Hitting us with that dding dding ding…
[Video]
[5.33]
Joshua Minsoo Kim: If there’s anything you should know about “Dding,” it’s that it peaked at #3 on Gaon, topping off rap collective Indigo Music’s year-long ascent towards mainstream popularity. Their single “flex” peaked at #11 last year, and tracks like “Work Out” and “IndiGO” were already popular in their own right, but “Dding” has been so successful that the music video is filled with screenshots of the song taking Melon’s #1 spot (above MC The Max and Chung Ha) just to flaunt its achievement. What does all this mean, exactly? It means that there’s finally legitimate and verifiable proof of the country’s new underground rap scene becoming part of its public consciousness. Consider this: “Dding” is a single that has no ties to reality show wins, K-pop groups, or Korea’s distinct brand of pop rap (think: Penomeco, who has his music released by SM; or Crush, who frequently collaborates with K-pop stars). And while ATL’s big rap stars have influenced idols like G-Dragon and Zico, the artists here are emblematic of a new generation of Korean rappers who are consciously creating music in a time after ATL and Soundcloud’s impact to the rap landscape is well-documented. Like many Korean artists, the fact that they’re not beholden to certain trends and scenes means that they’re more open to branching out from certain styles. It also means that they can easily conform to a successful pop rap-type song that South Korea will open its arms to. Jvcki Wai, who used to go by Jackee.Y before changing her sound into post-Thugger/Uzi AutoTune mania, is the main star here. Her melodies are often as catchy as they are harsh, her voice an assertive snarl and pirouette that penetrates the skull. Young B and Osshun Gum are more traditional, as expected, but the latter throws in an unexpected howl to keep things relatively wild. Han Yo Han, who has half-screamed on previous tracks, comes through with an affected performance that is very much what the song needs to maintain interest. At the end of the day, this is really just another “flex” except written around Jvcki’s modus operandi (both songs were produced by the ever–versatile Giriboy), but given how successful this song has been, it’s a suitable redux.
[6]
Will Rivitz: Add Jvcki Wai to the ever-expanding list of people beating Young Thug at his own game: her Pollock-splatter hook cuts through the song’s fluttering instrumental like a carillon. She deserves more than the guest verses she’s been handed, only the last of which approaches her own, but a stellar sonic core like this one can only rot so much from outside influence.
[7]
Ryo Miyauchi: A posse cut by a group of rookies all willing their success into existence: it’s nothing new in the world of rap, filled with naive newcomers throwing around blank statements about how they will win without a care to outline just how they will do so. The self-belief displayed by Young B, Osshun Gum and Han Yo Han convinces enough for “Dding” to be competent, even if it’s all just talk. Yet it’s a little disappointing for the three to settle with “just good enough” when Jvcki Wai is not only showing off her Auto-Tune-injected style but also handing out actual receipts: her debunking the life expectancy of a female rapper sounds personal, elevating her presence on the track as real hard proof against the scene’s glass ceiling.
[5]
Iris Xie: I don’t think I’ve ever heard a rap song incorporate air pollution as part of their aspirational hook. “This year and next year are ours / We beat them off without any mask” is both extremely catchy and apocalyptic. My favorite thing about this song is that it’s just as wavy and catchy as any of the hip hop and rap songs I heard growing up in the Bay, but this sounds very much its own thing, with the amount of emphasis on higher pitched sounds and melodies, along with a focused aggression that plays well with the chewy consonants. Plus, it’s just damn cool that Jvcki Wai is first titled, the first introduced, and the main one with the chorus.
[6]
Thomas Inskeep: None of this quartet of rappers isparticularly good, but Jvcki Wai is especially obnoxious, like Slim Shady at his snottiest and loudest. The fact that she’s the leadoff rapper and gets the chorus to herself is especially off-putting. And the track sounds like a kids’ videogame, so there’s that.
[1]
Julian Axelrod: I don’t know if it’s the mixing, the language barrier or the sheer chaos of this South Korean posse cut, but the beat is the real draw for me. It comes so close to being overbearing, sometimes literally drowning out the performers. Yet its 8-bit pizzicato plunks carpet bomb my lizard brain into submission, turning a standard banger into a deranged duet between man and machine. The humans can spit and scream and shout through a thick Auto-Tune fog all they want. But resistance is futile; the rap singularity is nigh.
[7]