Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
MC Sniper‘s latest single “The Woman And Man Behind” features vocal talent AG Sung Eun, but was released with almost no promotion and minimal fanfare. That shouldn’t influence your opinion of the release, which is hardly unusual quality from him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZD60Oy9g_I
When that meme about BTS lyrics spread a while back, it was cool to see the amount of legit replies from people that included a lot of artists I’m a fan of. However, I did feel that one was left out: MC Sniper. It seemed like a glaring omission to me, but an understandable one considering most of his substantial work was done a while ago. However, it’s been 15 years since of railing against the government (before it was “safe” like right now), questioning society, and telling stories about abortion, tragedy, suicide, so he certainly deserves recognition.
Given that, it’s no surprise then that MC Sniper continues the trend of tackling meaningful subject matter, with “The Woman And Man Behind” addressing the reality of modern love in Korea.
The track is about a man who wasn’t born into a rich family and lacks proper education, and a realistically thinking woman who attaches a price tag even to love. On his Instagram account, MC Sniper wrote the following about the track: “At midnight on January 19, ‘뒤로가는 남과여’ is being released. This song is your story and the story of the people around you. In this society it is difficult to date someone or to get married without money. Men work hard to be able to marry and women choose a realistic life over love. We can’t say that one of them is right or wrong, but sometimes feelings of love turn cheap in the face of reality. Although it is sad to attach a price tag to love, this is the world we are living in right now. The wall of reality that is difficult to overcome becomes the Wailing Wall and sincere, heartfeld love has a different face from time to time too. This song gives regards to your love that has given way to reality: “How has that love been doing?” I hope that you will love again. Also, our love is no cheap thing that divides people into the haves and the have nots. Let’s love again!”
The production is simple but effective, providing a nice beat for MC Sniper to ride while also setting the somber, regretful tone of the song up nicely. MC Sniper isn’t known for being a technically gifted rapper (at all), but his flow is actually rather intriguing on this as he switches between a melodic style and a gritty one but keeps generally in rhythm the whole time. I wasn’t quite sure how AG Sung Eun would fit in with an MC Sniper track, but any concerns I had melted away quickly as she came in for the hook.
Both convey the emotion of the song exceptionally well, and it’s actually a surprisingly catchy, making repeat listens easy to fall into (again, surprising from an MC Sniper track). Despite whatever trouble he gets into, musically he’s never made me regret following his work due to his fearlessness, and even years and years later it continues to pay off with tracks like this.
