I started listening to BTS albums from the beginning of their musical journey and this series will feature my thoughts on each of those albums. There are a lot of albums but there is also a lot of solo work that I’m interested in covering here on the blog so I decided to just name this feature, The BTS Listen because I’m an organization nerd and things need to be well organized for me or I get itchy.
I’m completely caught up on all of BTS’s albums so I’m moving on to their solo work. I’ll go in order of release date and go through their Soundcloud and just listen to all of them. I’m ready to listen to the music that shapes each member. They’re all so different as solo artists than who they are in the group.
This week, I’m featuring my guy Suga as Agust D. Suga’s solo rap name is DT Suga backward. DT stands for Daegu Town, which is where Suga is from.
Agust D
Release Date: August 15, 2016
Track List: Intro ; Dt sugA (feat. DJ Friz), Agust D, Give it To Me, skit, 724148, 140503 at dawn, The Last, Tony Montana, Interlude; Dream & Reality, So Far Away (Suran)
Favorite Song: Agust D, and So Far Away
Favorite Line: A number of druggie rappers should be thankful that I’m an idol and
Agust D is the debut mixtape by South Korean rapper Agust D, better known as Suga of boy-band BTS. It was released on August 15, 2016, by Big Hit Entertainment on SoundCloud.
Alright, this week I’ll be listening to Suga’s rap alter ego, Agust D’s first mixtape, Agust D. This mixtape was released back in 2016 and though I’ve heard some of the songs off this album already, I haven’t paid much attention to the songs or to Suga as Agust D so I’m changing that right now. There are 7 actual songs on here but the other two listed are an intro and a skit. I won’t be talking about those in this post.
The first song on this album is the song that has my favorite line on the album on. It’s the title track and it’s such a good one. I’ve heard this song and I know the history behind it so it was good to listen to it again. Suga is talking his shit and I am so here for it. Give It To Me is next and it’s another fantastic rap song. I hope these fuckers that keep messing with Suga learned their lessons because damn, Suga was mad mad back in the day and he was letting folks know it on this one.
Next up is 724418. So I guess this song is named after the two bus numbers that Suga used to take back in the day from Daegu to Seoul. This song reads like a journal entry and I thought it was interesting to hear Suga’s thoughts on moving up near Gangnam, which is supposed to be like the Beverly Hills of South Korea. This guy is very specific on actual dates and his thoughts about his life back then and again, I’m so here for it. 140503 at Dawn is a short song but it packs a punch because Suga is still speaking his truth about the stuff he went through back then. It’s another good one.
The Last is up next and man this song. This song sounds like Suga’s absolute truth. He talks about his depression, his therapy sessions with his parents, and man this entire song hit me right in my heart. Even if you’re not reading the lyrics, you can hear how raw his pain was and how much hurt he was drowning in. Yikes, it doesn’t feel right to say that I loved this song since this song is mostly about Suga’s pain but it’s a compelling song that speaks to Suga’s experiences and I hope having gotten all of that out in the open, made things better for him. My guy was in pain!!
Tony Montana is a song that I thought originally featured my guy Park Jimin but it’s not. He joined Suga on stage during the third Muster to sing that song with him and honestly, I prefer that version to the one that’s actually on the album though I did like the album version as well. Last up is, So Far Away and I like the melody of this song. It’s softer than the other songs on the album though it’s no less intense and raw than the other songs. All of the other songs are sad when you read the lyrics and hear the stories behind each song but those songs were more on the angry side of Suga’s pain. This song feels a lot more sad and shows a more vulnerable side to Suga and man it smacked me upside my head. I teared up listening to this song, it’s definitely a good one.
To me, Suga as Agust D is the artist that I think Suga would be if he wasn’t in BTS. He’s intense, he’s raw, and he reminds me so much of Eminem. He raps fast like Eminem. He kills his enemies with bars that make me so embarrassed for whoever pissed him off enough that he had to write multiple songs about them. Agust D is a lot different from Suga. He’s got this aggressive way of getting his message across and this album was more a reflection of how he became Suga. From the early days of his training to his debut with BTS, Suga holds nothing back. This album was very honest and it was deep and it made me feel for the Suga that he used to be, the struggles he went through, and for the hardships that continue to follow him now. He’s proven that he’s resilient and that he’s strong and I absolutely loved every moment of listening to this album.
Final Thoughts
Loved It
