GD&TOP, [NEWS] “Natural Hip-Hop… Acknowledged by other rappers”

The duet who made 4 hit songs, with a selling record of 15 thousand copies.

Lee Eun Jeong reporter:

“Before, they made songs using their brain but now, they made them using their hearts. Not using their mind but using their instinct to make sincere music, they have reached their dreams by doing this.”

I’ve met the two members of Big Bang, G-Dragon (Kwon Ji Yong, 23) and TOP (Choi Seung Hyun, 24) in a café in Yoeui-do recently and we spoje about their first duet album, GD&TOP.

With this album, they’ve created a harmony between G-Dragon’s sharp yet light voice with TOP’s heavy and low-toned voice. Just like a harmony between tenor and bass.

While Big Bang’s rap is made to be heard more like the type of popular songs, this two have put a lot of genre like electronic, disco, and rock into their hip-hop based music. They even bravely challenge to put an underground-like tone in some of their songs.

As the result their title songs, ‘Oh yeah’ ‘High High’ ‘Knock Out’ ‘Don’t Go Home’ and the other songs released at the same time, and their album pre-order reached the number of 15 thousand copies.

“The thing that make us really proud is, those rappers who only can speak their critics towards us now even gave us their acknowledgement. And also it seems like the underground rappers have changed their mindset towards us. Mindset like because we’re just members from an idol group we can’t create a significant result in hip-hop, and that our hip-hop was mainstream, this kind of stereotype have changed.” (GD and TOP)

“Personality…freedom in thinking”
The two rappers’ music, stage performance, and fashion showing their strong personality. This is the reason why everything in every step they take will be a trend. “Our mindset is the fruit of freedom,” the two members said.

Different from the idol groups, the way this two make their own music, and the difference starts from how they compose their own music.

“From the moment I open my eyes I would go to the studio. There I will eat my meal, and when there’s inspiration I will start to compose, when my idea is all stuck I will play games or dance around. We might said we stayed up all night long for composing a song but actually the real time we use to make the music is probably less than an hour.” (G-Dragon)

“We didn’t think of it as working. We write the lyrics while having chit-chat, we will go in to the recording room when we feel like it. Everytime we come into the studio it’s like we’re piling up the colors for the song little by little. Perhaps that’s why you can feel the freedom in the output too.” (TOP)

Of course as a composer they have gone through some agony as well. G-Dragon said that:

“’Mr. Inspiration didn’t come again’ When I said things like this I feel like I’ve been squeezing my brain but there’s nothing came out, in times like this I feel that making music is like working. But it’s just like an actor learning their script in an acting relay, as a composer we also doing this (composing) like we’re having fun.”

This two also give dramatic changes in their performances and their fashions. The adjustment between the basic lineout of the song with the stage setting and lighting keep changing also. The two members said that:

“Lately in the music world what important is the song, it’s not about the appearance of the singer, it's not a game with a winner or a loser. In order to receive public’s attention we have to provide them with something interesting to see and talk about. We’re showing various type of performances and trying various styling, almost like doing a fashion show, it’s all for the people who always wanted new things."

“You’ve broken those stereotypes about rap music”
Because you’ve made your music without giving attention in other aspects you’ve met with a rock named ‘deliberation’ now. ‘Knock Out’ is claimed using lyrics that are too vulgar while ‘Don’t Go Home’ is a little bit too suggestive; you’ve been banned from some TV station because of the censoring issue.

“Rather than worrying about TV station’s censoring, I think it’ll be more meaningful to make a song that will make all of the music fans out there feel satisfied. Actually I don’t have that good kid image so the broadcasting company could act partial like that. Haha~ And about ‘Knock Out’ actually I took the inspiration from drama , in that drama Kim Seon Ah have this dialogue saying “I’m going to knock you out! I will knock you out!” so I wonder why in the drama this kind of lines didn’t become any problem while in the song it does become a problem?” (G-Dragon)

Although they received criticism but their music showing some ‘experimental’ feel in some of its parts. The track ‘Knock Out’ that composed by American famous DJ and producer, Diplo, at first its almost feel like a boring track but after the rap with the beats added it has become a track with a very thick sense of hip-hop. In ‘Baby Good Night’ there’s acoustic guitar combined with dreamy-like rap. In TOP’s solo song ‘Oh Mom’ there’s a feel of rock sound, and in G-Dragon’s solo song ‘What Should I Do’ there’s a feel of a rock and roll rhythm. Both of them said that “We wanted to break the mindset that ‘if the two rappers doing music, they’ll only do those raps you couldn’t understand’” They also said that, “Both of us have strong colors but as we tried to mix it more colors will come out.”

“Big Bang rumored to have a new track with a sense of rock”
Around the half part of this month the two of you will go back to do activities as Big Bang. In the upcoming February 24th Big Bang will release a new album while in the February 25th until 27th you will held your 2011 Big Show Concert with approximately 4000 attendants in Seoul Olympic Gymnastic Stadium.

“Big Bang’s recording is almost finished. Until now Big Bang enjoyed energetic music and lyrical music, but this time we’re want to have something new, a track with a rock sense. I’m not really sure if it’s because the country was so screwed up back then, but people nowadays seems like they’re looking for some laughs without thinking everytime they switched the TV on. That’s why this time rather than heavy and machine-like music we want to show them some warm and exciting music” (GD and TOP)

The two members said that “Big Bang’s stage will be so much fun,” and also, “We also don’t know what lies inside us. Because to a singer a stage constitution is like a hidden stage, when we’re all on the stage we will be a very different person and when we come down we will become those fools who likes to fool around,” they explained while smiling.

Big Bang that received big popularity in Japan will continue their activities there on May until July, after their activities in Korea ended.

G-Dragon said that, “We have some ‘share’ that we have to do there,” and continuing, “This time we will be doing the promotions properly and for three months we will stay there. After that we will go back to Korea and we will keep doing activities inside the country until year-end. Anyway for now we have a worldwide composer participate for our album. It’ll be a very fresh turning point for Big Bang” he also explained.

“We’ve reached our dreams but we lost our image”
Big Bang boys that debuted on year 2006 has been receiving a lot of love since then, but there’s also a lot of gains and losses in their lives.

TOP said, “I no longer can differentiate between the feelings that I have to express in order of doing my job, or is it the usual me who have become very moody; I feel like I’ve lost myself,” and he added, “But through this kind of new experiences people can know themselves better.”

And G-Dragon who had been doing broadcastings since his childhood said, “Since I was a kid I always dreamed about becoming a singer who received a lot of love from many people,” and he also said, “Now I would be very satisfied if there are some friends who grew a dream of becoming a singer after they saw me. But I’ve lost my image. I’m such a good kid but now I have an image of a wasted, foolish, and unmannered kid,” he said that while laughing.