Revisiting music
It was because I was enthralled by her many guest performances as perhaps the strongest female rapper in Korea that I sought out t's albums, but found that every single one of them, when I started searching in 2007, was out of print. t has been pretty active following the disbanding of Tashannie from 2001 to 2003, releasing three albums in that time, before taking a hiatus from recording albums. Fortunately, the drought ended for me in 2007 when t released her third album, named after her Korean name.
Although I know t best for her rapping, her long career has actually been largely focused on her capacity as an R&B singer and her third album reflects this, having only a pair of really dedicated rap songs and the rest being R&B. Fortunately, the R&B tracks are fairly varied and while there are a number traditional relationship/romance ballads, that's mixed up with soul, funk, and upbeat R&B-pop, which is clear from the opening track, "Black Diamond", which blasts with open with bombast before spinning into a fluttering verse, cutting into foreshadowed, explosive chorus. It's kind of an R&B track with hip hop ethos and I think it serves well as an introduction.
In terms of the ballads, there are many good ones, like "잊었니..." which is a straight romance reminiscence track or the closing hope-filled "Good Bye Sadness, Hello Happiness". But I find the more diverse tracks more interesting, like horn punched funky "What's Up! Mr. Good Stuff", where t finds a little piece of James Brown or the groovy "Gimme Gimme!!! (이기주의자)", punctuated by some funky flutes. There's even a lovely acoustic pop track in "Who".
And while hip hop lovers might be saddened to find only two rap tracks from t here, the two that are here are solid, from the horn-blasting, hand-raising, thumpfest of "Pay Day" with t showing just how much brass she's got in her flow to "검은 행복"'s ("Black Happiness") moving account of t's finding hope and comfort in music while struggling with racism, a little recording of advice from her father adding to the warm uplift of the track.
And it's tracks like "검은 행복" and "Black Diamond" that center the music on t, not merely just being a collection of R&B tracks, fully justifying the title of Yoonmirae. While not every ballad rises above being merely okay, the album is punctuated by so many different moments, that it's a convincing listen from start to finish. And even the modest ballad tracks like "나니까" still having some interesting elements, like the gayageum's presence in the opening. Yoonmirae is much more than just an R&B and hip hop album, but it is at times quite personal to Yoonmirae, the singer, the rapper, the daughter, and the woman, and as a result, is a fantastic work that acts as justification of t's high status in the Korean music industry. 9/10.
Tracklist:
- Black Diamond
- What's Up! Mr. Good Stuff
- 잊었니...
- Honeymoon
- Gimme Gimme!!! (이기주의자)
- Pay Day
- 시간은 눈물과 흐르고
- 나니까
- 검은 행복
- Who
- Good Bye Sadness, Hello Happiness
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