The South Korean hip-hop scene has evolved significantly for more than 3 decades. Since its creation in the early 1990s, the Hip-Hop of South Korea has helped popularize the country’s dynamic culture in the foreign market as a component of the distribution of Korean culture also known as Hallyu, or simply the Korean wave. Artists such as Jay Park and Dean have contributed to expansion and crossed the US market, racing for a new generation of Korean rappers to adapt.

XXX, a combined rapper / manufacturer of South Korea, turns out to be the next act to continue with the steps of its major statesmen. The young XXX, Kim Ximya and FRNK, were discovered in an online hip-hop network where amateur musicians have downloaded their music. Frnk, who was rapper at that time, arrived here through Ximya’s music and admired the content he put on the site. “It was not very intelligent in rap and did not really need to violate the time,” FrNK told Billboard about his first meeting. “But an idea that Ximya was really intelligent in [Rapping]. I have an idea that he would produce and have just joined forces. “

In 2016, XXX made his advent with his first EP Kyomi. The effort of seven tracks is a step of the classic sound of Korean hip-hop, because the duo fused rap with electronic music elements to create a sound that Korea had never heard before. The words without ornaments of genuine stories Ximya and avant -garde and avant -garde and distorted FrNK in Kyomi have turned XXX into one of the maximum experimental and bold musical exports of South Korea. It is only a matter of time before the global watched the two rebels when their creativity hit the ears of several musical points, adding Maison Kitsuné, Hypebeast and SxSW.   

Its second year assignment, language is even bolder than its predecessor, because Ximya and Frnk continue to raising the Korean hip-hop with an improvement of its revolutionary sound. The 10 -way assignment is a direct opposition to the formula established for the manufacture of music in South Korea and has distributed the so -called XXX even extra worldwide. The single festival “Sujak” included in the New York Times reproduction list and the organization for free for the clash and competitive approach to the album.

With his call exploding on the American floor, XXX hopes to leave his mark while disturbs the musical norm in his homeland. Billboard laid with XXX to talk about the language, the South Korean hip-hop scene, identified through the New York Times and why they are angry with the way artists make music in South Korea. Check it below.

Who are some of your inspirations and how did you have hip-hop?

FRNK (through the translator): My inspirations are J Dilla, Radiohead, James Blake. My minor uncle enjoyed music. Every time I went to him, I all those cd and listened to them. This is how I discovered hip-hop.

Ximya: Jay-Z, Eminem, Yelawolf and Isaiah Rashad. In university, one of my friends who was drummer had access to music, basically the Korean hipp. For me, it was first noticed by the Korean hip-hop, then the American hip-hop later.

What is the story the so -called XXX?

Ximya: We have configured a mixtape before signing on our label. The mixtape was called XX. When we signed, we needed an organization call and we just added some other X as a mixtape. That’s all. We know that if XXX writes on Google, you will see particular content, but it is not a challenge that reached my brain that we will have to replace our call.

We are at the beginning of our career and I did not think it was a great challenge to replace the call of our organization because with us in South Korea, they know us, but here they do not. The idea of ​​it, but I don’t know. The call has no meaning behind. If it becomes a great challenge, we will think about some other way to come to the United States. But if it’s not a great challenge, I don’t think there is a replacement.

What does the hip-hop scene look in South Korea?

Ximya: It is successful, but if you look at it as a genre where history tells and inheritance is important, I do not think it goes in the right direction. We make music that the seal has made many paintings to redirect the goal, but it is complicated because the great corporations have the maximum power.

I do not know the other genres of Korean music, but for hip-hop, there was an underground scene. There is this exhibition called Show Me Money that took the underground level and crushed by earning a ton of money. I don’t think there is an underground scene at this time. The past has not become unusual either and nobody returns. They remain in the dominant current.

It turns out that this is the explanation of why for the opposition of XXX to the fact that Korean hip-hop has remodeled. You are with cultural advertising.

Ximya: Yes. We are very angry. When I began to make music, especially hip-hop music, I learned that when you write lyrics, it deserves to be what you did or felt. It will have to be expressed with the editor who wrote the words. This cannot be a lie or fraud and for other people from the Korean rappers, I think they did not write about what they felt or what they did. They made music, idea that other people would like to listen.

He made me because I felt that I would sacrifice things to write such words. If I have written words that have an intelligent response with the public, all that the rappers do is write anything founded on my delight in which I get a hum that have not lived and is how many other people make music there.

How did the Korean hip-hop look before this time?

FRNK: The history of Korean hip-hop has basically introduced through many American Korean rappers (Korean rappers living in the United States) or rappers that were rich enough for albums or CDs of American rappers. They were the boys who basically began the total scene of the Korean hip-hop. While the Internet takes care of the way of life of the new generation, they would have more access to rappers in the United States and opportunities to replace gender.

Ximya: When the web generation began, it was similar in the United States. Everyone was doing the same and again. It will have to be too much. But before that, the Korean hip-hop had some time when other people wrote about what they felt. I don’t think we necessarily review to bring this back. I don’t think it’s the type of music we do, that’s what we like to do.

What another in the language compared to Kyomi?

FRNK: Single, as a sound producer, I used many ads and general public sound sources. Those who are a bit friendly to the public. With those identifiable sounds, I did anything that the public can live. For this language of the album, somehow the opposite. I have taken new non -advertising and exclusive sounds that have never been heard before and took this in some friendship and available to the public.

What made you incorporate a more disturbing and competitive sound?

FRNK: I think not all the songs have been done in this way. But, in general, as manufacturer of the XXX group, it was my way of transmitting the message I wanted to bring to the public thanks to the exclusive rhythms you can listen to in the album. The message I need to transmit is anger, depression, the darkest elements. There are many non -public reports that I have combined and expressed through my rhythms.

What are the ones you get in this project?

Ximya: This is almost the way in which I saw the genuine formula and the operation of the formula in Korea.   I see how painful it is and know how the formula is going while other people forget about it. It is as if you were illiberal lactose, but you like the cheese cake, you eat it. If you like the bad cheese cake, you will eat it. I think it is I who love the cheese cake, but I am illiberal with lactose. I love South Korea, but the formula is not good. It is also a consultation to see how complicated it is to gain glory and wealth in the right way. I don’t like the formula at home, but I don’t like being poorer than I hate the formula.

Are there other people who do not like how rebel your music is?

Ximya: Yes. However, we respectfully respect them. Before the last album, we determined all comments and everything, but it was not intelligent for our intellectual health. For this, we have traveled the comments and, in fact, there are many compliments. But we have a tendency not to look at the negative comments. If the elderly and the elderly are musicians, I think it is some other story. But if they only pay attention, I think, like everyone else, we will have to pay attention to what we love and leave others alone.

What happens in your minds knowing that you have made the New York Times reproduction list?

FRNK: I couldn’t believe it. I did not grow in the United States, but I heard about the influence and I have an effect on the New York Times. It took a little time to the truth to hit. But I am grateful and I would like the song to be exposed to a broader audience, hopefully, in the New York Times.

Ximya: For me, it was an unhappy moment because I sought to explode first at home and then come to the United States. But the order was not correct. If the states were interested in our music, it is an intelligent selection to come here and start a career. We did what we had to do, however, it is not an absolutely Cushty selection. I literally sought to break the formula for the first time, but apart from that, it is an honor and literally surprising.  

You are potentially a style for young people in South Korea who are also fed up with the system. What does that do?

FRNK: I am grateful to see more other people who sought to break the formula with their music, but I hope that those who wish to replace or break it, I hope they are rich because the cash is involved. Those who cannot replace the formula would abandon quite fast. Thanks for those who are in a position to do so.

Ximya: It is not a consultation of being rich, it is a consultation of being rich. You have to stay in the game. They will have to be rich.

What do you have an effect do you need to have?

FRNK: The right thing about hip-hop is that Almaximum can mix, absorb, merge any other musical style. I need to show that hip-hop is limited to a single type, it can be combined with anything. It is the widest and maximum extended.

Ximya: I think I need to erase other people’s prejudices and stereotypes in the K-Pop. Obviously, I am not a very much guy, but other people think that K-Pop must be fairly and dance and be perfect. So, at home, some artists do not like the word K-Pop because it has the stereotype of production and factor music that surely makes sense. But I think we deserve not to avoid using the word K-Pop, but replace the symbol and have an effect on your account.