To be completely honest, I wasn’t aware of Jay Park when he was part of the idol group. Back then, I only thought he was one of the members who was excellent at acrobatics and had an above-average live singing skills. He wasn’t an outstanding figure back then unlike Robin Williamson or Justin Timberlake, so if one asked me then about his abilities as a solo artist, my answer would have been “I don’t know…” But as soon as he became independent, he changed like a monster. His cover video of ‘Nothin On You’ on youtube, which had millions of hits, left a strong impression. Jay Park, who led the popularity of B.o.B.’s songs on Korean charts, was only wearing a white T-shirt in that video but it was a clip that showed his infinite possibilities. Stable vocalization and vibration, added with pleasant-to-hear high notes, the writer saw the ‘crazy existence’ of Jay Park then.(Note: ‘Crazy existence’ is a very literate translation of a new term in Korea that is designated to people who grasp the audience’s attention just by their presence.) My opinion changed even more after hearing his collab with dok2 in ‘My Love’. If someone asked me about the possibilities of his success as a solo artist, the answer now would have been, “YESS!”

Because of this, the EP, Take A Deeper Look -aka TADL – must have been very pressuring to Jay Park. This is because the album needed give a sense of assurance to those who believe in his possibilities, and a definite answer to those who do not like or know him. Turning point; thus it was a project he started, knowing he had nowhere to make a mistake in. However, this pressure must have been the source of his infinite creativity; listening to the album, it can be heard that Jay Park has found the answer.

First, one needs to focus on the fact that the leader who directed the making of this album was Jay Park. He claimed himself as one of the producers of the album, wrote lyrics for all the songs and participated in the composing of six out of the seven songs, showing off his skills as a singer-songwriter without regret. Knowing that singers who became solo artists, like Justin Timberlake, upgraded the level of completion one album after another, you will know that the steps that Jay Park is taking right now are bloody efforts to be known as an artist. The first criterion of an artist is the ability as a singer-songwriter and the efforts. Jay Park is already on the starting line with these talents. This is the reason your heart warms up even without inspecting every single corner of his album.

TADL, which starts with ‘Touch the Sky’, is a method of showing the American trend and the R&B sound. The progression of ‘Abandoned’ is surprisingly stylish. A sensational sound and arrangement skills, added with the absorption of pop-like trend; this is a track that is worth releasing in the world music market. Topped with the impact of dok2′s rap, there does not seem to be a single thing to criticize; the intelligent layout of the song brings up the mood of the listener. If the performance is pictured in the head, the track can provide the best entertainment. ‘Tonight’ as well; it shows an extended sound from ‘Abandoned’, added with the just right amount of R&B trend. The vocal skills of Jay Park have much improved in these two tracks than ‘Nothin On You’; his talent in changing the tone of his voice according to the mood of the song and leading the rhythm is exceptional. The two tracks to look out for in the album are ‘Level1000′ and ‘Bestie’. It is not an overestimation to say that these two tracks are perfect, as they contain all the artistic side of Jay Park.

‘Level1000′ is a track that shows ‘cleanliness’ in terms of music; the verse of dok2 and Jay Park, which move in one with the beat, is automatically admirable. It’s good to see ‘Bestie’ along the same line, as this is a track that can appeal the name ‘artist Jay Park’ to the public. In TADL, Jay Park tried to portray traditional R&B and hip-hop, instead of the trend that the king of autotune, T-Pain, created. His efforts to return to the fundamentals are shown by the completeness of the album. Overcoming the pressure, Jay Park created an outstanding album full of assurance and trust.

His body(!) is not even that of an idol’s. He is already no longer an idol. His body(!) nor his talent. The fact that he kept his dignity by challenging musically, instead of merely following the trend, is very much enough to earn him the title of ‘an artist’. I never imagine to be betrayed by him. The music that will show trust, just by the seven letters of his name, will continue.

Noh Jun-Young (Music Critic)

SOURCE: Naver Blog; TRANSLATOR: Lydia@jaypark.net
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2. Touch the sky
 

Like TADL, the title of this track is also familiar. It is the title of one of the songs in the ‘Late Registration’ album of Kanye West, one of America’s most influential – not just through music but also politically- artist. I don’t know if it is because I really liked Kanye West’s song, but just by looking at the title, I felt like I met a long lost friend. Some reviews say this song was influenced by Kanye because of the title, maybe. But I think otherwise.

As I mentioned in my previous review of ‘Abandoned’, Southern, Western and Eastern hip-hop have their own characteristics. Of course, nowadays, not just hip-hop but all music genres possess a hybrid personality thus it is hard to find a song with the sound of just one of these genres. But I believe ‘Touch the Sky’ is closest to Eastern hip-hop. Kanye’s music, of course, had a strong feel of Eastern hip-hop until the Late Registration album. However, there is still a difference between Kanye’s music and Eastern hip-hop. The music of the artists who used to represent Eastern hip-hop, like Jay-Z and Nas, or even further back to Rakim or Gangstarr, can be summarized with sampling and minimalism. The musician that best shows these characteristics is DJ Priemer (Primo), the legendary DJ/rapper and the father of Eastern hip-hop. He was a member of Gangstarr, a legendary hip-hop group of the 80s and was also the musical partner of the artist Guru, who passed away recently. Primo’s most famous song is ‘Nas is Like’. It has a very simple set of beats but this is indeed “cool” and highly addictive. The groove, especially, is the best. Once you start listening, although it has a simple beat, you start nodding your head – the guy is a magician. Notably, Primo’s best produced work – also Nas’ debut album, ‘Illmatic’, is a must-have for anyone who likes hip-hop despite the fact that it was made in 1994. I recommend you listen to this because every track on the album is a masterpiece. It is a work of art, portraying the lonely crowd of people in the New York City with such an expressionless and cold music.
 
Unlike Primo, Kanye has been strictly relying on sampling to produce his music. These days though, this man is so into electronics that it’s ambiguous to call him a hip-hop musician. But in his album, ‘Late Registration’ – this is the album that made Kanye West be recognized as the best producer – instead of making a rhythm out of simple ‘boom, pow, boom, boom, pow’ 2-bar beats, Kanye uses four-measure sampled melody lines as groove units. You will get the feel for sure when you hear Kanye West’s ‘Touch the Sky’. This song has a repetition of a trumpet melody and this sampling replaces the beats. Of course, the beatsare present but in the listener’s point of view, they hear the groove through this sampling. On top of this, making the ending a little bit unclear by not finishing on one note creates a continuous addictiveness – a Kanye specialty. His unique rap skills add to this addictiveness as well. This, is what you call a real ‘hook’ song. It only has one melody from beginning to end.
 
Therefore, it is hard to say that ‘Touch the Sky’ in TADL is Kanye’s style. This track strictly follows the ‘boom pow’, two-measure groove like that of Primo’s. If there is one part that is influenced by Kanye, it would be the repetition of the sampling of a female chorus – however, it is still hard to see that it’s Kanye’s style. If you must find a song that is similar in style to TADL’s Touch The Sky, it would be a track called ‘Got Urself a Gun’ from Nas’ Stillmatic album (this album earned five stars on America’s best hip-hop magazine, The Source. I recommend you listen to ‘One mic’, ‘2nd Childhood, you’re da man’ from this album as it will be good to listen to even for a non-hiphopper). The song has a very different feel than ‘Touch the Sky’, as it is fun yet heavy; the two tracks are similar in a way that the song repeats the line ‘got urself a gun’ in the chorus and uses the Primo-style beats as the base. This is the typical composing style of an Eastern hip-hop track.
 
Primo’s style is also very popular among Korean underground musicians, since the beginning of its history. Because it is minimal, it can be made from a simple sequencer and its simple beats are pleasant to the Korean ears. Nas’ famous works are still popular in Korea despite the time; the reason being, most of these have been produced with Primo’s hands. Anyhow, I felt that the Quiett was also influenced a lot by Primo while listening to this. The track ‘Touch the Sky’ has its basis on the composing style of Primo, while repeating, but not overusing, the groovy sampling, and overcoming the simplicity.
 
The strongest point of this track matches with the strongest point of Primo’s style; the addiction of simple yet clear set of beats. Once you start listening, you will feel that you start nodding your head to the beat without effort. The organization of building up the intensity in the beginning is especially excellent. At first, after the line ‘hey, Jay Park’, he sends two lines of just sampling, and then repeats this with beats added on. This is what I called ‘detailed control of tempo’ in TADL review 1. (you can read ithere) This kind of tempo controlling is shown in every track of TADL. This control of tempo and his ability to create grooves, which are hard to see in Korean music, is what I believe is the most outstanding talent of Mr. Jay Park.
 
Shall we look deeper into this? Most kpop songs (excluding songs that are remakes/ implied the American style) start with a quiet and consistent melody. To show this in terms of piano, it would be like playing the note E, or “mi”, over and over again: “Mi,mi,mi,mi,mi,mi.” Once the emotion line builds up, the end part is stretched infinitely: “mi~ mi~ mi~ mi(flat)~~~~~~~~~~~”. The benefits of this is that it’s quiet, emotional, easy to listen to and easy to sing to but there is absolutely no groove. But in American pop songs, it is different from the beginning. The representatives are songs by Britney Spears. Almost all of her songs start with a bit of silence then explodes with melody. So each note is accented on the first half its beat. This method allows the groove to come alive on every note. And this type of composing is most basic and the most important concept in making groove in hip-hop.
 
In any case, Jay’s rap after the prelude of ‘Touch the Sky’ shows the height of the groove. To be honest, I heard his rap for the first time. It is most suitable to Primo’s style of rap (The strong and weak are clear in Primo’s beats. Jay’s rap is also clear in strong and weak and flows like water at the same time. This is very hard to do. If you listen to the simple raps of Dr. Dre, the god of Western hip-hop producer, more famous in Korea with his headphones, you will notice instantly. His classic, “Let Me Ride” is (omit) clear and exact to the rhythm. However, Jay’s rap is exact to the rhythm and flows smoothly at the same time). His voice is sweet yet very keen so it sounds very level-headed and sharp. The only other Korean rapper that I thought was this excellent in rapping was Double K (I don’t know if you know him. He was part of a group called ‘Nu skool’ back then and appeared like a shooting star with a groove that was unseen in Korea at the time. However, due to shameful events, he could not be seen for a long time when he was at the height of his popularity. He came back recently; was on broadcast a few times then disappeared). Jay’s rap is very similar to that of Double K’s. In rap, the ability to deliver the lyrics is very important; in the case of Jay Park, this criterion is also a pass.
 
I had many thoughts about the hook of this song. First, the characteristic of Primo-style composing is that one maintains identity with a simple and addictive beat from beginning to end. If one wishes to use a song in the hook, then most of the time they use ‘featuring’. The producer of Dynamic Duo and Supreme Team, Primary, is famous for adding in an explosive hook after the relay of beats that are addicitve and have a clear strong/weak rhythm. But in this track, it goes straight into the hook after verse 1 without an interlude. I was not sure at first if this was meant to continue the intensity of the rap or to neutralize the intensity of the rap with a comfortable melody. I believe the intention of the latter is stronger. If it follows Primo’s style too much, the entire song could become boring and could become dark unlike the bright and hopeful lyrics. Or, he could have been trying a new element. As ‘Abandoned’ is a track that has R&B and Electronics beats with funk implied, this track may have been to insert an R&B like element. In any case, verse 2 that appears after the intensity has been melted by the hook, is the highlight of the track.
 
After the bright and rhythmical, and somewhat tickling, hook, the Quiett’s heavy rap returns the basic cool groove to the listener. Here, I was very interested in the way that TQ and Jay passed on two lines of rap to each other. (omit) This amplifies the groove of the song. This part of ‘Touch the Sky’ allows us to picture two rap masters facing each other and coolly exchanging rap lines.
 
In TADL review part 1, I said that the album as a whole lacks the fullness in sound. In this song, as it was co-produced by the infamous TQ, I cannot feel much emptiness in sound however. Especially, the nicely laid mid-low beats and piano melody are exceptional. The track shows the fullest sound a computer and a keyboard can produce.
 
There is another part that shows their skill in controlling the tempo – after TQ’s rap is done, there is a 0.5-second delay before heading into the second hook, unlike the first. And until the “~let’s fly together (함께날아봐)” part, only the keyboard melody in first channel is used, maximizing the intensity. This part is, indeed, “touch(ing) the sky”. Comparing it to a movie, it’s like showing the most important part in slow motion. Then he releases the intensity by adding the beats in again. Like this, even though he repeats the two verses, he makes these slight changes to avoid the boredom of the listener.
 
The most important parts of a song are, of course, the beginning and the end. Like Jay’s urbane personality, ‘Touch the Sky’ finishes with eight clean measures. The overall mood is bright, cool and groovy, and at the same time, focuses on comfort and hope as themes. I feel that this is quite suitable for a track that opens marks the start of the album. At first, I thought that the track was a bit flat but the more I listened to it, I began to understand its intentions and melted in the mood.
 
This is like the hip-hop version of Chuck Mangione’s ‘Feel So Good’. It makes the listener feel very high yet clean; a very refreshing track.
 
SOURCE: dcgall; TRANSLATOR: Lydia@jaypark.net
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1. Introduction

First thank you for your attention with my second review. Starting today, I will review every song in the album. There is a lot to say, so I will divide them up and upload over a few days. I’m always careful about writing album reviews; it doesn’t make sense for an amateur to evaluate albums made from people who live by music. So for this TADL review, I will focus on the genres to help you understand it better. Of course, if you feel good while listening to music, then that’s all there is to it. But just as you need to know some basic grammar to be good at English, I believe that it’s better to have some basic understanding of music genres before listening to them.
I will not review the songs in order of the tracklist.
 
2. Overall album rating
 
The first thing I feel after listening to this album is, ‘it’s an album made with so much effort from a difficult environment.’ I feel that the album, in terms of sound, mixing, recording, did not receive much support. Of course, ‘Abandoned’ is an exception. As it is the title track, I feel that this has been supported enough. Comparing it to a movie, it would be an independent film; and in terms of a band, it would be one of many indie bands in Hongdae. But this is not a bad thing. Every big star in the world started out small with their first album. Famous actor, LL cool J (James Todd Smith), also known as the model of FUBU, created his first album with an amateur keyboard that he received as a birthday present when he was 15; the legend of Eastern hip-hop, Nas, debuted by singing the soundtrack of a movie. I feel (Jay), thinking he’s created his album in a difficult environment. But I want to show my great respect to him for creating an album with such quality, despite the situation.
 

 
There are two main factors that decide an album’s sound. One, the choice of using either an acoustic instrument or a synthesized sound when composing; two, how good of a studio was the mixing and recording done in. This album, in simple words, was produced with one single computer. Until 5-6 years ago, an expensive synthesizer was a must. The better the synthesizer, more sounds it can make and this was directly related to the fullness of the sound. However, nowadays virtual sounds have developed rapidly and one can make almost every sound with a computer. But the problem with making music with one computer is that you must assign every beat. You must control all the numerous beats. There are many programs that use virtual sounds, from a beginner’s to a complicated one, as complicated as it gets, the more you need the help of a professional. And the quality of the sound differs greatly depending on the ability and effort of the composer.
 
On the other hand, famous foreign artists, or albums produced by Korea’s major agencies use sessions. For example, if you listen to Justin Timberlake’s “Like I live you”, “Last Night” and “Rock your body” from his first album, Justified, you can tell that it is played by real instruments from sessions of an acoustic guitar and drums. Even if virtual sounds have supposedly become close to acoustic sounds, it is hard to catch up to a real session. An expensive sound stands out just by hearing the fullness of it. On the other hand, an example of a low-budget album would be that of Casker, an electronics group. If you listen to their hit song, “Discoid”, it can be heard that they lead the song with just three channels. A way to fill in for this weak sound is to have a good control over the tempo. (omit) Like ‘Discoid’, TADL has spent a lot of time to control the tempo. This tempo-controlling is quite a hard job; you must accurately grasp the emotions of the listener, understanding where they would feel intense or where they would feel tired – it’s a serious of hard tasks. This kind of producing is impossible unless the person has a very detailed and calculative mind.
 
Then there are the mixing and recording. In America, the role of the studio is emphasized, as there is even a ‘Sound Engineer’ criteria for the Grammy Award. However, this part is very weak in Korea; even major labels go to famous studios in Japan or America for a good sound. In Korea, around 700 groups debut and disappear – they mostly use small studios in Mapo or Dae-rim. But it’s hard to record for a long time here since they charge around 150 000 wons (~$138 US) per hour. Therefore, it’s hard to produce a well-made album. These studios are on the relatively good side, however. The agencies who uses these studios are, nevertheless, relatively good ones; small companies use home recording. If you go to Dae-rim dong, there are many small companies with their signs hung on the front door with equipments set up in the basement. Most people record in these environments by themselves. The quality of sound and the recording is low compared to albums created with more money. I guess that TADL wasn’t recorded in a very nice studio. But because co-producers are very experiences professionals like The Quiett and dok2, it’s covered up well. I do not know what kind of company SidusHQ is, but it seems their support for music industry is very poor. But it seems that they have paid attention to the title track, Abandoned, at least.
 
The second I want to discuss is the variety in music genres. In TADL, Jay shows Southern hip-hop, Eastern hip-hop, R&B and electro house; I believe there are two meanings behind this. First is to show the amount of practice. No matter how good their musical theory is, or how good their ability in handling MIDI is, nothing can beat experience. Because this album is an EP, he can try many new things, unlike in a LP. Because of this, he is trying out from basic hip-hop of the 90s, to the hybrid genre of today, and gaining experience. This will guarantee an extreme improvement in the next album.
 
Another thing is his sense of introducing music. In a section of a newspaper back in the 90s, there is one critic about the 4th album of Seo Tai-Ji (note: he was a very popular and influential hip-hop artist of the 90s). To summarize, Seo was the leader of introducing Western music to the public; he wanted the fans to look at his music and not himself. It says that he was disappointed because his name shadowed his music and the attention of the fans missed his intentions. Of course, because this is from a critic, one cannot say that everything is correct, but most underground musicians have this tendency. Whether it is hip-hop, electronics or jazz, they want their genre of music to gain more attention in Korea. I carefully guess that TADL, by inserting many genres, intends to introduce the past and the present of hip-hop to you and wish that the fans will become more interested in this area. Perhaps in the next album, he will focus on one or two genres.
 
The album is both very appealing and unappealing to the public’s taste. Each track in the album is very loyal to the characteristics of its genre. While ‘Abandoned’ shows highly hybrid sense of music, the other tracks are very loyal to the fundamentals. This may be to gain skills in the particular genre, or to consider the listeners who may not be used to the hip-hop music. Because of this, if this album was produced by a major label in America, it would have done quite well. Especially ‘Abandoned’ – this is quite an amazing song; if Bieber sang this song (though his voice does not match at all), the song would have placed first place on the Billboards. I am impressed every time I listen to the song; it really is too good to be wasted. The reason I decided to write this review is because there were zero reviews on this amazing song on the internet. Although there are hundreds of reviews on Orange Caramel’s “Bangkok City” – a plagiarized song even! In reality, the music industry is much more political and complicated than the public knows and it is probably why the music critics are ignoring this exceptional track; the reality of the Korean music culture is pitiful. In any case, looking in the America’s point of view, TADL is an album that is loyal to the fundamentals and is something that is easy and fun for everyone to listen to.
 
But in Korea, it is showing the extreme of an unappealing album. First things first, he only picked the genres that do not work in Korea. Only about ‘Tonight’ would work. If he had chosen this track, the album may have been broadcasted more. But Jay doesn’t seem like the type. In Korea, R&B is incorrectly known – they add vibratos in rock songs and call it R&B. In TADL, it seems that he is silently demonstrating through ‘Don’t Let Go’ and ‘Can’t be Without You’ that “this is the real R&B, what are you guys doing.” And even Southern hip-hop, easier to listen to than Western hip-hop, is unfamiliar to the normal public. Even T.O.P, the most popular rapper, tried Southern hip-hop with ‘Turn It Up’ but stepped down quietly (I don’t know what all the hate is about, I really like this song). So this album, is literally taking on the role of ‘introducing new (although it’s not new at all, only in Korea) music’.
 
In summary, he made a high quality album despite the poor support from his agency and environment and his tempo-controlling ability is exceptional despite the difficult producing process – I will talk more about this in the review of each songs. Normally, an album containing a set of different genres is easily criticized but it must be noted that this is not the case for TADL as it was loyal to the fundamentals. Actually, electronics or beat-focused hip-hop requires a natural-born sense rather than technical abilities. (omit). However, to create songs in the R&B genre, a great effort, research and talent are needed. If one does not have a deep understanding of classic soul, funk and jazz, it is impossible to create songs in the R&B genre. That is why R.Kelly, the godfather of R&B, could only stick to R&B despite his interest in hip-hop. Seeing his ability to create songs in these two difficult and complicated genres, I can tell how much effort he put in and years of study.
 
I will stop here since this is my first day. I will upload the review for ‘Touch the Sky’ in a few days. Thank you for reading.

SOURCE: dcgall; TRANSLATOR: Lydia@jaypark.net
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