K-Pop Dreaming - Moon Night

California Love

LAist Studios

Music

4.5 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 9 March 2023

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode, we head to an American military neighborhood in Seoul in the late 1980s. Tucked in an alleyway was a little grimy club that blasted American hip-hop, the place was for African American GIs to cut loose, but it pulled in an unexpected crowd – young Koreans who would become the pioneers of modern K-pop. Itaewon was also the setting for the beginning of another story – it was the place where Vivian’s parents met and fell in love. Features Kang Won Rae, one of K-pop's legends that came out of the Moon Night scene.
(Originally published March 9, 2023)

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Transcript

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0:00.0	When people talk about the origins of K-pop, they often start with someone named Seo-teji.
0:19.3	South American Daesung-Muna icon Seo-teji is the iconic stage name of Jung Hyun-chul,
0:29.4	the lead singer, rapper and overall mastermind of a group called Seo-teji and Boys.
0:35.4	And it's hard to overstate the impact this group had on Korean music and culture.
0:39.9	Before Seo-teji and boys, popular Korean music mostly consisted of trot songs or ballads,
0:46.0	like this song called Like the Love Spread Around the World by Lee Seung-hwan.
0:58.6	Then in 1992, Seo-teji and boys exploded onto the scene with this song.
1:16.0	This song is called NAN-A-Ryo, or I Know, and it was completely different from anything in South Korea at the time.
1:23.3	It combined hip-hop, rock and pop with elements of Korean music in this way that was so unfamiliar and new.
1:30.5	And this song debuted on National TV as part of a competition show called Tuk-jong TV-yeon-e,
1:36.7	which is roughly translated to scoop TV entertainment.
1:40.8	There are actually clips of this performance online, and you can see Seo-teji with the two other members of the group,
1:51.6	Yang Hyun-seok, also known as YG, and Ijuno.
1:56.1	The three of them did this stylized choreographed hip-hop dance routine while they sang and wrapped.
2:02.7	And the judges didn't really like it.
2:04.9	And I think that's why Melody and I really liked it.
2:10.0	They thought the melody was weak and didn't love the rapping.
2:13.8	And Seo-teji and boys actually got the lowest score of the whole night,
2:17.9	but the teens watching at home,
2:25.2	they were obsessed.
2:30.1	The song skyrocketed to number one and stayed there for 17 weeks.
2:35.4	Young people loved everything about Seo-teji and boys.
	...

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