Thus far in their career, Young Posse have waffled between quirky, colorful music and more subdued bids to be taken seriously in the hip-hop realm. They’re at their best somewhere in the middle, such as last year’s fun 90’s throwback Ate That. New single Freestyle borrows some of this energy but also falls victim to a familiar K-pop hazard.
My perception of rap music may simply be colored by the era I was first introduced to the genre, but I tend to lean in closer when rappers take a more nuanced approach to their delivery. Too often in K-pop, the urge is to go louder and shoutier, but you rarely hear rappers in the Western market take this route. The closest analog I can think of is Beastie Boys, and honestly I’ve always found their shoutier tracks quite irritating. As an actual song, Freestyle is a lot of fun, but Young Posse’s overblown performance makes it difficult to enjoy.
It’s almost as if there’s a thread of insecurity driving Freestyle — a constant sense of “listen to me! If you’re not listening, I’ll just get LOUDER!!” This approach isn’t needed because the group has skill and their best songs are compelling on their own merits. I love Freestyle‘s punchy, full-bodied production, but the track needs more variety. When the girls do switch things up, it’s in the form of an ill-fitting jazz breakdown that interrupts the elements that make Freestyle fun. An awesome song exists somewhere within this frenzied arrangement, but it’s all a bit of a mess. And at 2:21, it’s a very short mess!
| Hooks | 8 |
| Production | 8 |
| Longevity | 8 |
| Bias | 7 |
| RATING | 7.75 |
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
hi nick! kep1er have dropped a preview of their upcoming title track ‘bubblegum’. what do you think? https://youtu.be/UjbCWg3JLb4?si=UwLzM8AZoLs1gcGi
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I’m cautiously optimistic!
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the chorus is actually spoken… but kinda fun! https://youtu.be/h1cGqvqyIZQ?si=VLnQs7u8pSzE569c
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As a fan of kpop at its most loudest and in your face and I can’t help but admire how much this song just keeps on adding more and more noise it feels like the jazz interlude was only there so the speakers had some room to cool down lest they’d explode. That jazz interlude is holding the song back from greatest for me but the rest is kino. As someone who never liked Ate That because it’s chill g funk beat was at odds with a group who is at their best when they’re loudly quickly rapping and not chilling this got them back to XXL levels to me.
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The jazz interlude was my favorite part. I’m not just used to songs really catching me off guard anymore, and I think the transition was done cleanly. As for the rest of the song, I get the idea but it’s just causing my ears to fatigue
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There was an attempt. I respect the attempt. The attempt gets a gold star for effort. The attempt does not get a gold star for actual merit. 7.5.
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I actually like Young Posse a lot, the more I listen to them.
I don’t like this as much as Ate That, but it’ll end up on my playlist
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They’re back to doing grossly sexual lyrics… https://x.com/nugupromoter/status/1957267071420542992
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😬
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i might just be a young posse glazer but this whole album was a 10/10 for me LOLLL i absolutely loved every song
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Finally struck me what song this reminded me of. To an extent, a lot of the album as well.
“My Own Drum” from Vivo. Ynairaly Simo, Lin-Manuel Miranda.
Same kind of shouty, in your face vibe. Certainly can’t listen to this kind of song often, but this kind of energy can be fun in small doses.
On the right days where I’m up for this energy, I’ll rank this 8,8,8,8 = 8
On the other days, my hand can’t hit the skip fast enough.
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