Crystal S. Anderson, PhD

Director, KPK: Kpop Kollective

At KPK: Kpop Kollective, we are all about K-pop music. Kaetrena writes about the musical influences on K-pop in her series Let KPK Introduce You To… In that vein, I’m starting a new series, #WheeWednesday, where I share music by some of the lesser-known K-pop artists as well as deep cuts from musical releases by K-pop’s more popular artists.

Since it’s called #WheeWednesday, its appropriate that the first song is from Wheesung (Choi Wheesung).

Wheesung debuted in 1999, the same year as another major Korean singer, Park Hyo Shin.  Unlike Park, Wheesung is known for choreography as well as hip-hop inflected tracks. He’s worked with other notable Korean R&B singers like g.o.d.’s Kim Tae Woo as well as veteran hip-hop artists like Masta Wu. Such collaborations show how easily he straddle genres in K-pop. His first album, Like a Movie (2002) was a straight-up R&B endeavor, solidifying his reputation as a vocalist. The intro not only features what will become his common shoutout using his stage name, “RealSlow,” but also announces that “you don’t know me yet.”

Here is your chance to get to know Wheesung! It’s a challenge to choose a representative song by Wheesung, since his work ranges from ballads to dance tracks. “With Me,” from the 2003 album It’s Real, shows off Wheesung’s strong vocals as well as his comfort with hip-hop rhythms and rap verses.

I hope you enjoy this track and see what else RealSlow has to offer!

Sources

Video: Wheesung – Topic. “With Me.” YouTube. 25 Apr 2018. https://youtu.be/F2Hms2TGzeA (19 Mar 2019).

Image: “bnt 화보 -13.” wheesung.com 20 Jan 2018. http://wheesung.com/photo_view.html?dummy=1553027451677 (19 Mar 2019).

#WheeWednesday: “With Me,” Wheesung (2003) by Crystal S. Anderson, PhD is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.