K-Rap: Jay Park

As I've mentioned in an earlier post I discovered K-Pop in 2009. Since I'm also a big hip hop fan you might assume that I therefore also dove right into K-Rap. However at that time hip hop wasn't very popular in Korea, making it difficult to find on YouTube. It wasn't until 2012, with the start of 'Show Me the Money' (a kind of Idols, but with rappers i.o. singers), that hip hop gained some traction. One of the first Korean rappers I discovered, and still one of my favourites, is Jay Park.

Born in the US Jay Park decided to come to Korea in 2005 to become singer in a boyband. However only a year after debuting in 2008 with his group '2PM' he decided to leave the group. Probably not pleasant for him at the time, but a fortunate event for hip hop fans around the world, since this meant that Jay could focus on hip hop instead of generic pop songs.

The first song I heard of Jay was the raw hip hop song 1HUNNIT which is a collaboration with fellow rapper Dok2. This song sounds very different from the more recent On It which has a more classic hip hop sound to it. In addition to hip hop he also has several nice R&B tracks like Solo and Aquaman. In 2013 Jay started his own record label: AOMG. Label mates LOCO and Ugly Duck regularly make appearances in his works as seen in NaNa and the NSFW Mommae. For those of you who still aren't convinced: Fire, dancers and dope beats, cause there Ain't No Party Like an AOMG Party.

Other favourites: My Last, Worldwide and Me Like Yuh.

Check out Jay Park's Official YouTube channel for more videos.