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deobis · 5 years ago

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i dare u to write an essay on why u love sunoos rapping

………………………….. this is only a fraction of what I want to say but it was getting kinda long so……… uhhhhhhhhh :)

우리 얘길 펼쳐봐 머리 맡에Baby what you waiting for?다른 말로 표현할 수 없는 느낌너와 난 서로를 끌어당겼지한없이 역시

Unfold our story by the bedsideBaby what you waiting for?A feeling that can’t be expressed in other wordsYou and I were attracted to each otherEndlessly, as expected

This one verse, that takes no longer than 10 seconds and no more than one breath of air, is where I started falling for Sunwoo’s rappingーand soon after, falling for him as well. As someone who has never studied rap, I could never really explain why these 5 lines sent shivers down my spine. This ask really made me sit down and think about why this verse (thanks Andy 😉), and all his rapping in general, resonates with me and never fails to impress me.

I do not have a rap background; however, I played piano for around 8 years so I have a decent understanding of rhythm and dynamic. Sunwoo takes these two things and makes them his bitch. In this essay I will be exploring Sunwoo’s rap stylistically, and rhythmically.

Looking back, I’m not that surprised that his 4EVER verse got to me. It’s a melody rap. To be honest, I had never really been a fan of rap in the past. I only delved into it when I started stanning Stray Kids. Living in the US of A, rap here doesn’t really appeal to me. Sure, some are headbangers, but I never felt the need to put anything on repeat. After finding SKZ (pun intended lol), I became more interested in the rhythm and dynamic of rap in kpop. Some of my favorites are I SEE and Start Line in terms of rap/melody rap. As a Stay, my favorite kpop rapper quickly became Changbin. Changbin’s rap always stands out in any SKZ song; this is mostly due to his unique rasp and deep voice but also bc his style is punctual. Basically, he hits down beats hard and his syllables are often sharply pronounced. Since then, I have paid far more attention to rappers, both soloists and in groups. Some of my favorite rappers to this day are: Sunwoo, Haon, Changbin, Hua Chenyu, and Zhou Zhennan. And all for different reasons ofc. But Sunwoo stands out from the rest and really has a place in my heart, even though he may not be the most skilled out of all of them.

Beginning with the verse in 4EVER, the reason it first stood out to me was because 1: it was in the very beginning of the song, and 2: the flow was very interesting and different from other flows I have heard in kpop. The song starts of with Chanhee and Kevin’s vocals, setting the tone of the song to very mystical and calming. When Sunwoo comes in after them, he is able to retain this feeling while also bringing a feeling of excitement. This feeling of excitement and lightheartedness is introduced due to the added beat in the background and the faster flow that Sunwoo brings in. However, he doesn’t speed up too much. It’s just the right amount. It really gives the feeling of looking back on the beginning of a relationship and seeing it as fate or destiny.

Anyone could rap this verse and it would sound fine, but the emotions Sunwoo brings out while rapping is accompanied by his unique pronunciation and makes it impossible to replicate. Sunwoo begins the first line softly, but then emphasizes the “펼.” You’ll find that when he emphasizes a syllable, he also tends to drag it out a bit as well. Often times, rappers in kpop will emphasize a syllable and make it extremely sharp. This way, it stands out and adds an impact. Changbin’s first verse in Hellevator is a good example of a rap that has sharp beats and really contrasts the first few seconds of the song. This adds a shock factor and makes Changbin more memorable. Sunwoo, on the other hand, contrasts the beginning of the song but not for shock factor. It serves as a build up and doesn’t take away from the chorus or the rest of the song. By dragging out the stronger syllables, he really connects the whole verse together. Especially for a song like 4EVER, this effect is needed. In 4EVER, he does this 6 times:

우리 얘길 펼쳐봐 머리 맡에Baby what you waiting for?다른 말로 표현할 수 없는 느낌너와 난 서로를 끌어당겼지한없이 역시

Other rappers tend to rap quickly in order to show their lung capacity or feeling like the quicker, the more talented they are. Sunwoo can rap quickly. He just chooses not to (this is shown in his rapping class in Come On! The Boyz School). The rap in 4EVER, isn’t quick but because he drags out sounds, it flows as one and has no breaths in between (except for one after the second line due to the pause). His second verse in 4EVER does the same thing and sets up the next part of the song perfectly. Along with his rhythmic choices, he also has an interesting pronunciation for certain sounds. One thing I have always been attracted to with vocalists, is the ability to pronounce the “봐” clearly. This is why Kyunsoo and Jinseok are my top two vocalists. However, I have never really seen this sound being pronounced the same way in rap. Sunwoo is able to do this in his second verse in 4EVER. Once again, the stylistic choices he makes are:

발자국을 남겼지 모래 위에마주 봐 서로를 놀라게 만들었던 그 때다른 말 필요 없지 넌 내 세상 속의 주인이른 밤부터 늦은 아침까지 속삭이지

Everything bolded is emphasized and slightly dragged out and the italics are where he cuts the sound slightly shorter. This verse has a very similar flow to the first verse but differs in sound. The first verse is melody rap while the second relies more on the beat. After listening to Sunwoo’s first few lines in 4EVER a million times, I realized that the reason I loved his rap so much was because of all these stylistic choices. He flow and sound choices all revolve around the song itself and though they might not stand out the most at first, listening to a song over and over again makes his parts that much more unique while still blending in with the tone of the song.

Overall, Some things I really adore about Sunwoo’s rapping are:

How he utilizes sound and rhythm to add something new to a song but not taking away anything from it either.

How he doesn’t rely on rhyming to make his rap good. Instead, he often uses near rhyme and the way he raps to make the ends of lines flow together (a good example is their cover of A Midsummer Night’s Sweetness. Even though the rap wasn’t written by him, he raps it differently from San E and personally, I like his version better. It’s more innocent and free-flowing like the song itself.)

His pronunciation.

How he is always so laid back when rapping. He’s chic. That’s the word.

Anyways, this is already long enough. Maybe I’ll do more analysis in the future but as of now Sunwoo is my favorite rapper and I can’t wait until he drops that mixtape to shake the entire world.

#will probably write an essay about his lyrics next #and then comparing his version of CMB to chanyeols #what am i doing w my life smh #eri.asks #andemon ☠️♎️#cutest mutual

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