K-EXCLUSIVE: Interview with ‘Grazy Grace’ in Dallas

Allie Norado

February 8, 2018

Former ‘Unpretty Rapstar’ contestant, Grazy Grace (Kim Eun Mi), had just completed her U.S. tour with Hallyu Entertainment when Officially K-Music reached out for an interview over her thoughts on the past, present, and future of her career.  Grace started with music covers on YouTube, and after four years of training, she became a part of YYAC Entertainment. She debuted her single, ‘I’m Fine,’ in February of 2016 and participated in the hit Korean Television show ‘Unpretty Rapstar’ for their third season.

We sat down to chat with Grace about her past experiences and what leads her to create music for the future.

INTERVIEW:

[KMUSIC] : You’re from Long Island, how difficult was the transition from the New York rap scene to Korea? How is Rap viewed in the Korean society?

[GRACE] : There are really deep roots to rap in New York, compared to Korea, where Rap has started blowing up in the last couple years. Korea definitely appreciates American rap a lot but rapping in Korean is more difficult than in English for me because of all the words and the research behind it.

[KMUSIC] : Do you think growing up in the states affected your style of rapping? Rather, did it help you hone your skills a little more?

[GRACE] : Definitely it helped me to kind of become who I am today. If I grew up somewhere else it would have made me someone else. New Yorkers definitely have that hip-hop and aggressive/confident vibe so that really helped me build who I am today.

[KMUSIC] : So we know you had always been singing but, did you start with Rap first? Did Rap come experimentally or more naturally for you?

[GRACE] : I started by singing. I never was super into rapping until I got on the show, to be honest. Definitely I love music and art in all kinds of ways and I didn’t want to limit myself in any kind of way. I wanted to rap, sing and performing. I definitely wanted to try it, just in my own style.

[KMUSIC] : With how big K-Pop and Korean Hip-Hop/Rap has become over the last few years in the U.S., do you feel like it is easier for Asian-Americans to break into the Western music scene?

[GRACE] : That’s a really tough question because I really do think that it depends on who you are. Definitely the American market and the Asian market, the way they view things are so different that honestly, I think in America you need to match those eyes to make it here. I’m trying to do everything, definitely something global. My goal is to do everything that I can.

[KMUSIC] : Unpretty Rapstar fans know that the contestants aren’t given much time to create their lyrics, what methods helped you prepare for your set in such little time?

[GRACE] : I think the least amount of time given was 24 hours, and that was when I felt like I wouldn’t do it too well. You have to be really good with memorization and with catching up. You need a lot of lyrics and music in your memory bank to keep up with it all so definitely write a lot and have a lot stored in mind.

[KMUSIC] : As our last Question, what is in the future for Grace? What do you hope to achieve for your career in the long or short term?

[GRACE] : I want to go international, so I am actually deciding to make a lot of English songs not just Korean so you can definitely look forward to a lot of that in 2018.

We would like to thank Grace for giving us this opportunity to give fans an exclusive update on her life before her first US tour.

Facebook: Grazy Grace

Instagram: @gebabyk

YouTube: Grazy Grace

Twitter: @gebabyk

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