Okay-Pop’s first era is commonly referenced as the muse for the business we get pleasure from now, however there aren’t sufficient good English-language sources that give its music the main focus it deserves. I’m hoping to vary that with a unbroken flashback collection, spotlighting private highlights from the period – each iconic and obscure.
The period in query is commonly thought of to run from the debut of Search engine optimisation Taiji & Boys in 1992 to the emergence of TVXQ in late 2003. The music featured on this collection will largely match inside that time-frame, give or take a number of years on both facet.
It was a time of bonkers tune buildings, wild style, slamming techno beats, dangerous reggae impressions, flagrant use (theft?) of American hip-hop samples, hearty energy ballads, foul language, the growliest rapper tones you’ll be able to think about and an anything-goes scrappiness that’s not possible to pigeonhole. To borrow the title of a well-liked second-gen act, these years had been the “massive bang” of an rising musical powerhouse, nonetheless discovering its footing and throwing every part on the wall.
Years earlier than Eminem exhilarated the world together with his rap/rock hybrid Lose Your self, Korean co-ed hip-hop supergroup Bros had their very own pump-you-up anthem. However this being early Okay-pop, Win Win is kind of idiosyncratic.
On this period, it was quite common for songs to pattern widespread American hits, and also you’ll typically hear wildly sudden interpolations and straight-up rip-offs framing a lot of this music. Given the business’s underdog standing its normal stealth inside the international music market on the time, a part of me wonders what number of of those samples had been legally obtained. Nevertheless, I’ve obtained no sourcing for this speculation. What’s most vital about Win Win is that it chooses a killer pattern. The tune is constructed across the mammoth guitar riffs from Survivor’s 1982 mega-hit Eye Of The Tiger, fueling the observe with an addictive depth.
Bros was a 14-member collaborative venture, together with artists from widespread teams Roo’Ra, Diva, and Chakra together with luminaries like Bobby Kim. They launched precisely one album on the flip of the millennium, and it’s a combined bag of disparate sounds and concepts. However Win Win stands as a complete triumph — a tune so exhilaratingly energetic that it’s not possible to take a seat nonetheless whereas it’s enjoying. Even when the vibe adjustments midway by means of (a typical prevalence in Okay-pop on the time), the manufacturing retains a way of pressure that retains you ready for the stabbing instrumental to make its triumphant return. And boy does it ever!
| Hooks | 8 |
| Manufacturing | 10 |
| Longevity | 9 |
| Bias | 9 |
| RATING | 9 |
Grade: A-