[INTERVIEW] Leessang (1)

Leessang once used to be called the group that laments about their hard-luck. They used to write rap lyrics in a small back room of the basement and borrow over 80,000 dollars to make their debut album. That is how hard of a life they lived, and accordingly, what they wrote about in their songs. But they have become a group that can no longer lament over their situation. Every one of the albums will hit No. 1 on music charts and member Gill has been gaining popularity on entertainment shows such as "Come to Play" and "Infinity Challenge". 10Asia met with the duo to talk about their present and future.

10: Your most recent album is called "Hexagonal". Why is that?
Gill: A hexagon is said to be the most stable structure out of all shapes. So we used it with the hope that this album would be the most stable out of all our albums.

10: There is a picture inside the album cover, which shows those hexagons gather to create a larger mass. Your album also had a similar feel to it. Artists such as Jang Ki-ha and Faces and Lucid Fall collaborated with you in this album.
Gill: It's what we have always done -- just that it was much more obvious this time. Even when we did "Leessang Blues", people asked us why we make love songs when we do hip-hop. But we've never considered our music hip-hop. That's just an extension of our work. Music is all one so we asked musicians we like to work with us.

10: Were you close with them?
Gill: Not all of them. We didn't know Jang Ki-ha or Lucid Fall but we called them up to ask if they would meet with us. In Casker's case, I had made a mistake to him after drinking. (laugh) I don't remember doing anything but Yoon Gun told me afterwards. So I called him up to apologize, and asked him if he would work with me on our album.

10: I envy your friendliness. (laugh) The song you did with Jang Ki-ha's band seemed like a song where a group of very close friends were jamming away together.
Gill: It was only possible because there was music. Jang Ki-ha's band knew what our music was like, like we knew theirs, so there was no pressure in working together. Lucid Fall and Malo didn't know our music but they said they would work with us after listening to our music on the Internet. And I took YB's title song from them after asking Yoon Do-hyun for his hard drive. (laugh) Of course, it was only possible because they like us and they thought it would be fun working together.

10: It seems that Jang Ki-ha's band and Lucid Fall both have retro-type sentimentalities.
Gill: That's right. So we had to rework the album after our initial mixing because it sounded too contemporary. Of course, our company had a fit about it. (laugh) But we wanted to talk about "the things you all had forgotten about". Things you have thrown away such as LPs, old cameras, newspapers... We wanted to bring back memories about such things.

10: Do you have any sorrow regarding your past? Some songs talks about painful memories from those days.
Gary: That past is very important to me. So many happy things appear on TV and a lot in dance beats. It may sound exaggerated to call it courage, but I wanted to share the power that music has through such lyrics. Our lives were dismal throughout our first and second albums but I think it's time to think about how to live our lives now.

10: Did you feel that you changed, while writing the lyrics?
Gary: I was completely lost at first because I've said so much up till now. So on the contrary, we decided to take an easier approach. For example, for one of the songs, I decided to write honestly about what happened in this back room. Some parts of it, I would've never used as lyrics in the past, but I thought there really is no reason to hide it. Because it's just who I am. I one read Pablo Neruda's poem and I almost had to catch my breath because it all flowed so smoothly due to his extremely honest, concise and unhindered writing. That really helped a lot.

10: Gary's lyrics almost seemed to be those of a poet in this album. As if you poured out everything that you had thought about throughout your entire life.
Gary: It may sound irresponsible but I don't restructure or remake my rap lyrics after writing them. I know I should but I can't because it ends up giving the lyrics an artificial feeling to them. I just really feel like saying the words as if reading a poem. Whether I'm out drinking or at home alone, I'll write down lines whenever they pop into my head and then go with the ones I think will work after Gill makes the music.
Gill: Offbeats, flow... It's all important. But for me, Leessang is more about delivering.

10: The beat or rhythm of such lyrics in your current album also seems to change depending on the emotional state of the reader.
Gary: That's why when I'm recording, it'll sound different the second time. We talked about that a lot in the beginning and whether it would be better preparing a flow for the rap. But it's already become a habit now.
Gill: Gary does his recordings in one go. But when it doesn't come out in one go, it'll take him a year. (laugh) It once took him a year and a half with one of the songs.

Senior Reporter : Kang Myoung-Seok two@10asia.co.kr, Choi Ji-Eun five@10asia.co.kr
Photographer : Lee Jin-hyuk eleven@10asia.co.kr
Editor : Jessica Kim jesskim@asiae.co.kr, Lee Ji-Hye seven@10asia.co.kr