KorElement

Korelement (pronounced "core-element") is a man of many, many words. Raised on the verse of rap’s brightest luminaries in New Jersey before moving to Beijing, the rapper stands as Funky Goodwill Ambassador to the capital’s hip-hop faithful. I sat down for a debriefing with the loquacious MC, who’s got a packed local show schedule, a European tour on the horizon, and a music video in the oven.

“There are rappers and there are Emcees,” says Korelement, “I’m an Emcee, so it’s a hip-hop style, not a rap style. It’s a frame of mind—tuning into the sound the universe made when it was first formed and trying to resonate or speak at the same frequency. That’s why I speak about life. Things I believe are universal: peace, love, and prosperity—or lack thereof.”

I first met the hardest working man in flow business a year ago outside Yugong Yishan. Ever the consummate hustler, Korelement pulled out his phone and demonstrated how he pays the bills, rapping along to some of his good time jams like, “This Is Beijing,” “Kung-Fu Kid” and “Miniskirts,” a track he just finished shooting a video for.

“With the help of some of Beijing’s bright young talent like Julie Luu (Home Grown Green Productions) Liang Shih (Director) and MING (Director of Photography), we created an edgy, sexy, video about how seeing a red plaid miniskirt wrapped around a beautiful woman strolling down the street with a pair of high heels and thigh-highs can make a dude’s day,” laughs Korelement.

The “Miniskirts” video comes just before Korelement’s next performance at Dos Kolegas on May 22, as well as Korelement’s European tour.

“I’ve never been to Europe so I want to take in as many sites as possible,” says Korelement, “I’m planning to hit Stockholm, Berlin, London, Paris, Rome and Belgrade, then move through Turkey to the Middle East, stop in Beirut and end up in Cairo to fly back to Beijing.”

And why does a Jersey boy keep coming back to Beijing?

“I grew up in the Bronx and New Jersey, hanging with my brother and bumping those first albums of L.L. Cool J, Salt-N-Peppa, and RUN-DMC down in my mom’s basement and rapping under the stairs,” muses Korelement. “Seeing all the doors that have opened up here in China is something I never could have imagined when I lived in America.”

After his European tour, Korelement plans to release a new EP, Where’s My Sunshine, launch a cartoon series featuring his music and release tracks he created with the Ying Yang Twins.

Fire, Water, Earth, Wood or Metal, Korelement is a rare commodity in the capital’s hip-hop scene. - City Weekend

KorElement describes himself as being "spawned from the very essence of music itself." When asked what that means, he launches into an explana-tion that spans the Big Bang and the vibrations of String Theory. These vibrations released by a prehistoric "ball of everything and nothing that decided to explode" are the same vibrations that everything now emits, including our vocal chords and bodies. The vibrations from the earth's beginnings are the vibrations that propel KorElement's musical ambitions and pretty much everything else.

The introduction of Big Bang theory as an explanation for who he is creatively is the first of several borderline bombastic, yet sincere claims he makes for himself. Within an hour he claims to be "Beijing's illest English lyricist" and, later, adds, "I think I can honestly say that I am Beijing's best hip-hop artist." Bold statements? Definitely. Self-aggrandizing? Maybe. Inaccurate? No.

He'd like to be known as Beijing's hip-hop ambassador - more than an emcee, even more than an artist. It's "a humble role," in his opinion, but a deserved one for the man who is anything but humble. In the four years he's been in Beijing, he's worked with top-notch foreign and local artists. He regu-larly performs with Beijing's Hua Acid Live at Yugong Yishan, has worked with Atlanta-based crunk rap duo Ying Yang Twins, and recently opened for Fat Joe on a packed, sweaty night at Vics nightclub.

Although his talent has surely secured these spots, he says it's China that gave him the opportunities. His is a case of being in the right place (Beijing) at the right time (now).

Kung fu rapper

Big city hip-hop royalty hasn't always been his role in China. Before he was known as KorElement, Kory Nelson hung up the mic to pursue his other passion: kung fu.
Nelson had studied kung fu in the US for six years before coming to China. His teacher, Chen Juntao, was from Taiyuan, Shanxi Province. Nelson used to drive him to classes and they spent about 20 hours a week with each other, despite neither one speaking the other's language. They communicated through martial arts and other body language.

After Chen, who was an older man, passed away, Nelson decided to move to his hometown to meet his family and teach English. This move came as a surprise to many, including Chen's family who asked, "Are you sure you want to come here? Maybe you would be happier in Beijing."

He speaks fondly of his time in Taiyuan, but a highlight and a turning point occurred when he finally came to Beijing. In 2006, he participated in BTV's Arts of Our Land competition. He and a partner from Taiyuan knocked out a kung fu routine that earned them a third place finish in the national talent competition.

Despite an impressive performance and finish, the networking he did turned out to be more important. During the competition he met Meilin Grey and her father, whom he credits for getting him back into music with a request to help produce music for Meilin.

This led him back to a dream he thought had to be put on hold if he wanted to stay in China. He began buying recording equipment and, after nearly two years away from creating music, he re-emerged. The first song he wrote in China is called "Two Ducks." Though he refrains from discussing it, he will admit that it's about his girlfriend and business partner, Julie Luu, buying two baby ducks.

Success story

It didn't take long after the competition ended for him to realize that Taiyuan was "just too small of a city" and set off for Beijing with Luu in tow. And, while he speaks of his days in Taiyuan with fondness, his attitude toward Beijing is gleeful and giddy, respectful and appreciative.

In one particular rush of excitement, he likens the leagues of foreigners who flooded Ellis Island in the 19th and 20th centuries with the twinkle of the American dream in their eye to the foreigners coming to China now with hopes of "making it."
"A hundred years ago, the Scots, the Irish, the Russians, everybody, they all left for America," he explains. "They started businesses... And they all had this same dream: Of being an American success story. And they made it."

He considers himself a true Chinese success story. He has been lucky enough to come here and watch his dreams play out in a way that would have been highly unlikely had he stayed at home.

Despite handing himself self-aggrandizing titles, he, like China, is still making strides, not content with things being simply good enough. He and Luu are co-founders of Home Grown Green Productions. Their mission statement: "To have fun and make the world a better place while doing it." The business philosophy: To enact change at a grassroots, local level.

This project started as a renewable, eco-friendly energy resource company. It disbanded when they and another partner - a sort of mysterious figure that moved from China to Canada - realized that, according to Luu, "none of us are engineers. We don't know circuitry."

Since it's difficult to sell something you know little about, they decided to keep the company, but find a new product. Nelson suggested turning it into a production company, which Luu initially vetoed because, again, that's not where their expertise lies. But Nelson persisted and, eventually, Home Grown Green Productions was born.

Best product

During a brainstorming session, Luu says, "I asked, what's our best product? And Kory said, 'me.'" So, they went with that. They are currently working on developing KorElement as a total musical product package complete with live performances, col-laborations, music videos, and albums.

In less than a year, they've developed a full-blown production company. They have directors, cinematographers, make-up artists and costumers. Their company is small and self-funded, but they love it. It gives them the freedom to do as they please and have as much fun as possible. Luu admits, though, because they have to operate on a tight budget, they can't always take things as far as KorElement's wild imagination can stretch.

"Sometimes he'll wake up in the middle of the night and start talking to me about flying a helicopter over Beijing to take shots for the video," Luu laughs. "And I'm just like 'No, go back to sleep.'"

Not only can they not afford that kind of spectacle, Luu's job is mainly to organize everything while Nelson takes on the creative performance aspects. They've recently wrapped up the company's first music video for KorElement's "Miniskirts" and are already planning another video for his song "This is Beijing."

Luu and Nelson both stress that they want to involve as many people as possible in the next video project. How can you get involved in the video? Nelson says it's easy: "Baidu me. Or, if you happen to see a black guy on roller blades with dreadlocks and a face mask, wave to me and say 'Hi!'"

KorElement will perform with Hua Acid Live at 2 Kolega's Saturday, May 22, price 50 yuan, and at PALM (Pro-Audio Lights and Music) Expo 2010, at the China International Exhibition Center, from May 20 - 23, times vary.
- Mikala Reasbeck

Korelement is a man of many, many words. Raised on the verse of rap’s brightest luminaries and a dangerously high dose of New Jersey, rapper Korelement stands as Funky Goodwill Ambassador to the Beijing hip-hop faithful. With a packed local show schedule, a European tour on the horizon, and a music video in the oven, I sat down with the loquacious MC for a debriefing.

“There are rappers and there are Emcees,” says Korelement, “I’m an Emcee, so it’s a hip-hop style, not a rap style. It’s a frame of mind—tuning into the sound the universe made when it was first formed and trying to resonate or speak at the same frequency. That’s why I speak about life, things I believe are universal—peace, love, and prosperity, or lack thereof.”

I first met the hardest working man in flow business a year ago outside Yugong Yishan. Every the consummate hustler, Korelement pulled out his phone and demonstrated how he pays the bills, rapping along to some of his good time jams like, “This Is Beijing,” “Kung-Fu Kid” and “Miniskirts,” a track he just finished shooting a video for.


“With the help of some of Beijing’s bright young talent like Julie Luu (Home Grown Green Productions) Liang Shih (Director) and MING (Director of Photography), we created an edgy, sexy, video about how seeing a red plaid miniskirt wrapped around a beautiful woman strolling down the street with a pair of high heels and thigh-highs can make a dude’s day,” laughs Korelement.

The completion of the “Miniskirts” video fits nicely with his upcoming show at Dos Kolegas (May 22) while paving the way for Korelement’s upcoming European tour.

“I’ve never been to Europe so I want to take in as many sites as possible,” says Korelement, “I’m planning to hit Stockholm, Berlin, London, Paris, Rome, and Belgrade then move through Turkey to the Middle East, stop in Beirut, and end up in Cairo to fly back to Beijing.”

And why does a city boy from the States keep coming back to Beijing?

“I grew up in the Bronx and New Jersey, hanging with my brother and bumping those first albums of L.L. Cool J, Salt-N-Peppa, and RUN-DMC down in my mom’s basement and rapping under the stairs,” muses Korelement, “Seeing all the doors that have opened up here in China is something I never could have imagined when I lived in America.”

After his European tour, Korelement plans to release his new EP, “Where’s My Sunshine,” launch a new cartoon series featuring his music, and release tracks created in collaboration with the Ying Yang Twins.

Fire, Water, Earth, Wood, or Metal, Korelement is a very rare commodity. - www.cityweekend.com.cn

Acid Live represents a new era of inspirational, eclectic multicultural art with experienced artists and musicians from all around the world coming together to form the next step in the evolution of the world music scene.

Trip over Acid Live at Beijing’s Yigong Yishan
In a burst of vibrant colors, Acid Live has exploded into Beijing’s selective music scene. The young band has already performed to packed houses at Two Kolegas, Song and Tun, with their next stop slated for the popular live music venue Yigong Yishan on August 7.

The group is known for tickling as many senses as possible with their multifaceted music. Jazz, Dance, Electro, Blues and Hip Hop are seamlessly blended together to form their unique repertoire, accompanied by video images and light shows that accentuate the musical halo. All this combines to give audience members a dazzling experience destined to take them on a trip they won’t easily forget.

With KorElement’s eloquent, hard Hip Hop style and Marie Farrel’s enchanting vocals, Acid Live delivers an appealing vocal arrangement matched by few. Watch keyboardist Zhang Zhang; his facial expressions as he digs into his soul for the music is captivating. Bassist Liu Yang and lead guitarist Fei Jia add the bass lines and melodies needed to complete the sound. While DJ Shiva lays down the foundation necessary for grooves that make you move, VJ Acid serves delectable eye candy for those desiring visual stimuli in addition to the aural ecstasy provided. Acid Live truly is an assortment of artists formed for the sole purpose of entrancing the audience.

Mark your calendars for Friday, August 7 at 9:30 p.m. to be sure you won’t miss the show. Tickets are 50 RMB and can be purchased at the door.

”It's amazing to see the energy and talent that goes into their
shows. It's magical to watch how they blend their different styles
into a musical cocktail fit for kings.” JERICHO MCCUNE – TEAM
UGLI ENTERTAINMENT

”Acid Live has a very eclectic mix of genres. I find it to be a breath of fresh air coming to the present day music scene.” PADDY WHALEN – MUSICIAN

Visit Acid Live at www.myspace.com/huacidlive for
much more information, including samples of music, photos, and video clips.
Be sure to visit their online press kit at http://www.sonicbidz.com/acidlive for
full bio, detailed copy, and downloadable jpeg photos at 300 dpi.
Acid Live is available for phone interviews and bookings. Please contact
Mick Chew (manager) at huacidlive@gmail.com.
- Prlog.org