K-Pop Beyond The Charts is a weekly review column highlighting Korea's modern day musical innovators who have yet to find mainstream success.
South Korean rap duo Green Club surely aren't the first hip-hop outfit to ride jazz rhythms and melodies and harmonies into the stratosphere of creative heights, nor will they be the last.
But on their single "Studio," released on Tuesday, Green Club embody both the playful experimentation and laidback attitude of the '40s beboppers. The result is one of the best beats of 2015.
Even when they puncture the cool on the comic Ol' Dirty Bastard-sounding hook, the musicality of the loose vocal performance on "Studio" recalls a great horn player departing from traditional melodic structure to play free.
The members of Green Club are no day trippers in the world of jazz.
They clearly understand both the sound and spirit of an art form born and bred across the Pacific. And while many Korean "rap" producers seem to have no problem throwing rhymes over child-friendly uplifting power pop or somber piano ballads and calling it hip-hop, Green Club is clearly well grounded in that world as well, with the long list of shout outs to icons like J Dilla, Pete Rock and DJ Premier only bringing into sharp focus how important it is for them to be part of the continuum.
"Rap is something you do, hip-hop is something you live," rapped the legendary MC KRS-One on his 1993 track "Hip Hop Vs. Rap."
Green Club seem to be living it.
With the spirit of the past lingering in their sound and the raw pioneering spirit of youth in their corner, the future is wide open for this talented duo.
Watch the music video for "Studio" from South Korean rap duo Green Club RIGHT HERE
