MC Mong (MC몽)

Korean hip-hop artist MC Mong [IS Entermedia Group]

Korean hip-hop artist MC Mong successfully wrapped up his first fan meeting in Japan, according to his agency IS Entermedia Group on Monday.

The singer held a three-hour fan event -- titled "MC Mong With Happy New Year Live & Talk" -- in Tokyo on Friday, meeting with some 2,000 Japanese fans and performing a total of 11 songs including hits "Indian Boy", "Circus" and "I Love U Oh thank U"....More

A scene from variety show "Two Nights and One Day" [KBS]

KBS variety show "Two Night and One Days" is aimed at visiting the South Pole for a shoot in March, according to the show's producer on Tuesday.

"We haven't set a detailed schedule yet but are laying out our plans with March in mind", Na Young-suk told Asia Economic Daily over the phone.

He added cautiously though, that the date may be pushed back since it is not easy coordinating the schedules of the cast composed of singers, comedians and actors. "We're having a hard time setting a time frame because it's not easy for everyone to push back or miss out on all their other activities for two whole weeks"....More

Shin Seung-hoon, 2PM attend KBS music awards

Shin Seung-hoon and 2PM [KBS]

From left, singer Shin Seung-hoon and boy band 2PM members Nichkhun, Junsu and Junho perform together on stage at major broadcaster KBS' year-end music awards held at the KBS Hall in Seoul, South Korea on December 30, 2009....More

Singer Eun Ji-won, who is a former member of the 1990s idol boy band Sechskies, debuted as a solo hip-hop artist in 2000 shortly after his group was disbanded. His first four albums focused solely on the hip-hop genre. But for his just-released fifth album entitled "Platonic", Eun has chosen the electronic hip-hop dance song "Siren" as the title track despite opposition from his agency.

Eun said, "When I had just debuted solo, I was engrossed in the world of hip-hop because I was working with such renowned hip-hop artists as Drunken Tiger. But this time I chose a dance song because I wanted to show that my dancing skills were still good. I have become so used to hip-hop that dancing is a bit of a challenge to me, but if I don't start dancing now, it'll be too late. I am not as good at dancing as today's idol singers. My choreography this time is the revived form of the 'dog leg dance'. I call it a 'guileful dog leg dance'."


◇"Love" as never-changing subject in music
But despite the title track, Eun's fifth album is still based on hip-hop. It was produced in cooperation with the hip-hop producer Keeproots, who is Eun's close friend. The singer also broadened his musical spectrum by combining hip-hop with his favorite music style. His new album is reminiscent of 1980s pop. It contains the euro-sound track "Out Of Control", the old Miami-style hip-hop number "160" and the lounge-style "Just Like The First Time", as...More

Ballad singer Lee Seung-gi has successfully wrapped up the first taping of the new talk show "Heart of Steel", which he co-hosts with wrestler-turned-comedian Kang Ho-dong. The new program is more like a talk battle program where 24 guest stars talk about a topic in each of two rounds and the winner of each round advances to the finals, where a final winner is decided.

Lee said that he was so nervous about the taping of the first episode that he couldn't sleep well the n...More