Image: Zico’s endorsement in Baek Ga-hee’s essay collection If You Are Light. “Even a booster shot can’t stop it; my goal is to nurture talent.” These are lyrics from “Trash Talk” on Zico’s new album. Wordplay through double meanings, or punchlines, is a specialty of Zico the lyricist. In “Okey Dokey,” he raps, “Even if you look through tinted glasses, it only adds depth.” By playing on the way tinted glasses make a 3D film more vivid, he pushes back against some of the dismissive voices directed at him in hip-hop. Books are the soil in which his writing grows. He left his mark as a “literary idol” by writing an endorsement for Baek Ga-hee’s essay collection If You Are Light. Asked how he writes lyrics, Zico made some up and rapped on the spot, using the café latte on the table as material: “Back in my day, you know; a latte is caffeine~.” — You seem interested in writing. “When I come across a passage I like while reading, I take a photo of it on my phone. One I photographed recently was from The Courage to Be Disliked: ‘As long as a person wields their unhappiness as a weapon to make themselves special, they will inevitably need that unhappiness forever.’” — Who are your favorite authors? “I like Osamu Dazai. After reading No Longer Human, I also sought out and read The Setting Sun. His writing is pessimistic and closed off, yet the extraordinary, vital expressions that emerge from it amazed me. Among Korean writers, I like Baek Ga-hee, and I’ve bought each new book she publishes.” Image: Zico appearing as a judge on the rap survival show Show Me the Money 4. Mnet broadcast capture. Image: Zico and HYBE chairman Bang Si-hyuk, left, appearing as mentors on the K-pop survival show I-LAND in 2020. Mnet broadcast capture. Formerly the leader of Block B, Zico now heads KOZ Entertainment. The rapper produced Kim Se-jeong’s ballad “Flower Way” (2016), taking it to the top of the music charts. He is now busy developing an idol group. Zico, who said he enjoyed watching Extraordinary Attorney Woo, said, “I don’t want to be someone who points into the distance and orders people to run. I want to go ahead to where we need to be, then wave for them to join me.” When he debuted with Block B in 2011, he went through difficulties including internal conflict at the agency. It was a lesson learned through the trials of an idol who began without advantages.
