Checking in on No. 1 Korean rap…
[Video]
[5.57]
Joshua Minsoo Kim: Back in 2013, there was a Zion.T song entitled “Doop” that featured Verbal Jint declaring “You’re my lady, my master, my pimp / And I’ll be your bitch tonight.” The role reversal was something I had never heard before from a rapper, and the sincerity of its delivery left me in awe. Upon hearing it, a truth finally clicked for me: I resonate more strongly with K-pop’s frilly pop-rap offerings than their aggro ones. And I find it easier to be more forgiving of banal rap verses in pop song contexts than in rap-centric ones. Case in point: “We Are,” one of the better tracks to come from the sixth season of the truly awful rap competition reality show Show Me The Money. It’s a tepid pop-rap song whose agreeability is a virtue when compared to the show’s pathetic rap battles and the contestants’ abhorrent attempts at sounding gritty. “We Are” was technically never performed on the program live since Woo Won Jae was eliminated, but its coffee shop-friendly atmosphere was enough to ensure its eventual chart-topping status. I’m into the fumbling bass line and how it matches with Woo Won Jae’s first verse, and the lyrics are certainly genuine, but everything here is ultimately colorless. Considering “We Are” is interchangeable with so many other feel-good tracks right now, I’d take the ones I enjoy slightly more–the other Loco & Gray collab, and a Show Me the Money-related advert for digestive medicine.
[3]
Anjy Ou: Probably the most enduring theme of hip-hop music is the hustle to the top. For Korean hip-hop musicians, it’s perhaps more emotional given that society at large has still to embrace hip-hop culture, save the watered-down version peddled by idols. For example, tattooing is illegal in South Korea, and most people associate tattoos with delinquency and criminality. This is why Woo Won Jae raps here about having to wear long sleeves to cover his own up, even as a competitor on a nationally televised rap competition. Woo Won Jae finished as a finalist, but he knows, and Loco and Gray know, that the hustle never stops. But the upbeat production tells you that despite the sleepless nights and uphill battles, they wouldn’t have it any other way.
[7]
Madeleine Lee: This is what 90% of popular Korean rap songs sound like. I really like Gray as a producer, but if I had to defend his work here to someone unfamiliar with Korean hip-hop, the best I could come up with is that he puts in enough little funk flourishes to keep the beat on the pleasant side of boring. Woo Won Jae’s lyrics have a great concept about the artist’s life of sleeping during the day and staying up all night as “living in another time zone” from the working world, but the chill vibe feels more like the dead zone in an all-nighter when you’re out of energy but have to stay awake to finish your task.
[5]
Tim de Reuse: A smooth, competent groove that hits on all the usual Daft Punk-approved ’80s nostalgia touchstones: the languid rhodes, the muted guitar, the walking bassline. It’s predictable, but it gets energetic when it needs to, and it sticks around for not a second longer than it should.
[7]
Alex Clifton: I didn’t expect the charming spangly ’80s flourishes on the production for “We Are,” but somehow I’ve become a sucker for anything that evokes the ’80s. I don’t even mind the autotune and vocoder on the chorus. I do wish the chorus had a bit more emotion — if you’re not really paying attention, somehow the sound flattens out — and I wish that the raps distinguished themselves rather than blending together. Overall, though, a decent debut single. I look forward to seeing what Woo Won Jae has up his (tattooed) sleeves in the future.
[6]
Ashley John: “We Are” is a breezy end-of-summer track that is about twice as long as it needs to be, but not in a bad way. The track transitions smoothly between artists, and never such that it that feels conclusive or required. It’s just enough to nod your head along to without asking much commitment in return
[5]
Julian Axelrod: No wonder this song is a smash: It blends Drake’s look-at-me-now bitter braggadocio, Bieber’s blue-eyed soul, and Bruno’s 80s throwback R&B. Woo Won Jae and Loco don’t have half the charisma of those guys, but they’re not without their own charms. Even before I looked up the translated lyrics, random lines and ad-libs were rattling around my brain. I wouldn’t mind hearing this on repeat if I was wandering around a South Korean mall, and sometimes that’s all you can ask of a #1 hit.
[6]