Garion (band)

Garion, formed in 1998, is a South Korea Hip hop group that lead the start of Korean underground hip-hop. The group consists of MC Meta (Jae Hyun Lee), also known as Tronical or 每他, and Naachal (Hyun Il Jeong). J-U (Jae Yu Choi) was once a member of Garion but seceded since 2004 and from their second album, released in 2010, DJ Skip (Do Hyoung Kim) joined them temporarily in concerts. They are members of a crew called 'Bulhanddang' (불한당, 不汗党).

History of the group

Debut

By the time when Club MP (Master Plan) was about to open, MC Meta, who was the representative for Korean hip-hop association BLEX (Black Loud EXploders), decided to form a hip-hop group. Soon he met Naachal in Club MP by chance and formed Garion, then in March 1998, they debuted with two songs: "Lie" (거짓말) and "Reason why we're together" (그래서 함께하는 이유). They were invited to many parties, then soon became celebrated. They were also members of "Under Blades Crew" at that time.^[1]

They often performed acoustic performances with a group called "Vinyl", so producer J-U, who was friends with members of Vinyl, had chances to listen to Garion's music. J-U started to get interested in Garion's music and proposed them to work with Myoung Ho Park (박명호) from Honey Family (허니패밀리). MC Meta took this opportunity to offer J-U to join Garion, and on November 1998, he became the third member of Garion. After a year of resting because of Naachal's health problem, they came back on March 2000, and joined in album called MP Hip-Hop Project 2000 超 as well as other concerts. They made a project team with Seven, member of Da Crew, and also participated in Hong Kong's famous DJ, DJ Tommy's album, and became the first Korean hip-hop artist who participated in foreign hip-hop album.

On August 2001, they made a start to making their first official album. Then on January 2002, they contracted with Alesmusic (알레스뮤직) to focus more on their album. However, their album was broken off for their personal problems for more than a year.

Announcement of First Album

Garion's first album was released on January 2004. Most songs in the album were rerecorded songs that they sung in Club MP during the 1990s to 2000s. Manias were excited but unfortunately didn't gain any spotlight from the masses because of the hard lyrics, restrictive rhymes, and deep beats. Nevertheless, manias high rated their logical lyrics and high quality beats, they called this album as a masterpiece. Also, this album was exported to France and was played through radios and in 2007, it was selected as 100 Masterpiece of Korean Popular Music.^[2]

After J-U's secession

After moving to a new label called Tyle Music, Garion released a single album called Mutu (무투, 武鬪). However, since then, J-U was out of the team and disappointed many fans. The main reason of his secession was because of different music style in interview with Rhythmer.^[3]

Comeback with second album

On June 24, 2010, it was officially announced that Garion will come back with their second album called Garion2 (가리온2) in August.^[4] Nevertheless, because of Naachal's health problem and MC Meta's personal problems, they announced that they are expecting to release their album in September and that DJ Skip became their new assistant DJ.^[5] The album was released in October.^[6] After the release, it was applauded by the masses and the two members actively held concerts. Before long, Naachal became a rap teacher in FnC academy and is teaching students until now.^[7] In 2011, Garion2 (가리온2) received 'The Best Album of the Year', 'The Best Hip-hop Album of the Year', and 'The Best Hip-hop song of the Year' in the Korean Music Awards.^[8] In 2012, MC Meta and Naachal became the founders of the crew 'Bulhanddang' (불한당, 不汗党).^[9]

Discography

• January 9, 2004 《Garion》
• October 25, 2005 《Mutu (무투(武鬪))》
• December 16, 2005 《After that day (그 날 이후)》
• October 26, 2012 《Garion2 (가리온2)》

Individual career

MC Meta

MC Meta had many solo career for a long time and even continued after Garion was formed. He had some collaboration works with DJ Soulscape and Da Crew (다 크루). He often held a class in Haja Center and taught hip-hop. Some of these students made a label called Soul Company (소울 컴퍼니), and thinking MC Meta as a spiritual leader. From April 2011 to August, MC Meta released four singles, collaborated with DJ Wreckx.^[10] Before long, studio album was released and was also praised by the listeners.

Naachal

Naachal didn't have any solo careers until the release of 《Mutu(무투(武鬪)》. He was busy on his school but also there was a rumor that Naachal didn't prefer featuring on another track. He also had some bad health problems. However, after the release of 《Mutu(무투(武鬪)》, he participated in many songs and on May 2009, released a project album called Golden Boy Training Academy with Issac Squab.

J-U

J-U started his career as a producer in 1995 in Germany and when he returned to Korea, he participated in concerts in hip-hop club Honey. Then he moved to Club MP and met with MC Meta and Naachal. After his succession from Garion, people thought he quit his career as a producer.

Meaning of Names

• Garion is an imaginary animal that lives in Mountain Baekdu (백두산) in Northern part of Korea. It is a white horse that has black mane.
• MC Meta is an abbreviation for "Metaphor", now is using 每他, which means changing everyday.
• Naachal in Buddism is a devil that lives in hell. It means that he will bewitch people's soul by rap.

Music Style

Before J-U's secession

Before J-U joined Garion, they usually had dark beats, influenced by East Coast Hip-hop. J-U's beats were based on progressive Abstract Hip-hop from the 90's, which influenced many other producers in Korea.

After J-U's secession

After J-U's secession, Garion received beats from foreign producers as well as Korean producers and did not choose those simple and dark beats any more. Also, their lyrics were still abstract but more approachable than before. They still try to write all lyrics in Korean.

other information

• twitter : https://twitter.com/garionhiphop

References