Big Banana

It’s hard for me to put into words what Joe Lee means to me. Known by his current stage name, LATE, this young man has done so much to push himself forward, to propel his craft that I just sometimes sit back like a proud sister in awe of his growth. In all of that growth, that evolution, one thing is unchanged: his absolute honesty.

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

It all begins with a memory. A declaration: “201 8 is my year!” It’s not a wish. A hope or a dream. It’s a fact. One Joe has certainly made a reality.

“Then a lot happened in 2018,” he begins. “I was like, I gotta rearrange my things and start solidifying my plans for 2019. So I took some time to meditate and really got into my work. And here I am, just doing me.”

All that hard work is obvious. He’s worked his fingers to the bone to make his vision come to fruition. “Honestly, this year was kinda crazy. I made 318 tracks,” he admits. An astounding figure. But if you’ve been following along on Instagram, you can estimate that it’s an accurate one. “The best 52 tracks are coming out January to June next year with a project.

Stays on the Grind

“Including the EP that I’m gonna drop, I’m dropping three EPs,” he continues. “I was supposed to drop it last month, but my marketing team was like, ‘I think you should drop it next year, kinda start off the brand-new year with your EP. Then slowly start dropping your experimental EP.’ The third one… The third one is gonna be the most experimental one. And then the fourth EP, all produced by Big Banana, and then my second album. And in between I’m dropping like seven singles, and I have like 14 collaborated features. That’s all coming out from January to June. So it’s pretty exciting.”

If you’re keeping a tally we’re getting:

52 tracks
Across three EPs
Including an experimental EP
Every track produced by long-time collaborator Big Banana (one of the hottest producers in hip hop right now)
A second album
Then a fourth EP

All within the first six months of 2020.

Yeah, Joe has definitely been busy.

Hardest Working Young Man

But is anyone really surprised? Since 2017, Joe has solidified himself as one of the hardest working artists in the business, certainly that I’ve ever known. Always in the studio. Always creating. This young man doesn’t waste a single moment. It’s really inspiring.

Of course, none of this has had an impact on who he is. “I’m still the same person!” he says. “Some of my friends are like, ‘Oh, I think Joe’s gonna change.’ But I was like, ‘Nah, I’m still like this goofy-ass motherfucker!’” He lets out one of his signature laughs, a high-pitched quip that makes me giggle as well. Yeah, he’s still Joe. It helps that he’s got a very tight group of people around him who always keep him honest. Joe is very generous, but he’s also very selective of those he allows in his circle. It has certainly done wonders for him as an artist.

“For real. I’m gonna check myself,” he says. “My dad always reminds me, know where you came from, you know? Always know that. That really helps me a lot.”

That and the fact that he’s the consummate workhorse. A man in charge of his destiny is also in charge of its outcome. Keeping that in mind, the fact that he’s got so much riding on his commitment to music, there’s absolutely nowhere to hide. It’s all him. That alone has to keep him humble. “It has to,” he agrees. “I don’t wanna be one of those clout chasers, one of those opportunists. I just wanna be me, you know? Stick with my roots.”

Joe, Let’s Be FRANK…

His circle is a very important aspect of what makes him so successful. He’s always been so eager to share his space with a collective of people. From his former project Odd Folks, to now working with his art collective FRANK, he’s got this unshakeable vision.

“FRANK is…” He pauses, but only for a moment. His mind works so quickly sometimes the words get stuck. After a few seconds, he continues, “I think to put in a good example. You know Beenzino’s art collective called IAB STUDIO? It’s kinda like that. It’s my art collective.

“In our team we have a stylist, we have a photographer, we have videographers, and we have two graphic designers, one that does art installations and one that does animations. It’s a group of five people including myself. If you saw my merch, our team designed it. In terms of all the visual work for my friends, my art collective FRANK takes care of everything.

“We’re actually going to officially introduce ourselves in May, during my album release party with RnBass. That’s when we’re going to start showcasing a lot of our artwork, our exclusive merchandise, art installations. Then I’m gonna be working on next year, February in New York with my boy Freedom who is under FRANK, I’m gonna be in New York for about a month and a half building our art installation. It’s gonna be pretty dope.”

Showcase What Honest Means

This brings to mind another facet of him. That honesty that I fell in love with from the moment I first spoke to Joe three years ago. The entire notion of being “frank,” blunt, honest. And fearlessly so. Besides the fact he’s a little cutie, his brazen honesty really attracts people. His fan base is full of people who identify bits of themselves in him. His openness lends itself to connecting to people on an almost elemental level.

“I do wanna be honest. That’s why I started that team called FRANK. ’Cause in a text form, FRANK means ‘honest.’ Through our visuals and through our artwork we wanna showcase our genuineness to people. To showcase what honest means. It’s not all about degrading people. Especially in today’s industry people will take advantage of each other. A lot of people get hurt.

Kindred Spirits & Like Minds

“But I wanna start encouraging people to be more open, be more transparent with one another, start helping each other, be honest! It hurts your pride in a way, but being honest makes you feel good in the end, you know? That’s something that I wanna encourage people through our visuals, art installations, graphics, whatever it is. We just wanna encourage people to be more transparent with one another.”

Joe is myopic in his focus. He sees things so clearly. Has an idea in his mind’s eye that he works with everything hat he is to see become reality. That work as a business econ major certainly molds the abstract into the concrete. Tangible goals that he’s set in motion with that unconscionable work ethic.

“When it relates to our brand, FRANK, I bring all my team out, and then we come up with a right visual. We start to brainstorm together to come up with the right visual that could help amplify the song. When it’s like poppy, fun, commercial-type songs, I use different videographers.

Building the Brand

“For example, the videographer that created ‘EY’ MV, that was very commercial, you know? So it really depends on the project that I make and the singles that I make. When I do make a song that relates to our brand and the topics, then they get involved 105 percent.”

Again, his soul craves the company of like minds. In that way, he’s created FRANK as a means to allow other artist to express themselves without boundaries. March into their dreams fearlessly.

“I do wanna make my own studio,” he admits. “Actual art studio. Start encouraging artists to showcase their work. It’s okay to feel insecure, you know? It’s okay to make people uncomfortable with your art. It’s totally fine. I just wanna start encouraging people to be themselves, to be honest with yourself, be honest with your work.”

Building His Circle

His ambitions are lofty. In order for them to actually see the light of day, he’s ensured that he’s got a team around him that can make every aspect of it actually happen. Even the manner in which he releases his music is a team effort. “The album release party is not just for me,” he says. “I wanted to give an experience to people, you know? A lot of album release parties keep it calm. They watch the artist and they meet. But I want it to be a full-on experience. We’re going to have, like, separate rooms for different vibes of the art. Of course, at the end have my show including my teammates, like FLANNEL ALBERT, AFTER HOURS, Jae Luna and everyone else.”

If you’ve been following his career for the last few years, you know this isn’t a one-off. Joe’s always been eager to build a collective of like-minded creatives. To support his goals as well as give a safe space to those who want to see their dreams become reality. It makes me all the more eager to meet him in person. Oh yes. As close as we’ve become, we’ve yet to meet face-to-face.

Of course, that doesn’t curb my enthusiasm for his future. I’ve been rooting for him since I saw him on a small stage at KCON LA back in 2017. All the energy and precociousness of a toddler who’s just starting to explore the world. But a mind for business that’s testament to his work as a business econ major. This notion of “community,” of a team, it’s been his philosophy from the start.

Joe Brings the People Together

“In a way… not to sound cocky or anything, but I’m leading the whole team right now,” he says. “I’m like the frontman in the team, leading the team, giving opportunities to everyone. All the people that I meet, I introduce them to everyone else. The videographer I’ve been working with, he’s under FRANK. Graphic designers, producers, they all met through me. I just wanna help out other people through my connections. That’s been my motto since day one, you know? It’s never changed. I’m definitely gonna hone this whole thing and make it into a huge team.”

I have always been curious why he’s been so insistent upon working as a team. As he said, that mindset has never changed. What drives this collaborative nature of his?

“Let me ask you this: what’s better? Having one brain or multiple brains that share a similar vision with you that compliment with your vision? That’s how I see it. I learned this way through Pharell (Williams),” he admits. “You have noticed on his albums he has a lot of features. It’s that exact same thing. On a track, yes it will sound good if you’re the only one who’s on it. But it will sound better if you have your homie that you fuck with on the track.”

FLANNEL & LATE

This naturally leads to us talking about one of his most frequent collaborators: FLANNEL ALBERT. When I introduced the two of them, I never imagined the connection would result in a such a deep friendship. More importantly, the music they make together is just astounding. I provided the initial intro, but what they’ve done together? That’s magic they’ve created for themselves. I’m curious to know what it is that makes them such a force when they come together. Why does it work so well, Joe and Albert as a unit?

“’Cause we share very similar genre of music. I think that really helps a lot,” he says. “When I work with AFTER HOURS or Jae Luna or Wes, they bring out a different persona of me. But when I work with ALBERT, he just knows what I like and how we want to create a sound together. I don’t have to stress about it when I’m in the studio with him. He just knows. He reads my mind and vice versa. I know how to read his mind as well when it comes to creating. I think that’s why when we come together, we feel each other’s dynamic, you know?

One Love

“We actually talked about it during our Friendsgiving,” he continues. “’Cause Brandon (AYDIOSLIO), one of our homies, was like, ‘How did you guys meet?’ Then ALBERT was like, ‘We met through this girl named Cy. Brandon was like, ‘Wait, she wrote an article about me for my EP.’ ‘Yeah, that’s her. We all met through her.’”

It’s really astounding how far it’s come at this point. The connections, the mutual creative vision. “One love, one love!” Joe’s sentiment is accurate. There certainly must be one love. A singular thirst for musical freedom. It’s a beautiful thing to witness.

Truly Joe and Albert make such a powerful collective in and of themselves. It’s resulted in some of their best work. They elevate each other. One’s creative process propels the other. It’s remarkable how much they’ve been able to build together. How effortless their writing and delivery seem when they’re in the same room together. Together they’ve amassed quite the discography. On Joe’s first LP, they had a total of three songs (out of six they actually created for the project).

Meeting Yohan Jung

Joe’s penchant for the collabo is magnetic. He draws artists to him like the tide. “Just like the ocean always in love with the moon,” Jeff Buckley said. His energy and again that vision draw people in. Another artist who couldn’t help but be entranced was Yohan Jung. A rapper whose shades are vastly different than Joe’s. But his talent is undeniable.

“Oh, Yohan?” he says with enthusiasm when I mention the young rapper. “I was actually at a session in New Jersey like a year and a half ago. My producer was like, ‘Yo, I’m gonna bring my homie in.’ Then he pulled up with his friend, G. And then, yeah, that’s how we met. He just fell for my genuine vibe.

“At first, he was kinda like putting a front up,” he reveals, “because he thought I was like this cocky dude. But we got to know each other, we drank a little bit. And he was like, ‘Yo, I actually fuck with you, man. You a really nice guy, man!’” Joe imitates Yohan’s deep timbre, cultivated from his years living in the Dominican Republic and New York. “I was like, ‘Fuck yeah, bro.’ Ever since then we’ve just been helping each other. I’ve been trying to help him a lot. I think he’s a talented dude. He has a lot of fucking demos, just doesn’t put out his music ’cause he’s so insecure.”

Unwavering Support

That’s another facet of Joe that many people can’t help but adore. He’s so supportive of everyone around him. Even in their darkest moments, Joe’s a voice of encouragement. For an artist like Yohan Jung, whose talent sometimes takes a back seat to his self-confidence, it must be a huge motivator.

“He knows how to kill a verse,” Joe says. “He knows how to create a song. I’ve been to a lot of studio sessions, and he would write, and it just sounds dope. But at the end of the session he’d be like, ‘Dude, just take my verse out. I’m not confident enough.’ And I’m like, ‘What? That sounds dope!’ But in the end, he needs to feel comfortable about his stuff, you know?”

When the Clock Strikes 12AM

Joe is all kinetic energy. He’s gone far past the potential stage. He lives every single moment not like it’s the last, but like it’s the first. The first step. First word. First time he put pen to paper. He’s never lost that sense of wonder about the world. Even when it’s left him disappointed, he’s always attacked with his entire heart. It translates to some truly exciting live performances and even more interesting shifts in his musical dynamic.

His next album, the enticingly titled “12AM,” releases the second week in January. While “Elevator” was an exploration of ups and downs of romance and relationships, “12AM” has deeper scope, Joe reveals. “The foundation is love. But the topic is kind of like a breakup in a way. That’s the topic that I wanted to expand on. But I kinda wanted to dive deeper than just talking about love. It’s about through love after you breakup you start to lose your identity. You start to have anxiety. Start to fight with your own inner demon. You go through a lot of troubles in life after a real bad breakup. That was something that I wanted to talk about in a deeper sense.

“Yeah, that’s pretty much what I’m talking about. Of course breakup, but in a deeper sense, a deeper meaning to that. And I wanna encourage people to listen to it during the night. You shouldn’t listen to this EP in daytime. It’s nighttime only. That’s when the mood comes out.”

Social Media, Social Anxiety

The album also aims to tackle the topic of social media’s stranglehold on the collective consciousness.

“A song called ‘Redford Drive,’” he begins, “it’s pretty much talking about how you’re dealing with anxiety, seeing social media.” He reaches a bit, trying to put into words the conflicting feelings social media evokes in most of us. “When you look at social media you see a lot of ‘you should date a girl like this,’ ‘you should love like this,’ you know? They start to brainwash you. That gives you anxiety. Like, ‘Maybe I’m wrong, maybe I’m living in a wrong way.’ But that’s not right. We’re just brainwashed because of social media. And due to that you go through really bad anxiety.”

It’s not for nothing. Joe has had to struggle with the anxiety of living up to the misconceptions of social media.

“Yeah, it was something that I was dealing with,” he admits. “I kinda came to a realization [that] social media was brainwashing me. Through that I started getting anxieties. I feel like this year I kinda dated a lot of people. Due to that I started getting a lot of different anxieties ’cause like the relationship didn’t work out, sometimes I got hurt. All that kind of came together to come up with this EP.”

A Necessary Evil

Particular in the last year he’s been speaking out more openly about his struggles with social media and the anxiety it’s induced. It’s fair to say he has a complicated relationship with it.

“I think it’s necessary. But don’t abuse it,” he says. “I think that’s where I’m standing. I see a lot of people abusing social media: degrading people, making people feel like they’re nobody. When you see a lot of posts from influencers, in my opinion you’re kinda sickening a lot of people. When you get sick you call it the influenza, you know? You’re sickening a lot of people ’cause you’re portraying something that is not you. You’re showcasing what’s kinda in a high class where no one can really get it.

“The products that you showcase, the bodies that you showcase, everyone uses Photoshop. All the girls that I know, they all use an app to photoshop their bodies. They’re not being true to themselves. We’ve gotten to the point where they’re abusing it. You’re not really utilizing the app at its best, what it’s meant for, you know? If you’re a musician and promoting music, then that’s totally fine. You have to use it to promote it, to get the audience that you want, start expanding your business. But if you’re just doing it to flex or make people uncomfortable, make people feel some type of way, then I think it’s not a good thing.”

“I actually went through depression…”

With all that in mind, I can’t help but remember feeling his absence when he took an extended break from Instagram in the middle of 2019.

“I actually went through a depression in Korea,” he admits. “I haven’t been there in a minute, but I went there to get some work done, to build up connections. When I had free time, I signed up for “Show Me the Money,” right? But the industry in Korea is so fucked-up, it’s so superficial.” I can’t disagree with the sentiment. It can be a very harrowing experience for the uninitiated.

“I thought LA was pretty bad, but Korea… Korea is at its extreme. There’s a club, like, someone build this like social media club. If you don’t have 10k and up, you can’t come into that club. I was like, what! We don’t even have that in LA! Everyone cares about followers, like everyone cares about connections, way more than LA. I felt very out of place. ’Cause some people came at me like, ‘Oh my God, how do you have like over 20k followers and you don’t know a lot of people in Korea?’ Woah, why would you even start a conversation like that? Hello? My name is Joe, you know.

“I just wanna be Joe…”

“People are very superficial and that got me thinking. I don’t wanna bring my phone along here. I don’t even wanna tell people that I do social media, I just wanna be Joe for a little bit. When I represent myself as LATE LEE, they start to, like, investigate who I am. Like, who you know, who you work with in Korea. They try to dig for information, and that’s very unhealthy. Like, get to know who I am, first.

“I never introduce myself as LATE LEE,” he admits. “I introduce myself as Joe. But you know in Korea, they’ll always be like, ‘So what do you do? How much money do you make?’ That’s the norm. And I personally… I felt very threatened in a way. You have to be someone in order for you to hang out with those crowds of people. If you don’t have that, then you can’t fit in. Like what? You have to be in a certain class to fit in?

“I don’t fuck with that in LA. We all hang out with each other. Doesn’t matter if you make over six figures or five figures or four figures. We’re all equal here. We all help each other out no matter what. With the people that I know, we help each other out. But in Korea it was this, like, I just smell bullshit. Everyone’s lying left and right. People saying, ‘Oh I know him, I know her.’ But in the end, they really don’t, they just know of each other. It’s all flex. They wanna fit in. They just wanna fit into society.”

Deadly Obsession

Having stayed there for a month back in September, I can attest that Korea has an unhealthy obsession with appearances. It’s a way of life, a genuine desire to be on-trend. For someone like Joe who thrives in absolute genuineness, it was a hard pill to swallow.

“It’s crazy,” he says. “I was hanging out with this group of girls. One of the girls that I’m really close to, I was hanging out with her friends. This group, they grade each other’s faces. This girl, which is [my friend’s] friend was like, ‘Hey, [to my friend], maybe you should get a Botox. Maybe you’d go from an 80 to 85.’ And [my friend] was like, ‘Oh my god, should I get Botox tomorrow?’ And that chick that encouraged her was like, ‘Yeah, you should get it. On the way, maybe you should get like fillers in.’ Shit like that. And [my friend] was like, ‘Oh my god, I should definitely get it. I just looked at myself, there’s something missing.’

“I was like, the fuck is going on here? Then that chick who encouraged my friend was like, ‘I think Joe’s like [an] 81. I don’t think he’s really good-looking, but I don’t think he’s ugly. He’ll get shit done. I feel like if you did your nose you could go up to 86.’ I was like, first of all, don’t fucking grade my face. Second of all, how do you have a conversation like this with each other? What goes through your head? I legit left that table and I was like the fuck, I’m out, I don’t give a fuck about you guys. And that’s the norm in Korea.

Brainwashed

“Seeing that everyday brainwashed me and really hurt. It was just too much for me. That’s why I just didn’t bring my phone around. I just left it at home, just took my aunt’s phone so that I could contact people, let them know that I’m here. Yeah, it was just a lot for me.”

Considering the astronomical rate of suicide in the country, it’s understandable. Artists in the trenches there have openly spoken on the topic. In the past three months two well-known pop stars lost the battle with expectation and ultimately a lot of degradation from strangers. It’s a cold, harsh reality that has harbored a great deal of pain in Joe.

“Three months ago, a total of 23 people died. Suicide. In three months 23 people died just from killing themselves? That’s absurd, what! That’s crazy. And that’s happening in Korea. We hit number one for suicide rate. And I’m like, I wonder why?! It’s bat-shit crazy.”

My Home, My Heartache

What’s even more heartbreaking is that there doesn’t seem to be an end to the exceptional sadness in the country.

“Don’t think anytime soon,” Joe says, a bit of sadness but mostly resignation in his voice. “It’s sad. They’ve already been brainwashed. And it gets too political. Our culture, we got abducted, invaded by multiple countries. So we’ve been that one country who got bullied from a lot of different countries, right? Due to that, we all feel it.

“Koreans are very insecure,” he continues. “Like very, very insecure. And I understand that. ’Cause our culture has been fucked-up. It just got invaded for over like a hundred years. Because we have that, even among Koreans we love degrading people. More than any other race, we just love shitting on people. I don’t think that’s gonna change. We’re so insecure we will keep on degrading people. There’s way more people behind the screens just degrading people, degrading celebrities. It’s just not gonna change. In my opinion it’s just not gonna change.

“It’s gotten way out of control…”

He takes a breath. Don’t misunderstand. Joe has very strong feelings about his birth country. While his personality and his delivery indicate there’s a lot of anger, it really comes from a place of extreme pain. A deep hurt for the state of the place he used to call home.

“I feel sorry for saying that,” he says after a moment. I can feel the overwhelming heartache over the phone. It tears him to pieces. What seems like rage is just the ranting of a broken heart. When a heart is shattered, the words come out jagged and they slice. “It’s my own culture, my own race. But it’s just gotten way out of control. Now they’re trying to do something about it, and I’m like, why now? You could have prevented it 20 or 30 years ago. They say they’ve been doing it, but they’re not doing it.

“Look at what happened to YG with Seungri. Nothing happened to him! ’Cause of politics, ’cause of the government. They paid so much money that nothing happened. We’re that kind of country! We’re so fucked-up! Our previous president, the female president, when the boat was sinking,” he says, referring to the Sewol Ferry tragedy, “she was getting plastic surgery! What kind of fucked-up situation is that?! We don’t care about anyone here!”

He takes another moment. There’s a teardrop in his voice when he says, “Sorry I just got…”

It’s fine. And I understand.

“Can I be honest with you?”

“Honestly, I want you to know how I feel about my culture, how fucked-up it is. It’s like what I’m talking about on my second album, something real. Our society changed so much. It makes me sad. Living in that society.”

Though not as socially significant in the long run, this does open up a discussion that I constantly have with hip-hop and R&B artists from Korea. The notion of the country’s complicated connection to the genres. Many would say the relationship is fairly simple: one of mostly take with very little given back. It follows that I’d ask Joe the same thing. Does he think the scope of hip hop in Korea is getting better?

“No, it’s not getting better. Can I be honest with you?”

My five favorite words. Especially when Joe says them.

“I don’t think it’s getting any better. Even Beenzino said the same too. It’s just getting too saturated. Everyone’s just fighting each other. Everyone just sounds the same. Especially in the K-pop industry. If they know this one formula works, everyone is on that shit. If you look at the Korean music market, everything kinda sounds the same.

It’s rare for an artist to come out with a different thing, a different formula. I think a good example is DEAN. [He] came out of nowhere, and was like, ‘Hey, this is something that I’ve got. It’s fucking different.’ It blew up. Crush does it really well. offonoff does it really well. There’s only a handful of artists that knows how to pull that kind of different formula off. But if you look at the other artists, the rappers who are on the come up, in my opinion, everyone sounds the same.

Hip Hop is Seasonal

This brings up an interesting conversation about SMTM. A subject Joe knows intimately. As he mentioned before, he did try out for the show.

“When I was in Korea I caught up with my childhood friends. I asked them, ‘Do you guys like SMTM?’ They all said, ‘SMTM is seasonal. Hip hop is seasonal in Korea. We only listen to hip hop when SMTM is out. Or other rap programs.’ I was like, ‘What, maybe you guys are generalizing it?’ They were like, ‘No. People, when they’re in the office, they only listen to hip hop when SMTM is out.’ I was like, ‘So hip hop is seasonal in Korea?’ Then they were like, ‘Yeah, it’s seasonal. We don’t listen to hip hop right now. We listen to R&B, ballad or K-pop.’

“Shit’s wild. I even asked three other people, different peers who are not involved in music. They all said the same thing. ‘Yeah, SMTM is seasonal. Hip hop is seasonal in Korea.’ If you look at the charts, when it’s SMTM season, it’s all rapraprap. But when SMTM is done, it’s all K-popK-popK-pop.”

It is a disheartening truth that will never cease to disappoint me. Though this take on hip hop certainly is a new one to me.

“Yeah, I didn’t know hip hop could go seasonal,” he says, a sarcastic tint to his voice. “It’s a fucking culture!”

Starving Artists

It’s even wilder when you consider that artists who are genuinely trying to make a go of it can barely make enough to pay rent. More specifically independent artists find support is almost nonexistent.

“I actually met a few underground rappers and they asked me, ‘How much do you make per show?’ I was like, ‘If it’s like a small event I get like $2000 and up. But if it’s a main event… Ranging from $2000 and up, and max is like $5000.’ They were like, ‘Oh my god. If you’re making $5000… That’s what like just [making] music makes.’ And they were all just fucking surprised ’cause they make like $50 bucks, maybe $100 bucks per show. I was like, that’s insane. I would never do a show for like $100 bucks. If I’m helping someone out, I’ll do it but…

“I feel like Korean labels don’t give a fuck about underground rappers. Like out here [in the States] there’s at least platforms for underground rappers or singers to actually showcase their music. There’s a bunch of things like that, but in Korea, not a lot. You have to know someone for you to make it out in Korea. But in America you can make it on your own. Build your own standard, build your own whatever, and then make it. I think that’s a big difference.”

I’ve Been Saying It for Years!

It does make me wonder, however, if he’s at all interested in going back to Korea to try to make music. Mainly because in the last year he’s started to make more bilingual music, using an almost seamless blend of his native Korean and English to build his songs.

“I’ve been telling this to everyone since day one,” he says. “Three years ago, no one was fucking with Korean rap in America, or even K-pop in America. It was like a little buzz with Girls’ Generation, Big Bang, GOT7, whatever. But it still wasn’t a header, you know? I told everyone here it’s gonna be one of the biggest genres and industries in the world. Trust me with that.

“The reason why I’m spitting in Korean is to showcase my culture, and of course I’m gonna mix it with English. I wanna create a bridge between two cultures, Korean and American. Then I’m gonna create a buzz in America. No matter what. People are gonna love my music. Doesn’t matter if I’m speaking in Korean, you know?

My Vision

“Music is a global language. They’ll understand. They’ll vibe with the cadence, the flow, the melody line, doesn’t matter what I’m speaking.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B6b1WeQF_6s/

“Listen to Latin music,” he continues. “I don’t know what the fuck they’re saying, but it’s crazy.” He sings a bit of Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello’s “Señorita.” “It just makes you wanna dance, you know? That’s the thing.” A moment of levity in what has become a somewhat heavy conversation for us. Even in that density, however, there is some lightness. Negativity can only last so long before the universe balances things out. Joe is optimistic, has been for several years now, that the impact Korean music is having will only get bigger.

“No one believed me three years ago. But now people are starting to believe my vision. I’ve been solidifying that shit since three years ago, trust me on that.”

Showcasing My Culture

Joe’s unwavering confidence in the marketability of his birth culture has also propelled his self-confidence. He’s posted stories on his Instagram of visits to Def Jam and Atlantic Records.

“I had a meeting with Def Jam, I [had] a meeting with Atlantic Records. American labels are finally getting interested in Korean culture. When I had the meeting with Def Jam, Andre (Harrell) was like, ‘You’re like this clean-cut urban artist who isn’t following the current formula.’ If you look at a lot of rappers and singers, they all look somewhat the same: hair dyed, face tats, lips, you know. Whatever, they all look the same. My manager was like, ‘Yeah, we found a solid-ass band, demographics and that’s all through his music. And this guy LATE LEE is marketable for sure.’ Andre was like, ‘Yeah, I can definitely see that. You have numbers. You’re showing a different perspective.’

We saw it in the success of Jay Park. An artist who left the States to pursue music. Paid heavy dues in the process. With two labels and a stable of artists in his pocket, he signed with Jay-Z’s Roc Nation in 2017.

“Yeah, it is possible. It doesn’t matter which language you speak. It’s possible if you put your mind and work into it. Also time. It’s possible in America. Everything’s possible in America if you put your fucking grind to it. That’s what I’ve been doing.

Riding With Me

“It’s funny how people are reaching out to me again,” he says. “Like, ‘Hey, sorry for doubting you, but I’d like to collab.’ I’m like, ‘Dude, fuck outta here.’” I can’t help it. I laugh. It’s certainly interesting to see who reaches their hands out to you when they recognize your progression. “I told you from the get-go,” he continues. “’Believe in my vision, trust me with that. But you never took a chance.’

“People who’ve been there for me, riding with me, riding on this train, I help them out. I could be performing 45-minute sets by myself. But no, I’m gonna give half of my set to my teammates. I showcase what they got to people. I’m not greedy. If you believe in me, if you support me, then I’m gonna give everything back to you. That’s been my vision since day one.

Different R&B; Different Artist

We’ve come full circle. Back to what makes Joe truly one of the more exceptional young artists in the game at the moment. Perhaps more than his music, he’s got an unbelievable passion for pulling those around him up as he begins to rise himself.

“That should be everyone’s mindset. It sucks ’cause no one really thinks this way, but I think people should start believing in this. Helping each other will only increase your success.”

His love of collaboration extends to whom he admires artistically. Joe’s been a rabid fan of the clubeskimo and Fanxy Child collectives for years. As we wrap our conversation up, I remember an interview he did with AllKpop. One of his associates questioned Joe’s belief that he has much in common with co-creator of both collectives, DEAN. I’m fascinated with his affinity for the R&B artist.

“You know, on this SMTM promo song he says in his lyrics ‘Different R&B.’ I’m a different artist, you know? I definitely relate with that. I could’ve done something that is already out there, following the current formula. But I’ve been taking my time to come up with something that is me. I represent Joe yet [also] LATE LEE, you know? That’s something that I really relate with DEAN.

“I wanna showcase people a different music. There’s a music like this to people. I think ‘Elevator’ did very well because of that. It was super different compared to all the K-pop music. Definitely infused with American pop, definitely has that Korean lo-fi, has that K-pop vibe. It’s a mixture of a lot. That’s something that I wanna showcase.”

Some Things Will Never Change

At the end of the day that’s Joe. LATE LEE is the culmination of all his artist endeavors. His journey a little known trap rapper named “Display” to collaborating with international artists like CIR R RCLE. “Whatever I learned, whatever I saw, whatever I heard, I wanna make that into music, you know. That’s something I really relate with DEAN: different R&B, different artist.”