Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
MC Sniper has deviated a bit from the norm in Korean hip-hop recently, starting his own band to get a bit experimental. Scope Band And MC Sniper (get it?) are going back to basics a bit with non-electronic instruments to craft their sound. My favorite song of theirs so far is “The Usual Lies,” which features vocalist Nah Deul Ee from the Korean version of ‘The Voice.’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6C1czTVuu0
“The Usual Lies” is basically about how social media in modern society causes the people who use it frequently to fake happiness, and that causes the consumer to believe everybody is happy and they’re the only one suffering. However, the people who create these fabricated personas are often living in fear of having their real selves outed and not being accepted, all of which prevents people being honest with one another (seems to be a theme of his recent efforts). So there’s this feedback loop of sorts, and it’s basically an unfortunate consequence of our always connected reality.
Anyway, having a rapper as a frontman of a band makes me think of Black Thought and The Roots, which is never a negative comp. The sound MC Sniper and his band offer on “The Usual Lies” actually reminded me a bit of “What They Do“, another great comp to have. MC Sniper sounds at home rapping over the blues-y soul sound, and hearing switches in flow from him was especially nice. After Nah Deul Ee’s raspy tone comes in for the chorus, I’m completely sold on the track, and it’s such an easy song to get into.
This is a promising project by MC Sniper that has already delivered at least one hit in “The Usual Lies,” and I hope they continue to diversify and experiment with their sound from here on out.
