With Tasha’s album being heavily in the works, the Drunken crew has remained fairly quiet these days. However, for those in the area, JK will be performing at V-HALL on November 6th at HipHopPlaya.com’sannual Freestyle Day.
Freestyle Day challenges some of Korean hip-hop’s best to battle rap, a rarity seen in the mainstream music industry. The show will culminate with a final concert from the artists.
Guests: Drunken Tiger, Sean2slow, Garion, MC Sniper, LEO, Vasco, Eluphant (Kebe and Minos), The Quiett, E.via, Huckleberry P, DJ Skip, DJ Middle K, J Sool, Ultima.
Ticket: 25000WON / 20000WON early reservation (go to SoolJ’s cyworld to reserve, only available for those with a cyworld account)
DATE: Saturday 06/11/2010 6:00 PM
PLACE: Seoul, Hong Dae @ Club V-Hall.
DIRECTIONS: On Subway Line 2, go to Hongik University Station, Exit 5. Follow this map or below for detailed directions. Be sure you go to V-HALL, not VERA, as the two are often confused.
On a rainy day in September, fans lined up for a free autographing session in MyeongDong’s Shinsegae Department Store. The most dedicated of fans lined up early, however, once the two walked through the stores’s electronics department, a crowd swarms out of nowhere to catch a glimpse.
The two are the spokespersons for Monueal, a cunning edge electronics brand. Within a short hour, the two attended to 200+ waiting fans from a variety of ages. (Moment of the Day – little 4 year old girl asks “What is your name?” and JK responds “호랑이[Tiger].”)
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Of course, I could not go without fulfilling a request. Although I love autographs, there are others who deserve one more. A few days before, DTBrasil mentioned they were aiming to get JK on the top trending topics on Twitter Brazil. Lo and behold, the morning of the autographing session, they pulled it off.
Leaving JK feeling overwhelming thankful and expressive on his autograph to them:
This past weekend, JK and Tasha made a special guest appearance at the 2010 What’s Party Hip-Hop Party, with Japanese rapper, Zeebra, as one of its main headliners. Zeebra and JK collaborated before on DT’s “Jet Pack” and the two debuted the above song at this past week’s show. I have absolutely no idea what the name of this song is, but it is certified awesome.
On August 26th, 2010, Tiger JK & Tasha won the Most Influential Stars Award on MNET’s 20s Choice Award. The award show is dedicated to highlighting the trends in the younger generation.
The nominees were selected based on how people are influenced by celebrities in today’s society. JK & Tasha according to popular vote.
The finale act is none other than Rakaa, and the other performers do a successful job of hyping up the crowd for him. He starts strong with some hard tracks off his latest solo, “Crown of Thorns.”
Rakaa gets the crowd to put their hands up. The crew joins him.
As Rakaa performs, JK steals a video camera and records Rakaa and the crowd.
Rakaa continuously asks the crowd if they’re tired. At this point, it’s already 2:30am. The crowd screams, “NO,” and while some show signs of wear, there is one guy in the crowd that couldn’t put his arms down. Tasha gives him a bottle of water to say “thank you.” Some of the crowd is lost as Rakaa talks about his Korean mother and how much he respects his roots. JK offers to translate and the crowd responds with an overwhelming reply filled with pride.
And as Rakaa finishes up songs from his solo, he treats the Dilated Peoples fans with hit songs from the past.
“Proper Propaganda“ – Dilated Peoples 2nd album
“Work The Angles” – Dilated Peoples 1st album
“This Way” – Dilated Peoples 3rd album
Towards the end of his set, he brings it back to his solo and does “Ambassador Slang,” which features DT, Tasha, Roscoe, and Stylez. [warning: JK stepped off the stage right next to me and did a short dance in front of my camera, so there is a moment of shakiness due to panicking fans and bodyguards]
And of course, the final treat was “Monster,” with everyone the track. This was truly a moment in hip-hop history.
They end the night with a group bow.
and after all the hard work, some fun in the VIP room. they say the entertainment industry is 90% work, and 10% fun, but in all honesty, the 10% is all worth it. Backstage, we see surprise characters waiting like Palo Alto and JK’s old friends. It’s a small room bustling with at least 20+ people.
Despite chaos, it’s a nice moment between all of Drunken fam. Outside the curtains are fans patiently waiting. Some want autographs, some want to give gifts, and some are just dedicated enough to wait for the artists to come out so they can see them. Patience does not come unrewarded as some of these fans get a shot with Rakaa at 4am.
The crew is escorted out of a back elevator and hop into their van. The site of fans still waiting outside for a glimpse of everyone shows true dedication and the night ends with the crew giving smiles to adoring fans.
-Miss DrunkenCamp
credits to: Danny Oh & CBMassMatics for helping out with this post.
It looks like with all the photos and videos, I’ll have to divide this into 3 parts.
J returns to the stage, ironically hyping the crowd up for the next act: himself. He starts the set with “Liquor Shotz,” followed by “Thumb,” and “Do You Know Hip-Hop?” The first 2 songs warm the crowd up, but somehow “Do You Know Hip-Hop?,” though nearly 11 years old, always gets everyone jumping.
Between sets, he introduces !llmind, a hip-hop producer from New Jersey. He’s produced tracks for some of the world’s well known rappers: LL Cool J, Wutang Clan, Eminem, and 50 Cent. J gives props to !llmind for supporting Jungle Fam.
set continued (Stylez still tweeting)
Roscoe steps into the crowd and grabs this from a fan. Representin’ DT crew.
Up close and personal.
And then the final treat – JetPack (English), ft Roscoe, and Stylez.
This segue leads into Tasha’s set, who starts with “True Romance.”
To my own surprise, she wears the shirt that I almost wore to the show. It’s a simple top from the American brand, Forever 21, which has gained popularity here with even the most famous in Korea (Lee Hyori also wore a sparkly dress from the store in a recent soju ad.)
She rocks out a mixture of hip-hop songs from her most recent album, YoonMiRae, and her 2002 hip-hop album, Gemini. Her upcoming album will revisit the edginess of this album, and while the original debut was suppose to be this month, it still looks like it’s still in the works.
However, whenever these two lay even a hand on each other, cameras rise out of nowhere to take photos. They’re perhaps Korea’s most envied famous couple.
In the midst of her set, Stylez steps off to fully immerse himself into the crowd. Tasha tries to pull him back up, but only induces madness. She later fed into the madness by pouring a bottle of water on JK’s head, a new habit she’s become fond of doing.
At the end of her “Pay Day” performance, she poses with J and Bizzy.
And I will finish this half of the post with a video of Tasha’s “G Hwa Ja,” from her “Gemini” album.
After sifting through my photos and evaluating the night, I decided it’d be best to divide this into 2 posts. [warning: long post ahead]
It’s 6:30pm when I first arrive. Already, there is a line forming outside the club. There are 2 DT fans from the UK who were waiting since 4pm. One of them mentions he was a fan since 2000 and said he had never seen JK live. He couldn’t miss this opportunity. Long time dedication like that is truly beautiful.
JK and crew arrive at 7:30pm. Their infamous black van catches immediate attention as they are rushed inside the club. The fans are teased with the sound of their rehearsal booming from inside. They are given some relief as ticket sales start selling at 8:00pm (an hour later than the scheduled time). Most of the relieved fans go off to dinner before the show starts.
After 15 minutes of waiting, the crew finishes their set and are on their way to get ready. We head off to YangLee Hair, a Hongdae spot that they frequent on occasion. Yang, the owner, is the stylist for a number of celebs and was there to personally handle their beauty needs.
As we enter, we see a wall of photos of celebs. At the elevator door is a picture of JK, and we laugh as he stands right next to it during the elevator wait. At the back of the salon is a wall of signed CDs, and 2 shelves filled with autographed Movement CDs.
(pictured: YoonMirae 3, Drunken Tiger 5, DT 7, DT4, and Bobby Kim’s 3rd)
The crew is rolling deep on this night. On top of the headlining performers, almost JK’s whole 8th album line up is present. Those who aren’t getting prettied up have to find ways to kill time before the show. Stylez is drawing on his iPad and mentions its is his lifeline on the road. Roscoe and !llmind talk about their time in NYC (Roscoe just finished rocking Radio City Music Hall with Donnie Wahlberg). Roscoe raves about the crazy double decker tour buses there and NY pizza (made me miss home!) Tasha, determined, finds the one English magazine hidden on the shelf and peruses through the fashion ads. Other major players in the crew, i.e. JK’s producer, Techbeatz, Jason Park, and rapper Loptimist, browse the internet or play games. While this is going on, JK and Rakaa are in the next room doing lines of interviews (almost 2 hours of it)
Halfway into preparations, everyone stops to take a group photo. [Pictured Left to Right: Rakaa, Loptimist, JK, Stylizstik Jones, Yang, Roscoe, Techbeatz, !llmind, and Tasha].
As the group puts the final touches on their show, some of us go back to the venue and claim our spot for the night. At 10:30pm, the loyalists of fans have already packed in. It’s a strange scene — a pillar divides the stage. On the left are primarily Korean fans, while the right are a group of non-Korean fans. They are there to see not only Rakaa, but some came primarily for JK or Tasha. They’re a sure sign that Jungle has gone truly international.
The DJ spins a strange mix of hip-hop and trance. Fans try to dance the time away, but they slowly become impatient and tired. Some are so tired that they choose to sit on the stage. Finally, at 12:30pm, JK comes out to introduce and MC for the night. He chooses to be the official translator as well.
J gives the crowd chants to practice and hypes them up. He introduces Bizzy and in pure Bizzy fashion, he jumps on the stage with crazy energy. As he performs parts of YDG’s “RUN” and his single “After the Night We Broke Up (해어진 다음 날),” he rocks the stage with a fire that fills the room. He had just finished a commercial shoot right before the show and couldn’t even go to the rehearsal, but he somehow rocked it out with 4x the energy than usual.
Roscoe’s up next with Stylistik Jonez. For those who don’t know, Roscoe’s been collaborating with JK since the 2nd album (2000). The two met through DT’s old DJ, DJ Jhig, who asked Roscoe not only to drop verses on the 2nd album, but to also help produce it. Roscoe admits that many of the tracks were produced and mixed down in his old house in a few short weeks. Stylez is a member of the LA collaborative hip-hop crew, Likwit Crew, who are also responsible for recruiting rappers Xzibit and The Alkoholiks.
Stylez steps off the stage to say what’s up to the fans. [The bodyguards are not happy apparently.]
This is what I dubbed “the hat trick.” They brought on a stack of 8 hats and Stylez went through all 8 saying he hated them all. Meanwhile, the fans anticipated they would get one thrown out at them. All they got was disappointment as Stylez threw them to the back of the stage.
Finally, Stylez decides to film the fans wiling out during their set. I will finish this post with Roscoe’s final song, “Live It Up.”
On August 8, in an interview with the Summer Festival Week & T, Tiger JK said: “I had a dream when I started working with music, so I was always satisfied with what little I had” … ‘But through twitter, I realized that many people (the U.S.) show interest in me and YoonMirae.”
Regarding his recent role in Rakaa’s “Crown of Thorns” album and future US collaborations, JK says that everything flowed naturally. “They showed interest in us and so many artists got to know theirs, but then I was willing to show our music to them too, influencing them to listen to our music.”
On the same day, Tiger JK invited Drunken Tiger affiliate member, Roscoe Umali, to the festival. The both hinted that they will perform with an artist with Korean-American decent on the 15th (surely, this would have to be Rakaa’s album release party).
JK will start his debut joining the underground Hip Hop artists from the United States, performing with “legendary” artists (“who” is the question). He will expand little-by-little, going from cities like New York and LA, where many Korean immigrants, and media show a favorable interest in various types of music.
Another advantage JK has is he spent many of his school years in the US, furthering his bilingual Korean/English skills. Language barrier is one thing that keeps many Korean artists from testing the American market, and JK’s bilingualism has been working in his favor throughout the duration of his Drunken Tiger career. Surely, it has already set the foreground for his entrance into the American media..
Some wonder if JK’s US songs will have a similar sound to “I Want You” (난 널 원해), “Do You Know Hip Hop?” (너희 가 힙합 을 아느냐), and “Monster,” which had an American hip-hop style mixed with the Korean language. However, no one knows how his US songs will sound like and how it will differ from current hip-hop artists.
No one knows what’s in store for JK’s US career path, but we look to Jackie Chan as an example. He suffered very early in his career in show business, considering him as a “Clint Eastwood” type character who had a limited success run. But after returning to the Asian market, he improved his “Kung Fu acrobatic,” and went again to the American market, but this time achieving great success in the United States.
While at Summer Week & T, the artists sat down for an interview and these exclusive photos were released. Pictured above: Tasha, Roscoe, JK, Stylistic Jonez, Miss Info, and Bizzy.
For those who don’t know, Miss Info is a hip-hop news reporter for New York’s hip-hop station, Hot 97. She is most known for her “Celebrity Gossip” segment on the station and also was a vocal protestor of the station’s controversial “Tsunami song” that mocked Asians. She is both a major force in the hip-hop industry and one of the more involved players in promoting Asian Americans in the media industry.
On a side note, a few days after the Naksan concert, Tigerbalm, Korea’s US website, posted an ambiguous news release stating JK is preparing to break into the US industry. No details were provided, but it’ll be interesting to see if this news will unfold at Rakaa’s Album Release party next week.
Last Saturday morning was ridden with insanely terrifying thunderstorms in Korea, topped with humidity off the charts. On top of the unbearable ride it would’ve taken me to get to the Naksan Summer Week & T concert, I was fairly content with my decision not to go and decided to wait out for Rakaa’s Album Release Party next week.
After seeing twitter updates from Naksan and videos popping up on Youtube, a big part of me regrets not having gone.
So I will share the best photos/footage I’ve found from this show and they are primarily from J/Tasha’s/Roscoe’s twitter updates. I am not a fan of seeing JK through “the public eye,” the JK we see just on television, but more the JK that is displayed on his twitter, his blog, DT-LOVE, etc. Because that is the side that I know is the real JK.
So here is the collection of info I put together:
During the show, Roscoe tweets: “This might have been the largest crowd I’ve EVER rocked!!!”
JK shares this with Miss Info:
JK tweets: “목 다쉼. 몸 부러질것같음. 열심히 했다구요 ㅎ. I saw fans from Brasil at the show They got here before I got therrrr”
Seriously, if they really flew in from Brazil, props to these guys. That is a 27 hour flight + the 4 hour bus ride. Truly have topped all my traveling antics put together.
Roscoe shares this last photo with us. He writes:
“Finally back at the Hotel room after a Loooong memorable night…Thanks for the memories Naksan!!!”
Tasha writes similar words of love:
“낙산 너무 즐거웠어요^^ thank you NakSan beautiful energy!!”
There’s fan vids popping up everywhere, but there are only two that stand out to me:
“Monster” performed with Tasha, Roscoe (who broke out of his verse to freestyle), Stylistic, and Bizzy
This one popped out simply because JK broke his own rule and took his shirt off. Drunken followed 2pm’s former member, Jay Bom Park, who made a sudden comeback at this concert and is known for his body. JK was at first hesitant to follow him up and take his own shirt off, but I guess he at some point said F* it.
And while this isn’t Naksan related, I wanted to share this photo to end on a high note.
Goodnight everyone, and I will update you next week with exclusives from Rakaa’s album release party.
DT MFBTY INTERNATIONAL 
