For Jinbo The SuperFreak, being an artist is about more than just making music – it’s about using that creative outlet to spread love around the world. The Korean rapper and singer’s fourth solo album, ‘Summer Freak: Sun, Rain, Love’, is his latest vehicle for that message – a record that brightly, infectiously steers us away from the competitive spirit that dominates both hip-hop and society in general to adopt a more peaceful, nurturing outlook.
The impetus behind that idea is inextricably interwoven within his stage name, colouring not just this record but his whole career with this positivity. “People ask me, ‘Does ‘SuperFreak’ have anything to do with R&B kinky stuff?’” the musician and producer – whose real name is Hahn Joo-hyun – smiles. “Sometimes yes, but most of the time, it’s about being different and having a different perspective from what current society in the world tells you.”
Both his moniker and music are different forms of Jinbo harnessing his “unique lens” and sharing his observations on what’s happening around us. Lately – and what’s fuelled ‘Summer Freak’ – he’s been thinking about the idea of “stepping on others and [being] better than others” and the negative impact those notions have on the world. “If that makes people happy, I don’t have any right or need to say anything,” he explains from his Seoul home. “But I could clearly see that people are not happy about that narrative, yet they’re consuming it, so I want to be the lens to give that [different] perspective.”
That perspective is evident in ‘Happy Habits’, the new album’s peppy opening song. It encourages us to stop comparing ourselves with others and slowly and gently create our own daily rituals that will help lead us towards happiness. It’s a mantra – not just for listeners but Jinbo himself. “That’s a mindset I always struggle to have – that’s why I have to make a song for myself,” he shares.
Some years ago, he was diagnosed with depression and although its waves crashed through his life for no more than ten months, it occasionally returns. “Every time, I feel like I really want to have a remedy for it. There are books that I read, gurus that I watch and listen to, and places I go, but if my main medium is music, why not make the music for myself first? If that music can serve others, that’ll be beyond awesome.”
Jinbo’s music has seemingly always come from a similar place of fulfilling something within himself. When he released his debut EP ‘Call My Name’ in 2005, he was juggling a more typical, secure career as an office worker with making music in his spare time as a hobby that brought him joy. Eventually, he pushed himself to take the leap, leave the safety net of a salary behind and go all in on being an artist and producer. Now, he’s a highly respected figure in South Korea’s music industry who’s worked with countless top names from the country’s R&B, hip-hop and K-pop scenes.
“My main thing has always been having an open mind, so I thought, ‘I’m going to display how a person who came from the hip-hop world can be beneficial to the K-pop world’”
On ‘Summer Freak’, he proves why, deftly weaving his way through an eclectic mix of songs that encompass various types of love – from learning to love yourself to classic romance, familial love and caring for your neighbours. It’s not an album that depicts love through a rose-hued tint but acknowledges the doubts and difficulties that come along with the highs and happiness of its different strands. “When you’re younger, you fantasise [about] romantic love, and when you think about love, it has to be perfect,” Jinbo reasons. “But as you grow up, you see less of that and more imperfection; less feeling right and more feeling uncomfortable, having a lot of questions. At the same time, that’s why you need love, and you have to use that love to overcome and fill the gap.”
The sentimental, swinging ‘Panama’ speaks to a love that does just that, guiding Jinbo through fear into brighter times. Originally, he wrote it for his wife as part of his marriage proposal to her, playing it in the background while the couple ate a meal he’d lovingly prepared for her. On its first play, its purpose of popping the question went over her head. “I was curious why my wife didn’t catch it because, at the end of the song, it clearly says, ‘Let’s make a family’,” he says. “She was like, ‘Oh, it’s a nice song, a well-composed song’.”
The second play was more successful. “Finally, she kinda felt something, and I handed her a handwritten letter, which she read in her room and locked the door.” On the other side of the door, Jinbo was waiting, now enshrouded in awkward silence after the music stopped. “She finally let me in, and that was when she realised what the situation was about,” he smiles.
He didn’t plan to release the song initially but after his “dearest friends” – producer Daniel “Obi” Klein and his partner, songwriter Charli Taft – gave Jinbo their response to it, he decided to include it on the album. “They really love that song, and they really enjoyed it, so I thought, ‘OK, I’m going to share this song with the world’.” The swing song also taps into a running thread through Jinbo’s career – to continuously try new things. “In my production [for other artists], I can follow the trend, but when I’m doing my own album, I want to introduce as many different genres as possible,” he says.
That’s something he’s achieved since that first EP 19 years ago. In his solo work, he’s dived down rabbit holes of neo-soul, psych-tinged R&B, slow jams and bass-driven hip-hop.‘Summer Freak’ is no different, ‘Panama’ joined by the reggae lilt of ‘Lychee Lime Juice’, smoky ballad ‘Late Night’, the sultry grooves of ‘Knock Knock Knock’ and more.
Despite that, there are “so many” styles Jinbo is still excited to try and incorporate into his work in the future. During our conversation, he cites rock music as one, inspired by him listening to The Strokes the previous day. “Five years ago, I wouldn’t have liked that song or genre much, but yesterday, it felt perfect to me,” he says. The New York band are reflective of a simpler philosophy that he’s trying to embrace. “I’ve always tried to stay away from typical chord progressions, but these days, more and more, I’m like, ‘If this is the template that people are accustomed to feel certain emotions, why do I have to avoid that? Why not use it and give it a twist, like in the lyrics or the mixing?’”
Before, he would steer clear of what was typical because he held onto the idea that following something standard wasn’t creative or exciting – and because he had yet to win the battle with his ego and the desire to be better than others that ‘Summer Freak’ warns against. “It’s an unsatisfying battle to have that mindset,” Jinbo sighs. “You can’t enjoy life like that.”
Over the years in his work as a producer, Jinbo has bridged worlds in Korean culture. He was one of the first producers from the country’s hip-hop scene to take his skills into the K-pop realm – now, the two genres’ main players frequently collaborate. The first groups he worked with were SHINee, SM Entertainment’s second-generation icons, and BTS, now worldwide superstars, but back then, they were still a rising group working on their debut studio album, ‘Dark & Wild’.
“At that time in Korea, hip-hop was growing and coming into its own as a genre, and it was also the start of K-pop boybands and girl bands becoming huge,” he recalls. “So there was a clash between these two worlds – [rappers saying to the K-pop scene], ‘You can’t use hip-hop, it’s ours’, and boybands were like, ‘Why can’t I? Hip-hop is global, it’s not a Korean local culture’.” In the middle of the two, he channelled inspirations like Rick Rubin, Quincy Jones and Pharrell Williams, and tried to bring the two sides together in what he was creating. “My main thing has always been having an open mind, so I thought, ‘I’m going to display how a person who came from the hip-hop world can be beneficial to the K-pop world’.”
“Now, I have to update my dream – keep the same heart in mind, but do it on a bigger scale”
Since working on that first BTS song – 2014’s ‘Look Here’ – Jinbo’s connection with the group has remained strong. He’s worked on songs like ‘Anpanman’ and ‘Pied Piper’, and worked with rapper J-hope on two solo projects – his 2019 single ‘Chicken Noodle Soup’ and ‘What If… (dance mix)’ from this year’s ‘Hope On The Street’.
“All the BTS members are incredibly humble – it’s not a secret, but I can’t stress it enough,” Jinbo explains. “When they come to me and say they’re huge fans or RM gives me advice, I can’t appreciate it enough. He told me, ‘As a fan of yours, you have different arsenals – singing, rapping and producing – but I want to see you sticking with just one main tool’. We go way back, but at the same time, I’m like, ‘You’re a huge global star and had a speech at the UN conference and stuff… did you just say, ‘As a fan of yours’?!’ It blows my mind.”
Jinbo has tied together the two scenes in his own releases, too. On his ‘KRNB’ mixtape, he remade a series of K-pop tracks by artists like 2NE1, BoA, Seo Taiji And Boys, Deux, Girls’ Generation and more. The older songs he tackled especially taught him to tap into a different mindset. “Back then, it wasn’t the internet era, so they had to just guess what the culture [they were taking inspiration from] was about, what this sound or genre is about,” he says. “Nowadays, if you’re into a genre, you know its history, the key players, and the kind of samples or synths they use. But then, you had to recreate that based on your imagination, so it was interesting to go through their minds like that.”
Doing so wasn’t just a fun project but an important lesson in giving himself the permission and courage to be “more original and authentic and, in a way, to be wrong”. He points to songs in Korean culture from the early-to-mid ’90s to illustrate what he means. “[Looking at those songs], when Korean musicians and producers did new jack swing or hip-hop, you can say, ‘Oh, you made wrong choices here and there. You shouldn’t have used this sample.’ But somehow, it made sense, and they managed to make those elements come together and sound good, so they made hits. That is the source of creativity to me – to have that courage to be wrong and just go different ways and come out with good results and victorious.”
Victory is something Jinbo has definitely claimed since quitting his 9-5 and backing himself to make it in music. Two decades ago, he dreamed of one thing – being a full-time musician. Now, that’s his reality. “I’ve set up a home studio in my living room right now, so I’m living that life,” he says, gesturing to the room around him off-screen. “Now, I have to update my dream – keep the same heart in mind, but do it on a bigger scale.” Wherever his dreams take him next, one thing is guaranteed – Jinbo The SuperFreak will keep moving in love and positivity.
Jinbo The SuperFreak’s new album ‘Summer Freak: Sun, Rain, Love’ is out now on Spotify, Apple Music and more.
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