KODE82

Michael Horton, known more commonly as MAN1AC, is many things. What he’s not is arrogant. He gave HiphopKR the privilege of an interview. In our in-depth conversation he opened himself up–something he rarely does–and gave us an honest look at the man he really is.

Humble Origins

On a rainy Thursday morning, in the middle of a monsoon that swept across Korea, MAN1AC introduced himself to me. “I’m a half-Black, half-Korean rapper. I started my career off in the United States and I ended up in my early 20s in Korea rapping. And I’m still doing it almost 20 years later.”

“Oh, so you a OG, OG!” He gives a little laugh. 

“Well, I started rapping when I was 15, so I’m a OG compared to the younger rappers coming up. I’m still younger than the real OGs, like Tiger JK–hyung and all them.” Another chuckle. It’s a rare blessing indeed to be able to speak to someone from an earlier generation in hip hop from Korea. So it’s important to start from the beginning.

MAN1AC’s journey to hip hop began when he was just 14 years old. “I started writing joke rhymes,” he says. “Playing around. I guess the first album that really did it… What got me started in the rap game was my father went to Japan on one of his tours during his military career and brought back an explicit tape. It was the first time I actually heard curse words in a song. And it was a compilation of a lot of New York rappers. It was called ‘2 Nasty 4 Radio.’ I heard that. It got me into this, ‘Wow, you’re allowed to curse in music.’

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“Then the next album that really did it was the ‘Doggystyle’ Snoop Dogg album. I was following ‘The Chronic’ by Dr. Dre, and when Snoop first featured on that track. I followed that up with the ‘Doggystyle’ album and thought I really wanna make my own.” This was all while he was growing up in Korea.

MAN1AC spent his high school years in Indiana. That’s when his father, a bassist and a military man, had an idea. “Indiana was the hometown of Michael Jackson,” he says. “My father was like, ‘Maybe we should do something like that too.’ He actually got me and my sisters involved with the music. My sisters, they didn’t like to rap and they couldn’t really sing that well. So he recruited like some other local rappers in the area, and we made a group. We came out with our first, I guess, like underground single tape. That group was called ‘NGSD.’ Yeah.”

There’s a pattern in the way MAN1AC approaches his answers. It usually has to do with getting caught in a memory. He follows especially deep memories with a light chuckle. It’s endearing and also an indication of where he is in the moment. “That’s old school,” he says, another chuckle coloring his voice.

“So it was like a rap version of the Jackson 5?”

“Yeah, that’s what triggered it. That ‘American Dream’ thing.” We share a chuckle. That memory is one we also share. Most Black families in 1992 sat around their living rooms glued to the TV. For two nights, ABC took us on the emotional journey of the Jackson family from Joe and Katherine’s first meeting, to Michael and his brothers performing on their last tour together. It’s incredible to think that mini-series was the catalyst to an over 20-year career. “My father actually wasn’t a rapper, he was a bass guitarist. He was in a group, and I guess he wanted me to feel the excitement of being on stage. And after I did it was on, you know?”

“My mother was more educational,” he continues. “She was more, ‘Finish college,’ and all this. Which is why I took a four-year break late in my career, ’cause my mother was more educational. My father was all, ‘Yeah, get out there and make more music!’ It was a war between trying to educate myself and to get more famous.”

Dreams & Rude Awakenings

MAN1AC’s beginnings while humble certainly weren’t typical of most kids in their teens. With his father as his manager and guiding light, the young Michael Horton got opportunities most kids could only dream of.

“He got me on a lot of underground Chicago mixtapes, like with Twista. I don’t know if you know who that is.” Of course this garners him an emphatic exclamation. “Yeah, he got me on a couple mixtapes back in the day. It was more of a dream, but I didn’t think it would become a reality.”

Working with someone like Twista is a dream come true. But MAN1AC got a rude awakening when he moved back to South Korea and started trying to pave his way in hip hop. “As far as getting into contracts and doing it that way, it started in Korea, later in my career,” he says. “I didn’t understand the contracts. I was in Busan at the time, and the headquarters of all that is in Seoul. So I used to make trips out to Seoul and deal with these record labels and stuff to try to get my music released with a music group.

MAN1AC then drops something of a bomb (for old-school hip-hop heads, anyway).

“The group was called X-Teen.” That’s right. MAN1AC was first suggested for the group that gave us Leessang. “I wasn’t trying to get into that group, per se, but the CEO of the company was like, ‘Oh maybe you should try out with this group and see how you fit.’ After a couple meetings I guess they thought I didn’t fit the color or the vibe of the group. Which led me back to Busan for another couple years.” 

“After I went to Busan — this was like five years worth of hustlin’ and making underground albums — my father got relocated to Germany. So I went with him, and I came back in 2007, and I got signed to Uptown in 2008. Actually I left my father. I was with him for a while and I was like, ‘I can’t do this Germany thing. I don’t speak the language. Let me try to go back and try to crack it with this music thing one more time.’ ’Cuz I’m working on it since I was in the States. That’s when it started jumping off. I came back to Korea by myself, and in 2008 I signed a contract with Uptown. I was with the generation of Swings and Snacky Chan.”

His involvement in the final iteration of Uptown was actually where I first heard him. This brotha with a deep voice, something I hadn’t heard from Korea up to that point.

“It was actually a complex of mine,” MAN1AC admits. “When I first got here I used to hate speaking to people. Because they’d try to reenact my voice.” He takes a second to imitate how people would try to imitate him. “It was actually a complex until I understood that vocal is actually making my music different as a rapper in Korea.”

MAN1AC, Uptown, & New Dynasty

We make it to what many people would consider their introduction to MAN1AC: Uptown. “I met (Snacky Chan) in Hongdae,” he begins. “I actually met him at a show,” he says. “He had a showcase, and I met him there. Then the Uptown thing… Well I met Jessi, and Jessi was like, ‘Oh you know there’s a group called Uptown.’ And I had heard of it because of T, obviously. So Jessi was like, ‘Yo, I know the people. Everybody broke apart and they’re looking for new rappers.’ So I met Chris, I guess he was supposed to be the leader of Uptown before. I met him, and he told me he wants to revive this Uptown thing. 

“He was real iffy with all of us because I didn’t want to disrespect Tasha’s, or Uptown’s legacy. I didn’t want to feel like we were piggybacking, riding off of theirs. We wanted to start our own thing for it. But nobody really wanted to do it like that. I reached out to Snacky. Then we reached out to Swings. And that’s how we started with three of us before other members started comin’ in and droppin’ out.” He says the last bit with another rueful laugh. Another memory that might have a sharp bite with hindsight.

For those who know the story, Uptown eventually completely dissolved. From that point on MAN1AC was again left to find a new direction. Enter Snacky Chan and the New Dynasty.

“Well the New Dynasty family was the first family I built as a rap family out in Busan when I first got out here in the year 2001,” MAN1AC says. “That’s still the roots of my career. I still got brothers that I talk to that are no longer rappers. The reality of life and hardships, and having to deal with family or whatever. It was more of a family thing. But Snacky Chan had this thing on his own called Dynasty Muzik. So we got together and called it New Dynasty. 

“As far as the album, that was a project me and Snacky did after we left Uptown. Because we wanted to keep the rap thing going. We didn’t want to be a part of Uptown. So when that broke, we did the New Dynasty thing. But that was only a one-album deal thing. We signed another contract and everything went south. The project fell off. No money… That’s when we all threw in the towel with this Uptown thing. And we went our separate ways from that.”

Out of Place

As rare as it is to speak to older hip-hop artists from Korea, it’s even rarer to speak to a Black Korean living in the country. “You picked a weird one this time,” MAN1AC says, full laugh on display. The conversation leads to some issues that only someone in MAN1AC’s situation could really understand. Beyond his speaking voice, MAN1AC admits that he always had this feeling that he didn’t belong.

“Feeling out of place was always there. I’m talkin’ about since my elementary years was out here. Yeah, I always knew I was out of place. But when I say out of place it was my family versus the rest of the world,” he says. “So my family was my safe zone. When I’m around them, I didn’t feel that much out of place. But as soon as my sisters would leave my side I’d know I’d be the only one that had curly hair. I had darker skin than the whole neighborhood. We lived right outside of the military base. I noticed the difference in color before a lot of the TV shows… before a lot of Koreans were used to it. So I stopped watching television,” he ends with a rueful chuckle.

“It never went away,” he admits. “But now it’s different. I can’t tell if they’re lookin’ at me because they think they’ve seen me from somewhere. They don’t just stare at me because they think I’m a foreigner anymore. There’s a lot of foreigners in this neighborhood, and I chose this neighborhood for my children so they wouldn’t have to go through the same thing I went through. I live in a neighborhood right now where it’s all good. There are still places I can go in Korea and still feel uncomfortable for sure.”

Korea and Black Lives Matter

This, of course, brings to mind another movement. The global surge in the Black Lives Matter movement cuts especially deep for Blacks all over the world. For someone living in Korea, which has its own ticklish history with xenophobia and colorism, it must be interesting to observe.

“When the movement actually happened,” MAN1AC begins, “at its peak, there was a little bit of a movement. But I guess a lot of the movement was silenced by the pandemic as well. Like that’s really important, but they just don’t show it. There was a little movement I guess among religious groups. I’m not sure who it was, but there was a little bit of movement about this Black Lives Matter. It died down a lot faster than I thought it would.

“There was no ‘right’ angle with this,” he says. “The way it was portrayed in the media from my point of view, there was a lot of people who didn’t understand the justification behind Black Lives Matter and why they’re tearing down the communities and why it was justified from the perspective of the Black people. So I guess they got a different perspective where I don’t think they really understood the movement. It looked more unorganized than it looked productive, if that makes sense.”

Watch Your Language

Considering how the media manages to tell a certain story when it comes to BLM, it makes sense. Filtered through to other countries, the message gets lost in the skewed narrative. But I digress. Another point of contention particularly among international Black fans of hip hop from Korea, is how far some Korean artists push the boundaries with language. Particularly with the use of the “N-word.”

“I actually got attacked for it before people realized I was Black or whatever it was that was bothering them for me it,” MAN1AC reflects. “My response to them was like… That was one of the main vocabularies that was a part of my hip hop when I was studying hip hop. I listened to a lot of Pac, and that word was used a lot. I never used it as a racial term, of course, ’cuz I’m half-Black. But I guess it did offend a lot of people if they’re looking at artists saying some people have the right to say it and some people don’t.

“I just like to tell them I think I earned, if there’s a ‘right’ to say it, I think I got more up-close-and-personal with it than a lot of people in the States have. Because there’s a lot of Black people in the States, but as far as Korea goes there’s not. So far as that word being translated in Korean, I’m pretty sure I’ve heard that word a lot more than they have.

“It might offend a lot of people. I know a lot of people down South, I got family down South. That word is just too powerful to be used the way it’s used right now. And I do understand that. But as far as me saying it, I try to tone it down now that I’m older.” Again, a chuckle. “Now that I studied the roots and the pain and the history of the word. So I understand both parts. From a hip-hop point of view I think it’s used a lot more freely than it should be. I never heard any Korean rappers say it. If they did say it, I think a lot of the Koreans would attack them as well because they know that word is real powerful.”

MAN1AC’s Black Tears

In an old interview with HalfKorean.com, MAN1AC told the interviewer that at that time (2011) his favorite song was “Now I Know.” This would be the lead single for New Dynasty’s first (and only) album.

“That ‘Now I Know’ song was more of a PR,” MAN1AC admits. “I told them I liked the song because it was a PR song. None of that music vibe was really ours. Because if you listen to Snacky or my music before Uptown, it’s underground ghetto… It’s street music. We tried to do Korean pop music, and that’s what changed our style.”

Of course, once he managed to get back to his roots, his true favorite songs revealed themselves. “As far as my favorite song right now, it would be the most personal songs to me. One would be ‘Black Tear.’ That was a song I wrote for my father. Being a different color in Korea, and the struggles I went through and my background, and what my father came from. So that song will always be there for me. And there’s a song that I’m about to drop, ‘Soon.’ That track is more of a diary of mine, I guess I could say.”

It seems with time and perspective, so many of MAN1AC’s most recent songs are more introspective. For instance “DAWN” is a song he recorded with artists SOLT’, MELOH, and rapper Dok2. Longtime fans of MAN1AC will notice the more emotional perspective injected in that track.

“That was the starting point of me making a new type of music,” he admits with enthusiasm. “I usually make heavy-hitting music. But if you hear the music I’m making right now, it might sound like I have a depression problem.” Again, he lets loose a chuckle. This one a bit more pensive, as if mentioning depression is sort of an uncomfortable subject. “It’s sort of in the direction where I’m talkin’ about getting no help. That’s what a lot of my songs are about right now. My personal stuff. If I do features and stuff, I do what’s the trend or whatever. But the music I make is not really… I wouldn’t say it’s like banger music. Not any more. Just like a few songs.

“The biggest damage happened three years ago,” he continues. “My mother passed away. As soon as the Show Me thing happened, my mother passed three weeks after the whole program finished. Like as far as the fame and all that, my mother saw me get some of it because the doctors were coming in and asking for autographs and everything while she was on her deathbed. And she actually smiled. That was the only piece of joy I think I got out of this hip-hop thing. Like just to see my mother smiling. Like I wasn’t doing it for nothing. But after that point, when she passed away, I sort of isolated myself. Guess I was ‘soul searching’?

“I met up with a couple people. I met up with a pastor, a couple homeboys from a long time ago that used to be troublemakers and found God, so they changed their ways. Hung out with them a lot. They were very supportive of my mental state. They weren’t judgmental as far as how I acted, because I was pretty messed up in the head for a couple years. But they got me back on track. They were like, ‘Hey, man, you should just slow down with the drinking. Slow down with whatever you’re doing and put it into raps.’ That was actually my best healing source. To let it out on the paper through my lyrics, and not rap about hardcore things that I can look back on now and say most of it was irrelevant.”

MAN1AC & Show Me The Money

MAN1AC feels deeply. You can tell in the way he delivers his bars. The way he’s so incredibly protective of those he lets close to him. Through pain, through loss, many artists find a way to wade through all the nonsense and get to their core. MAN1AC is no exception. One could argue considering what he was going through at the time, it’s even more relevant.  

“Oh my God, that was like the worst period of my life. I hated that period.” The fervor of the statement tells you all you need to know about his time on survival rap show “Show Me The Money.” MAN1AC wouldn’t be the first to express these sentiments to me. In fact, everyone I’ve been honored to speak with who’s been on the show has counted it as one of the hardest (if not worst) experiences of their lives. 

“It is!” He agrees. “More because I’m not a battle rapper, first of all. I loved it, and all that, when I’m there I see all these little kids tryin’ to make their dream or whatever. But for us to force that, or try to create something where there’s beef between me and the next rapper. To make it so you have to step on somebody else’s neck just to get to the next round. I didn’t like being in that type of atmosphere.”

Granted, MAN1AC had so much more at stake emotionally and mentally at that time than most. But the added pressure of a televised event, plus some of the harsher parts of the competition getting carried off-screen at times ensured SMTM was an experience MAN1AC is not quick to want to go back to.

The Pressures of Time

But it does bring up another issue prevalent in Korea, especially in entertainment. The pressures of getting older.

“I never felt the pressure,” MAN1AC says without hesitation. “But there is a handicap to being older. I mean, if I was a lot more handsome or, you know what I’m saying? Or like an idol, it might be different. But just me looking this way and me being an Asian, my attitude alone. There’s a big side of me that people never go to see. Even on Show Me the Money, I wasn’t really me. Like, they never let me take my sunglasses off because they said my eyes were too… they wanted me to go more hardcore. They wanted me to build this character where I’m like a mobster, and I just went along with it.

“You can’t compete against these little kids,” he says. This laugh is full. A resigned laugh that’s nonetheless filled with some mirth at the truth. “It’s a slam dunk, especially if they have a big fanbase. The only reason they fell off is because they messed up on their words, if not they would’ve creamed me a long time ago just by their fanbase alone.

“As far as the competition, I see that people with age… Even like JK-hyung, he had a lot of hits back in the day. I see him not fully doing it like all the other kids. So I don’t feel the pressure, but the pressure is definitely there.”

You hear it even in rap coming from the States. Artists like Nas, Jay-Z, and Eminem have all been called out for being too old to stay in the game.

“I been feeling this way since before I went on Show Me The Money,” MAN1AC says with a hearty laugh. “It’s what’s paying the bills right now. It’s what’s feeding my family. I mean, I take it like a blessing. I know I should throw in the towel. But I keep getting opportunities where I’m forced to get back into the game. Like I get a sponsor here, a sponsor there. And I just continue.”

Hip Hop’s Singing Evolution

“But I know the smart thing would be for me to invest in the younger generation musicians. I’m not even gonna say rapper. I mean, it’s gonna be hip hop, but I wouldn’t say it’s strictly rap. ’Cause you know how they sing with it nowadays.”

He sort of trails off. But not before I catch the inflection. I can’t help the laugh that comes out at this point. Anyone who grew up in a different generation of hip hop (the arguable “Golden Age” in the early- to mid-’90s) will understand. This notion of singing as rapping has some old-school hip-hop fans scratching their heads. MAN1AC is no exception.

“Now I’m soundin’ too old.” Again that bold and loud laugh. Truth be told hip hop’s gone through a lot of trends in its almost 50-year existence.

“Yeah, it’s gone through a lot of singin’ too,” MAN1AC says. The man has a great sense of humor. It certainly colors how he talks about himself and his experiences. “I actually had this interview with this Korean newspaper,” he continues. “I come from a different generation of hip hop. What they’re doing, I wouldn’t call them ‘rappers.’ It’s all hip hop, but rap to me is, like, bars, you know what I’m sayin’? But now what they’re doing, it’s just a problem when they call that ‘rap.’ And it’s not even a problem,” he clarifies. “It’s just personal. It’s so far away from what I’d call rap. I know it’s changed a lot. But the people who are executing that style.

“There are people, I go on YouTube like, ‘Yo, that was a nice track. You killed that song.’ I have no problem with the genre. It’s when they mix it up and try to throw it back in my face like, ‘You’re not keeping up with rap.’ And I’m like, ‘Yo, I’m a rapper!’ I don’t know what they call it in the States, but over here they call everything rap.”

I do actually share his sentiment in some ways. It’s all rooted in hip hop. It’s all steeped in culture and is very much a part of it. Whether or not I’d call it straight-up “rapping”? I can’t say that I would.

“You can call it rapping,” MAN1AC insists. “But don’t come at me and say, ‘How come you’re not keeping up with rap?’ It’s like, yo! So I gotta sing now just to keep y’all satisfied.”

Verzuz, Battle Rap, and Collabos

But that’s the thing, isn’t it? MAN1AC has worked with K-pop artists in the past. In 2008 on singer Sol B’s track “Do It Do It, Pt. 1” and XENO’s “Who Are You?” He worked with Sol B again in 2018 on track “Class Up.” He worked with Brown Eyed Girls rapper Miryo on 2017’s “King of the Hill.”

“My thing is like, if they’re like Jay Park, Jessi, or Dok2, if you wanna put them in the K-pop category, I mess with them because they’re my people,” he says. “Like we all speak English, they know how my attitude is, they know my mindset or whatever. 

“As far as any other really, really K-pop artists that I did a track with, and people were wonderin, ‘Yo, why did MAN1AC do a track with him?’ That was strictly money. There was a large payment that came with those tracks. I’ll make any kind of music for money.” That laugh is steeped in a great deal of reality. I can’t be mad at it. The industry is ferocious. It’ll chew you up and spit you out and leave you broke for all your trouble. Do what you have to in order to feed yourself and your family. If you have something marketable, use it.

“Yo, you want me to sing on a track? I’ll sing on the next track.”

We share another laugh, but MAN1AC answers the question in earnest. “Seriously, the people I wanna protect is Jessi, Jay Park, and Dok2. They actually didn’t owe me any favors when they did that for me, so I got mad love for them.”

This might be an opportunity for MAN1AC to try his hand at the Verzuz battles sweeping the internet during the pandemic. Two artists pitting their discographies against one another to see who comes out on top.

“Well the people I want to go up against…” There’s that chuckle again. It’s probably one of my favorite aspects of MAN1AC’s personality. It’s such a loaded sound. This is a man who doesn’t do anything by accident. Experience has taught him better. So when he makes that sound, I know that there’s a couple ways he can answer the same question twisting around in his head.

He settles on, “I don’t want to battle anybody because the music that I created so far, a lot of it was created by the companies. That’s not what I really wanted to do. Plus the music we made never made any big numbers. Even with Uptown, I think we got a #30 on the charts, which isn’t even a big chart in Korea. But if I was to battle somebody or got against somebody…” Pause. “I don’t know.” And I feel his earnestness. “Haven’t really thought about it.” Then he laughs again. “I don’t know if it’s just my personality, but I think if I went up against somebody and lost I might take it personal, you know what I’m sayin? So I don’t like putting myself into situations like that.”

Fair enough.

“I mean, I can battle rap. I love battle rap, but I don’t really think that game’s made for me because I seem to have a tendency to take it out of the ring a lot. You know with hip hop there’s no rules. But it’s messed up if somebody gets to say something about Black people in a country full of Koreans, you know what I’m sayin’? So I always try to limit the handicap factors.

“If I was to do something, it would probably have to be with somebody I’m cool with where I don’t care what they say about me. But if it’s somebody who I don’t respect really in the rap game, and I was to battle them and they say something disrespectful. I mean, I probably wouldn’t attack them, but I would really cut ties with that person. So I really don’t wanna put myself in that situation.”

Again, fair. Even the most seasoned Smack rappers have a hard time leaving it on the stage when it’s all said and done. How about the other side of that? Anybody he’d really like to collaborate with?

“There’s a lot of people I want to work with, but I don’t wanna mention their names. Because if I think about it, it’s more because of their status and their numbers more than their talent. If I was to choose anybody, the person I’d wanna work with he has no name. He’s from Indiana, like I love his style, but he has no fan following. But if you’re talking about production, like what would be the most productive, it would probably have to be one of these idol kids. Like ZICO or something.”

Nas vs. Jay; Pac vs. Biggie

This sort of leads into a question that I’ve asked many Korean rappers and R&B artists. Nas vs. Jay-Z: Who you got? Tupac vs. Notorious B.I.G.: Who winnin’?

The pause on the other end of the line is so long I almost think he’s cut out. He finally lets out a heavy, “Oh god!” To be fair, most artists from Kroea who I approach with this question try to play diplomat and push it aside. When I explain this to MAN1AC, he says, “I was so pumped. I thought, ‘Yo I got this!’ But you actually asked a difficult question.” He takes a beat, then says, “I can tell you my personal favorite. With Jay-Z and Nas, I give it to Jay-Z. The reason is, I’m not going by statistics. I’m going by what we had resources to hear in Korea when their albums dropped. Nas wasn’t hittin’ as hard in Korea like Jay-Z. Jay-Z was comin’ in hard.

“But like, Nas. I didn’t really get into his music until after, after. So like when he was blowin’ up with ‘Illmatic,’ I didn’t hear it in its prime. I heard it later as a classic. If I was there to hear it in its prime, I think I’d be more on this side.

“As far as Biggie or Pac. I definitely go with Pac. Not because he was a better rapper or anything. But as far as his character. He made a lot more songs for us to choose from, first of all. As far as Biggie, if Biggie made as many songs as Pac did on a rap tip… I think if you’re lookin at two albums, Biggie would take it as far as the first two albums. But if you look at it in terms of the impact they had on international hip hop. I’d give it to Pac.”

Wouldn’t you know it. MAN1AC is the first person to actually give an answer!

“I don’t want to hurt nobody’s feelings from New York,” he says. “I know they get angry when people choose Pac. I’ve met a few like that. But that’s how I feel about it. It’s nothing personal. It’s just my cup of tea, that’s just how I feel. I’m not saying those are the rules of the game. It might not even be true. But that’s just how I feel.”

Truth be told that question is sort of a test to see how deep into hip hop the artists are. How about that life they actually are.

“Well ‘about that life,’” he begins. “Most Koreans if you look at their lyrics they’re not about that life when it comes to bling bling. Because I know a lot of them don’t have the money that they flaunt they have. They also don’t speak about gangbangin out here. So the only thing they’re fake about is how they live.”

KODE82: The POSSE

To be honest, MAN1AC has such a tight relationship with those around him. Collaborating with mainstream artists is really unnecessary. With KODE82, he returns to his roots. This includes old friends from the New Dynasty.

When asked how KODE82 even came about, he takes a second, then gives another one of those chuckles. Like he has something he wants to say but is trying to decide how much he should say. “Okay, you want the off-the-record version or…?” I can’t help but laugh. The man is funny, honestly. His humor is steeped in all his experience. The harsh realities he’s had to face throughout his life and career. So when he does answer, while it’s not hesitant, it is a version that he’s comfortable with.

“Me and one of the original New Dynasty family members, his name is 2Deep. The first album I dropped in Korea was, I think, in 2003. It was with the rapper 2Deep. I still keep in touch with him. He’s in Australia. He was like, ‘Yo, man, you should jump something off. Let’s do something.’ We all came to the conclusion. ‘Okay, fine. We’re in different parts of the globe, but we’re launching it from Korea.’ So that’s how we came up with the country code 82.

“It came about with me going to Show Me The Money. Seeing there were so many rappers that didn’t get to even see a speck of light with the amount of skills they had because of the politics behind the show. So I know there’s so many Michael Jordans of rap. There’s so many players that can’t get a break because of the system and how it’s made. So I’m like, okay let’s start something… My main thing is I wanted to go global with it because I’m tired of trying to force rap in Korean and gettin, ‘Oh, your lyrics is whack.’ Well, it’s my second language, so…” There’s a shrug and an “Oh well” in his chuckle. 

“Then I got a couple rappers that are all from different parts of the States. Our minds just clicked. We was like, ‘Yo, let’s put something together and just do it ourselves.’ Everyone that I’m with either got burnt by a company, got the wrong end of a contract. They all have this traumatic thinking when it comes to Korean music business. So I’m like, okay let’s start our own thing. We’re all bosses. I guess I did turn out to be the leader because I am the oldest. And the tallest and the biggest and the loudest,” he says with a laugh. 

“We got together, and especially going into this quarantine, pandemic season, all our jobs got cut off. So we were like let’s turn this into a production mode instead of just sitting on our behinds and waiting for jobs to fall back into our laps. This was a personal investment that I made on myself. I started going out there, getting music video locations so we can shoot our stuff. So we’re independent now, offering my own money. We don’t have a company yet. But we’re going to get there eventually and try to get there soon so we can feed a lot of underrated rappers without having to ruin the rest of their lives chasing after a dream that’s partially fiction.”

Industry Player Politics

Considering the almost incestuous relationship between South Korea’s government and its entertainment industry, I can’t help but root for anyone who attempts to work outside of that system.

“If you look at the politics, it’s like Show Me The Money is CJ, right?” he begins. “Now, CJ bought all these hip-hop labels. So if there’s another Show Me The Money, they’ll put those people on a panel. And the people who’ll make it will be only the people who are in groups or in that family. Everybody else, they’ll ask you before you go on, ‘You got a contract?’ If you do, you might as well just drop out because they’re looking for players who they can feed off of later. I found that out later. This is why a lot of good rappers, actually, won’t be going out this season. I know a lot of people will still go out, like the younger generation. But like the players that I know that have been there before will not be attending this year.

“It’s either you have money or you ride with them or you don’t ride at all. So it’s not a system we can really fight, but it’s something we’re trying to go around. But it’s a slow process for a lot of players right now.”

Just look at the truly independent artists who work around Hongdae. It’s brutal. You either better know somebody or already be involved with a label. Otherwise, things are a bit grim.

“They won’t put you on TV, they won’t play your stuff on the radio. You won’t get no type of PR. So you’re pretty much doing it for your friends on Facebook. That’s how they turn it into a lot of artists. Why we started reaching out to people like, ‘You all right?’ That’s like where we find most of our help now. It’s not through major corporations.”

(Low-key) On the Lookout

It’s clear that MAN1AC is serious about giving kids who need it the chance to thrive. 

“I’m actually looking very hard,” he says. “But the last time I did it, a lot of people started throwin’ demos at me, and I’m not really good at rejection. It came to the point where I had to stop talkin’ to people because I didn’t want to put it out that I was looking for people. But I’m searching on my own for the next artist. Whether male, female. Nobody over 30 anymore because I want to be the oldest.” We share a laugh. “Lookin’ for somebody in their early 20s, male or female. We might work the system and wait until Show Me happens and wait for the black gem that gets rejected by every company. But this is why we started in the first place. We’re in the looking stage right now.”

I will say this. We definitely need more labels like what MAN1AC and KODE82 hope to create. So many talented kids out there just want to make music. But this system is unkind to anyone who doesn’t know how to play the game.

“There’s a lot of people out there wasting people’s precious time. And they could be really talented. If I had started out young myself, I would’ve gotten my dream smashed. But if you look at my record, I actually signed my first record deal when I was 28. So for these younger generation kids out here, if you’re gonna stick with it, something might get at you later. But will it be worth the effort?” It’s a fair question. One many artists consider before they even get started. “I don’t push it on anybody to rap. But if they do and they’ve got the talent, I would find a way to support them in the way that I wanted support.”

It’s interesting how little people realize what it truly means to be independent. I’m talking about truly talented people who are working at Subway during the week and busking in Hongdae Playground or hustling at the small dive clubs on the weekend.

“It’s funny you should mention Subway,” MAN1AC says with a jovial laugh. “I used to work at Subway and Pizza Hut. I’d go out and do shows with flour and shit all on me. I think that’s a stepping stone in Korea for all artists. Something you can leave real easy if you get a break. You can leave real fast. That’s why I don’t think I ever got into a long-term job.”

Future Plans

In this time of so much uncertainty, it’s always good to know if artists are still looking toward the future. MAN1AC is enthusiastic.

“The next song that we’re dropping, we’re actually editing the video right now,” he says brightly. “It’s a track featuring rapper Basick. I actually got my daughter to do the singing part, like lip synch in the video.” There’s a fond smile in his voice. It’s easy to hear even over the phone. “It’s a song of hope, I guess, about praying, about overcoming all the hard times. That’s my next song. As far as KODE82, Sikboy has a new track coming out on August 1. It’s actually Sikboy’s solo. 

“We’re going for one [release] a month to be realistic since there are a lot of members,” he continues. “Like I told you, I’m using that quarantine period. We’re not as active as far as getting shows and everything, but I’m trying to make it as productive as possible. I don’t know when it’s going to change or when it’s going to go back to normal. I just don’t want to be left out as far as this digital thing that’s about to come up. People are doing a lot of online shows, so I’m trying to get content together to be ready for things like that.”

As our conversation comes to a close, I can’t help but feel like I got one of the most important hip hop history lessons I’ve ever gotten. A firsthand look at how to play the game in Korea. It ain’t pretty, a fact I’m sure many of us know by now. But my conversation with MAN1AC assures me there’s always hope.

“This pandemic is making everybody go insane,” he says. “So just keep your sanity. Hopefully we all get through it together. And hopefully we’ll be able to drop some more music that people can enjoy soon.”

Bottom line: MAN1AC is just a good guy doing the best he can. Nevermind the bravado. It comes with the trade. Good son. Devoted father. One of Korea’s most ferocious MCs. Fiercely loyal to those he calls friends and even more dedicated to the craft.

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