Hip-hop is the big revelation subgenre in Korean music, and considering that every group of kpop counts raper member together with shows like “Show me the money” and “Unpretty Rapstar” where competitiveness is in the highest level helps to find a wide variety of artists.
Usually Koreans who had lived in America mix the culture of Korea with the style of the cradle of this genre pH-1 fits the recent definition, in an interview he defined his style as music with “positive vibe” and “meaningful message”, principally inspired by his faith, you won’t find a classical rapper lyrics or a “bad boy” image.
His career started a long time ago, but he got media recognition when he joined Jay Park and Cha Cha Malone label “H1gher music”; debuting but his single “Perfect”, one of his most famous songs under the label and featuring Jay Park in the music video he crawled into the heart of many fans. Speaking of his recent works, her last EP “The island boy” where he features artists like Jay Park, Owen Ovadoz, and G. Soul, it’s a mix of characteristic pH-1 flow with an upbeat r&b beat in the background that fits perfectly with his soft voice.
The most recent ones are two singles named “Penthouse” featuring Hoody and “Communicate” featuring Sik-k, the first one personify someone who dreamed with own a penthouse since young when he gets it fell lonely and empty; in the other side, “Communicate” topic is the lack of communication in a relationship and how that opaque the good moments. Those may feel like overused themes but storytelling ability of pH-1 as his soft rap gets you in the song, he is one of the few rapers who prefer flow with the beat than overwhelm it, in my personal opinion, that a good add-on for his particular rap.
Recently his album got 100,000 streams on youtube, also more than 100,000 on Spotify only with the double-singles “Gatsby”; making reference to the huge grown this artist had in the last months, I’m sure this is just the beginning of the pH-1 career in Korea. his unique style and abilities are getting recognized and together with collaborations are making echo in the underground scene.