Artist Spotlight: Beenzino
K-Hip hop artist Beenzino creates a world with his music where fashion, art, and music blend. His lyrics contain various sexual innuendos that are tastefully depicted, the love for surrealist artists like Salvador Dali, high fashion, and his love for women. Beenzino rose from the underground hip-hop scene, and is a free spirit that never compromises his artistic identity.
Growing up in New Zealand, Lim Sung Bin developed a love and admiration for hip-hop music. At first, he couldn’t understand the foreign lyrics, but that helped him develop his flow. After this, he began writing lyrics that would be relatable to people, thus creating a bigger connection with his audience. His stage name persona, Beenzino, is a tribute and parody to American rapper Benzino and a play on his name Sung Bin.
Fast forward to today, Beenzino is pursued by many artists to be featured in their songs. He is one of the best rappers in Korea, with his very unique flow and artistic sensibility. He incorporates a lot of singing onto his tracks (unlike other rappers that only rap) that create a very cool and melodic experience in his tracks.
The 27-year-old rapper is currently signed with The Quiett and Dok2’s independent record label Illionaire Records, and has two albums in his roster. His first mini album 24:26 was released in 2012, and has collaborations with Dynamic Duo and labelmates The Quiett and also Dok2. The music takes you back to the ‘90s, when hip-hop was a its peak. Some songs, especially Boogie On & On, really make you want to stand up and dance. This song really highlights his singing voice, which is very smooth and has a very unique color.
Dali, Van, Picasso was only released as a single, but is a very powerful track. Beenzino really dug deep within himself while writing the lyrics of this song. He lets us know how much he loves these three artists and how they shaped his life and artistic sensibility. He makes powerful statements of who he is as an artist, what he wants to become, and where he wants to take his music in the future. This track is Beenzino’s self-portrait.
With his second album Up All Night, released July 2014, he continued with his signature funky, hip-hop vibe. He still shows his love for fashion and art throughout the album. His first single How Do I Look? talks about how he loves to look fashionable and chic and definitely loves a woman who appreciates fashion as much as he does.
The highlight track of the album is without a doubt the title track Up All Night featuring Mayson The Soul. Beenzino lets go of all his emotions, and this is what really makes the track so memorable. You can feel his suffering from the way he raps and sings in the song. Not only that, but the lyrics are intense and portray a feeling of sadness, regret, and hate.
When it comes to Beenzino’s music, there is no comparison to any other artists out there. He is very unique and his music really takes you places. Not only are his lyrics are relatable, but they also make you feel like you are digging into his life. Even if Beenzino is collaborating with K-Pop artists like HAT:FELT and Lee Hyori, hip-hop camarades like Dok2, or K-indie artist Zion T, he always injects his special touch to every collaboration.
Do you like Beenzino as much as we do? What do you think about his work? We’d love to hear you thoughts and don’t forget to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram,
