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j-hope of BTS just released an album called 'Jack in the Box', the first album released by a member of BTS after the announcement of their break earlier this year. it is filled with dark visuals and music videos, serious rapping and a consistent sound and concept; a complete opposite in approach to j-hope's last mixtape 'Hope World'. j-hope held a launch party for his new album, and invited to it were a lot of well-known stars from the korean rap scene that i really enjoy the music of. i didn't like the single release 'MORE', so i was suspicious with the engagement with all these krappers - are they just sucking up to a member of one of the most famous groups in korea? and the answer i've found out to that after listening to this album is yes. but i get it, if you were invited to anything by a BTS member, you wouldn't say no even if you hated them. 'Jack in the Box' has fantastic production and holds the highs of this work. but this production isn't his own, so what is he left with but his rap? and his rap is ...okay at best. i always thought his strengths as a 'serious rapper' held in his snappy songs like '1VERSE' and 'Base Line'. but despite this album being filled with songs lasting only two minutes long, maybe half of them actually stick, and it's thanks mostly to the production. j-hope always sounded like he enjoyed what he was doing - there was guttural feeling in his angsty verses of some BTS songs, there was fun in the radio-friendly 'Hope World', there was deserved flaunt in songs like '1VERSE'. there was heart to what he did. what was the tone/feeling for 'Jack in the Box'? shouting? shouting in the name of 'seriousness'? whatever it was, the amount of it normalises whatever heart there was into a flat line. Equal Sign and Future are the only songs that j-hope actually sounds comfortable in. these two songs alone show an upgrade from 'Hope World' in its commercial pop-rap sound. In terms of 'serious' rap songs though, Arson is the only one that showcases what he specialises in - a strong, flaunt-y trap rap. he tries to fit too many syllables in a line, his english sounds awkward and there is too much of it, the choruses are repetitive and so falsely angry. maybe he just cannot be this 'serious' guy when he's spent almost 10 years as a happy-go-lucky k-pop idol of sunshine and rainbows and wholesome chungus doggo. maybe since this album is more single-faceted in its concept, his rapping just doesn't come as a pleasant surprise anymore compared to a lot of his single verses in BTS's songs. maybe i've just realised that he is not a good rapper. maybe i should stop writing about stuff that does not matter and say the album is simply okay. have you given this album a listen? did you love it? did you hate it? what would you rate it?
