HYPEBEAST - GIRIBOY SF ALBUM INTERVIEW [eng]
HYPEBEAST GIRIBOY INTERVIEW 180924
There’s so much that Giriboy wants to do. Various activities with the crew WYBH and SMTM777 producing, and his clothing brand I4P which was launch recently, Giriboy has been busy however, he says he wants to do more than the present, tougher than now. Science fiction album which was released last weekend and acrnm MV are just one of the many things he wants to do. Giriboy who wants to jump into the world of a sci-fi movie immediately. We met Giriboy who lives his day imagining himself using superhero powers everyday. Before he departs to a different space, a zero-dimensional space.
You seems busy with SMTM and lots of producing. How are you these days?
I’ve been releasing albums and making music. I’ve been making many music for SMTM and making clothes. Doing this and that really makes me flustered. During my promotions, there’s lots of times where I had to go out only after sleeping for 2 hours, or only 30 minutes.
Where did you get the inspiration for the acrnm MV?
Acrnm was made because I wanted to maximise the cool things I want to do. I used to buy a lot of branded clothings meaninglessly, and when I settled my accounts at the end of the year, I realised 80% of my money was spent on clothes. I don’t even drink or go out to play so I felt like it was a waste. I was sick of it so I stopped buying them. I was looking for clothes that I can wear for a long time and Park Sung-jin hyung came in to Just Music at the time. When I saw that hyung wearing a full set of acronym clothes, I started looking at overseas sites, ebay or grailed and bought acronym clothes whenever they release something new up on the sites. That’s why the featuring of this song was by Goretexx. Right when I made the song, I thought that the featuring has to be this hyung.
How about the inspiration for the title song Keyboard and Skyblue?
I wanted to do love songs with SF movie vibes like <Her> & <About Time>. I wrote lyrics like “After we bid farewell, I can only see you in the digital world. I want to see you in real life.” I wanted to do something unique to match the album concept.
The songs that you produced yourself seems so different. Do you have any songs you are more affectionate to?
I really like acrnm the most among all the songs made from my beats. I wanted to add some grandiosity to trap which is very trendy lately. Be why does that a lot in Korea. I sent the song to bewhy for feedbacks, and he said the song is right up his alley so I thought “okay it’s done. Let’s release it.” (laughs)
Describe the featurings in your album including bewhy with one sentence.
Goretexx: A wall. He’s really so cool he’s like a wall
Swings: Let’s skip this question. What should I say? A love hate relationship. It’s a love hate relationship.
In the last Hypebeast interview, swings said he is making a new label with Giriboy. So how is it going?
We took all the profile pictures and made album plans as well. It should be announced soon but we are all still waiting. It might even be announced tomorrow. People who already knew about it will know. There are lots of spoilers on instagram. We will announce it soon.
You have many songs about the space, and your crew is also named Space Flying (WYBH), is it because you want to escape from earth?
Yes, I totally want to get away from earth. I want to get away from this world even for just a second. I want to live in a world like <Lord Of the Rings> <Star Wars> <Alien> for just a month. I like zombies world too. I would like to have something special everyday. Like maybe I have a superpower or something. I want to go to a different world. A zero dimensional world.
Since when have you been interested in science fiction?
I liked dramas, movies, comics with unique plots when I was in high school. I love magic genres and fantasy genres. These days my favourite drama is Black Mirror. There are people who hate it because the story makes you feel bad afterwards but I really love it, I keep checking when the next season will be up. I also really really love <Her>.
Surprisingly it’s not action but it’s a romance genre. Doesn’t science fiction equals to action?
Romance can end with romance, however, in <Her> they didn’t use any special devices. In Star Wars, I even memorised the entire family tree. That’s how much I love it. (laughs)
What is WYBH crew to Giriboy?
My best friend. My closest friends in the entire world, my younger brothers. I don’t really talk much usually and I’m afraid of meeting people but even when I’m having a hard time, WYBH crew are my real friends who I can call and we can go out to have fun comfortably.
It’s very difficult. I didn’t have any opportunity to show myself as a producer, but this was an opportunity. I think of it as an opportunity to make someone cooler and a place I can prove myself.
What is the criteria to a good rapper, a good producer?
What’s important to a good musician is that one has to be able to get drunk in his own music. Being able to have fun while making music thinking “wow I can’t believe I made this”. And also being able to get what’s inside of you out and possessing the tools to express something same differently in your own way, that’s a good rapper.
Let’s go back to talking about fashion. When and how did you get interested in fashion?
I think it was in middle school when I saw the hyungs wearing Jordan shoes. It was when Big Bang was really popular and if Big Bang wore bape hoodies, I wanted to buy it. If you go to Apgujeong there’s lots of cool hyungs there. I didn’t have money so I only did eye shopping thinking “if I wear this with this it’ll be so cool” “I shall buy this next time”. I started doing part time jobs and earning money, so I bought Jordan and supreme once in a while. Lots of people misunderstood me when I said things about the fashion brands, but I like Gucci, Balenciaga and other brands. I just wrote it for laughs. I really wanted to own every season of vetements and raf simons, it gave me such a hard time. So badly. I am trying my best to be to be frugal. But I am in a dilemma, if I should buy two more pairs of acronym shoes. (laughs)
The brand that you launched last spring, and the first track of the album “I4P”, what does it mean?
It can be read as 148 or I four P, they are numbers appeared in my dream. The comic book #148 dropped and I woke up trying to pick it up. After that there was another incident which involves these numbers as well. I talked about this so much so if you just try to search it on internet you’ll find it. I thought of using the numbers which appeared in my dreams somewhere and when I decided to make a brand, it matched well. The slogan ‘Don’t save on sehtolc eht!’ is read as ‘don’t save on the clothes’. I wrote it spelling backwards like that so it looks cooler. (laughs) It was another phrase initially but it overlapped with Kid Milli’s Nondisclothes which was released earlier, so it was spelled backwards. It means “don’t save on the clothes”. Just wear it. There are people who wear their shoes really carefully. It makes me wonder if it is necessary to go to that extent. I want to show a culture, a movement where you can wear clothes comfortably.
What made you start this brand?
I wanted to make clothes that I can wear on a daily basis. When I made up my mind not to buy expensive brands, I thought it will be cool if I make clothes to wear myself. Also I don’t have any hobbies so I started making things. Making music and watching movies was my everything, but it was boring living life like that.
What do you think of Kid Milli’s Nondisclothes?
It’s really cool. It gives me motivation. Initially I wanted to make a brand with Milli early last year, but the middle person who was going to help us became really busy so we couldn’t proceed with it. Now we send each other clothes. The pros of doing it separately is that when we collaborate the next time, the synergy will be stronger. It will be nicer if we do well at our own things and then collaborate. And since our styles are different.
Which star did Giriboy come from?
I came from Earth’s Do Bonggu district Wang Shimri. But I want to go to a different place, a different star. To a zero dimensional space.
Is there anything else you want to say?
What I want to say to my fans is I’m really grateful to you all for liking me. I thought of quitting few years ago when it became boring to me. But because of you all who listen to my music, I gained confidence and I’m going to continue working, more consistently and even tougher than now. I think it’s only right to to show as much as how thankful I am to you all. Anyway I’m going to continue moving forward consistently so I hope you guys continue to watch over me too.
