04. 13. 2020
The End // Young B // 2020 // Rap, Hiphop
The End was released as a digital single early this year and is one of my favorite tracks by Young B or Yang Hong Won as he currently goes by. I first came across Young B when watching the Korean TV show, Show Me The Money (SMTM) Season 8 and really enjoyed his vice and style of rapping. Here is a video of his boom bap…! He has a lot more groove(?) and composure than his opponent.
SMTM is a rapping competition show where amateurs, underground rappers and well-known artists perform multiple rap battles and stages. Even as one of the younger rappers, Young B placed second in the competition, showing his drastic improvement from previous years. His newest album, Stranger, clearly shows this change as he demonstrates better flow, diction and overall performance (one of my favorites from that album is Rose (Feat. Skinny Brown, Homeboy)!)
Like a lot of his other songs, The End takes an introspective view about himself as an individual in society and raps about how his confusions will end (most likely due to his own will). His somewhat moody and declarative track reminded me of the ambivalent feelings I had when watching the election trucks this morning. They were loud and annoying.
It was ironic how election campaigns and advertisements encouraged voting would follow right after news that subtly shamed those who were not practicing social distance. I could understand that the elections were important. But what I couldn’t understand was that there were no measures taken to guarantee the safety of the voters. To cast a vote, an eligible citizen would have to physically go to the venue and stamp their slip. There were no mentions of procedures that would demonstrate the voters’ safety or if there were other methods other than physically being present at the location to vote.
So… did I vote? No. I wasn’t familiar with the candidates enough to think my vote would be effective.
