XXL Magazine: “Korean Rapper G-Dragon Talks K-Pop Hype, New EP and Past Scandals”!
The hairstyles are colorful, dance routines are perfectly choreographed,
and the music’s stupidly infectious. If you don’t know, get to know
K-pop: South Korea’s globetrotting bubble-gum music spree. The players
are well-groomed “idols” that have gone through years of rigorous
training, and the label heads are masterminds that oversee nearly every
movement of their creations. Despite its manufactured tendencies, the
fans—from Paris to Tokyo—love it. And it’s evident in the numbers as the
profit margin increases yearly, raking in the billions (trust, they’re
dollars not yen).
And while the obedient ones rake high sales and earn national darling
statuses, what the critics and the kids want is someone who’s edgy.
Enter: Big Bang’s G-Dragon. First came onto the scene as South Korea’s
answer to Lil Bow Wow, the 24-year-old Kwon Ji-yong made his mark as a
future star at an early age. Under the tutelage of South Korea’s
de-facto hip-hop imprint YG Entertainment, Kwon made appearances on
tracks of the label’s then poster acts throughout his teenage years. So
his official debut as a member of boy band Big Bang initially came as a
surprise. The results, however, were staggering, as the quintet spread
across Asia’s pop market as a recognized force, with G-Dragon’s
self-produced and written songs (“Last Farewell” and Lies”) amassing
tremendous success.
His first solo album, Heartbreaker, released in 2009, continued his
ascendancy as the country’s most influential icon for youth culture. His
outfits inspire knockoffs, while acts of lesser foundation bite his
musical style. Plus, unlike the typical clean-cut image administered by
most K-pop acts, G-Dragon amassed a string of scandals (accusations of
him puffing lye—a punishable offense in South Korea—and plagiarizing
foreign music have made national headlines). Is he South Korea’s Kanye
West? Certainly, it’s not an overstatement.
With his latest EP One of a Kind causing more noise than any other
release from a K-pop artist this year, G-Dragon’s riding high from his
own success. While in New York City for Big Bang’s Alive World Tour last
November, XXL spoke with Korea’s most popular and recognized idol/rap
artist. —Jaeki Cho (@JaekiCho)
XXL: How did you first get introduced to rap and hip-hop?
G-Dragon: I was about nine years old when I first heard Wu-Tang’s
“C.R.E.A.M.” Before that, I didn’t know anything about rap or hip-hop. I
was just into Korean pop. This was before the K-pop phenomenon. I just
listened to regular commercial music from Korea. I would just follow the
choreographed dance routines. I didn’t have any ambitions of pursuing
rapping. I liked dancing, so I did that. I occasionally rapped along to
some homegrown Korean rap. And then a friend introduced me to Wu-Tang,
and played me Enter the 36th Chambers.
It was very shocking. And then I started to look for different albums.
This was pre-Internet, so it’s hard to find the music, and it was even
harder to find music videos. So I’d watch things little by little. If I
saw a music video, I would watch it over and over again. And when I got
to the fifth grade, I wrote my first verse. It was terrible, but I did
it. [Laughs.] I started to listen to more Korean rap instead of Korean
pop, which was still a very niche, underground genre at the time.
XXL: You debuted at a young age. You were part of a Korean hip-hop compilation album called Hip-Hop Flex 2001.
G-Dragon: There was this hip-hop collective called People Crew. And at
the time, in Korea there was no real place to access rap music. So
People Crew used to host this summer school program, which taught
rapping and dancing. I begged my mom to attend that school to learn how
to rap. And from the guys at People Crew I would get compliments that I
was good.
They introduced me to Lee Hee-sung, who was the leader of this
four-member rap group called X-Teen. At the time Bow Wow was a big deal.
I guess Hee-sung thought Korea needed its own version of a Bow Wow, and
I think he wanted to be Jermaine Dupri. [Laughs.] So I was featured on
Hip-Hop Flex 2001, and that made headlines in Korea as the youngest
rapper in the country. YG Entertainment took notice and decided to take
me in.
XXL: So you wanted to be a rapper. Then how did you react when you found out that you’re debuting as a member of a boy band?
G-Dragon: At first, I had no idea what was going on. I couldn’t
understand it. Taeyang and myself were trainees at YG for a long time.
So we figured we would debut as a hip-hop duo, a group of sort. Then
they decided to pick three more members, and was planning on having us
debut as an idol group. I wasn’t too fond of it. I actually hated it. I
knew T.O.P as a kid, so we were friends. But I didn’t know the other two
members. We didn’t know what we were supposed to do, so we would just
practice choreography everyday. I really didn’t know what was going on.
But YG, the label itself puts out boy bands, but they don’t strictly
deal with bubblegum pop music. Since its foundational core is based
around hip-hop, I trusted the label’s directions. It went well, so I’m
satisfied now.
XXL: How would you say Big Bang is different from other K-pop groups?
G-Dragon: These days, the musicality of idol groups have improved—I
mean, there’s still a very few who actually produce or write their own
music. But as a K-pop idol group, at the time of our debut, we were the
only ones who produced and wrote our own music. I think we were the
first as K-pop idols. So if I would pinpoint a difference, is the fact
the members write their own songs. Since we make our own songs, we have a
better understanding and appreciation when we perform on stage. We know
what we’re good at. It’s not like somebody’s giving us a song. We’re
doing what we like to do. So it helped us build a tighter world of our
own, musically. Music needs to be associable. Since we’re writing our
own music, we’re better at expressing our own thoughts and feelings,
instead of someone else translating those feelings for you.
XXL: I heard from Choice37 (YG’s in-house producer) that you tweak
and reconstruct tracks to fit your own vision. Explain your songwriting
and production process.
G-Dragon: Ever since I was a kid, one of the assignments I received from
YG Entertainment was writing songs. When I was in middle school, they
would tell me to write one song per week. By that I mean, coming up with
your melodies and lyrics by using an American instrumental. I did that
for about a year. And then, the time duration shortened. I was told to
write a new song every three days, and then it became two days, and one
day. Since I was trained to do it for so long, writing a song a day
became really easy for me. It kind of became a hobby. On top of that, I
have a good support system. Whether it’s Teddy, or now it’s Choice, they
produce a lot of tracks and laid the groundwork for me. I would say
they do most of the work, and I kind of oversee the direction.
XXL: The videos for “One of a Kind,” and “Crayon” made a lot of noise
on the viral sphere. Who is director Suh Hyun-seung? And how much
creative input did you have in those videos?
G-Dragon: Suh Hyun-seung is really, just crazy. He’s a real outsider.
Kind of an otaku. He’s not social. Doesn’t meet a lot of people. He’s
not driven by money. If he’s shooting a video, he’ll listen to the song,
and if he likes it, he’ll work on it. He needs to have a vision. He
needs to have a creative connection with the artist. I feel like a lot
of other artists, even though they want to work with him, they can’t.
[Suh] is the type that if he listens to your music, and doesn’t like it,
he won’t answer you. Luckily, he likes the music put out by my company,
and during the creation process, we met on a daily basis.
He has his own editing room at the YG headquarters. And when you think
of it as work, I feel like it doesn’t really come out the way you want.
That pertains to anything. Whether it’s music, song, fashion, or video.
You just got to chill, look at funny videos, talk about what could be a
good idea. I care a lot about the aesthetics of my videos. And I try my
best to be as detail oriented as possible. For instance, if people only
think of direct translations of the lyrics, we want to illustrate that
with a twist to give it a deeper meaning. So when people see it, they’ll
say, “Oh, that’s interesting how that could mean something different.”
Instead of making a video that’s worth a glimpse, we try to make
something that has replay values
XXL: How are the music videos for your solo projects different from group efforts?
G-Dragon: When we’re working on videos for Big Bang, since the group’s
more mainstream, we tend to concentrate on catering to a broader
audience. When I’m working on my solo projects, I just do what I want to
do. I can be funny, funky. My image itself isn’t all that clean cut, so
for this project, I tried to have more fun with it. All the singles
from the project are very different. So the director and I tried our
best to highlight those elements.
XXL: “That XX,” felt very personal. Was it based on real-life events?
G-Dragon: All the songs I write, I mean, of course, some level of
fiction is in the mix, but I try to write my own stories for the most
part. I wouldn’t say I completely went through that same experience, but
when I felt those types of emotions, I remembered it well, and I just
jotted it down.
XXL: That’s unfortunate.
G-Dragon: Man, I could be a sucker. [Laughs.]
XXL: Are you?
G-Dragon: Now? Maybe not. But when I was younger, just because you like
someone doesn’t mean she’ll be with you. I’ve had many experiences when
the feelings weren’t mutual. [Laughs.] When I’m on the rap tip, I could
rap about sluts, I could do all of that, but when I’m singing a love
song, it needs that mournful, loser’s emotions in a way. I think that
works better. It’s kind of that Korean ballad sentiment.
XXL: Since we’re on the subject of writing and producing, I want to
ask you about the scandals you faced for plagiarism. I thought it was
just a lack of understanding for sampling in South Korea. Thoughts?
G-Dragon: Umm, I don’t know. I’m Korean. I grew up in Korea. And there
are still many things in the Korean music industry that has not yet been
figured out. I think it’s totally understandable that people don’t
grasp the concept of sampling. And everybody will have a different take
on the song. It’s not really about right or wrong. Just because a select
few believe it, don’t mean they’re wrong either. If they felt that way,
then that’s what it is. In the end of the day, I’m not ashamed, so I
don’t really comment on it.
XXL: I think after Big Bang, there’s been a surge of many K-pop idol groups with very similar styles. What are your thoughts?
G-Dragon: Uh-huh. [Laughs.] I like it, personally. I’m sure it’s not all
because of us. But after our debut a lot of K-pop idols with more
concentration on their music definitely started to appear more. I don’t
know how much of them really do it, but to actually have idols that
write their own songs is a good thing.
XXL: But you don’t feel a certain way about them biting Big Bang’s style?
G-Dragon: I did feel a certain way. I felt that way before. Maybe two
years ago? When I was a little younger? Not saying I’m old, but back
then whether it was style or music, I didn’t want to be lumped into a
category. Now, I don’t really care. It’s whatever. When I look at the
bigger picture, to see how it’ll influence the generations that’ll come
after us, I think having more artists is a good thing. There needs to be
more people that are good, so I can be better, too. They’re saying this
and that about Korean Wave—I don’t really believe it.
XXL: I’m glad you mentioned that. What are your thoughts about K-pop’s current boom? Is it a bit odd for you?
G-Dragon: I don’t really think I know myself. I don’t quite get how
[K-pop] is functioning. But I’m certain that we need to grab the
approval when we have the chance. Unfortunately, in Korea, I feel some
people are just seeing the dollar signs. Sending out artists who aren’t
fully prepared out into the foreign markets. I’m still against such
approaches. There’s definitely good and bad. Obviously, it’s huge that
such a small country is able to churn out talents to come all the way
out to the U.S. and Europe.
It’s also serving as a gateway to the Korean culture. The music, the
people, and the arts are spreading; I think that’s the good part. The
bad part is seeing artists who we look at and just don’t feel like
they’re good. This is my personal opinion, but there are some acts that
I’m a little embarrassed to look at. Since the people here don’t know
much about Korea, their perceptions about its music will be restricted
to those acts. That’s a bit unfortunate.
XXL: Well, then is G-Dragon part of K-pop?
G-Dragon: I don’t hate the title. Because at the end of the day, it’s
pop music from Korea. But in the long run, I don’t want to be affiliated
with that name. I don’t want to go to a foreign country and get lumped
into that genre. I’m just looking at the bigger picture. This K-pop
title might be good for now, but looking ahead it could hold me back,
like a prison of sort. I’m a little wary about that.
XXL: You started out as a rapper, and then became an idol, and now you’ve become an artist. Which title do you prefer?
G-Dragon: I’ve always liked being a rapper. I’d like to be remembered as
a rapper. Somehow I ended up singing, too. I mean, I enjoy it. I’m
having fun. But my roots is rap and hip-hop. So, I’m going to be a
rapper. [Laughs.]
XXL: Now that you’ve acquired some level of success as a solo artist,
you ever thought about branching out and starting your own imprint?
G-Dragon: I’ve been with YG since I was a kid, so I never even thought
about anyplace else. I think YG provides the best environment for a
musician. I’ve met many artists in America, artists in South East Asia,
and I think it doesn’t matter where you go; there isn’t really a place
like YG anywhere. It really gives a lot of support, it doesn’t hold back
on helping artists who want to create music.
Since we can do a lot of different things, and not have to worry about
money, it’s great. And I never thought about a label, or I’m just not
really confident yet. I’ve never done it. I think a business guy is
separate from an artist. They walk different paths. Artists create the
best outputs when they’re having fun. And when a good business partner
supports them from the side, it creates great synergy. When someone’s
trying to do both, I think the music gets bad and the business gets bad.
XXL: You ever felt like the Korean market is a bit stuffy and
restricting? Whether it’s the weed scandal or the sampling issue, these
things are nothing in America.
G-Dragon: I wouldn’t say it’s stuffy. I mean there are definitely times I
feel that way. Times I don’t understand it. But the cultures are
shifting for the better. And, you know, I’m Korean, man. [Laughs.] You
know if you’re in Rome, live in the Roman way. I grew up there, I was
born there, and so I should follow its guidelines, live like a Korean.
And I really love Korea. I grew up listening to Korean music, and was
able to get to where I am. There are definitely times I’m not satisfied,
but I’ve gained a lot more and learned a lot more. I think it’s going
to get better, and myself included, many people are trying to shed new
lights on the culture and keep it moving.
Source: xxlmag
Credit : Yumi
