Park Kyung’s Artistic Journey
Fans of older boy groups learn very quickly that as mandatory military service and contract expiration creeps up, there is a period of uncertainty where we fear losing our idols from the music industry. Since most groups feature a fairly large age gap between the oldest and youngest members, this period of time often seems to last forever. But it’s precisely during this time that group members can venture off on their own after spending all of their time promoting as a group.
For Block B, this moment is currently in full swing. With leader ZICO leaving to start his own entertainment company and the elder members deep into their military time, the younger boys have been pursuing their own solo paths while the official fate of Block B hangs in limbo. This is where we currently stand with rapper Park Kyung, one of the Block B members not currently promoting with Block B BASTARZ, but rather working solo. Since his first solo track release in 2015, Kyung has been expanding his music career and maturing his sound along the way.
If you look up Kyung’s earlier releases like “Inferiority Complex” or “Ordinary Love,” you may be surprised to find how much he has changed direction. “Ordinary Love” was his solo debut featuring Park Boram, which has achieved a respectable 34 million views on YouTube as we’re writing this. “Inferiority Complex” came out in 2016 and featured GFRIEND’s Eunha, following the exact same bright concept of his first release. These two tracks especially showcase Kyung’s cute side, featuring bright and pastel colors and upbeat melodies singing of budding puppy love. The first impression many have to the label “rapper” coincides with a harder, more intense type of style, but early on Kyung had no qualms about showcasing the softer side of rap through his releases.
His first mini-album NOTEBOOK released in 2017 contained the previous single release tracks along with a few others that matched the same warm, soft tone. We see a bit of a shift in 2018 with the release of “Instant,” a track with heavier R&B influences which maintains the overall brightness that is Kyung’s signature sound. What really brings out the differences in this song is the groovy feature of SONAMOO’s Sumin, who often works with a lot of famous Korean rappers and R&B artists in her own solo career.
He’s released a couple of solo tracks since then, but none have quite gained the traction he originally had at the beginning of his solo career. Despite that, Kyung has begun building a successful career as a producer. In 2017 he produced the digital single “Yesterday” for his group Block B, landing the group an all-kill on Korea’s music charts. On top of that, he was behind the song “Love or Not,” a release from fellow member Taeil that features gugudan’s Kim Sejeong and was nominated for a 2017 Melon Music Awards “Hot Trend Award.” 2018 brought him another opportunity to produce the lead single for his group, this time in the form of title track “Don’t Leave.” His productions also shifted to other groups, with his special single “KeePer” given to rising rookie artists The Boyz.
This brings us to 2019, which catapulted the artist back into the spotlight (though this isn’t always a good thing). In November 2019, Kyung took to Twitter to criticize the act of “sajaegi,” which roughly translates to chart manipulation (in the form of artists or agencies buying and streaming their own albums). He pointed out six specific artists that he claims took place in the act, sparking an entire debate about the widespread use of such a tactic in the K-Pop industry.
The artists accused spoke out against Kyung’s claims, threatening to take legal actions against him. Though the tweets have now been deleted, this led to a number of anonymous industry insiders confirming that sajaegi is actively used in the industry, highlighting its active impact on the results of Korean digital charts. All of this comes to light amidst the Produce 101 voting manipulation scandal that has gone on for months, shining more light on the common unorthodox practices of the K-Pop industry.
Kyung’s mandatory military service is coming up quickly, so it’s likely we won’t be hearing from him for quite some time. Regardless of the past or present, it’s hard to argue that he will not return in the future as an influential producer and artist that younger generations will look up to.