Chuli & Miae 1993 (Freestyle Tuesday)
Jan. 8th, 2013 11:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
koganbotHope to post about GLAM in the near future, as they're Socially Important in a good way, and not just because they copy or sample a vocal curlicue from the Cover Girls. But it's that curlicue which is the subject of this post, since, from the way GLAM use it, I'm pretty sure they got it not directly from "Because Of You," but by way of "Why You," a 1993 track by Chuli & Miae (철이 와 미애).
For a couple of years now I've been hammering in the point about K-pop drawing on freestyle, though not hammering with a lot of ideas, just the fact of the influence. (For more hammering, here's my freestyle tag.*) But "Why You" isn't merely influence, it's the thing itself, a Korean track that's out-and-out freestyle. It isn't only freestyle, though. In fact, it's very 1993 (as opposed to 1988), unequivocably freestyle while employing an int'l house mashup strategy. Pretty interesting and doesn't quite match anything I ever heard in the U.S. It starts with the Cover Girls curlicue on repeat,** the vocal riff seeming to call across an oceanic distance. This drifts into poignant house atmospherics, then a properly twisting freestyle riff, setting up a talk-rap that isn't trying to sound hip-hop, while the Cover Girls curlicue is cut up and inserted in little bits, and shards of Korean singing punctuate the rapping. Finally, the singing takes center stage, coalescing into an unabashed freestyle melody directly in the Mickey Garcia/Elvin Molina style of mournful NYC melodies circa 1989 — this all in the first minute and a quarter.
*Freestyle is one of the names given to a Latino dance music style that came out of Miami and New York in the '80s, the Miami version using a lighter touch and being more interracial, the NY version being heavily, dolorously Latino, but both sites drawing massively on the Robie-Baker electrofunk used by DJ Afrika Bambaataa & Soul Sonic Force's "Planet Rock." Freestyle added twisting intertwining riffs and wild beats, with New York City bringing melodies of deep and passionate sadness.
**I'm calling it a curlicue 'cause I don't know if it's a direct sample or a copy, but there's no question where it's from. Btw, it was Brad Nelson over on ilX who alerted us to the Cover Girls being the source of the curlicue in GLAM's "I Like That," crediting Maura Johnston with recognizing it. A couple people over on omonatheydidnt also recognized it, and that's where someone linked Chuli & Miae, though without any information. Over at allkpop, the writers haven't yet caught on to the Cover Girls connection but say that "I Like That" "modernizes the '90s K-pop classic, Chul-E & Miae's 'Why You,' with its hip-hop sound." This isn't true; "I Like That" simply lifts the bit that "Why You" previously lifted from the Cover Girls' "Because Of You," while otherwise being a very different song.
For a couple of years now I've been hammering in the point about K-pop drawing on freestyle, though not hammering with a lot of ideas, just the fact of the influence. (For more hammering, here's my freestyle tag.*) But "Why You" isn't merely influence, it's the thing itself, a Korean track that's out-and-out freestyle. It isn't only freestyle, though. In fact, it's very 1993 (as opposed to 1988), unequivocably freestyle while employing an int'l house mashup strategy. Pretty interesting and doesn't quite match anything I ever heard in the U.S. It starts with the Cover Girls curlicue on repeat,** the vocal riff seeming to call across an oceanic distance. This drifts into poignant house atmospherics, then a properly twisting freestyle riff, setting up a talk-rap that isn't trying to sound hip-hop, while the Cover Girls curlicue is cut up and inserted in little bits, and shards of Korean singing punctuate the rapping. Finally, the singing takes center stage, coalescing into an unabashed freestyle melody directly in the Mickey Garcia/Elvin Molina style of mournful NYC melodies circa 1989 — this all in the first minute and a quarter.
*Freestyle is one of the names given to a Latino dance music style that came out of Miami and New York in the '80s, the Miami version using a lighter touch and being more interracial, the NY version being heavily, dolorously Latino, but both sites drawing massively on the Robie-Baker electrofunk used by DJ Afrika Bambaataa & Soul Sonic Force's "Planet Rock." Freestyle added twisting intertwining riffs and wild beats, with New York City bringing melodies of deep and passionate sadness.
**I'm calling it a curlicue 'cause I don't know if it's a direct sample or a copy, but there's no question where it's from. Btw, it was Brad Nelson over on ilX who alerted us to the Cover Girls being the source of the curlicue in GLAM's "I Like That," crediting Maura Johnston with recognizing it. A couple people over on omonatheydidnt also recognized it, and that's where someone linked Chuli & Miae, though without any information. Over at allkpop, the writers haven't yet caught on to the Cover Girls connection but say that "I Like That" "modernizes the '90s K-pop classic, Chul-E & Miae's 'Why You,' with its hip-hop sound." This isn't true; "I Like That" simply lifts the bit that "Why You" previously lifted from the Cover Girls' "Because Of You," while otherwise being a very different song.
Yubin and Sohee cross and uncross their arms
Date: 2013-01-09 05:56 pm (UTC)