Hip-hop mixtape talks about the hard grind

Expat rapper Pinnacle TheHustler will be launching a mixtape next week featuring Korean and overseas MCs.

That will be followed by a launch party on Feb. 15 at Club Naked in Hongdae, featuring short performances from several of the rappers on the mixtape, as well as DJs and prize giveaways.

Pinnacle explained the concept of the album, called “Late Nights, Early Mornings,” was designed to reflect Korea’s hard-working culture.

The mixtape features rappers from the U.S. including Dee-1. Korean rappers include Vasco, B. Free and MC Meta from local hip-hop pioneers Garion.

“Garion are regarded as the pioneers of Korean hip-hop, so having MC Meta on was huge for me,” said Pinnacle.

Also included will be Pinnacle’s “Work to Do,” whose video launched this week.

He said the concept was about looking at working hard from other people’s perspectives.

“Sometimes we don’t see things the way that our women see it, and so what happens is there’s a woman playing the role of Pinnacle, and it’s to convey the juxtaposition of how I actually wrote the song versus how I should actually be seeing the situation,” said Pinnacle.

“Sometimes I have to take a step back and look at the situation from a different perspective.”

He will also rap over trap, a blend of electronic and hip-hop music, on the mixtape.

“To my knowledge there are no MCs that are rapping on trap beats, so I figured I should go ahead and do that,” he said. “So as far as I know this will be the first published work on trap music.”

“Late Nights, Early Mornings” will be available from Monday from planethustle.com or coast2coastmixtapes.com.

The launch party starts 10 p.m. and lasts until 7 a.m. General admission is 10,000 won, but guest list entry is free before midnight. For more information about the event and table bookings, or to register for the guest list visit the Facebook event page.

By Paul Kerry (paulkerry@heraldcorp.com)