culture

Looking at the lyrics of ‘Plan B’ where it says “You’re pretty when you laugh”, am I fixated on stereotypes when I think that the lyrics talk about a woman?
Yeah, that’s a stereotype

I’m from Daegu but the Daegu dialect isn’t that strong I think, it’s just a different intonation …? Being in Seoul, I’m talking Seoul dialect before I know ..
Really? I’m still using [Daegu] dialect ..

Why do you like younger guys, I’m younger than you – why why!!!!
Because younger than me is too young

People like you too much~! What do you think is your greatest charm?
That I rap ..?

You said before that you’ll soon release a song, when will that be?!
According to my plans, it should already be out ^^… there were various problems

Can I go for you even though I am a woman?! Unnie I love you, I’m sorry, this seems irrational …
If you can

Which rapper do you respect? In and outside of South Korea?
A lot in South Korea and even more outside. I respect all except for those who see hiphop lightly and say “I’m just doing some hiphop lol”

Do you like watching movies? If you do, which genre?
I originally liked family movies but lately I don’t have time to watch ..

Do you plan to release an official album?
I will release one

Sofa or bed?
Bed

Listening to your songs, it seems like there are a lot of stories behind them, I’d like to hear your explanations (?) about them instead of guessing what they could be
What explanations? It’s as the lyrics say

Do you love yourself? Or not?
The question is quite delicate. I don’t love myself all the time

How many songs of yours haven’t you released yet?
Extremely many

Jay-Z or Eminem? I choose Eminem btw lol
Jay-Z

When there’s someone you want to get close to, do you approach them or wait until they approach you?
If I want to get close to them of course I approach them, since it’s me who wants to get to know them.

How can I get to know you?
Have conversations with me face to face periodically for about three years

Which genre do you listen to except for rap?
Hiphop

When will you release an official album?
I don’t know, the date I had in mind has already passed

Do you like to read books?
I do but I really don’t have time lately

What do you normally talk about when you meet someone?
That depends on the person

How long have you been rapping?
More than 10 years, and I’ve been doing hiphop for 6 years

Which season do you like?
Winter

In case I see you in the street, what do I have to say so you know that I know you? “Are you possibly a rapper …?” Like this, or different?
Say “Unnie!!!”

If you had been on Unpretty Rapstar, which place do you think you would have gotten?
Eliminated in the preliminaries?

The lyrics of your latest mixtape are so good, why don’t people know you …
There are reasons why they don’t, there’s nothing I can name but there are a lot [of reasons]

What do you see as your flaws when rapping?
I’m bad at expressing feelings and there are many parts that I don’t pronounce properly

What do you think are the differences between rap and hiphop?
Hiphop is a culture and in it there is rap. However, rap can be independent and go somewhere else [= it can be used in another genre]

Why is your name Choi Sam? It’s pretty♥
My last name is Choi and ‘Sam’ is a nickname and rap name that holds various meanings

In which year were you born?
’91

Which track [of yours] do you treasure the most?
The one I’m working on these days

What did you think of when writing the lyrics for ‘Lemonade’?
If your question is “What the hell were you thinking writing something like that?” then I can reply “[I was thinking] of my first love.”

Other people here said that you’re not well known but the way I see it you are quite well known. The number of views of your YouTube videos is great, of course not comparable to [videos of] major [rappers] but still.
I think the problem is that being well known or not isn’t everything

What do you think about Judgement Day?
I think it’s a good concept for a concert

Do you have a goal as a rapper?
Yes, but I can’t say it

You look the same without make-up, don’t you?
No, without make-up people often tell me that I look sick

How much time of the day do you normally spend on rapping?
I practice three hours after getting up, the time I spend on writing lyrics is always different so I don’t know, same for the time it takes me to record tracks. But excluding the time I’m having fun, like this now [answering questions online], I normally don’t go outside but [stay inside and] work.

Lately, while learning the work that I want to do, I often feel frustrated, how do you get over frustrations? Please recommend me a way to overcome them ..
I quickly realize that I’m frustrated because I love the work and that it’s not frustration

If there’s a dream you remember having, please tell me
You should listen to ‘몽마’ [Nightmare]

Anything else you’re good at besides rap?
Listening to people

Do you have a complex?
What is the exact meaning of ‘complex’? There are quite a lot of things [about me] that I find lacking but normally I don’t think much about them

If you were born again, would you be satisfied with this life? Or would you want a different life?
If I was born again, I’d be someone else. I am living fine now.

Is there a type of fan you dislike?
One person grabbed my hair in amazement. I don’t really like people touching my hair

Unnie, I’m a woman, how about going out with me? There are a lot of girls after you lolololol
I have never thought about it seriously, so I don’t really know. If you really sincerely came to me and said that to me, I’d have to think about it a lot. Same thing if a guy would do that.

Ah, please let Choi Sam-unnie appear in my dream .. so that I can at least see her in my dream ..
Have a nightmare

A strong person or a weak person (not men but people in general)?
I’m someone who cannot answer questions like that with only two choices about people’s characteristics

You seem to be a night owl, what’s your daily schedule?
Getting up at 6 – morning practice – stuff I gotta do that day ——- rest – sleep

You seem to be replying very honestly without pretending, I like that, I don’t dislike it, you’re cool, the best
Ah …………. reading this I just remembered that I wanted to reply with lies only as an April Fools’ joke

One person you respect, not a rapper?
My father

Name two reasons why you rap!
1. It is the most suitable reason for living
2. Because I chose to rap

Wow, I didn’t know but you have quite a lot of female fans
Nearly all of my fans are female

How did you start rapping?
As a child, I didn’t know how to cry audibly but there was a lot for me to cry about, my throat always hurt and I had very bad headaches. So I looked for another way [to let it out] and started rap. I started hiphop some time after that when I was trying to find out more about the rap I was doing. What I found was so fascinating that I got drawn to it. As I continued it [hiphop], there came the first time that I wanted to do something and enjoyed something. So I started doing it [hiphop/rap] properly.

Is there a fan you remember?
I remember all my fans who came to my concerts and talked with me

When do you have a hard time being a rapper?
Instead of having a hard time, there are times I get super annoyed. I think I usually feel anger and feel like having a hard time when my body hurts [e.g. throat from rapping]

Ah, due to various problems, I don’t think of my ex-boyfriend like crazy, but no matter where I go there are places that make me think of him. I’ll forget him some day, won’t I? Forgetting people is really the most difficult thing. Please help me
I think you should distinguish between thinking of old memories and thinking of the person

[…] I don’t care about friends and people, I just want to be free now .. maybe that’s why I feel a lot less lonely.
If you are less greedy, you gain more, they say. Although that’s obvious

Ah right, do you smoke?
I don’t

Do you have foreign fans?
I do, apparently

Hm, so, I’m a lesbian! When there’s someone I like or someone I go out with I want to say it proudly to the people at work, but when I’m actually in that situation it’s difficult to do … When an unnie, who’s working with me, teases me and a male colleague saying “Are you two dating?” I want to seriously show my anger … ha, I hate it …
Your livelihood depends on work, so I think it’s better if you play dumb. Everybody has a secret. Hey, don’t show your anger, although of course you’d like to ..

What was the first hiphop track you listened to?
I think the very first one I listened to was by Black Eyed Peas. The [first hiphop] music I looked up because I wanted to listen to it was by YDG.

I’m so lonely, I want to go out with someone, whoever. I was so hurt by my first boyfriend/girlfriend that I can’t go out with anyone.
You shouldn’t go out with whoever, you should go out with someone because it’s them.

Don’t you listen to your old songs?
I don’t even listen to my recent ones

 

 

 

Related link:
Choi Sam’s profile on HIPHOPKR

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Source: Choi Sam’s ask.fm
Translation: hiphopkr