In a theater originally built as a safe haven for African American artists and musicians, a South Korean rapper speaks in Korean to his audience about having faith in your dreams. The crowd enthusiastically responds with whistles and screams, even before the translator repeats the statement in English.
This is the scene in which I found myself on November 9th, when WAE KPOP was invited to attend BewhY’s concert at the Howard Theatre in Washington, D.C. This concert was one of six stops on his first U.S. tour, The Blind Star, promoting his album of the same name.
Although welcomed, The Blind Star tour was unexpected for a number of reasons, in part due to the fact that BewhY is an independent artist. While BewhY has been in the rap game for a few years, he only recently shot to stardom after winning the competition show, Show Me The Money 5. Following that win, several labels approached BewhY asking to represent him, but he turned them all down. He strongly felt that his path lay outside the scope of any company.
In exchange for creative control, companies support their artists through promotions, media spots, recording studios, and even housing. BewhY, as an independent artist, works without these benefits. This makes an overseas tour a challenge, as he doesn’t have the marketing and media power that being part of a larger company would provide.
The choice to do a solo tour is also very ambitious as well. Typically, Korean hip hop acts, even established ones, tour the United States with their label mates, guaranteeing a larger fan turnout.
With all this in mind, I was curious to see what a concert from an independent Korean rapper would look like. It was an eye-opening experience to say the least.
The show opened with the slow rise of the velour house curtain. BewhY walked onto the stage and stepped up to the mic stand, lit by a single spotlight. As he launched into his first song, “Curtain Call,” nearly every member of the crowd had their hands (and phones) raised high in the air.
After removing the mic stand, BewhY, clad in a black turtleneck, black jeans and black leather jacket, began to pace across the stage. He moved rapidly into the next three songs - “Red Carpet,” “Bichael Yackson,” and “9ucci Bank.” The audience tracked his every movement, screaming and singing along, getting progressively louder when he drew closer to their side of the stage. I was busy taking photos during these songs and it took every ounce of control to not join in.
BewhY ran through about eight songs without breaking to talk to the audience. Eventually, he paused to say hello to the crowd and to introduce himself. After this conversational break, he ran off stage, much to the confusion of the audience, only to reappear a few moments later wearing a black jacket with gold embellishments.
After the wardrobe change, BewhY launched into the second part of his set. This is when the crowd really started getting into the music, dancing and singing harder than before. He did one of my favorite songs, “Where Am I?,” originally featuring Gaeko, which had everyone swaying in unison to the laid back track. His performance of the subtle banger “Forever,” had the crowd head bopping. A few of his earlier hit songs were also included, like “The Time Goes On” and “Puzzle.” The crowd enthusiastically sang along, so loudly in fact, that BewhY stopped rapping at one point and let us do all of the work.
Courtesy @bewhy.meshasoulja
For the encore, BewhY again performed “9ucci Bank.” This time he was decked out in his MV swag, complete with gold fanny pack strapped across his chest and yellow tinted glasses. This was the first time I have ever seen an artist perform the same song twice in one set. No one seemed to mind since by this time the audience’s energy had elevated to a fever pitch.
Of course, BewhY took a few minutes in between his encore songs to strike some poses on stage for the audience. He wanted to make sure we got some nice shots of his Gucci ensemble.
After performing “Mansae,” his collab track with Yang Se Hyung from the show, Infinite Challenge, BewhY closed the show with “Day Day.” First performed on Show Me The Money 5 semi-final round, “Day Day” is arguably one of BewhY’s most popular songs. The crowd roared when the opening notes began to play. As the song that helped catapult him to mainstream fame, it was the perfect end to his first United States solo concert.
As a performer, BewhY was very playful. He wandered back and forth, touching hands and making eye contact with the crowd. If he saw a phone camera pointed at him, he’d often take a few seconds to look directly into the camera while rapping. I got the sense that he just wanted to connect with each and every person there. And from the crowd, we were feeling it too. When the house lights were brought up at BewhY’s request, he remarked, "Every face I see has a smile on it."
I also noticed that when BewhY began speaking directly to the audience, people put their phones and cameras down to really listen. His energy throughout the performance was high, obviously, but he was also very open. He stated at the beginning that, “You know my name, but you don’t know about me.” It felt like he really wanted to share his story with us and provide a little more insight into his artistry.
So throughout the show, in between fielding questions from the crowd and making jokes about how he might grow his hair out, BewhY delved a bit into his album making process.
He explained that “9ucci Bank” was his favorite song on The Blind Star, because it was written about a time in which he valued material wealth over everything else. After winning Show Me The Money 5, he went down a path of indulgence, buying name brand clothes and watches. He began to play small college venues in bulk because it meant he could make more money.
BewhY further explained that during this period, he found solace in his religion, which helped to guide him through his decisions. The rapper has always been very open about his devout Christianity and its role that it plays in his music. Through the help of his religion, "9ucci Bank" was written with the understanding, that while there’s nothing wrong with purchasing expensive items (as he paces the stage in head to toe designer apparel), it shouldn’t distract you from your dreams.
These types of soliloquies were peppered throughout his set, all in Korean. The crowd was, maybe unsurprisingly, comprised mostly of Korean speakers. They knew every word to his songs and enthusiastically shouted out questions during an impromptu Q&A. As a non-Korean speaker, it didn’t even matter to me, because I could gather the gist of what was being said by sentiment alone. (At some point the translator gave up, as the crowd would react before he could translate.) During his first U.S. tour, the abundant force of Korean-speaking fans in the audience must have made BewhY feel more at home.
It does tell me that BewhY has not yet reached an international audience. At other Korean concerts WAE KPOP has attended in the States, there has been more of a diverse crowd. BewhY primarily attracted Asian or Asian American fans, almost all Korean-speaking. Perhaps it’s because BewhY raps mostly in Korean, with minimal English. Maybe it has to do with the fact that he is an independent artist under his own label and has less experience marketing directly to an English speaking crowd.
Either way, as an audience member, it was interesting and entertaining to be present at a foreign language concert. I loved that the crowd was singing along to every word. As a fan of BewhY, I can only imagine what a privilege it would be to be able to rap along with him. The amazing thing about BewhY is that even though I don’t speak Korean, I can still understand his artistry because his music transcends language.
Overall, the concert was enjoyable, energetic, and pleasingly informative. I learned so much more about BewhY than I was expecting. I also enjoyed being a part of such a unique audience. I found it fitting the concert was held in such a richly historied building as the Howard Theatre, which has long been known as ‘the theater of the people.’ It has a legacy of supporting African American artists and providing them with a stage on which to perform. Even in 2017, it is still a place where societal woes and racial tensions can be forgotten, and good music can take centerstage. The Blind Star tour and BewhY’s performance lived up to this legacy, knocking down all barriers of separation and bringing his fans together in mutual appreciation of his music.