af

Woo Won Jae or just "Woo" has woven his first major release under AOMG with the aptly titled "af " standing for either "audio frequency" or "a fence" Woo's description of the acronym varies, a fence seems the most fitting for those aware of his work which strings together depression and honesty in the most fluid and moving of ways, but since joining AOMG after his stellar run in the "Show Me The Money" rap competition which saw him finish 3rd the question became: what kind of a record would Woo create? Would his immensely dark writing style be able to garner him the same critical acclaim he found on the show, or would he have to change his tone in order to become a viable member of the rap-community as seen with "We Are" featuring Loco and Gray his future labelmates which netted him a perfect all-kill in the korean charts and pushed his name to be chosen as the best "New Artist of the Year" at the annual 7th Gaon "Chart Music Awards".

The answer to that question, is spun and looped across a 25 minute jazzy backdrop both indebted to GRAY's tasteful production but also Woo's ability to craft stunning verses both gritty and universal. On one side of the coin there's the title track "a fence" which see's Woo dealing with the self-imprisonment of his mind and his attempts to break free from that there fence, his deeply nihilistic outlook here is again able to shape and shift with the gorgeous GRAYGROUND produced track, which bubbles with jazz inflections this alongside the deepcut "Noise" is Woo at his smoothest lyrically, the "We Are" method mastered here and danced into a jazz landscape that suites Woo's voice in manner we hadn't heard before now. On the other-side of the coin though is the single "CASH" which is jarringly abrasive with Woo's voice switching to a high-pitched cadence and his verses doubling down on their moodiness.

In the end "af" is a complex story of the mind falling apart and being put back together again, sonically Woo has found a new pocket of sound in the jazzier sections of this record, we can only hope moving forward that Woo continues to cloth his music in this instrumentation based manner and lyrically we see Woo continue to stick to his honest piercing lyrical stance which has created a space in the korean musical landscape for artists such as "Vinxen" and even already established artists such as "Simon Dominic" a chance to be more lyrically vulnerable while still being able to garner great success and artistic fulfillment.