Dark and Wild – Album Review
Posted on November 3, 2014 by Ana Amador in Entertainment
Ana Amador
Chronicle Reporter
BTS (Bangtan Sonyeondan) or Bulletproof Boy Scouts are a seven member Korean hip hop boy group. Their first full album is titled “DARK & WILD” and it includes 14 tracks:
- Intro: “What Am I To You”
- Danger
- “Hormone War”
- “Hip-hop Lover”
- Let Me Know
- Rain
- Cypher PT.3: KILLER feat. Supreme Boi
- “What Are You Doing?”
- “Can You Turn Off Your Phone?”
- “Kick Off the Blanket”
- 24/7 = Heaven
- “Look Here”
- “2nd Grade”
- “Does That Even Make Sense?”
The group consists of Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Rap Monster, Jimin, V, and Jungkook the oldest (Jin) being 21 and the youngest (Jungkook) is 17; BTS like to write songs that relate to the feelings of people in their age groups typically feel or could feel. Big Hit Entertainment, the production company, announced the Album a month before it released on Aug. 20. The Album gives off a strong hip hop feeling but you also hear the experimentation with pop and other genres, strong examples are tracks three and six. In track three “Hormone War” BTS sing about how great girls are and express a teen’s need for them; the song has a catchy chorus and rhythm. While it has that strong hip hop beat you can clearly hear guitar complementing the vocals. Track 6 “Rain” talks about those rainy (and lazy) days in which the rain reflects your feelings. BTS make it clear this song’s theme is self-reflection with lyrics like “I look outside and it looks like my situation.” The song a jazz feeling and the piano can be heard clearly making this song sound mellow and relaxing.
It’s in tracks 4, “Hip Hop Lover,” and 7, “Cypher PT.3: Killer,” where you automatically recognize BTS’s hip hop vibe that they’re known for. In “Hip Hop Lover” the members use a strong, catchy beat and lyrics like “Everyone around me asks what Hip Hop is, I confidently answer this, that it’s my everything” to express their appreciation for the genre and its simplicity. They mention several hip hop artists and how the genres’ opportunity for self-expression influenced their life decisions; they rap about the very start of their careers and their love for music. The chorus is mellow, in comparison to the rap, and is supported by the beat’s strong rhythm. In “Cypher PT.3: Killer” members Rap Monster, J-Hope, and Suga as well as solo artist Supreme Boi (who was part of the original line-up for BTS) rap about themselves; which is what a cypher basically is. “Cypher” is a word that to some means a freestyle rap or to others a rap where you basically just brag about yourself. In BTS’s album “O!RUL8,2?” they released their first cypher and in “Skool Luv Affair” they released the second cypher titled “Cypher Pt.2: Triptych.” The song has a strong beat and is my favorite of the three Cyphers.
Compared to previous compilation albums and singles, which sounded good, “DARK & WILD” (their first full-length album) shows the growth in BTS’s music and gives a feeling of ease and confidence that their previous albums lack. Songs like the powerful intro, “What am I to you?,” which is aggressive and assertive in its lyrics and beat, as well as songs like “Hormone War’ and track 12 (“Look Here”) use the rhythm and strong beat to magnify the intensity of the confidence and ease in their lyrics; this all helps to tell the stories in the songs.
When you order the CD it comes with two postcards, a photo card of either a member or the entire group, and a booklet with photos of the members, lyrics of the songs, and a tracklist. “DARK & WILD” is an album you should consider buying especially if you’re into music that falls anywhere from the hip hop genre to rap or pop. The mood of the album changes with every song but initially it has that hip hop rhythm that makes you want to bob your head and without a doubt you’ll find yourself tapping your feet to the music.
