Let's Try Again: Of Music And Piracy

My previous post was actually supposed to go a little more like what will follow, but I got seriously side-tracked by my work drama, and needed to get it off my chest. Now I guess I can write this:

I have to say, I am an unabashed pirate (arrr!), especially for music. I pretty much just google the song name plus a couple of familiar hosting sites and I can find almost whatever music I want, with several caveats to that. My more recent musical tastes also contribute to that fact, seeing that I can't really just pop round to the record store and pick up the hottest Korean album.
Most of the time I refuse to feel guilty, but for Epik High's Map the Soul, I really do. Sort of.
A bit of back story first: Epik High is probably South Korea's premier hip-hop group. Featuring the talents of Mithra Jin, Tablo and DJ Tukutz, they have managed to successfully straddle maintaining mainstream popularity without becoming empty, overexposed and irrelevant. With K-music's every expanding pool of up-and-coming talent, they remain at the forefront, continuously experimenting with their sound. I was especially impressed my Remapping the Human Soul, a two-disk album which had some of the best production I have ever heard.

Due to creative conflict with their label, in 2009 Epik High went independent, creating their own label. With acts like Keroone and MYK helping them with their new mini album Map The Soul, they are taking a stand, trying to make their work directly accessible to their fans, both in Korea and overseas. They also embarked on a world tour, with stops in Japan, the US and of course, Korea. Tablo is the frontman of the group, a Stanford graduate, which his sometimes too-cerebral nature showcases. DJ Tukutz is their brilliant DJ. Mithra Jin is probably the least well known to me; he is the other rapper in the group and since he's all Korean all the time, there's absolutely no way for me to judge. I love them all anyway, they are brilliant.

Their first post-label release, as I mentioned before, is Map The Soul, which they decided to sell independently through their website www.mapthesoul.com. I can't buy it. Reason being that you need:

1) A credit card
2) A reliable postal system,

neither of which Nigeria has provisions for.

The fact is, there is no way for me to their music or any other K pop without scouring the internet for it. It is a sort of cop out, I know because If I was overseas I would say the cost would be too expensive to purchase all the music I have downloaded (TONS!). I hope one day, I can actually buy the book album. In reality I probably never can.

So this is my mea culpa of sorts. 정말 죄송합니다 (I'm really sorry) but I had no choice.

Some Seoul Music: Probably my fave track of Epik High's next to Fan, Music featuring K.Will (who continually frustrates me because he ALWAYS sings weepy, crappy ballads meant to show off his voice, but really just put people to sleep because they are boring and do nothing for his voice. Really.)