CULTURE

B-Free, the Korean Rapper Who Rolls With Keith Ape and Performs With CL, and His Crew Are Seoul’s Answer to the A$AP Mob

Amid a sea of glossy K-pop stars at Seoul Fashion Week, B-Free and the Cohort are trying to keep hip-hop real.


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The rapper B-Free writes and records in the basement of a video production studio—his friend’s—on a darkened side street just west of the bustling downtown neighborhood Itaewon, in Seoul, South Korea. A soft reddish light emanates from the narrow staircase leading down to his studio; upstairs, a near-depleted bottle of Hennessey sits next to an oversize computer monitor, a clock on the wall reads “Eat,” “Sleep,” “F–k” around its circumference, and action figurines line the walls. Free—born Shane Choi—keeps a nocturnal schedule here, beginning work around 8 p.m. and continuing through the night, until some time around 7 a.m.

So Choi’s day was just beginning when we met on a recent Thursday night at his studio. Earlier in the week, he had played a short set following the 99%IS– fall 2018 show during Seoul Fashion Week, sharing the stage with Korean megastar and Jeremy Scott muse CL, the former frontwoman of the K-pop group 2NE1; now he was back to working on his upcoming record, currently slated for release on June 25. Hew was wearing a sweatshirt emblazoned with the logo for Orca Wear, the streetwear brand recently launched by his crew, the Cohort, a group that also includes rappers Okasian, Brian Cha$e, JayAllDay, and Keith Ape, the artist behind the viral hit “It G Ma.” (Ape is still among Korean hip-hop’s best-known exports.)

Photo by Yeongmo Lee for *W* Magazine.

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Though Choi had attended the previous season’s 99%IS– show, it wasn’t until just a couple of weeks ago that the label’s designer, Park Jong Woo, who goes by Bajowoo, reached out to Choi about playing the fall 2018 show after he saw a B-Free performance earlier in the year. Though they had never met before, they have “many mutual friends,” Bajowoo told W over e-mail, and he thought the rapper’s style and the label’s look complemented each other well. Choi echoed this sentiment: “It’s my kind of party,” he observed on arrival at the show. He noted the parallels between their work: Both are the product of experimentation among friends, leveraged into a viable living. “Now it’s marketable,” he said.

Choi’s English bears just the faintest trace of an accent, a legacy of the decade he lived in Hawaii, where he immigrated illegally with his father when he was just 10 years old. “He told me we were going on vacation,” Choi recalled, “and then, the next thing I know, we went to Canada and we crossed the border illegally.” He arrived in the United States just as the Fugees were releasing their seminal album The Score, and Lauryn Hill’s voice crooning “Killing Me Softly” was a radio staple. It was his first exposure to soul music: “I didn’t know the words, I didn’t know what she was saying, but it was so beautiful, I used to cry,” he told me. He started writing down and memorizing the lyrics he heard, but it wasn’t until more than a decade later, after he had returned to South Korea and done his mandatory military service, that he began making his own beats. At the recommendation of the Korean rapper Snacky Chan, whom Choi met when he was working at the Nike store in Itaewon at 25, he started rapping over the music he was making and handing out CDs—which is how he met Paloalto, the founder of Korean hip-hop label Hi-Lite records. (“It G Ma” was also released on Hi-Lite originally, before it was remixed with A$AP Ferg, Father, and Wacka Flocka Flame.)

Photo by Yeongmo Lee for *W* Magazine.

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Choi left Hi-Lite two years ago, when it was purchased by the Korean conglomerate CJ Corporation, to start his own label, New Wave Records. He spent much of the beginning of his career writing angry lyrics about his military service (“how I hated it, how it’s like a prison system for Korean males; that was my fuel for making music,” he explained), but after years of traveling and writing, Choi is finally happy—and writing about it. (Turning 30 also offered him some perspective.) He’ll probably write about the army again, but first, he wants to focus on honing his craft: “I want to be a good artist,” he said, “and then say it calmly and wisely.”

He had been writing furiously since his last live performance, and at the 99%IS– show on Tuesday, he incorporated a few new tracks into his live set. Though they move in some of the same circles, both part of the Korean hip-hop scene, Choi and CL had never met before. Only a few years ago, CL, at the peak of her fame as a member of 2NE1, would have been near unapproachable, but now, Choi said, the notoriously impermeable walls surrounding K-pop stars have begun to come down. In 2013, for example, Choi made an indelicate remark about the boy band BTS’s makeup and choreographed routines—he “dissed them for being idol rappers,” as one K-pop blog described it in 2016. According to Choi, this was posturing that got out of hand: “It was a harsh joke, like, ‘Come on, guys, what are you doing?’” he said. But in the years since, groups that incorporate elements of both hip-hop and pop into their music, like BTS or Block B, another K-pop group whose members are uniquely free to pursue independent projects, have earned a degree of freedom. “Now I think it’s the time when everyone is more open about those things, open about reality: ‘Yes, we’re wearing makeup. Yes, we’re wearing lipstick, who cares?’ Now they can say that.”

Photo by Yeongmo Lee for *W* Magazine.

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As K-pop has slowly been demystified, hip-hop has gained prominence in the music landscape. But Korean rappers have been accused of a measure of cultural appropriation—upon the release of “It G Ma,” for example, the Atlanta rapper OG Maco wrote, in a since-deleted tweet, “I’m aware of the Koreans that mocked me and took my sauce,” posting in a second tweet, “Black stereotypes. Lame as f–k.” The music can, at times, sound like a simulacrum of hip-hop: trap music devoid of a trap.

“It’s not as culturally rooted,” Choi said, citing this as the biggest difference between the Korean and American hip-hop landscapes. (However, just as in New York, in Seoul, designers often turn to rappers as avatars for their brands.) “It’s not culturally real.” Yet a younger generation of artists, he observed, are shifting that tide, writing about their own experiences rather than subscribing to the expectations of hip-hop, and Choi is buoyed by all of this. Over the past couple of months, he has focused increasingly on his upcoming record; other members of the Cohort are also planning to release new projects this year—and then they plan to embark on a world tour together. Choi compared them to the Avengers (he’s Thor, or the Hulk, he guessed): “We’re coming together,” he said, “to be like, ‘This is Korean hip-hop at its finest.’”

Related: A Rare, Exclusive Interview with Taemin, K-Pop’s Justin Bieber

Who’s Who: Meet the Beautiful People of Seoul Fashion Week

Joy from Red Velvet.

Photo by Peter Ash Lee, styled by Ye Young Kim. Joy from Red Velvet wears Lucky Chouette pullover, $248, wannabk.com; Thisisneverthat skirt, $51, intl.thisisneverthat.com; stylist’s own earrings. Hair by Ji Sun Han, makeup by Ho Sook Kwon. Producer: Biel Parklee. Local Production: Intoo Creative Group. Translator: Soo Ryn Lim.

Wendy from Red Velvet.

Photo by Peter Ash Lee, styled by Ye Young Kim.

Wendy from Red Velvet wears Moschino T-shirt, $550, moschino.com; Miu Miu tiara, $385, miumiu.com; We Who Prey choker, price upon request, wewhoprey.com. Hair by Ji Sun Han, makeup by Ho Sook Kwon. Producer: Biel Parklee. Local Production: Intoo Creative Group. Translator: Soo Ryn Lim.

Irene from Red Velvet.

Photo by Peter Ash Lee, styled by Ye Young Kim. Irene from Red Velvet wears Eyeye jacket, $240, eyeye-official.com; Oioi shirt, $43, oi-oi.co.kr; We Who Prey choker, price upon request, wewhoprey.com.

Hair by Ji Sun Han, makeup by Ho Sook Kwon. Producer: Biel Parklee. Local Production: Intoo Creative Group. Translator: Soo Ryn Lim.

Yeri from Red Velvet.

Photo by Peter Ash Lee, styled by Ye Young Kim. Yeri from Red Velvet wears Miu Miu dress, price upon request, miumiu.com. Hair by Ji Sun Han, makeup by Ho Sook Kwon. Producer: Biel Parklee. Local Production: Intoo Creative Group. Translator: Soo Ryn Lim.

Miu Miu dress, price upon request, miumiu.com.

Seul Gi from Red Velvet.

Photo by Peter Ash Lee, styled by Ye Young Kim.

Seul Gi from Red Velvet wears Oioi sweater, $68, oi-oi.co.kr. Hair by Ji Sun Han, makeup by Ho Sook Kwon. Producer: Biel Parklee. Local Production: Intoo Creative Group. Translator: Soo Ryn Lim.

The designer Kim Won Joong, 29, is a former model who has walked in the past for Prada and Kenzo but is now at the helm of his own line, 87MM, which he founded with fellow models Kim Chan and Park Jiwomn. The friends just wanted to sell their designs online, but they attracted such a cult following that 87MM (pronounced “eight-seven milli”) is now one of the most sought after menswear brands in Korea.

Photo by Peter Ash Lee. Styled by Ye Young Kim. Kim Won Joong wears 87MM Seoul coat, $160, shirt, $68, hat, $36, socks, $8, and pants and shoes, prices upon request, 87mm.co.kr. Production and Casting by Intoo Creative Group. Photo Editor: Biel Parklee.

Oh Hyuk is the frontman of Hyukoh, an indie rock band signed to HIGHGRND, a music label founded by Korea’s most popular hip-hop group, Epik High. Hyukoh has put out two EPs since their start in 2014, and both have been chart-toppers (helped along by an appearance on South Korea’s biggest variety show “Infinite Challenge”). It might be because their mellow sound is a far cry from the plethora of over-produced K-pop.

Photo by Peter Ash Lee. Styled by Ye Young Kim. Oh Hyuk wears Vetements jacket, $4,750, matchesfashion.com; SJYP T-shirt, price upon request, collection at ssense.com. Hair by Ji Sun Han, makeup by Ha Sook Kwon. Production and Casting by Intoo Creative Group. Photo Editor: Biel Parklee. Fashion Assistant: Hye Mi Paeng.

The singer Yoon Bo-ra, better known as Bora, is a member of the chart-topping girl group Sistar, and of the spinoff Sistar19. And because pop stardom in Korea is just a gateway to all corners of the entertainment industry, the 26-year old has also acted on a number of TV shows, including a web drama in which she plays the captain of a judo team, and was recently announced as the emcee of a new fashion show that will offer insights to her idol singer life. Not that her nearly one million Instagram followers can’t get that already on their phones.

Photo by Peter Ash Lee. Styled by Ye Young Kim.

From left: Yoon Bo-ra wears 91,2 top, $252, vfiles.com. Yoon Bo-ra wears Acne Studios top, $440, and pants, $690, acnestudios.com; Miu Miu shoes, $620, miumiu.com.

Hair by Ji Sun Han, makeup by Ha Sook Kwon. Production and Casting by Intoo Creative Group. Photo Editor: Biel Parklee. Fashion Assistant: Hye Mi Paeng.

Born in Los Angeles, the actress Ye Seul Han, slid smoothly into Korean films and TV after winning a televised modeling competition in 2001. Since then, she’s proved a versatile talent, switching between drama and screwball comedy (she won several best new actress accolades for the 2007 romcom Miss Gold Digger).

Photo by Peter Ash Lee. Styled by Ye Young Kim.

Ye Seul Han wears Isabel Marant top, $500, Isabel Marant, San Francisco, 415.781.0113; Prada earrings, $515, prada.com.

Hair by Ji Sun Han, makeup by Ha Sook Kwon. Production and Casting by Intoo Creative Group. Photo Editor: Biel Parklee. Fashion Assistant: Hye Mi Paeng.

As the host of Korea’s Next Top Model, Yoon Joo Jang is basically K-Pop’s answer to Tyra Banks. The 35-year-old began modeling nearly two decades ago, and in that time has released two albums and co-authored three books. Not one to slow down, she made her acting debut last year, in Ryoo Seung-wan’s crime thriller Veteran—which she promoted to her 944,000 Instagram followers, alongside pics of how she eats, travels, and of course, models.

Photo by Peter Ash Lee. Styled by Ye Young Kim.

From left: Yoon Joo Jang wears Tchai Kim dress, skirt, and shoes, prices upon request, blog.naver.com/tchaikim; Nohant coat, $368, the-nohant.com. Yoon Joo Jang wears Thursday Island blouse, $222, thursdayisland.com.

Hair by Ji Sun Han, makeup by Ha Sook Kwon. Production and Casting by Intoo Creative Group. Photo Editor: Biel Parklee. Fashion Assistant: Hye Mi Paeng.

Since GFriend, or Girlfriend, released its first EP in January 2015, its six members have kept up a perfect, schoolgirl-uniformed synchrony—even when they are falling repeatedly on a rain-slicked stage during a performance in Seoul last fall; and even when a video of the incident went viral. That slippery start, though, ended up being just another showcase of the group’s ultra-coordinated professionalism: Now on their third EP, Yuju, Sowon, Yerin, Eunha, SinB, and Umji are still at the top of the charts, making them one of the only major faces of K-pop signed to a smaller label.

Photo by Peter Ash Lee. Styled by Ye Young Kim. GFriend wears their own dresses; stylist’s own shirts.

Hair by Han Ji Sun, makeup by Won Jo Yeon. Production and Casting by Intoo Creative Group, Uni Yang, and Roian. Photo Editor: Biel Parklee.

Bizzy, Mi Rae, and Tiger JK of the MFBTY rap collective—as in, My Fans [Are] Better Than Yours. They were later absorbed into the Drunken Tiger Collective in 2013, but their superior fans continue to refer them as MFBTY.

Photo by Peter Ash Lee. Styled by Ye Young Kim.

From left: Bizzy wears Stereo Vinyls jacket, $162, stereo-shop.com. Yoon Mi-rae wears Stereo Vinyls sweatshirt, $59, stereo-shop.com. Tiger JK wears his own clothing.

Hair by Han Ji Sun, makeup by Won Jo Yeon. Production and Casting by Intoo Creative Group, Uni Yang, and Roian. Photo Editor: Biel Parklee.

Bak Jun Young, or Bizzy, is a founding pillar of Korean hip-hop. Much the 36-year old rapper’s work, though, stays behind the scenes: He’s a prolific songwriter and producer for major Korean acts like YDG and Kim Wan Sun.

Photo by Peter Ash Lee. Styled by Ye Young Kim.

Bizzy wears Prada jacket, price upon request, prada.com.

Hair by Han Ji Sun, makeup by Won Jo Yeon. Production and Casting by Intoo Creative Group, Uni Yang, and Roian. Photo Editor: Biel Parklee.

Rapper Tiger JK, of Drunken Tiger, is the one to thank for bringing the hip-hop movement to Korea. The founder and former CEO of Feel Ghood Music, he’s not only had a successful music career of his own with wife and collaborator Yoon Mi-Rae, but also launched the careers of other K-hip-hop stars. Think of him as the Korean Lucious Lyon.

Photo by Peter Ash Lee. Styled by Ye Young Kim.

Tiger JK wears Gucci dressing gown, $5,490, and shirt, $850, gucci.com.

Hair by Han Ji Sun, makeup by Won Jo Yeon. Production and Casting by Intoo Creative Group, Uni Yang, and Roian. Photo Editor: Biel Parklee.

The wife of Tiger JK and third member of Drunken Tiger, Yoon Mi-rae, 34, is a Texas-born rapper who debuted in South Korea at the age of 16. Beyond their shared musical career, Yoon Mi-rae and Tiger JK have one son together.

Photo by Peter Ash Lee. Styled by Ye Young Kim.

Yoon Mi-rae wears Gucci jacket, $3,860, pants, $850, and, shirt, $910, gucci.com.

Hair by Han Ji Sun, makeup by Won Jo Yeon. Production and Casting by Intoo Creative Group, Uni Yang, and Roian. Photo Editor: Biel Parklee.

Stephanie Young Hwang, better known as Tiffany, and sometimes known intimately on the Internet to her 2.5 million Instagram followers as Fany, is part of the pop juggernaut Girls Generation, which is like a normal-sized girl group, plus three (or sometimes four) more. In fact, the group was big enough to spin off a super subgroup, Girls Generation-TTS, featuring the three best vocalists, among them Tiffany, 26. Might she just be in the running for a stellar solo career, a la Bey?

Photo by Peter Ash Lee. Styled by Ye Young Kim.

Stephanie Young Hwang wears SJYP shirt and skirt, prices upon request, collection at ssense.com.

Production and Casting by Intoo Creative Group, Uni Yang, and Roian. Photo Editor: Biel Parklee.

Choi Jeong Hwa, 55, has garnered plenty of comparisons to Pop artists since he first burst onto the Seoul art scene a decade ago, thanks mostly to his brightly colored irreverence with materials. (Think plastic bottles, dollar-store dishware, and Iron Man masks.) Hwa’s super-sized ambition is equally modern: His installations have included 1,000 doors piled ten stories high, and two million pieces of trash strung in dignified garlands—on the Seoul Olympic Stadium, no less.

Photo by Peter Ash Lee. Styled by Ye Young Kim.

Choi Jeong Hwa wears OUI Paname T-shirt, $45, park-store.co.kr.

Production and Casting by Intoo Creative Group, Uni Yang, and Roian. Photo Editor: Biel Parklee.

The DJ Peggy Gould is also a street style star, stylist, illustrator, and London correspondent for Harper’s Bazaar Korea. In other words, she is like most fashionable DJs: she dabbles in the art of being a woman about town.

Photo by Peter Ash Lee. Styled by Ye Young Kim.

DJ Peggy Gould wears Used Future hoodie and pants, $68 each, usedfutureeshop.com; Thisisneverthat hat, $43, intl.thisisneverthat.com.

Production and Casting by Intoo Creative Group, Uni Yang, and Roian. Photo Editor: Biel Parklee.

The supermodel Jung Ho Yeon, 23, came in second on Korea’s Next Top Model in 2013, but the red-haired beauty is the top bet to cross over in New York and Europe. Like Cara Delevingne, her goofy selfies—not to mention her street style stardom—have won her a sizable fan base, with over 250k followers.

Photo by Peter Ash Lee. Styled by Ye Young Kim. Model: Jung Ho Yeon.

Jung Ho Yeon wears SJYP T-shirt, overalls, and boots, prices upon request, collection at ssense.com.

Production and Casting by Intoo Creative Group, Uni Yang, and Roian. Photo Editor: Biel Parklee.

The model-turned-actress Seung Ah Yun, 32, turned into a huge star during her run on the hit TV show “Playful Kiss.” She got even more attention for drunken tweets sent by the actor Kim Moo Yeol, outing their secret relationship. The story has a happy ending, though—they got married last year. There’s no drama like K-drama.

Photo by Peter Ash Lee. Styled by Ye Young Kim.

From left: Seung Ah Yung wears Tchai Kim dress, pants, and shoes, prices upon request, blog.naver.com/tchaikim. Seung Ah Yung wears Low Classic jacket, price upon request, and T-shirt, $49, collection at openingceremony.com.

Hair by Hye Young Lee. Production and Casting by Intoo Creative Group, Uni Yang, and Roian. Photo Editor: Biel Parklee.

Since meeting in London where they were both studying fashion, the husband-and-wife designer duo Steve J & Yoni P, who are flanked here by the supermodel Ho Yeon Jung (left) and the stylist Ye Young Kim, have built their denim brand into one of the hottest tickets at Seoul Fashion Week. Their hip-hop inspired pieces, carried by the likes of Opening Ceremony and 10 Corso Como Seoul, have a feminine touch and a light sense of humor; and they’re coveted by Korean celebrity devotees, not to mention their 100k-plus followers on Instagram.

Photo by Peter Ash Lee. Styled by Ye Young Kim. Model: Jung Ho Yeon.

From left: Ho Yeon Jung wears SJYP jacket, price upon request, collection at ssense.com. Yoni P wears SJYP coat, T-shirt, and boots, prices upon request, collection at ssense.com. Steve J wears SJYP jacket, T-shirt, and overalls, prices upon request, collection at ssense.com. Ye Young Kim wears SJYP jacket, price upon request, collection at ssense.com.

Production and Casting by Intoo Creative Group, Uni Yang, and Roian. Photo Editor: Biel Parklee.

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