^ Can't wait for it also. & i think for Season 2, its more about serious discussions. So i'd really love to understand what Jiwon was saying throughout the show.
This article really isn't about Jiwon but something interesting caught my eye. Jiwon and Keeproots were supposed to form a group back in 2003? It didn't happen, but from the way Keeproots said it, maybe they had some misunderstanding or something?~
ICON Steps Up to the ChallengeIt's not easy being a hip-hop artist these days with the flood of K-pop boy and girl bands saturating the airwaves. To be a rapper here is to be a fish swimming upstream. That's something ICON knows all too well.
Their debut album "Icontact" just dropped with critical acclaim, but even the most optimistic music industry insider will tell you that good music means nothing these days.
"We knew what we were getting ourselves into when we formed this partnership," Keeproots told The Korea Herald.
"Boy and girl bands are where it's at right now, but we think there's an audience out there craving some good authentic hip-hop music."
ICON is one pair ready to tackle whatever's headed their way.
Helping them will be their grassroots pedigree in the rap game. The group consists of band producer and main songwriter Keeproots and Amen - a handsome 27-year-old lyrical stylist who has become a "teacher" of rap to some of the country's most popular boy bands.
"He's my yin and I'm his yang," he said.
"I'm the guy with the big head and he's the guy all of the girls will love ... it's a good arrangement."
The 31-year-old Keeproots - who gets his moniker from his Korean name Geun-soo - has worked behind the scenes with such artists as Jo PD, Dynamic Duo, LeeSsang, Mighty Mouse and Eun Ji-won.
Before then, he was a relatively obscure DJ from Busan cutting his teeth on the turntable around numerous clubs.
Technically, this isn't his first album.
In 2003, he released an underground solo album that became a minor hit around the club circuit.
It was during this time he met Eun Ji-won.
"At the time, me and (Eun) were going to form a group," he said.
"But due to reasons I won't divulge, it fell through ... the important thing from that experience was that we remained very close friends."
Since then, the multi-talented former DJ produced Eun's "Adios" and knocked out a string of heavily rotated club hits for Mighty Mouse, LeeSsang and Dynamic Duo.
Amen, has also had a long history in the music game.
As a former member of the idol group QOQ in 2003, Amen is no greenhorn.
With a burgeoning career, an unfortunate car crash sidelined the emerging rapper by fracturing his neck.
In 2006, their encounter with celebrated producer and rapper Rhymer became the driving force behind the formation of the group.
Considered the "Big Daddy" of Korean hip-hop for producing hits for popular singers like Lee Hyori, Rhymer took the group under his wing to produce their debut record.
According to the group's manager, Rhymer had enough belief in the pair's talents to put up his own house as collateral to produce their first album.
Asked how they are different from other hip-hop acts, Keeproots said, "Think of it as a raw piece of meat as opposed to a well-done steak."
"We're not followers, we create our own style."
(kws@heraldm.com)
By Song Woong-ki
http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/NEWKHSITE/dat...00912010049.asp