wavelike media

wavelike media is a new brand for Korean hip-hop and R&B. It was started to promote mainstream and underground artists alike, but also to create a new space, a new community, a new brand for the Korean creative sphere. Everything related to Korean music is labeled ‘K-pop’ on global sites, but with so many sub-genres in Korean music, why don’t we have a separate brand for everything and anything related to Korean hip-hop and R&B?

Interviews, articles, playlists. wavelike media started out as a Magazine, Curation, and Archive. One day, it could be anything, like a label and agency for musicians.

niche: hip-hop

After working for a year and a half at my first company, I decided it was time to move toward my goal of working in the Korean hip-hop industry. A few months later, I would be meeting the top stars such as Jay Park, DPR Live, GRAY, Code Kunst, Simon Dominic… etc. So how did I get from an indie record label to a hip-hop media company?

Well, the only thing that was different was that now I had a year and a half of full-time work experience added onto my resume. Just because I was looking for a new company to work with didn’t mean I didn’t learn useful skills or network with the right people in my current job. The company I had been working for was well established in the Korean entertainment scene, and my coworkers were respected people in the industry. As a producer, I had also worked with various indie, K-Pop, and hip-hop artists through different shows.

When you are looking for a new opportunity and selling yourself, every detail matters. I made sure to screenshot all the shows I had worked on, the clips I had edited, and recorded each project that I had been a part of. The important thing was to make a visual presentation of I had done in the past year. Especially in the media industry, words don’t make as much of an impact as pictures do.

After I sent in my resume, cover letter, and portfolio, I got a call back from the hip-hop company. It wasn’t my top choice since I had hoped to move onto another record label, but it was the top Korean hip-hop media channel which I knew would open up more doors for me.

My first meeting was with the CEO and the director, and they explained to me that they were looking to hire someone to work for their new partnership with Naver’s new hip-hop podcast series. My experience as a producer of a podcast had stood out to them. Although I hadn’t been looking to continue my experience with radio and podcasts, this would be just a part of my tasks at the new company. And at the time, the podcast hosts were set to be Jay Park, The Quiett & Yumdda, Colde, Giriboy, Han Yo-han, and more.

It didn’t take much debate for me to decide on leaving my company for this new opportunity. The pay was almost the same, and the new company would actually be smaller. But I knew it was a big step forward for me to get my foot in the door in the Korean hip-hop scene. The first few weeks I spent adjusting to the new office, and shadowing the director on overseeing the podcast recordings. I started out by writing the scripts, contacting the artists and managers, and eventually actually handling the live recordings (which included turning up the mics at the right time, playing songs, etc.) and editing the pre-recorded versions.

Working on the podcast, some of the celebrities I got to see face-to-face were: Jay Park, Zico, members of H1GHR Music and AOMG, MKIT RAIN, Kid Milli, Giriboy, Peggy Gou, and even Han Ye-seul. Soon, the pattern of seeing celebrities everyday became a mundane part of work. Working on Jay Park’s podcast, I got to partake in meetings with him and AOMG employees, and I was in charge of writing down questions for him to read off the prompter. Really, just a few years ago I would never have imagined meeting all these people.

On my phone were lists of contacts of rappers, celebrities, and managers from the top hip-hop record labels. The entertainment industry is always fast-paced and it was a challenge to keep track the names and positions of people I would be in contact with throughout the day. Aside from the tedious tasks needed to keep the podcast going, I also worked on other aspects such as writing articles on Korean hip-hop releases, writing interview questions, and going to various shoots. Some notable moments include interviewing DPR Live, and sitting next to The Quiett at a cafe to help translate for a meeting.

Contrary to how it may sound, work was not always fun. I was still pretty entry-level and couldn’t take on as many projects I wanted to, but rather had to learn from the bottom. Most of my days consisted of sitting in the office, checking emails, and managing the website. However, some days I would wake up and just lay there realizing where I was in my life. I had been so in love with Korean hip-hop from my pre-teen years, I had gone through that K-Pop idol and 2PM phase, and here I was, writing out questions for Jay Park to read for his podcast. Here I was, smack in the middle of the ever-so-busy Korean hip-hop scene.

beginnings: seoul

My career officially begins in Seoul, South Korea, the summer after I graduated from college. Most of my four years, and even before then all the way throughout high school, I had dreamed of a life working and living in my home country. It was a place that was familiar yet foreign at the same time — a place where I could adjust easily enough, along with the excitement of new faces.

One of the biggest reasons I dreamed of working in Seoul was the music industry. Growing up as a Korean-American, I grew up listening to the teenage stuff like Katy Perry, Green Day, and anything that was on the Billboard charts, but at one point I began to dig into Korean music — specifically underground hip-hop. I remember first coming upon Drunken Tiger and MC Sniper at the age of 13, the age when you desire something that is uniquely yours. The world of Korean hip-hop opened up a new world for me — listening to the rappers spit Korean bars on my MP3, I imagined myself in a world outside of the narrow school hallways.

Fast forward seven, eight years, I was in Seoul after finally graduating college with a degree in Film and Asian Studies. I was in Seoul with a college degree, a visa, and no job. The whole city lay in my hands.

Finding a job in Korea as a foreigner is not easy, as there is a very specific job-searching process. First, applications need a highly photoshopped, professional image of yourself, and your resume must state information such as your parents’ education and your childhood background. Also, although I was fluent in Korean, there were a lot of social aspects I had missed out on by not attending a Korean school.

However, one advantage I had was that my goal was very specific: music. I knew I wanted to work at a hip-hop record label, and I had gotten to the last interview stage with my top choice a few months back, when I was still in college. I had gotten to the third round of interviews (which were all through Skype) only to find out the disappointing news that I had not passed. Getting so close to the opportunity to work at the company of my top choice, then to be let down, my world had shattered. But now, here in Seoul, I knew I had to keep trying.

A few months passed and I was out and about enjoying my first summer out of college. I was not actually here to find a job right away, but my mom had told me that if I did find one, I could stay in Korea while she left to go back to the States. Time was running out.

One day, while walking through the back streets of Hongdae, I came across a record label with posters of their artists hanging from their building. It was not a hip-hop record label, but they had a roster of well-known artists. But more than that, it was the vibe of this small company that intrigued me right away. I searched them when I got home and came across their YouTube channel, which had videos filmed by the employees themselves. Watching the casual yet passionate vibe of the company, I got a strong feeling that I wanted to work here. I translated my resume into Korean, attached a cover letter explaining what skills I could offer, and sent an email to the CEO.

About a week later, I got a reply and an interview date. My first interview was with the CEO himself, at a quiet cafe right next to the company building — also the cafe where I would spend the next year and a half for my weekly team meetings.

The next year and a half I spent at the company. It was my first experience working full-time, and in a country where I had not attended school. I was not a complete foreigner, but there were cultural and social aspects that I was not completely a part of. The Korean employees would playfully make fun of me for being the ‘American’ because of my slight accent or the way I moved my hands when I spoke. Sometimes it would be hard for me to express myself in meetings, due to the language barrier.

However, I felt that my dream had come to life. There were days when I would think back to my time as a student, walking through the hallways listening to Korean music and hoping to work at a Korean record label one day. And now, I was going backstage at concerts and working with the artists’ managers and A&Rs. I had thought the world lay in my hands, which any excited student straight out of college may think — yet I realized if you set a sure goal for yourself, you may really surprise yourself along the way. And this was just my first step.