Dream Perfect Regime - KHip-Hop Kvr (2023)

Members united by a common will to go beyond the boundaries of creation

To explain for what DPR stands, the best would probably to come back to the explanation DPR LIVE gave in an interview for Billboard in March 2018:

“We’re perfecting our dreams, it’s a regime; we’re coming up to take over”

In this way, an interpretation could be that the crew is trying his very best to fulfill his dream, ceaselessly overtaking the limit of their imagination; like a mantra, their aim is pretty much to revolutionize the music world and why not the creation one as well.

However, to understand better the origins of that overflowing ambition, it’s important to know how the crew has been created.

Then, DPR consists of around eight people, with five figureheadsspecialized in fields ranging from marketing, directing to production. It’s in 2015 that the crew took the shape we know today, but his roots are going way back.

One could say that DPR is first and foremost a friendship story. The story of DPR IAN (or Christian Yu, real name Yu Barom – visual director) and DPR LIVE. Both would have met in Seoul around 2013 even 2011 – or even sooner – and they would have immediately become friends. You can find some videos of IAN and LIVE from back at that time in YouTube. One of Christian Yu’s passion being breakdancing, Hong DaBin was thus on some of his freestyles’ videos.

Afterward,IAN met DPR REM (Scott Kim – creative director/executive producer) who joined the duo. And, little by little the four other members joined the trio. One of the latest to join the crew being DPR CREAM (real name Kim Kyung-Mo – musical producer).

As forLee Sung-Joo aka Jimmy Cline aka DPR CLINEwho is known for his very special dance moves and that you can see in some MVs like Please and Playlist, he is none other than Hong DaBin aka DPR LIVE’s favorite cousin.

Happened by accident, those meetings have led to the creation of one of the most creative crews of the Korean musical scene, if not global; so much the crew is innovating in both a musical and visual scale. Their history is all the more impressive as knowing they started out with nothing, nothing except belief.

“We all happened to meet by chance if you think about it. A bunch of kids, who grew up in all corners of the world; somehow met up in Seoul and eventually came together to do what we do now as DPR.”

(Video) EUNG FREESTYLE (응프리스타일) - LIVE, SIK-K, PUNCHNELLO, OWEN OVADOZ, FLOWSIK

DPR LIVE for Billboard, January 2018

As DPR LIVE often explained it in interviews, back at their beginning the crew didn’t have a lot of money. In order to have all the material and everything they needed; for around two years DPR REM and DPR IANworked together as a visual production team fro other artists. They are behind MVs such as Wake Me Up by Taeyang from BIGBANG, HOLUP!by BOBBY from IKON or even theM/VBODYby MINO from WINNER and so on.

“For a good two years, DPR REM and DPR IAN busted their asses shooting materials for other artists in order to help fund any and all our projects during that time”

DPR LIVE for Billboard, January 2018

To sum up, before they could truly focus on their own projects, the crew’s members took advantage of these few years working for others by learning more about the functioning of the Korean musical scene but it had first and foremost been a chance to improve their technique.

A lightening progression

In this way, it’s in 2015 with the track TILL I DIE, first released on SoundCloud on July 27^th, 2015, and then on August 22^nd of the same year for the M/V that the crew members have finally been able to dedicate themselves to their own projects. It’s worth noting that it’s seemingly after the release ofTILL I DIEthat DPR CREAM, originally from thegroupLAYBACKSOUND, met the collective members and joined them a little while after. I’ll only talk briefly about all the crew’s productions since they’re already detailed inDPR LIVE’s article.

This M/V is followed by the now-classic EUNG FREESTYLE which gave the opportunity to the crew to get visibility but also to establish their reputation in the profession. Through the EUNG FREESTYLE,they wanted to show the world all the extent of the Korean rappers’ skills.

As mentioned inLIVE’s article, in 2015 the KHipHop wasn’t as known worldwide as it is today, andDPRaren’t for nothing in that evolution. This project is truly a masterstroke from the crew.

The recipe behind that now-classic of the Korean Urban Scene?

For those who don’t know it yet, we could say that the EUNG FREESTYLE is kind of an adaptation of the mmm Freestyle by thecrewHott Headzz. The producer duo Groovy Room did some arrangement on the original instrumental andSik-K,PUNCHNELLO,Owen Ovadoz,Flowsik,andDPR LIVEtook care of the rap parts. As for the visual, DPR once again took care of it.

Speaking of the M/V, the rappers can be seen drinking in it, and let’s say that, according to an interview with Owen, it wasn’t just water!

But let’s get back to the topic, after this the crew had unveiled three projects. TheM/VGOD BLESSwith the participation of PUNCHNELLO on June 1^st, 2016, and the THIRST one on June 26^th with, this time, LAYBACKSOUND or DPR CREAM’s group at the instrumental. DPR LIVE also released the track Dream Perfect on June 22^nd, 2016.

Three projects in total before unveiling the EP Coming To You Live on March 15^th, 2017. This project had required more than a year of work as it was the occasion to mark the official debut of the rapper DPR LIVE. They put special care into it. And also, because in addition to DPR LIVE, seven other artists have worked on the project, and collaborations also induce a lot of work. Crush, Loco, Jay Park, Dean, Kim Hyo-Eun, G2, and Dumbfoundead are also present on Coming To You Live; big names in the Korean urban scene to make it short.

For that matter, LIVE explained that if those collaborations have been possible it’s because of the reputation IAN and REM earned by working for other artists but also thanks to the EUNG FREESTYLE (Ed: This time again, you’ll find more information on the EP and its collaborations on DPR LIVE’s article). Cheese N Wine, Laputa, Know Me, the Interlude and To Myself were produced by DPR CREAM.

In June the crew had the opportunity to produce an ad for NIKE, Just Dream It with, of course,LIVE starring on it.

However, 2017 hasn’t ended here for the crew since DPR LIVEconcluded the year with that time a solo project: Her, unveiled on December 7^th. The EP consists of five tracks including three M/Vs: Jasmine, Text Me, and Martini Blue.

This relentless work is rewarded by an N°8 rank at the Billboard’s World Album Chart; but more generally, those series of success also allowed the team to get his own production studio. It’s especially meaningful as, like LIVE sometimes explains in interviews, at their debut DPR didn’t have an official place to meet. In order to work, they used to meet in coffee shops or also karaoke rooms (Ed:For those who would not be familiar with Korean culture, Karaoke in South Korea are private rooms that you can book for a group, it’s not a collective space like it can be in some European countries for instance; but it’s also a place where you can meet casually, that’s a pretty common thing to do).

And finally; the latest project of the crew,Playlistwith its M/V released on June 12^th, 2018, which kind of stands out from their previous projects.A project such as Playlistwas indeed quite risk-taking. If you listen to the track you might notice that the track structure can in fact be divided into three different atmospheres. However, CREAM’s strength was to give a global consistency to the track. They outdid themselves as well with the M/V, M/V in which you can seeCLINE and CREAM by the way.

Moreover, LIVE had also been on several collaborations in which the crew has undoubtedlytaken part to, in one way or another, like Loco’s M/V Movie Shoot for instance; this time again you’ll find everything related to it in DPR LIVE’s article.

2018 also had its share of achievements with the 2018 CTYL TOUR or DPR LIVE and the collective’s very first world tour in more than 20 cities all around the world (Ed: if you’re interested in it I shared my own experience of Paris concert here).

The 2018 CTYL TOUR is a real achievement since organizing this kind of world tour takes times and even artists with a lot of resources and a more comfortable situation don’t necessarily take that kind of risk and if so, not with as many dates. But also, because it was the occasion for the crew to finally put a face to their audience, for an evening to share with people who supported them.

It’s exactly why the crew wanted to perform so many dates in the first place, no matter the physical involvement it could have required as DPR REM said.

“We really tried to include as many cities as we cold in this tour. It is a world tour and we wanted to hit as many cities as we could, even despite our physical health or whatever. We really wanted to make the time and effort to get to any place that really knows us or wants us.”

DPR REM for Rolling Stone India, October 2018

However, they had been limited by some organization and logistics restrictions and thus couldn’t go to Hispanic countries, South Africa, or even India. De facto, REM added in an interview that this World Tour wasn’t the last one at all and that they were definitely going to do their best to organize tours with every time more dates and destinations.

This gratitude towards their audience is, indeed, a recurring topic in the crew’s speeches and, it’s with that in mind they developed the World Tour. More than a simple performance, DPR wanted to deliver an unforgettable show for their fans; an experience they’ll remember, a friendly moment, almost like an evening with friends, a family reunion.

“I don’t want our tour to just be your typical ‘show’ or ‘performance.’ I want fans to gear up for an actual party- a family reunion. Anybody that supports DPR knows up front that our culture goes hand in hand with family.”

LIVE for Rolling Stone India, October 2018

A collective united by passion

Dream Perfect Regime achievements in such a short time are pretty incredible and it’s hard not to be impressed by them, especially because despite this, the crew members seem to be very humble as well.

DPR’s creative process is before anything else fuelled with passion. If all members have more or less specific functions among the crew, in fine, everyone is involved in all the production’s steps. As LIVE explained in an interview dated from March 2017 for HIPHOPKR, the crew members are spending most of their time together, talking, exchanging ideas, concepts; giving new suggestions. Then, each element of their projects is the result of a combination of the identity/influence of each member.

The Members have forged links so strong that it would have increased their work efficiency; however, on the other hand, they are now finding it difficult to think about extending their team as they are used to exclusively work together. More than a collective, DPR is above all a group of friends animated by the same passion.

In this way, from dreams of success in coffee shops to a sold-out World Tour, things became almost unreal for the team which had to face that new popularity.

“Everything is just still so surreal for us. It’s not like we’ve done this in a past life or we had experience in other entertainment companies. This is all ‘Do It Yourself’, like DIY”

DPR REM for Rolling Stone India, October 2018

Yet, despite everything the crew doesn’t let himself hijacked to their first goal. If it’s great to be successful, they want first and foremost to produce quality content.

“For us, this isn’t really a ‘business’. Yeah, we want to be successful and all that, but more so, we want to do anything and everything we can think of to the highest quality.”

DPR LIVE for i-D.Vice, September 2018

As a consequence, regarding the future, the crew hopes to keep on going over the audience’s expectations and more generally those of the music industry but they would also like to inspire a new artistic fervor.

“There aren’t that many teams like us in Korea and for that reason, it’d be really dope if we could almost set a benchmark or an example for the next up-and-coming generation of creatives to think outside the box and really learn to DIY.”

DPR LIVE for Billboard, January 2018