The lyrics with many metaphors of the track are “swaying” like Korean baseball player Shin-Soo Choo, earning cash like casino developer Gangwon Land, and “cheese” like spicy chicken dish Dak-galbi. “Pile up”.
Even the threat of violence is clearly delivered with a Korean taste. “My chopsticks burst you, steam and leave them there like dumplings,” wraps half of Park Sung Jin, a duo named Jimmy Page.
In a video interview from Seoul, another member of Silky Boa, whose rap name is Blacknut, Kim Dae-eun said, “Foreign YouTubers are hoping that reaction videos and songs will be popular on platforms like TikTok. I didn’t. ” “We just did what we wanted to do in our own style. We enjoyed seeing the reactions of unexpected people.”
Drills started in Chicago in the early 2010s, but the Korean scene is heavily borrowed from the UK sub-genre UK drills. Equally gritty and provocative lyrics, with faster beats and a more melodic sliding bassline, the sound spreads from southern London and affects scenes around the world, including the United States.
Silkybois members Jimmy Paige (left) and Black Nut (right). credit: Courtesy Just Music
However, while British and American drill artists are known for wrapping around knife violence and firearms, things are a little different in South Korea, which has the lowest gun crime rate in the world. Nonetheless, references to physical violence are prominent, and national drill wrappers do not allow compromises in portraying urban suffering.
“The lyrics are about the city,” Park said. “Good or bad, it must be a fact. What happens in the streets, in the neighborhood, and in our spirit-it’s all we oppose them.
“For me, the drill is just another (art) form,” he added. “We like difficult lyrics … we’re always looking for ways to make tough metaphors and punch lines, and I think it worked.”
Cross the continent
Although the number of drill artists may be relatively small, some of the country’s most famous rappers, such as Keith Ape, Changmo, and Korean-American artist Jay Park, have recently released music influenced by this genre. doing.
Shin said he discovered the British drill through the TV drama “Top Boy,” which depicts the struggles faced by young people in central London. Initially not interested in the Chicago scene, he was drawn to the London sound (which he described as a “whole new genre”) and used the English pronunciation to deliver lines in English. I started to study.
“The British English I knew was from’Harry Potter’,” he said in a video interview. “So I was curious about how the rapper’s accents differed from what I knew. The more I listened to (British rapper), the more attractive they were.”
The lyrics of the 27-year-old artist are often autobiographical and address personal issues (such as the struggles faced during the Covid-19 pandemic) rather than social issues. He said that imitating content related to gangsters and guns in other countries is not real.
“Hip-hop wasn’t from South Korea, so bringing in sounds from abroad can bring in emotions (lyrics),” he said. “Sometimes (copying lyrical content), but lately the Korean public will consider this a fake or gimmick. Artists don’t want to take that risk. Wrap a story that isn’t yours. Is not cool. ”
Legal dispute
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Kim said that the content of rap is taken “too seriously” in South Korea, adding that “it’s frustrating that people can’t understand your lyrics and can’t recognize them negatively.” His bandmate Park also denied the potential impact of aggressive music on reality. .. ”
Aside from Kim’s case, the drill scene in this country is largely unaffected by legal issues, probably because of its relatively small mainstream profile. None of the artists spoken in this article reported other police restrictions on playing or recording music.
Also, the lyrical content of Korean artists makes it less likely that there will be an official crackdown on drills, Park said, with British and US rappers openly discussing their musical crimes. Claimed to be causing the problem.
To some extent he believes that in the genre where artists often despise the abilities of rival rappers, the biggest challenges facing the Korean drill scene are not politicians, police, or even lack of interest. Appropriate-it’s the quality of his contemporaries.
“They are trying to make a drill song, but they will fail because they can’t rap,” he said. “You have to know how to make a bar-that’s a priority for this business.”
Above image: Korean drill artist Blase.
Source: www.cnn.com
