Roo'ra
| Roo'ra (룰라) | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Seoul, South Korea |
| Genres | K-pop, hip hop, Pop |
| Years active | 1994–2001, 2009 |
| Members | Kim Ji-hyun (김지현) Lee Sang-min (이상민) Chae Ri-na (채리나) |
| Korean name | |
| Hangul | 룰라 |
| Revised Romanization | Rulla |
| McCune–Reischauer | Rulla |
Roo'ra ("Rulla") is Korean hip hop and dance group from 1994–2001. Its name is abbreviation of Roots of Reggae.
Many of the group's albums were the top selling of their time in Korea, with their debut album selling over 280,000 copies. They hold the record of first artist to sell one million albums in the dance and hip-hop genre in Korea.[1] The group also caused significant controversy in 1996 through the discovery of their unattributed sampling of a Japanese track ("Omatsuri Ninja", お祭り忍者 by Ninja) directly in their own song "Cheon sang yu ae" (天上有愛 "천상유애").[2]
This incident raised a heated debate '...about the nature of "Korean-ness" in popular music'[3] and pushed this pointy but long dormant issue to the forefront in the mid-1990s. The group nearly split in 1996 due to the controversy[3] and then finally in 2001 after the release of their final album.[4] In 2008, the group was reunited with Lee Sang-min, Go Young-wook, Kim Ji-hyun, and Chae Ri-na to work on an upcoming album. In the middle of the project, Shin Jung-hwan and Go Young-wook formed a temporary duo group, "Roo'ra Man" and released a single, "The Reason Why I Hate Winter" in December 2008. The single was produced by Lee Sang-min. Roo'ra's last album, Again, was released in July 2009 with "Going Going" as the first single.
The group was also an important stepping stone for many Korean pop stars and song writers.[citation needed]
The original members of the group were Lee Sang-min, Go Young-wook, Kim Ji-hyun, and Shin Jung-hwan. In 1995 Jung-hwan left to fulfill his military service requirement, and was replaced by Chae Ri-na. Jung-whan appeared with the group on a couple of occasions in 1995, and again in 1997, though was not billed as a member, nor did he appear on their albums after 1994. In 1996 Kim Ji-hyun left to pursue a solo career, and was replaced by Michael Romeo. The group disbanded in 1997; then re-formed in 1999, with Ji-hyun returning to join Sang-min, Young-wook, and Ri-na in the configuration that remained through the group's final dissolution in 2001.
Discography
Albums
- 100일째 만남, 1994
- Roo'ra & Two-Two's X-mas, 1994
- 날개 잃은 천사 (Angel Without Wings), 1995 (Uncanny similarity to "Oh Carolina" by The Folks Brothers/Shaggy)
- 룰라 Live, 1995
- Reincarnation of the Legend, 1995
- All Systems Go, 1996
- Pops & Party, 1996
- The Final, 1997
- Best of Roo'Ra, 1997
- Six n' Six, 1999
- 풍변기곡 (A Changing Wind's Song), 2000
- Best & Last, 2001
- Again, 2009
Awards
- 1995 대한민국 영상·음반 대상 골든디스크 부문 “Korea Visual and Records Grand Prize Award - Golden disk category”[5]
- 1995 SBS 가요대전 대상 "SBS Grand Prize"[5]
- Nominated: 2000 Mnet Asian Music Awards - Best Mixed Group - "A Changing Wind's Song" (풍변기곡)[6][7]
- Nominated: 2001 Mnet Asian Music Awards - Best Mixed Group - "Clear Away" (정리)[8]
- Nominated: 2009 Mnet Asian Music Awards - Best Mixed Gender Group - "Going Going"[9]
References
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Keith Howard Korean Pop Music: Riding the Wave 2006 - Page 96 "Similarly, Roo'ra split after they were caught ripping off a Japanese song at a time when Japanese pop was banned; to many this made them heroes not villains."
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ "2000 MMF part 1". MAMA. Retrieved 2014-06-25.
- ↑ "2000 M.net Korean Music Festival Winners list". MAMA. Retrieved 2014-06-12.
- ↑ "2001 MMF part 1". MAMA. Retrieved 2014-07-23.
- ↑ "2009 Mnet Asian Music Awards Part1". MAMA. Retrieved 2014-12-18.
