Here’s your chance to win a pair of GA tickets for the upcoming HEAD IN THE CLOUDS festival!
Ted Park’s first mini album is ‘Plugged In’
In collaboration with THECUT, Ted Park has released his debut album ‘Plugged In‘ today. The EP includes featurings by Dumbfoundead, Reddy, BILL STAX, PENOMECO, and more.
Ted Park, “I hope to bridge the gap between Korean and American Hiphop”
The Wisconsin-native started gaining popularity in 2016 following his song “Hello (Who is this),” which climbed to the top 10 on Billboard and Spotify’s Viral 50 Charts. Ted Park, garnering recognition both in the States and Korea. Park recently had a trip back to Korea, where he worked with a number of notable Korean artists. He recently made news with his signing to H1GHR MUSIC, the label started by another notable Korean-American artist, Jay Park.
We had the opportunity to chat with Ted Park about his experience as a Korean-American artist in the States, what he got up to on his trip to Korea, and what we can expect from him in the future.
Dumbfoundead drops ‘Rocket Man’ EP and MV
Dumbfounded released his EP and music video for ‘Rocket Man‘ on December 12th.
Dumbfoundead releases new single ‘Kill Me’
Shortly after releasing ‘P.A.A.C. (Protect At All Cost)‘ earlier this week, Dumbfoundead dropped his latest single ‘Kill Me.’
Dumbfoundead writes”
“Kill me” is a track about love and hate. When you’re in love, you’re pushed to the limits, and you feel like it’s ‘killing you’. When someone falls in love, he makes himself feel emotionally, spiritually, and physically reaching the limit, feeling as if he is as dead as he is, but alive more than ever.”
Check out the official audio with the visuals below! The track is available on Spotify and Apple Music, as well as Korean music portals.
The EP ‘Rocket Man‘ drops on December 12.
‘Kill Me’ Credits:
Written by Jonathan Park, Donye`a Goodin
Produced by BrandUn DeShay
Official Audio:
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Dumbfoundead drops new single ‘P.A.A.C. (Protect At All Cost)’
Only a week after ‘Every Last Drop‘, Dumbfoundead pre-releases the single ‘P.A.A.C. (Protect At All Cost)‘ off his upcoming EP.
Dumbfoundead releases single and music video ‘Every Last Drop’
Dumbfoundead released his new digital single and music video ‘Every Last Drop‘ earlier today.
Dumbfoundead: Foreigner EP Album Review
There’s nothing pretty or soft about Foreigner. Dumbfoundead is savage in a way that will have those with weak constitutions clutching their pearls. No one would ever accuse the artist of being anything but raw and honest. But Foreigner finds him at his most vicious and impassioned. There’s a distinct bite and snarl across these five tracks, something that’s a sharper at the edges than much that’s come out South Korea this year. He claws his way into the listener’s psyche. You must deal with him. We have no room here for the narrow- and frail-minded. There’s obviously something to going back to one’s ancestral homeland to create.
1. [형] Hyung (feat. Dok2, Simon Dominic, & Tiger JK)
From the moment the first few notes trickle in, Foreigner goes for the gut. Lead single “Hyung” is meant to grab your attention from every possible angle. From the cold production to the legends he shares the stage with, “Hyung” is everything you’d want from an opening number: aggressive, loud, and arrogant. What I love about Dumbfoundead’s collabs is that he owns them completely whether on his albums or otherwise. You never get the sense that he’s faded into the background. Even with the likes of Dok2, Simon Dominic, and the most legendary “hyung” in the game, Tiger JK, this is very clearly a Dumfoundead track. He’s generous, sharing the spotlight rather than focusing its beam on himself alone. But he makes sure listeners know that the features on this song, on the entire album, are guests in his country, even as he curls a tangentially familiar language around his tongue.
2. History of Violence (feat. Chancellor)
History of Violence is both poignant and fearless, a scathing critique of the rampant and deep-rooted hatred for people of color in this country. Obviously Dumbfoundead’s experience as a Korean-American man growing up in the era and vicinity of the LA riots are different than mine as a black woman. However, the message speaks to me on an almost spiritual level, that is our spirits are intertwined as sociopolitical minorities. Lyrically the story is powerful, his words painting a picture as only Dumbfoundead can. References to the luxury of turning a blind eye to the plight of those suffering the injustices of their forced habitat, the never-ending violence inflicted upon us for even the smallest infractions, the shame of having to hide pain, depression, and an overwhelming sense of loss from your family because “my culture don’t believe in shrinks.”
To be born and raised in a country that will always deem you a foreigner because of your genetic makeup speaks to the contradictory nature of being born in the States. On the one hand none of us belong here if we reach back far enough. But in one way or another we were forced here, oftentimes violently, into a reality we had no hand in creating but are involuntarily bound to accept. (“God bless America” indeed.) It’s only natural to want to dig around in our ancestral pasts to connect to something that while foreign to us, is oddly familiar in shape and hue.
3. Upgrade (2.0) (feat. Mom)
While I will say it’s a bit… odd to include his mother on the track, “Upgrade (2.0)” is undoubtedly sexy, if not a bit gratuitous. But part of me is thankful for the overindulgence. The music sounds like a night of hot panting —either from skin-close dancing or horizontal gymnastics. The song’s full of all the bravado one would expect from a rapper regaling his audience with his many adventures and escapades. It epitmoizes the thrill of the hunt, the sweet taste of catching your target. It’s not nice, pretty, or full of flowery words and poetry. This isn’t a song about making love. To put it frank, this song is the build-up to a nice slow f*ck, the music drips with the type of lip-lick and thigh pinch that leads to sweat-soaked sheets and neighbors pounding on the door. Perhaps in adding his mother’s voice he makes the connection between his being the upgrade his love interest needs to his mother being the benchmark of the type of woman he seeks out. It certainly implies that of all the females he knows, she’s the baddest.
4. [물] Water (feat. G.Soul)
Since we are on the subject of sex, Dumbfoundead’s offerings are rough and dirty like a drunken one-night stand. But even in the liquor-tinged haze, he’s lyrically dextrous, wrapping his tongue around words like complex foreplay, obscene and raw. “Water” has a buzz and deep throb, music that slithers deep and punctuates each thrust with a thick moan. Adding the fragrance of G.Soul’s effortlessly sexy voice, a sound like he’s humming into a kiss that’s all tongue and cheek, “Water” invokes the same slick, wet imagery of a rough tumble between the sheets.
5. Send Me to War (feat. Jessi & Year of the Ox)
I don’t believe there could’ve been a more pertinent collaboration this year between South Korean hip-hop artists than Dumbfoundead and Year of the Ox (YOX). This is rap, pure and simple: sharp, quick, intelligent. More than anything, adding YOX to the mix builds another layer to Dumbfoundead already multitiered ability to tell a story. “Send Me to War” is such an immaculate track, a sound that’s whole, loud, and powerful. It’s really a master class of how to construct a song: essentially making each moment count, each lyric another piece of the narrative. Jessi sounds better than I’ve heard her in a while. Putting her vocals on full display, adding an ache and croon to this song about surviving loss, pain, betrayal, and abandonment. Dumbfoundead seems to be another artist that brings the absolute best out of everyone he works with.
[CONCLUSION]
While at times still clinging to the bravado of his persona, Dumbfoundead is both introspective and bold. There’s a snarl in each and every word, yet there’s also a resounding need to seek and find one’s place in the universe. In the confines of a 17-minute album, he’s peeled back his Dumbfoundead character and reintroduced us to Jonathan Park.
Laying the moniker “foreigner” on this album was no mistake. Navigating a country that is technically not his homeland, dipping into a culture that he wants to feel close to but had to weave his way through, this album acts as his guide between two dueling existences. The title is apt. As we experience each song, we recognize just how different Dumbfoundead, and by extension we, feel in each environment: whether dropping into a country that holds our roots but we’ve never been a part of, navigating the helplessness of being pronounced an “other” in our own homes, or even experiencing the overwhelming sensual curl of erotic need in the pit of our stomachs, the message is undeniably universal.
With his first Korean album (meaning his first recorded in Korea with Korean features), Dumbfoundead does some serious damage. He’s torn through SK’s hip-hop scene and pretty much ethered every album that’s been released thus far. Dumbfoundead continues to get better, more ferocious with each release. To constantly live with and express this level of passion is astounding. From first note to last, Foreigner has all but ended everyone’s career.
[x_button shape=”rounded” size=”regular” float=”none” href=”https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/foreigner-ep/id1238881361?at=1001l8LW” target=”blank” info=”none” info_place=”top” info_trigger=”hover”]Foreigner EP on iTunes[/x_button]
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About the Writer: Cy is a digital journalist and blog writer specializing in reviews of music and film across a broad range of genres. Wherever there’s electricity, food and a good Wi-fi connection is where she makes her home. Find her on Twitter (@mindlesscy) and Instagram (@mindless_cy).
Respected by Paloalto: YunB releases single ‘What You Want (Feat. Dumbfoundead)’
The third episode of the Respect series features YunB who is introduced by Paloalto.
DPR LIVE – Coming To You Live (Full Album Review)
Read our exclusive album review for DPR LIVE‘s debut album [Coming To You Live] written by our guest writer Cy.
[x_button shape=”rounded” size=”regular” float=”none” href=”https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/coming-to-you-live/id1216914815?at=1001l8LW” target=”blank” info=”none” info_place=”top” info_trigger=”hover”]’Coming To You Live’ on iTunes[/x_button]
Back in March 2017, rapper DPR LIVE in collaboration with Dream Perfect Regime (DPR) released his debut EP titled [Coming To You Live]. For those unfamiliar with DPR, it’s not so much a record label—described in their own words as “an independent, multi-genre music and video group.” More it’s a studio conceived as a means to experiment with audio and visual imagery. The studio is set to reimagine what it means to create music videos and release music in South Korea, expanding the expectations of the respective artforms and forcing a completely new perspective on the craft. Using DPR LIVE as their bullhorn was a stroke of sheer genius.
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In case you missed it: HiphopKR Exclusive Interview with DPR LIVE
Track 1: Cheese & Wine
This opening track gives you about ten seconds to prepare, asking “You ready?” before a series of “Cools,” as if DPR LIVE has to psyche himself up. Then he gives a low, “Alright, cool,” and the mind just goes blank! What starts as a simple skip-beat becomes something from another universe as the song reaches its zenith. The beat’s so complex, so all-encompassing, it runs the risk of overshadowing the actual vocal. However, the chaos and fire in DPR LIVE’s delivery fits the scattered and broken beat as if the music itself is pouring out of him as he spits a verse. It’s more than just a beat here. We have elements of very old-school soul, syncopation that can only come from the fists and feet of a live drummer. Overlaid on top of a very wavy synthesized melody, the beat becomes heavy in the chest, a deep thump indicative of the bass and the tom-tom. The thick complexity of the composition actually houses a very simple message—a man’s desire to “drown in” a lover, the romance of an evening of “cheese and wine,” her beauty elegant in candlelight, brings out the poet in DPR LIVE: “Let me drown in you.” All elements combine to create an absolute smash of a song. Rookies, take note. This is the way you start an album.
Track 2: Laputa (ft. Crush)
A fascinating aspect of the album is just how much is packed into the production and lyricism. It makes sense that DPR LIVE would want to get as much of himself and his vision on his debut EP as possible. Boy, does he go for it!
With the second track we delve a bit deeper into not only his lyrical prowess, but his understanding of story and the connecting strands of a narrative. The production is scaled back to focus on DPR LIVE’s storytelling. In “Cheese & Wine” he proclaims a desire to drown in the divinity of his lover. “Laputa” is really quite fascinating in its multiple meanings. While the word itself could be seen as more of an insult than anything (separating the word into two parts gives us a derogatory term in Spanish), it’s more likely DPR LIVE was likening her body to something otherworldly, as in the Island in the Sky of Gulliver’s Travels, or possibly more relevantly Hayao Miyazaki‘s Castle in the Sky, a city kept aloft by magic.
Though I’m not entirely sure his intention was to delve deeper into either the story or the film’s meanings, obviously DPR LIVE wanted to make the point that there was something ethereal about her body, something not quite of this world… visible but not within his grasp. Even taking into consideration the less than flattering first interpretation (which considering lyrics like, “You don’t understand, girl, you mean with it,” and “I know you can’t wait ’til I ease in it,” it’s not far-fetched), the idea of something unattainable, paying for a fantasy, for company still lingers in the way the notes are delivered. With the addition of the percussive smoothness of Crush’s vocal, and his added proclamation that she “make[s] me feel like I’m in your arms” and “make[s] me feel secure,” there’s certainly a feeling of the divine providing both wonder and comfort.
Track 3: Right Here Right Now (ft. Loco, Jay Park)
Again, DPR LIVE expresses a keen desire to wrap himself in his lover. The chorus says it all: “Girl, I so wanna fly with you, just wanna die with you, maybe go drown with you.” Whomever his love interest is, he doesn’t want to live in a world that doesn’t have her in it. There are multiple references to his wanting to drown with his lover, the idea of flying, as in away from the world, even going so far as to say, “…just wanna die with you.” The track’s very fatalistic, whether he intended it to be or not. One could say DPR LIVE’s bordering on obsession with his lover. Even the mumbled “Alright, cool” that finds its way into every song isn’t as strong a link connecting each track on the album as his dedication to his lover. Loco adds another dimension of aggressiveness to the song, a rough texture mean to probably ease the sentimentality. However, Jay Park’s feature counteracts this gruffness, adding a bit of cloying sweet to complex big-band beat.
Track 4: Know Me (ft. Dean)
More than any other track on the album “Know Me” makes it clear DPR LIVE favors Southern hip-hop, adding a curl to his vowels most commonly heard in Memphis rappers. Beyond that biscuits and gravy growl, there’s the intriguing feature. Not because it’s Dean, per se. He’s done enough features in the past two years for his voice to almost become commonplace in a lot of lesser-known artists’ tracks. However, of his guest appearances, his work with DPR LIVE is arguably his best. It’s most certainly his most aggressive, even when reaching for the falsetto and twisting his melismatic follow-through around certain notes, there’s a darkness there that isn’t present in any of his other cameos—and few of his own tracks. The marriage between the crunch and snarl of DPR LIVE’s delivery, his unabashed egoism, and Dean’s drop of earnest soul creates a track that’s as layered and nuanced as the music that houses it.
Even more intriguing is the connection between this song and the opening number. Even wrought with bravado, the imagery of drowning in a lover, “loving that body right.” It seems DPR LIVE’s penchant for the aggressive is tempered by a sensitivity to touch, an awareness of the almost liquid sensuality inherent in the way lovers relate. Wavy, audacious, curving at the edges, even in an album that stands out among most releases in the past five months, this is a standout track. Perhaps not as explosive as “Cheese & Wine,” but certainly a complex creation of raw energy and pure R&B.
Track 5: Please (ft. Kim Hyoeun, G2, Dumbfoundead)
Of course, as is commonplace with most rappers, DPR LIVE gets back to the business of asserting his manhood. It’s overt and not the least bit subtle, but somewhere on the album there was bound to be a cypher of sorts—artists coming together to throw down as much fire as they can, trying to best each other in a battle of bars and delivery. Avoiding any opinion on who may have come out on top, it’s clear there was nothing pretty or delicate about the message. Though certainly not a filler track, it separated itself from the songs that came before. Each feature laid down a verse that would have plenty South Korean MCs quaking. (Not to appear overly biased, but Dummy snatched, scalped, and destroyed his verse like his life depended in it!)
Track 6: Interlude
On the heels of the almost overdramatic show of testicular grandstanding, to get something as soft as a piano introduction to the final song on the album is a bit jarring. One could say its placement is a bit odd, considering the tracks preceding were almost intimidating, if not overwhelming to the ear. However, even with the shift in musical focus, the thread is still there: just a slip of piano instrumentation to mimic the sudden feeling of drowning or even flying away.
Track 7: To Myself
The Interlude does do a grand job of introducing the most personal track on the album. “To Myself” is very much DPR LIVE’s turn at being introspective, stripping away all the bolstering of the genre, even toning down his obsessive love affair with a divine phantom. [Coming To You Live] is the culmination of all parts of who he is as an artist. The song starts heavy, as most every song on the album, his ego pushing through, making it clear he’s less than impressed with any rapper out there. But after the wildness of the song’s introduction, DPR LIVE seems to move in closer to the microphone, as if screaming in the listener’s ear, demanding attention. The image makes sense: grabbing himself by the collar, all but yelling that he’s “gonna be a legend, you just watch and see.” It’s as if he’s convincing himself that, yes, he does belong here and he’s going to make his mark on this hip-hop thing if it kills him—even if he has to drown in it.
Thus we come full circle. Perhaps the amorphous entity DPR LIVE’s proclaiming all his love to isn’t a female. Rather, as in the classic Common track “I Used to Love H.E.R.,” perhaps he’s dedicated his life and his mortality to hip-hop.
Conclusion
[Coming To You Live] has a depth and complexity that may be missed in the grandness of the production. On the surface we get an aggressive MC whose fondness for Southern hip-hop, though disparate in tone, pairs perfectly to the psychedelic nuance of the music. Much of the album seems to have obvious influence from the likes of Flying Lotus and Lance Skiiiwalker (particularly track “Advantage“) in production and delivery. Each artist who had a credit on this album (most prominently producer Cream) had an understanding of theme and vision and brought new depth to the project. As a result, this may be the cleanest collection of features on a hip-hop album from Korea this year.
Of the more mainstream hip-hop releases, this is surprisingly the most aggressive. Considering the almost arthouse style of production, the fact DPR LIVE managed to throw so much of his brazen delivery in the album is a shock to the system. But it grabs a listener and forces color and skewed angles to infiltrate and leave them seeing stars. DPR LIVE brings his own flavor to the studio, and coupled with the intergalactic production, his debut is truly something to behold.
[x_button shape=”rounded” size=”regular” float=”none” href=”https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/coming-to-you-live/id1216914815?at=1001l8LW” target=”blank” info=”none” info_place=”top” info_trigger=”hover”]’Coming To You Live’ on iTunes[/x_button]
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About the Writer: Cy is a digital journalist and blog writer specializing in reviews of music and film across a broad range of genres. Wherever there’s electricity, food and a good Wi-fi connection is where she makes her home. Find her on Twitter (@mindlesscy) and Instagram (@mindless_cy).