Leessang
| Leessang | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Background information | |
| Origin | Seoul, South Korea |
| Genres | Hip Hop |
| Years active | 2002–present |
| Labels | |
| Associated acts | |
| Website | Official Website |
| Members |
Gary Gil |
| Leessang | |
| Hangul | |
|---|---|
| Revised Romanization | Rissang |
| McCune–Reischauer | Rissang |
Leessang (Hangul: 리쌍) is a South Korean hip hop duo, composed of Kang Hee-gun ("Gary" or "Garie") and Gil Seong-joon ("Gil"). Formed in 2002, the duo has released eight albums to date: two self-titled records in 2002 and 2003, Library of Soul in 2005, Black Sun in 2007, Baekajeolhyeon (백아절현) in 2009, Hexagonal in late 2009, Asura Balbalta in 2011 and Unplugged in 2012. Their last three albums broke numerous records and guided their entry to the mainstream Korean music industry.
In 1997, Gary joined X-Teen, a hip hop group, where he met Gil. They released two albums. Gary later said that he had neither the looks nor the talent so they left the group. Gary and Gil then joined Honey Family. They released two successful albums in 1999 and 2000. The other members were Digitty, Miryo, Park Myung Hou, Jura, Young Poon, and Su-Jung. To date, the group is still acknowledged as one of the best hip hop groups of all time because of their unique blend of rapping styles.
Gary, Gil, and Diggity collaborated to form a "Leessam Trio" (sam means three in Korean), and released a compilation album called 2000 Korea in the year 2000. Diggity eventually left the group. Gil and Gary changed the name to "Leessang". Diggity later stated in an interview that part of the reason he left is because when success went to his head he felt like a celebrity.
Gil managed to borrow 2 billion won to fund their first album. With no formal musical training, the duo learned as they were producing by spending 400 hours straight inside the studio. Through their efforts, they managed to produce 60 songs. On June 27, 2002, Leessang released their first album, Leessang of Honey Family. Their breakaway hit was the title track featuring Jung-in. The song, "Rush", which uses an identical baseline to "You Are Everything" by the Stylistics and was released one day after Nelly's Grammy winning song - "Dilemma", won the hip-hop music awards from the Mnet KM Music Video Festival. Many credited the perfect blend of Jung-in, Gil and Gary's voices as one of the reasons for the song's success. This was also the beginning of their long partnership with Jung-in. "Rush" remains in Leessang's repertoire to date.
They released their second album, Jae,Gyebal (재,계발) on May 22, 2003. Jung-in once again provided the female vocals for their second hit song "Leessang Blues", written and composed by Gary. When they made their "best of" album titled Leessang Special, a workflow was developed that has loosely remained the same. Gary writes most of the lyrics, Gil does the music, and they both produce. Despite their success, they were still largely underground. Gary said in episode 98 of Strong Heart that they were so "unknown" that they were blocked by security when they came to receive their first major award.
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