We here at Korean Female Rapper Daily always are on the look out for new artists and music.
Greg K is one of those new artists. We managed to have a talk with her this past weekend and this what she had to say.
Our hardworking curator Ferd Isaacs was lucky enough to have a chat with her.
A special mention to our new editorial member Soo Yeon Kim who translated this exclusive and exciting interview.
Who are you and where in South Korea are you from?
제 이름은 곽지은이고 현재 한국 부산에서 활동중입니다.
My name is 곽지은(Ji-Eun Kwak) and I’m currently living in Busan.
How did you get your rap name?
Greg 이라는 말이 남자 이름중에 조금 흔하다고 들었습니다. 랩을 하면서 남녀 차별없이 공정하게(?) 차별없이 평가받고 노력하고싶어서 Greg에 제 성 '곽' 에서 K를 따와서 Greg.K라고 하게됐습니다.
I heard Greg is a common male name. I didn’t want to be discriminatorily evaluated just because I’m a female. So, I added “K” from my surname “Kwak” to Greg and that’s how I got my rap name “Greg.K”.
How long have you been rapping?
대학교 들어오면서 시작했으니까 이제 2년이 되어갑니다.
I started rapping since I entered university, so it’s been about 2 years.
Describe your style of rapping.
원래는 쎄게 하는 랩을 좋아했는데 요즘은 보컬을 살릴 수 있는 감성적인 랩을 하고있고, 비트는 붐뱁이나 퓨쳐R&B에 랩을 쓰고 있습니다. 다양한 스타일을 하고싶어서 여러가지 비트에 다양한 플로우를 아직 부족하지만 많이 해보려고 노력중입니다.
At first I preferred strong rapping, but lately I’ve been doing emotional rap with vocals. I use Boom Bap or Future R&B style beats. I want to do many different styles of rapping, so I’m currently making efforts to try out a variety of flows on many kinds of beats.
What inspires you to write raps?
역시 제 일상인것 같습니다. 사실 랩 들어보면 '내가 잘났어, 내가 최고야, 나 돈 많아'식인데 제 일상은 그냥 평범한 대학생이라 저런 가사들은 잘 안써지더라구요. 그래서 최근에는 "계집애"라는 곡을 썼었는데 음악하면서 여자라서 이것저것 치이는 내용을 썼었습니다. "몇백의 밤"이라는 곡은 또 음악하면서 부모님과 부딪히는 얘기를 풀어쓴 가사인데요. 지금껏 올리던 곡들을 보면 그냥 한 여자애의 일기장같은 느낌인것같아요.
그런 제가 생각하던 것들을 가사에 담는편입니다.
I think everyday life inspires me. Many rap lyrics are about how they’re the best and they’re rich, but since I’m just a normal university student, I couldn’t really write lyrics like that.
So recently I wrote a song titled “계집애” that is about how it’s tough to do music as a female. (계집애 means “girl” in Korean.) “몇백의 밤” (which means “Hundreds of Nights” in Korean) is a song I wrote about how I had arguments with my parents while I was making music. When I look at the songs I’ve uploaded, I feel like I’m reading a girl’s diary. So I put such thoughts in my lyrics.
Are you part of a crew, if so what is the name of your crew?
원래는 혼자하고있었는데, 음악을 하고싶어하는 친구들과 성장과정이 되었으면해서
bcy crew(보충역크루)라는 크루를 만들었습니다.
At first I was independent, but I wanted to improve my music with my fellow musician friends, so I created Bcy Crew (보충역크루).
On your latest track "Possibility" you feature Kim Hye Jung, how did you guys hook up?
대구에서하는 '아임랩스타(I am rapstar)'라는 랩 경연대회에서 만나게됐습니다.
전부 다 남자 참가자였는데, 혜중이 보고 옆에서 말도 걸고 하다보니 친해져서
대회끝나고 같이 밥도 먹고하면서 서로 장난도 치고 같이 작업해보자고 생각하게되어서 같이 작업을 하게됐습니다.
I met her at a rap contest in Daegu called “I Am Rapstar”. Almost all of the participants were male, but I found Hye Jung and initiated a conversation with her. Eventually we got close, so after the contest we had meals together and had fun. We thought it would be wonderful to make a song together, hence the creation of “Possibility”.
What year and month were you born?
저는 1996년 2월 2일 생입니다.
I was born on February 2nd, 1996.
Do you have any siblings?
외동으로 자랐습니다.
I’m an only child.
What is your favorite Korean meal?
개인적으로 샤브샤브를 제일 좋아하는데 한국음식으로는 순두부찌개를 가장 좋아합니다.
My favorite food is shabu-shabu, and if I am asked to pick my favorite Korean dish, I would say I like sundubu-jjigae(soft tofu stew) the most.
What rappers do you look up to?
정말 제가 너무 좋아하는 여자래퍼들은 snow tha product랑 gavlyn을 정말정말 좋아해요!! 진짜 너무 할말 많은데, 덕질이라는 말이 영어로 있을지는 모르겠는데 정말 너무 좋아하고 하루에 맨날 듣는것같습니다.
너무 좋아하고 제가 추구하는 스타일의 아티스트들이에요.
I really really love Snow Tha Product and Gavlyn. I have soooo many things to talk about them, but to put it shortly, I’m their fangirl. I really love them and listen to them everyday. They have the style that I pursue as an artist.
Have you ever been drunk and woke up not knowing where you are?
술을 상당히 좋아해서.. 너무 많은것같아요..허허허 친구들끼리 바다가서 놀다가 술을 너무 많이 마셔서 일어나니 벤치에서 누워있더라구요.. 또 뭐 음악하는 친구들과 처음 만나서 술을 너무 많이 마셨을때 그 친구들 작업실에서 눈뜨니 일어난 적도있고..이러니 술사고뭉치인 것 같네요
I love alcohol, so.... I’ve gone through it so many times. Hehehe :)
Once when I was playing with my friends at a beach, I drank so much that I found myself lying on a bench when I woke up. Also, during my first meeting with fellow musicians, I drank too much and woke up in their studio. Now that I think of it, I sound like an alcoholic troublemaker.
What are your Facebook/Instagram/Twitter links?
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kwak.
Soundcloud : https://soundcloud.com/gregk96
Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/
Are you working on new music?
'motive해'라는 곡은 작업은 완료됐는데 레코딩 준비중이에요. 음악에 모방에 대한 생각을 담은 생각인데 지금 가사를 쓰고있는 곡은 조금 tropical 적으로 좀 색다른 곡으로 준비중입니다.
I finished working on a song titled “Motive해”, and now I’m preparing to record it. It has my thoughts about imitating music. Right now I’m writing lyrics to a new tropical style song.
Where do you see yourself in 5 years time?
음악에서는 지금 하고있는것처럼 조바심 안내고 차분히 차분히 쌓아나가고싶습니다.
그 외에도 지금 공부중인 것(관세사)에대해서도 공부해서 자격증을 따고 취직해서,
삺의 목표가 음악으로의 성공이 아니라 음악을 하는것이어서 천천히 지금 하는것처럼
발전하고 성장하고 하고싶은 말들을 담은 곡들을 내고싶습니다.
As a musician, I want to proceed one step at a time without fretting.
Apart from music, I want to study to be a customs agent.
As my life goal is not to succeed as a musician but is to make music, I want to get better little by little and create songs that can deliver what I want to say.
