INDEX
POP YOURS‘ Experimental Editing
This makes sense considering the festival’s theme of “hip-hop as pop culture of the 2020s. The festival is about how to present a diverse range of musical styles while keeping hip-hop at the core. How can they present a spectacular stage show not only with good songs, but also with dance and visuals as a show? This is completely different from the legendary event “Sanpin Camp” (1996), where the gathering of hip-hop culture in one place was significant in itself.
What “POP YOURS” does is more editorial and curatorial. We are experimenting with hip-hop culture as the center of our work, but also experimenting with how it can be edited to become pop culture. The important point is that it is based on hip-hop culture, and just because we advocate pop culture does not mean that we suddenly bring in pop stars. The delicate balance between the two is a difficult one, and it appears that they are proceeding with extreme caution in this area.
A typical example is the unique “POP YOURS” project. Last year, the song “Makuhari” by Bonbero, LANA, MFS, and Watson was a smash hit. This year, songs like “Bright Room” by LEX and LANA, “Champions” by Kaneee, Kohjiya, and Yvng Patra, and “YW” by JJJ, BLASÉ, and Bonbero, “YW” by JJJ, BLASÉ, and Bonbero and “YW” by JJJ, BLASÉ and Bonbero were produced as original songs for “POP YOURS”.
Food sales at the venue will include a stall from “Han Kitchen,” a YouTube program organized by Han a.k.a. GAMI, which takes a bird’s eye view of the current scene, connecting everyone and what could be interesting to polish.
As mentioned above, because these are experiments, there may be times when the actual experimentation did not produce the interest that one would expect. However, it is only through trial and error that we will find the answer to the question of whether hip-hop can become pop culture, and that is why we should be excited and enjoy the experimental edits of “POP YOURS” as they are released one after another.
