서태지

Korean

Seo Taiji (born Jeong Hyeon-Cheol on February 21, 1972) is a South Korean singer and musician. At the age of 14, Jeong Hyeon-Cheol (Taiji) participated in several amateur rock bands. In 1990, at the age of 17, he was recruited into the underground metal group Sinawe (pronounced shee-nah-wee). Taiji chose to drop out of school, a system that he felt did nothing but corrupt the minds of youth, and became a professional musician. After the break up of Sinawe in 1991, Taiji switched gears and formed the dance group Seo Tai-ji and Boys (Seo Taiji and Boys) with dancers Lee Ju-no and Yang Hyeon-seok. The introduction of the first Seo Taiji and Boys album announced a complete shift in the focus of popular Korean music that is still felt today. Their first single, “Nan Arayo” (난 알아요, “I Know”) was a hugely successful hit, being one of the first songs in K-Pop to meld contemporary dance sounds with urban-influenced rap lyrics. Seo Tai-ji and Boys broke up in 1996 after four wildly successful studio and two hugely popular live albums. Tai-ji disappeared from the music scene for the next two years, moving to New York City, living a low profile life, and working on his come-back. In 1998, Taiji returned to the music scene with his first solo album, Seo Tai-ji. His self-produced album continued with his long established sound of mixing contemporary American rock and pop music with Korean vocals. His comeback album, while not a huge success, put him back onto the path...