15 years of passion

In 2001, I met a boy so shy he could barely even look into peoples’ eyes. He was only in 6th grade but when he opened his mouth and sang, I was shocked because I’ve never met an Asian voice filled with so much soul.

Because of his poor financial background, this boy saved up his own bus money by walking to school for two months just to buy a Boys II Men tape. He listened to it till the tape wore out. He absorbed and learned everything he could from that tape.

Amazed by his talent, I brought him with me to America to learn true R&B/Soul music. Only minimum level of financial support was provided by the company since he was just a trainee, but he hustled and worked hard to develop his talent. And slowly his talent started to stun many U.S. musicians and executives and finally we agreed to a recording deal with a great producer. We were all extremely excited.

But unfortunately little after, U.S. economy crisis caused by Lehman Brothers took over the music business by storm and all the risky projects were dropped. Breaking an Asian R&B artist in the U.S was of course on the top of the list. Most of our JYP U.S. projects got dropped and we had no choice but to leave the US behind.

However, this boy insisted to stay in New York alone to learn and further develop his craft. I tried to convince him to come back with me to Asia where I knew he would succeed but he did not listen. So he stayed for 5 more years and made his way through the New York underground music scene developing and mastering his music.

And after 9 years of his U.S. life, the boy returned to Korea with 20 songs written and produced by him. I could not believe my ears. The little shy boy who I met 15 years ago was standing in front of me as an amazing artist.

His unfortunate childhood, the loneliness… nothing stopped his passion for music.

Now I introduce this kid to you. This is G. Soul
G.Soul <Coming Home> Teaser Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ww_rNXBzE0
#GSoul #ComingHome

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