Who Really Knows Hip-Hop?
An Editorial on Korean Hip-Hop and Drunken Tiger
By Drunken Camp's HyeRyun

Prologue

It's been five years since Drunken Tiger's debut and it's amazing to see how far they've come.

As much as fans dispute about Korean hip-hop's roots, it's evident that Drunken Tiger is seen as the key pioneers for the culture. As DT's fanclub president, it's part of my job to educate people about the group, but lately it seems a lot of fans don't really see to what extent the group has mobilized the state of Korean hip-hop. In this piece, I'm not aiming to be professional or to put down any other artists. My aim is to answer the questions that most fans have, but they usually cannot find resolution to in one glance at Drunken Camp, in one look at a DT performance, or in one verse of a song. This essay is really set to explain the importance of Drunken Tiger and what they've done for Korean hip-hop culture. I will admit that some points I make might be wrong, but remember that this is all from a perspective of an avid DT fan who's been following Korean music's evolution since the early 90s. At this essay's end, I hope to have thoroughly explained how DT has become possibly the most revolutionary figures for Korean hip-hop.

Hip-Hop Culture: History, Elements, & Meaning

"Breakin' and graffin', rappin' and scratchin', the four elements. The fifth is representin' it, watering with the sediments. The fire from my pen ignites, connection with the earth because HIP-HOP IS LIFE MANIFESTED THROUGH THE WORD."

- ROSCOE UMALI, DRUNKEN TIGER "W.O.R.D"

   HIP-HOP-the culture's beginnings are among one of the most disputable issues in musical history, but common belief states that hip-hop started with one man: DJ Kool Herc, the Jamaican DJ who threw block parties in the streets of the Bronx. These parties were thrown so that the urban community could gather and have fun, but these were communities that were often poor and consisted of neglected minorities. Because the media frequently overlooked this population, these parties were one of the very few forms of public expression that they had. The block parties first started with just deejays innovating and mixing popular music (sampling). As time went by, rappers started joining and spat verses on Herc's beats, creating what is now known as hip-hop music. Soon enough, break-dancers and graffiti artists came into play and created their own form of artistic expression to integrate with the music. Hence, the four elements of hip-hop were born: breaking, graffiti, rapping, and scratching. 

   Rapping itself is an evolved form of the African oral tradition, a tradition that's main goals is to inspire hope, to glorify the underdog, and most importantly, it's something that makes people aware. During slavery, the oral tradition (whether it be in song or spoken word) was primarily used to keep traditions alive from Africa, but it was also used to keep the slaves aware of events and problems in their community. During hip-hop's earlier years, rappers were more prone to carry on this tradition. They primarily rapped to help glorify and uplift a community that was neglected and disunited. Their lyrics related to the community and listeners could learn about issues in the community that the public media would tend to misinterpret or ignore. As hip-hop music became popular, rap was seen as a way for this neglected community to speak. Although songs like N.W.A's "Fuck The Police" were seen as anti-establishment, violent, and hateful, these kinds of songs embodied the meaning of what hip-hop was about: to address issues that the public failed to recognize. Hip-hop music was a way to rebel against society's corruptions that kept the urban population in a cycle of poverty, neglect, disunity, and misjudgment. Hip-hop culture became a culture that aimed to make the urban community better and it criticized society's negatives through nonviolent means. In rap, it's the words that are the weapons and it's the words that serve as a mean of social change. I think Roscoe said it best: "Hip-hop IS life manifested through the word."

Before 1999: Korean Hip-Hop, Keeping The Roots, and Taking On Tradition

"'Come, come, come and go' / 'Change your lyrics' / 'Do this, do that' / Forget that / Listening to the radio is the epitome of stupidity…"

-DJ DOC "L.I.E"

   Censorship has always been a large obstacle for Korean music, not only for Korean rap. Hip-hop was seen as a foreign art that provoked rebellious feelings and therefore the musical art was seen as detrimental to the youth. This perception ties deeply into Korea's deep Confucian roots that say that the youth must obey those above them and they should never question authority. Taboo subjects like premarital sex, teen pregnancy, sex and drugs are not to be discussed or explored: they are simply understood to be bad. For this reason, censorship limited rappers to rapping about lovey-dovey themes and social messages were banned whenever possible. Censorship aimed to keep things very "positive," giving the false impression that, as Tiger JK once put it, "Korea's perfect. Life is good." The negatives about life and society were virtually unexplored in music not because rappers didn't want to talk about it; it was because they weren't allowed to talk about it in the mainstream. Whenever rappers tried to bring hip-hop's full culture and message into the industry, for example when Tiger JK released "Enter The Tiger," censorship banned JK's "Hide and Seek" from public promotion and limited him to minimal radio play. JK garnered some attention, but at this point and time, hip-hop was still seen as detrimental and unmarketable to the youth population. However, what censorship failed to realize is that some of the issues brought up in hip-hop were things that the street and young population knew, but couldn't express through public means. 

   Marketable trends have played a major part in Korean culture even before "gayo" was introduced. When Taiji was introduced, he set the precedent for what Korean singers should do on stage. This all included dancing, singing, and dressing in matching clothing. As stated before, Seo Taiji influenced future singers to include rap to some extent in their songs, but there wasn't ever a marketable song that was purely rap until recently. As time went on, H.O.T set another precedent that said that the boy band package was also marketable. Record companies soon came to the conclusion that the full marketable package consisted of pop songs with positive themes, good looks, coordinated dancing and clothing, and lip-synching. However, real hip-hop music was still seen as unmarketable and unacceptable for the youth. DJ DOC's potential move from hip-"pop" (a form of Korean hip-hop that's predominantly filled with pop elements and artificial sounds) to hip-hop in 1997 proved that real hip-hop music was creeping into the industry. Nevertheless, censorship strongly fought this movement and DJ DOC was still limited to performing "hip-poppish" songs like "DOC WahChoomuel / Dance With DOC" even though they had very political songs like "BbiGukBbiGuk" on their 4th album. The majority of DJ DOC's record was banned from airplay because the group incorporated many social messages dealing with anti-establishment. As much as the group tried to defy censorship and bring real hip-hop music and messages into the industry, they were still limited to being like the other pop stars and sang, dance, and rapped about happy-go-lucky themes. DJ DOC wasn't the only group to suffer through these limitations: they were basically applied to EVERYONE in the mainstream. 

    What about Uptown and YG Family? Uptown's music in the late 90s probably came the closest to representing real r&b and hip-hop music. Uptown still submitted to some trends like the soft party/love themes and coordinated dancing, but Tasha became the most revolutionary part of Uptown overall. Tasha (T) was the first female emcee to enter the game and to this day, no other female rapper in the Korean industry has garnered the respect and popularity that Tasha has had in her 7-year career. Uptown sold albums with mixed r&b and hip-hop music, but even then, a full-blown hip-hop album was still considered unmarketable. However, because Tasha garnered a great amount of popularity for her vocal abilities and her rapping skills, she later proved that hip-hop music was profitable. Most importantly, it was profitable even with a female touch. 

1997: The original Uptown  (Top: Steve & Tasha;  Bottom: Carlos & Chris)	1999: YG Family (Back Row: Lexy, BaekKyung, JinHwan, Teddy, Danny, Sean; Bottom Row: Jinu, Yang HyunSuk, Perry)	2000: DJ DOC (Hanuel, JaeYong, ChangRyuhl)

    As for YG Family, before YG Family went all-out hip-hop in 1999, there were many instances that were questionable to their hip-hop image. Contrary to popular belief, a group by the name of KEEP SIX was YG FAM's first attempt at releasing a hip-hop group. They had a similar style to Solid, an r&b group from the 90s, but the group failed miserably. Jinusean, YG Family's second attempt, debuted in spring 1997 and soon became a national sensation. There were some hip-hop songs on their album like "Jinusean Bomb" and "Young Nation," but the album did contain a lot of pop songs like "NaeGa (I Will)" and their first #1 hit, "MalHaeJoh (Tell Me)." Jinusean's attempt to make an English hip-hop album in early 1998 barely scratched the surface as a successful album and the group went back to pop-like songs in their 2nd album, "TaeKwonV." When 1TYM debuted in early 1999, they too mixed up their album with hip-hop, pop, and r&b songs. Jinusean and 1TYM, as well as many other "rappers" in the industry, followed the set performance standards for mainstream artists. As a result, it was hard for fans to really distinguish between the rapper and the pop star since the majority of rappers performed in the same matter the pop artists did. YG's songs were dominated by love themes or soft bragging, hardly carrying any social context at all. Performance wise, although they dressed in hip-hop clothing, YG FAMILY was still heavily centered on looks, singing, and coordinated dance. (If Jinusean was hip-hop, what was the deal with Jinu's singing in "Naega" and the 20 seconds of senseless rap from Sean?) YG tried to justify their hip-hop image in 1999 when they dropped their family album, but even that album had an r&b ballad that didn't fit the album. It's almost ironic to see that YG FAMILY's "BEST OF" album didn't include Jinusean's #1 hit "MalHaeJoh" or 1TYM's popular r&b/dance song, "GOOD LOVE." Nevertheless, YG FAMILY does get the credit for establishing the first supposed hip-hop crew. The only thing missing from this crew at the time was a marketable album that was consistently hip-hop throughout. It wasn't until 2001 when Jinusean's 3rd album, "The Reign," became the first YG album that was 100% hip-hop. In spite of this, by then Drunken Tiger had already made their mark as Korean hip-hop's true pioneers. (This topic will be addressed later on.) In essence, between the years of Taiji and YG FAMILY, what was missing in the entire industry was a rapper that had a consistent image and a marketable album that was 100% hip-hop.

1999- Enter The Tiger: How Drunken Tiger Revolutionized The Industry

"Throw away that music that isn't even music. We'll change your ears for sure. Just wait."

-DRUNKEN TIGER "DO YOU KNOW HIP-HOP?"

   Drunken Tiger had one of the most amazing yet hectic journeys to success. Before DT's debut, both DJ Shine and Tiger JK experienced the Korean music industry's corruption first hand during previous entry efforts. (DJ Shine was conned into joining Coast II Koast, while Tiger JK was banned from public promotion during his solo days because he included non-Koreans on his album.) When the two decided to form Drunken Tiger, they made it their mission to change and reform the concept of hip-hop in Korea. Little did they know that their music was going to start a musical revolution. 

"Do You Know Hip-Hop": A Quick Analysis On It's Significance In The Mainstream

   Before this song came out, it had been years since a social criticism was allowed to enter the mainstream. The song didn't cause enough controversy to get the whole country talking, but it got enough people involved. Before DT, performers were expected to be very humble, polite, and obedient on screen. The title of the song itself caused enough people to start looking at the group in a negative light. In Korean, the title is pronounced, "Nuh-Hee-Ga HIP-HOP-eul Ah-Nue-Nya?" In the Korean language, the marker "HEE" is traditionally used by kings and for DT to come out with a title so self-glorifying during the early days of their debut caused the public to mark them as arrogant. It wasn't common for artists to question others about whether they really knew what a certain musical genre was about and it was definitely uncommon for artists to claim themselves as the true of hip-hop music. This defiance and self-glorification is all part of hip-hop's tendency to rebel against set standards, but the most important aspect of this song was the fact that it pointed out some blatant truths about the music industry that the majority failed to realize. There were three instances in the song that were significant:

A) THE INTRO HOOK: "Throw away that music that isn't even music. We'll change your ears for sure, just wait."

   The reference is minimal, but they obviously referred to the popular dance/ballad/pop music that was predominant in the industry. Most of the artists at the time conveyed a mix message about what hip-hop was really about. DT aimed to change this confused image about hip-hop music and they didn't encrypt this message at all in this hook. They said it with a confidence and frank defiance unseen in the industry before them.

B) THE 2ND HOOK: "We should stop taking what is just given."

   "What was given" refers to what was "allowed" to enter the mainstream. Underground music was not as recognized back then, and pop music was the primary kind of music the Korean population was exposed to. As discussed above, most of it had no social content and was full of meaningless ideals.

C) JK'S 2ND VERSE: "Everybody is just a puppet. All on the same wire, dancing clowns. We cant live like this… we be coming from around ghetto. Street poets delivering the truth. But out children is taken over by your bias. Listen to all the joy and pain in life. Lets untangle the world twisted by fakeness."

   A bold statement on how the musicians in the industry were instruments to the people managing them. Before "Do You Know Hip-Hop," no performer was allowed to present a song that criticized the "perfect" music industry, but DT was the first to do it so publicly. They claimed their street credentials and conveyed the truth about the things around them. They told everyone that songs should reflect the joy and sadness of life rather than just express unrealistic ideals. To this day, DT's songs reflect very street and realistic themes, whether they are societal criticisms ("In A Twisted 9") or simply a song about drinking because life sucks ("Good Life").

The Aftermath of DT's 1st Album

   After DT's debut, Korean hip-hop endured a catharsis and suddenly was reborn. Hip-hop's dark style, social meaning, and rebellious nature became a rising trend. CB MASS, a definite figure behind DT's music, got a good amount of public notice. Kim JinPyo's 2nd album was a great push for hip-hop as well (JP had always been respected for his amazing flow, even during his days as a member of rock group, Novasonic). T already garnered her respect as a member of Uptown, but her involvement with DT, UPT, JP, and CBMASS showed how unified the hip-hop community was. This combination soon formed the MOVEMENT crew and it showed the massive determination and power of the hip-hop community. Due to hip-hop's slowly growing popularity, it was officially given it's own musical genre during the new millennium. With the number of hip-hop artists entering the mainstream increasing, it is no doubt that hip-hop music is becoming more acceptable in Korea. People can argue that this change was not because of DT, but even if it wasn't, there's no denial that DT gave Korean hip-hop a big push towards the right direction.

2nd Album- "The Great Rebirth" & The UPT Trial

   When Drunken Tiger released their 2nd album single, "Great Rebirth," many were surprised that the group decided to do a very Korean-style hip-hop song with such innovation. Not only did they decide to sample an old Korean melody rather than an American one, they were able to write verses structured around the Korean alphabet (I.E: 가 장 아름답고 소중한 그것을 위해 나는 지난 겨울처럼 또 다시 나타나 다… etc.). While the usage of sampling Korean traditional music and trot music was low during these days, DT was one of the first artists to make it commonplace in the industry. Prior to them, only a few artists like DJ DOC took this concept and brought it into their music. While DT played a role in the evolution of hip-hop, they also played a role in giving Korean hip-hop a very KOREAN-like style. Although current hip-hop's beats can be said to resemble the dark edgy flavor of American hip-hop, Korean hip-hop still had its cultural connection within its musical arrangement and style. "Great Rebirth," although cut off from its rise on the charts by the Uptown scandal, was more significant to Korean music than most people think.