Dynamic Duo's Gaeko expressed his feelings about joining as the main producer of "Hip Pop Princess."
On the morning of the 15th at the Eliena Hotel in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, Mnet's new survival show Unpretty Rapstar: Hip Pop Princess held a press conference. The production team and main producers (G)I-dle member Soyeon (Jeon Soyeon), Gaeko, Riehata, and Iwata Takanori attended the press conference and spoke.
Unpretty Rapstar: Hip Pop Princess is Mnet's new Korea-Japan joint project to create a hip-hop girl group, where participants with different identities in hip-hop, K-pop and J-pop come together to directly take part in all processes such as music, choreography, styling and video production, aiming to create a new global hip-hop girl group.
Gaeko, who produced the title track, said, "I worried a bit whether I could focus on and direct the raps of 40 participants until the end. Would it be possible in terms of time and stamina? But once the recording actually started, I didn't have many of those worries. Their skills were so good that there weren't that many parts that needed special directing in the recording, so the recording finished smoothly."
He said, "When I joined as a producer, I was curious too. The combination of hip-hop and pop, the concept of creating a group with the character of the hip-hop genre seemed very interesting. I am someone who does hip-hop, and when I was young I loved several groups that had hip-hop and R&B characteristics, so if such a group were to be born, I would be happy to participate in its birth. It would also be meaningful for my music career. That's why I decided to participate."
He continued, "I've worked a lot with hip-hop artists and with idols, but this is the first time I've participated from the beginning by watching the participants, so I'm very excited. I was very surprised watching the participants. How can they be so capable at that age? Thinking about what I was doing at that age — watching TV with friends, listening to music and scratching my stomach — I wondered how they could be so good. There are more contestants than I expected who have just started rapping. Seeing their ability to absorb, their talent and potential is truly amazing. Watching people find what they want and take challenges at that age makes me feel the world has changed a lot," he marveled.
Asked about the difference from other auditions such as Show Me the Money, especially since this is their first girl group audition, Gaeko explained, "I followed Unpretty Rapstar but participated with the awareness that the concept was to ultimately form a group. Show Me the Money featured rappers who were active individually and artists aspiring to be rappers competing as solo acts, whereas this has the concept of ultimately making a group. I participated with that understanding, and basically I looked a lot at whether, upon becoming a member of the group, they could be involved in producing, write their own rap and be able to perform that on stage holding a microphone. Those were things I paid a lot of attention to."
He added, "In judging, since I have mainly worked in hip-hop music, I tended to look at that aspect a lot. Practically, how well can that person express on stage the rap they wrote themselves? Do they have creative elements different from others? Do they have something special? And when delivering their own story, can they convey it so the audience hears it? Those are things I inevitably looked at. Other parts like performance, fashion and other charms are things the other producers have excellent judgment on, so I especially focused on the rap."
Meanwhile, Unpretty Rapstar: Hip Pop Princess premieres on the 16th at 9:50 p.m.
[Photo] OSEN reporter Lee Dae-seon
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