4/5
The Great Hope.
The hiatus is here. After BTS gave us 'Proof' last month out the monochrome blue that they were calling it quits (just for a bit), we all thought it would be a long time before we heard from the idols again. Between mandatory military service in South Korea and the anxiety that groups that take a break rarely ever come back (from The Beatles to One Direction (yet)). But straight out the box like a Jack comes J, to give us hope again. Merely weeks after fans were left floundering with the news. The rapper and K Pop idol whose 'Ego' always gave us some of the best solo songs (even on the actual group albums), is here for his first full album, clocking in at 20 minutes. Not twenty-some, or so days after the farewell for now, greatest hits, self select 'Proof' package in Matrix leathers, for the soon to be reloaded revolution. Faster than food. Sandwiched between the 'Forever Rain' of RM's moving 'mono' mixtape, the 'Daechwita' of Suga AKA Agust D's 'D-2' and what comes next. The man that still has us dancing like a clucking chicken on top of cars to his soup, noodling through the California concrete, now gives us his soda on the side with 'Jack In The Box' and 'MORE' in the form of an all-caps exclamation single with an LP of no filler. Let's get it, let's get it, let's get it, let's get it!
Colourful like wasp warning danger. Glove tip touching the fingers of a mouse like Mickey, akin to a renaissance painting of Christ. Draped in a zebra, Met Gala killing suit that will have you screaming, Lord Jesus, this is it. He's about to burn the game down with 'Arson' and it's incendiary video screaming, "'Cause with my fans/With my label, with my fellas/같이 함께 타오르기에, all day/합리적인 공범/방화범 was fun (Heeh)/무서울 건 없어/한 치 앞 f### off (F### off, f### off)." Charming! Walking under the bridge like a Red Hot Chilli Pepper with everything burning around him." But wait...watch this like a Tiny Desk Concert for NPR. 'MORE' is when Hope gives us exactly that like Usher. "Yeah, I'm thirsty/필요해 비트 위 surfin'/난 물 만난 물고기/Soak up the music, yeah/Eenie, meenie, miney, moe, oh (Right?)/춤추는 아기 flow (Right?)/Keep my passion, I gotta go/I'm still (Not enough)." But trust me...he is. Eenie, meenie, miney, moe. Catching The Riddler by the toe like Robert Pattinson to Paul Dano. Even when the biggest band in the world pauses their run, this man won't stop working. More and more and more again. All for an album of the 'Future', that straight out the 'Safety Zone' and into a top gunning danger one like a Maverick Cruise this Summer won't 'STOP' all the way to the 'Arson' like Bansky vandal artistic strokes. Showing just how hip these BTS cats are when it comes to rap. Especially J who is an instant bucket when it comes to hop. Rhyming over old school samples, beat breaks and even ODB piano, this guys a glorious bastard just like the ARMY is for the children like Wu-Tang. We like it this raw.
'Pandora's Box' opens for this 'Jack' with an iconic intro for Hope's influence and inspiration. "She lifted the lid once more, and out fluttered a small, bright, most beautiful creature she had ever seen/It flapped its delicate wings as it danced around Pandora, lightly brushing against hеr shoulder/Pandora immediately fеlt her angst melt away and her heart glow with warmth/It was hope that was kept in the innermost nook of the box/It trailed behind the miasma of darkness/Assuaging their ill-effects on humankind/Hope gave people the will to carry on living amidst the pain and strife." And thus, as it goes, Hope is here. Opening 'Pandora's Box' for his opening, even though Spike from 'Notting Hill' never got to see it. Declaring, "They call me hope/Do you know why I am hope?/Pandora's history, that's my birth/The sincerity of the sacred heart given to man by great gods/The ray of light that is left in the Pandora box/Put it into a pure-hearted boy/Till the end, framed to become Bangtan's hope/The ceremony of fate, knighted in that name/That's my name/With a meaning from the depths of a myth/On my way." Out the box this is a treasure. And from the chest the game is his. Still beating with a Bangtan heart. Even with the standout '= (Equal Sign)', right now he was no equal like collaborator Ed Sheeran album mathematics. That's just the 'Reflection' on this 'Music Box' for a man with a lunch break album with no track that breaks the mark of a couple of minutes. Why? Because when you've already made your point, don't waste time. And J's is pencil and sword sharp. An army of Bangtan fans may soon as 'What If' when it comes to this trial separation. "What if I have no passion?/What if, what if, what if, what if/What if I have no vision?", Jung Ho-seok asks like he's less his second name. Well, he never had to worry about this like his fans seeing him on a milk carton. He's back from the hangover of the morning after to stir your cereal, with the most important album of the break of day. Remember you're his hope, he's your hope. And this is new hope. A jack of all trades...and a master of them all. TIM DAVID HARVEY.
Playlist Picks: 'Pandora's Box', 'MORE', 'Arson'.
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