김심야’s discography is a record of the internal conflict encountered in the process of creating people who speak the same language. The lyrics are a collection of thoughts that come to mind when faced with the many hurdles one faces as a musician. At least that’s how I see it. Let’s take a look at the albums released after changing from AXAX Kuddy to 김심야. During [KYOMI], I was confident in music even though I had no money. It was around this time that XXX began to receive serious attention in the domestic market.
In [Moonshine], the process of receiving attention but realizing that attention and money are two different things is revealed. Just like people who make and sell moonshine, I keenly felt the reality that I could only sell this kind of music to people who wanted it. But at this time, I was still confident in my music.
A year later, [LANGUAGE] was released. From here, 김심야’s cynicism is directed at both the external world and the internal world. The best rappers weren’t necessarily rich. Afterwards, [SECOND LANGUAGE] defines musicians as workers by comparing them to office workers. Labor also becomes expensive due to market logic, making scarce human resources expensive. So, making music that other artists don’t want to do makes money.
Afterwards, XXX was nominated for both Han Daeum and KHA and won the award. Afterwards, 김심야’s personal work [Dog] will be released. I do acknowledge my own accomplishments. At the same time, they feel empty because the highest artistic value they pursue does not directly lead to money.
[Dog] was an album with an impressive production that combined the grammar of other genres, such as footwork, with a focus on absolute hip-hop. It was around that time that MF Doom began to be rediscovered in Korea. And MF Doom is an artist that is always mentioned when discussing absolute hip hop. [Dog], which was released under such circumstances, was remembered as “the 김심야 solo album that had many different likes and dislikes.”
I won’t confirm what 김심야 felt in that situation. However, after the release of [Dog], 김심야 often complained of fatigue through Instagram Live. From 2016 to 2020, we worked on at least one full-length album a year, but since then, except for the 4-track EP [w18c], all of them have been singles. In 25 years, there was no music activity at all. And now, 김심야 is back as [Bundle 1.2].
We released two tracks that borrowed from the abstract hip-hop sound introduced in [Dog]. Looking at the title, it appears to be a track that was made together while working on [Dog], but was left out for some reason. 김심야’s unique sticky layback and sharp cynicism that people miss are still there. Are you planning to release another album soon? If that’s true, what kind of album will 김심야 return to us with? At that time, will 김심야 finally be able to create people who communicate in the same language in the next album?