[Bonus] Best Of Rappers: Part II

Jaebeom - 10 Points Out Of 10

Listing someone of 2PM background here is laughable but this was a different place, a different era so bear with me. 2PM’s debut had flashes of brilliance, from the various choreography to the hilariously crafted music video. Hell, even Chansung’s stuff wasn’t that bad. The attention was of course on Jaebeom and I think Jaebeom did the best job out of everyone (save Nichkhun’s all English line) with his light but energetic rap. It’s a shame the 2PM controversy happened and Jay branched into more vocal-oriented work since I think his rapping highly overplays his singing.

Eunhyuk - Sorry Sorry Answer

Even more ridiculous is the thought of putting Super Junior here, but I have to give credit where credit is due, and Eunhyuk (and Donghae)’s work in “Sorry Sorry Answer”. The R&B rendition of “Sorry Sorry” was really good, powered by Kyuhyun, Yesung, Ryeowook, and Yoo Young Jin. Donghae and Eunhyuk’s casual rap was smooth and complimented the remix very well. I can’t say the same for the English pronunciation, though. A lack of presentation from the other members was disappointing, and it’s really just a remix but the rap certainly brought something extra.

Miryo - Sixth Sense

Don’t worry, CL is not alone. Miryo rings up the other slot with her work in “Sixth Sense”. Throw in a few foreign words and she sounds awesome. The rap is absolutely badass, aggressive, feisty, and right in line with the nature of the song. The triage of wonderful explosive vocals from JeA, Gain, and Narsha, with Miryo’s aggressive rapping and the artful music video certainly made “Sixth Sense” one of the more memorable Brown Eyed Girls releases.

Zelo - Warrior

I’m aware B.A.P has released a year’s worth of content already, but “Warrior” is a standout because it’s a debut, ridiculously catchy, and impressive for his age. It’s so good and infamous now that Zelo paid homage to it in later release “Power”. Yongguk’s rap was harsh and forceful, but Zelo’s was youthful and quick which provided solid complimentary pieces for each other. As I mentioned in the song’s review, the highlights of the song were easily the rapping and dancing.

[Bonus] Best Of Rappers: Part I

Let’s face the facts. There are not a lot of solid Korean rappers out there. We’re not talking about underground professionals along the likes of Tiger JK, LeeSSang, or Dok2. We’re referring to the lovely idols we’ve all come to know and love. Many are often ridiculed for their talent or lack of (Minho), others are merely used as faux rappers with low voices and rap singing (Bora), some have all the pieces but can’t quite put everything together (Amber), and a select few have enough ability to truly call themselves a rapper. These players know how to utilize their charms to give their music (or anything they show up in) an edge, of which we’ll be talking about here.

For this, I’m not singling out the best rappers in the industry but rather, specific tracks and showcases which really emphasize the user’s talent, whether it’s speed, flow, energy, etc. It’s more a matter of these raps being memorable than anything else.

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CL - Clap Your Hands

Now there certainly is a lack of female presence here, but don’t worry, CL has you covered for both “female” and “presence”. In terms of energy, CL is unrivaled. She brings so much power and stage presence, she controls the crowd and when 2NE1 performs and CL is up, you know all eyes are on her. As far as aggressive rapping goes, you can’t overlook “Clap Your Hands”. Of course, Dara and Minzy also rap but you can’t ignore the main rapper and thus the star of the show. CL is aggressive but not overwhelming, perfectly on the borderline. Live performances of this were absolutely thrilling.

T.O.P - Digital Bounce

Now, T.O.P has got quite the track record with Big Bang, but when Se7en released “Digital Bounce” and performed it for music shows, this skyrocketed future expectations for Mr. Choi Seunghyun. Now the song itself isn’t that appealing, it’s full of autotune, repetitive chorus and a boring dance, all mixed with a truckload of English. But then T.O.P enters for a rap break and it’s like the rest of the song was never there. I think it’s probably one of the fastest iterations to date and T.O.P rapping this live only solidified his skill. His rap took the mediocre “Digital Bounce” and made the performance aspect much more exciting.

Chanyeol - Two Moons

EXO’s debut album was a mixture of songs, and the rapping in “Two Moons” from everyone else (Kai, Sehun, Kris, Tao, Key) was good, but not great. Chanyeol, was great. It’s incredibly addicting should you be able to match the pace of him in the second verse, and I remember seeing a comment like “It’s almost as if Chanyeol is saying ‘Is this the fastest you can do? Seodulleo seodulleo…” and that’s exactly how I feel. Lively, energetic, with glimpses of power, too. Further showings in “DJ Got Us Falling In Love” and http://tinyurl.com/avocyb2 prove that the future is bright for this kid.

Zico - Nillili Mambo

When Block B debuted in 2011, nobody really thought much but Zico (and P.O) caught my eye for their rapping work in “Freeze”. Transition across some media controversy and a few more releases and we’re at “Nillili Mambo”. Zico may have been underrated before but the rapping in “Nillili Mambo” was spot on. Partnered with Kyung, these two made the rap the highlight of the wild and bizarre song. Now with the lawsuit raging on (what’s going on with that, anyway), we’ll have to see when next Zico will enlighten us all.

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Okay this turned out longer than I thought, so I’m going to split this set into two and release the second half next time.

[Review] Sistar19 - Gone Not Around Any Longer

Vocals: 5 / 10

Yeah, I’m giving Hyorin 5 (read: not 10) points in vocals. You know why? Because of that fourth word: Hyorin. She is everything and everything in this song and by everything I mean Bora has no lines sung for three plus minutes. At least she got something in “Ma Boy”. Yes, Hyorin sounds absolutely divine. Yes, her high notes are fancy, pretty, and charming. Yes, the variation work is quite lovely if but a little awkward structure for the ending. But that’s all Hyorin, no Bora. Bora got some measly lines in “Ma Boy”, and that is always better than none at all. Hyorin is already the vocal juggernaut in Sistar, leaving Bora out so miserably is really unacceptable.

Appearance: 10 / 10

These are members of Sistar, and they have arguably the best healthiest bodies amongst girl groups. They’re not skinny to the point where it can scare people and obviously not “fat”. Outfits matched, yadda yadda. Nothing else to see here, move along.

Dance: 10 / 10

“Sistar19 comes to your house and wipes your desk with their butts.” I wonder if a Sistar choreography will ever not include their butts as the focus haha. The dance was slow, matching pace with the song. Nothing extraordinary until the dance bridge I guess. They added some power there and Bora’s belt falls off. The use of backup dancers was interesting, and so were their outfits. They did not receive the luxury of benches though, probably to keep the highlight on Hyori—er, Sistar19.

Rap: 5 / 10

Oh, the rant about disproportionate distribution continues here. Bora comes in after the chorus to rap. It’s a fine rap, you say. She isn’t the best rapper so this was good enough, you say. I can agree to those points, but the later half of the rap is what pisses me off. Bora’s indeed still rapping, but can you even hear her soft low voice when Hyorin is “lightly” harmonizing to make the rap singing combo? If the whole rap was 50% of the song (which it wasn’t), Bora only actually got 25%. Since the rap was about 25 seconds, Bora had 15 of them. For the entire song. She even had to rap in a blank room for crying out loud.

Music Video: 7 / 10

Yeah, I’m not really sure what I should be saying here. There are most certainly boxes, and even boxes that open up to reveal bigger boxes. There are the scenes where Hyroin / Bora are with the man of interest all happy and joyful, and then the ones where they’re deeply contemplating and emotional. It’s just run of the mill standards for the music video. It’s the first time I’ve seen a Kpop idol stand on top of a piano though, so yay?

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Overall: 74 / 100

This song is absolutely pleasant to listen to, yes. There is no denying that. However, the distribution of lines was pathetic and Bora is nothing more than a backup dancer with a miniscule moment and lots of close ups. The structure of the song, with the dance bridge in accompaniment also didn’t help, leaving Bora’s rap a mere afterthought. The song title should really have been called “Hyorin (feat. Bora) - Gone Not Around Any Longer” but I guess that’d be a really lengthy title.

[Review] LeeSSang - Tears (feat. Yoojin)

Vocals: 8 / 10

The chorus is very straightforward and addicting, only furthered by having Yoojin (“Eugene” is a terrible romanization for a girl) joining with Gil. Gil and Yoojin provide a tasteful one two punch with Gil’s raspy husky voice immediately followed up on by Yoojin and her clear crisp notes. It was a rather awkward combination at first but they begin to mesh together after a few listens. The two voices also provide a “point of view” from both sides (of the relationship), so to speak.  Yoojin’s ad lib work alone at the end was also impressive. I’ve never heard of The Seeya before, but this first experience of Yoojin is certainly enough to get me interested.

Rap: 10 / 10

Gary should receive full marks by the sole fact that he does consistent work since the dawn of time and actually writes his own stuff. Of course, his flow is good and he has charisma and energy in his verses. As a Running Man fan, it’s hard to look at Gary’s work at not think about the Monday Couple (Gary and Jihyo) so the lyrics get a meaningful boost now that the Monday Couple is no longer “active”. Splendid work, Mr. Gary.

Music Video: 9 / 10

It’s strange talking about a hip-hop music video, considering Gary and Gil (and Yoojin, too) don’t actually show up in the music video, or have any choreography, etc. This MV stars soloist NS Yoon-G and DMTN’s Daniel for the relationship and the various light and dark shades differentiating past and present was good. Pretty interesting considering actual physical interaction between Daniel and NS Yoon-G doesn’t actually “happen”, because of the screen split and such, and they come together in the end, only to go their separate ways.

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Overall: 90 / 100

This song strikes at our hearts in three different directions. Gary’s meaningful lyrics, Gil’s harsh voice and Yoojin’s crisp voice / ad libs. This trio is an assortment of flavours, each with their own charms and qualities that will draw you in. The music video is also nicely crafted, adding to the emotion. It’s such a lovely and addicting song that will provide a fresh track anytime of the day.

[Review] BoA - Disturbance

Vocals: 8 / 10

We recently talked about BoA and how her voice is accurately suited for pop music, and while this is much softer than the usual (lighter than even “Only One”) BoA still sounds great. That being said, the melody throughout is pretty ordinary, and the only exciting stuff like head voice loops and such don’t occur until later. Because it’s not as heavy as other songs, the verses seemed pretty boring but at least built up to the better stuff at the end. I cannot stand the filtered / muffled voice at the end of each chorus (save the last). It just sounds awful no matter what voice it is and I’d much prefer heavy autotune (okay I wouldn’t but still).

Appearance: 9 / 10

BoA, BoA, BoA~ You are apparently 26, but it seems once you reached 20 you just sort of stopped aging. Forever youthful. I do think the hair for solo shots frames her face a little awkwardly, but it’s nothing awful at all. Maybe it was the angles because at other points I thought it looked okay. I was definitely a much bigger fan of the pulled back bun style, which really brought out her eye smiles. Taemin’s appearance had me completely fooled with the teaser image…I had no idea it was him until pointed out. So yay? Taemin has never really looked his age to begin with.

Music Video: 9 / 10

S.M. decided to let BoA and Taemin outside of the expensive intricate boxes out into the (fake) real world! They should be honored. Praise everything holy. The interactive ending was a cheeky, but by definition “new” idea since no other music videos have ever used this approach (or maybe they have but are unpopular enough to never have been noticed). What prevents this from getting full marks though, is the solo shots. There is around 2% variation in the facial expression from BoA. It’s an almost stoic look that does not change but puts out really nice vocals. I understand it’s mainly pure emotion, but that is not a legitimate excuse. Considering BoA is a veteran entering 13th year, this was quite disappointing.

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Overall: 84 / 100

Not bad, BoA. You throw your voice around quite nicely, and the acting is of course standard for the relationship / relationship breaking sequences throughout the music video, which does not comprise of boxes, presumably due to the lack of any choreography. Regardless, it’s a good listen and the interactive choice ending is cute even if it’ll probably be the last we’ll see of it.

Note: As you may have noticed, I decided to bump the overall scores to out of 100, which helps even out the field, which I have already reapplied to past reviews. Specific categories will remain out of 10 but this benefits the scale, which will also be used for future album reviews.