November 10, 2020 • 36 mins
Esther talks to Heather Kim, the founder of YMG Entertainment, the first Korean-American record label in Atlanta, GA. Heather recounts her childhood in downtown Atlanta, growing up in her parent's truck stop and Korean nightclub, and the twists and turns that led her to start her own K-Pop label. Heather and Esther talk about the process of training K-Pop stars, operating a K-Pop label based in the United States, and the direction K-Pop based in the U.S. might take.
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
What's so incredible about Kate Pop is is a mix
of different genres. It's like you take a piece of
urban right or hip hop, and you take a piece
of d M, and you can take a piece of
this and that and mess it up and then put
it to turn it upside down. And then on top
of that, you have these beautiful kids, you know, with
makeup and style and doing this beautiful choreography. Is a package.
(00:26):
Welcome to get down with Kate Town. I'm your host
Esther Troy. Hey, Hey, hey guys. We are here recording
in Atlanta. It is a beautiful Sunday afternoon, and I'm
really thrilled to be here because I've heard so many
great things about the growing crean scene in Atlanta and
how it's really popping off. I've been wanting to check
(00:46):
it out for a while now and finally have an
excuse to be here and talk to some amazing locals
who will really break it down for me. Today, I
have the pleasure of sitting down with Heather Kim, who
is a local Atlanta native, not born here, but was
raised here. Welcome to the show, Heather, you, thank you
for having Oh my gosh, thank you for being here.
Heather is the founder of Urico Music Group or y
(01:10):
MG Entertainment, the very first Korean American female owned record
label in Atlanta, and y MG claims to be the
first k pop label out of Metro Atlanta? Is that correct? So, Heather,
originally your background was technically not even in the music
industry at all, and you're in tech and venture funding
(01:31):
organizations before all of this. So how did this happen?
How was why MG Entertainment born. I've always loved music,
had a passion for music. My father was a musician.
In fact, he read like a nightclub back in the eighties,
one of the first Korean scenes. I loved this story.
You have to like elaborate. Yeah, So we immigrated to
(01:53):
the States. I was born in Junju, South Korea. We
immigrated to Atlanta. I've always loved music. My father was
a musician, he played guitar, he's sang whatever he needed
to do to you know, feed the family. And so
we immigrated Atlanta in nine four. There was just no
Korean scenes or no Korean restaurants, hardly any maybe one,
(02:16):
but why Atlanta? It was just by chance my mom
happened to have some family members to some distant cousins
who lived here, and so you know, we came here.
Very few Koreans then, yeah, very few. It wasn't because
the city or the geography was just oh we know
so and so of some cousin. Okay, well what always
(02:36):
happens that It was kind of like, okay, well we'll
choose Atlanta. Um, and that was it. And so he
ran this, you know, the shabby restaurant hole in the wall.
It was part of like a probably like a motel
six kind of situation in downtown Atlanta. And during the day,
in mornings, it was a food stop for truck drivers
(02:57):
and what kind of food, like diner food, yeah, burgers,
you know, hot dogs, right. And then at night, I
mean they rent, like they worked twenty four hours and
so at night they will shut it down. Um, after
the foodre you know, truck drivers went to their motel
rooms and then it would convert into this Korean nightlife.
How he just like randomly was like I'm just gonna
(03:18):
do this. Yeah, like he um, you know he was.
He's a very social guy, and so he knew every
Korean player all fifty in Atlanta, and he just started,
you know, using his resources. You know, he was already
a singer guitarist, and so he just started playing live music.
And my mom's in the kitchen cooking Korean food and
(03:43):
was stuff and you guys have so drew to um.
I don't know, but I know they had a lot
of liquor in alcohol, like chron Royal and all that, right,
and so yeah, they just did what you see in
the typical you know Korean market today in the nightlife,
is that they had live music and my father playing
(04:04):
and stuff. And so was he playing Korean music. He
was he was doing that, you know the eighties or yeah,
like you know Jena, you know these are some like
very old square you know before before k pop. You know,
I think it was called something that was back then,
right trought yes Emi job you know. In fact, Emija
(04:29):
actually came Why did she came to Atlanta? And she
had a concert and she had my dad playing with
her because he was the person and she was like
she was a very iconic singer. She was like the
most yeah, one of the most influential and iconic in
the seventies or was it eighties, think it was the
seven She must have started really like maybe seventies I
(04:52):
don't know the facts something like that, but yeah, but
she was still very popular. Has had his fame in
the eighties as well, and so it was a very
big deal when she came. That's a huge deal to
of all places. Was it because of your father? I
don't think so. But somehow they hooked up and he
was he was her guitarist, that's when. But he was it,
(05:14):
you know, there was nobody else. And so you were
growing up in this scene where your family was all
into music. Yeah. We lived in the restaurant, you know.
I was five, you know, no more than five. My
brother was probably four. My sister was just born with
a baby, and so back then you don't have things
like care dot com, you know, and you bring your
children to them. And so we lived in the storage
(05:38):
unit right next to the walking freezer, and we would
witness my parents working, you know, all day, my mom
in the kitchen and my dad out there entertaining, yes
at night, And that really influenced your love for music,
I think so. Yes. When he started, I loved it. Um,
He'll bring home his keyboard and I would play by
by ear just whatever he was playing, all pick up
(06:00):
on it and play and but you didn't go in
that direction. I didn't because they were the you know,
first generation immigrants, and they wanted a better life for us.
And so it was more, hey, you know, get good grades,
stay in school, and do something better than us, right always,
And so it was it was not the music, It
(06:21):
was not a restaurant. You better do something else where.
It was worthwhile for us to bring the entire family.
Go get a white call, you know, go get a
job or be a doctor. You know, always be a
doctor or a lawyer. Just you know, something where it's
going to get you out of this, you know. Kind
of we at the time, we you know, it was
a hard live. It was. Yeah, we were there, their
business was blossoming and everything. But we lived in East Point, Atlanta,
(06:44):
which is, you know, not the greatest part of Atlanta.
I mean, there are ganging fights outside, um. And so
it was that that culture, the subculture we're living in
and so um it was a very kind of rough
kind of neighborhood. And so I think they were associating
that lifestyle, the nightlife and all of that with that.
And so I think in their mind, this is not
(07:06):
a sustainable living or lifestyle for for our children family.
So they ended up leaving that dinner and doing something else.
So they came in with nothing, literally a few hundred
bucks in their pocket. And then um, they built enough
savings like they just didn't spend, you know, like we
didn't have it. You know, I don't remember having a
c and it's just like a very typical immigrant style.
(07:30):
We lived in a one bedroom apartment. You know. The
only the one of the reasons what triggered us to
leave was my mom always got shot. She was sleeping
in her bedroom and the gun there was a there
was a fight upstairs the apartment above us, and they
were a gun fighting and the bullet hit it dropped
to the ceiling and literally landed in between her legs,
(07:51):
and that nicely, Okay, we're going to pack up our
stuff and go so and least that's when it happened,
and leave and leave the neighborhood. And we're going to
leave the restaurant. It was a blossoming restaurant. I think.
I think my dad said in the eighties they saved
in two years, they save fifty grand, which is a
lot of money back back then in the eighties, And
so they took that money and bought a convenience store
(08:13):
and moved to the rural parts of Georgia and raised
us there. And then from there you obviously decided to
go into a more professional tech It was, Yeah, it was.
The emphasis was do well in school, go to a
great college and great get a get a great job. Yeah,
and that's what And I listened well. For being the
(08:38):
first born, firstborn Korean, and the responsible sister taking care
of the siblings, I just did what they asked me
to do, and I did. And how long were you
in that industry in that career before you decided to
change it up? Yeah? So I've been in corporate you
know life, you know since after college, you know, um
(08:59):
two thousand and fourth when I graduated and since then.
It's so it's been a long Yeah. You started your
label last year. And how did this happen? Like all
of a sudden you were like, you know what, I'm
just gonna go for it. Was it like that or
was it a long time coming? Yeah? So, you know,
I turned forty and I started doing a lot of more.
(09:23):
I have a daughter. I started doing a lot more
self reflection and thinking about how do I want to
live my life? For the next thirty years, I'll started
with that what do I know? What is it that
I love? I've always loved music, and it just made
sense to me with my business background and love for music.
So you know what, I think, I'm just gonna try
(09:43):
what's it gonna hurt? And that was it. And it
was simple as that. Obviously your passion for music is there,
(10:05):
but like why kay Korean? I said, you know what,
I want to do something in music business. I didn't
know how, Like what do you do? Like like what
do you do? Or you know, how do you run?
What's the record like? I didn't even know the term.
I didn't understand the meaning of a record label until
I want to go visit an attorney, an entertainment attorney.
(10:26):
I had to sit down with her and I said,
this is what I want to do x y Z.
She goes, that's called a record label. Oh You're like, oh, okay,
then what what do I How do I do this?
And and so I was struggling with that and then
and then when I was visiting Korea, my parents said, hey,
we know somebody in the music industry. Maybe he'll give
you some expertise, and you know, some mentorship great. So
(10:49):
I flew there met with him. He happens to own
one of the largest labels in Korea and almost one
of the largest band boy bands of all time. And
he was telling me, hey, okay, so he is a
CEO of formerly Y M C Entertainment, so now at
things called swing entertainment. And who's the boy band? The
boy band it's called one on one? Have you heard
of I mean, I'm sorry, my p but they owned
(11:14):
produced one on one and they do all the reality
making it the bend kind of thing. And so I
met with him and he was telling me, hey, we're
touring the US, Like, no way, I had no clue
that k pub was on this rise and this was
last just two years ago. Yeah, and then it got
(11:35):
me thinking, and he was telling me at the Atlanta Market,
he's telling me about just it was just mind blowing,
kind of eye opening education for me. And so with that, right,
I was thinking, there there's their demand. The US came back, Calm,
did a lot of research, started making phone calls, and
then one thing led to another and I pitched this
(11:56):
idea to this amazing producer. He's Grammy winning producer. He says, yes, Heather,
You're you're onto something, Let's do this, And so it
just started with that. It was just it was just
a full conversation, great idea, let's do it, and passion. Yes, right,
And it was based out of here in Atlanta. And
I feel like that's a really important point, right because
(12:17):
obviously there are many like in New York or l A.
But like Atlanta, your native here. So what about this
growing crazy Asian population in Atlanta? That's probably what kind
of drove you to this, right, Honestly, I didn't think.
I wasn't even thinking about the Asian population. Oh you weren't.
(12:38):
You were just like, I just want to do this. Well,
I learned that k pop, sure it has that baseline
of the Asian But what was more surprising to me
was it really was becoming more accepted by the non Americans,
non Asians. Yeah, if you go to like Cacon, it's
(13:01):
pretty wild. Is not a lot of people are a Korean?
That's so true. And then when I started doing my
market research stuff. So my market research was go to
a cake pop concert, I mean, and I went and
I looked all around me. I didn't see a single
Korean which ke pop concert did you go? I actually
went to the first one where everyone to was they're
(13:22):
fairly popular, they've been around for a long time. And
I went and I looked all around me. I was
more fascinated. I had my camera. I was more fascinated
with the fan with the fans more than the actual
perform beforefare, I was like, oh, that's good, you know.
But then I'm like, look at this fan base. It
was just it was just a diverse group of people
and they were they loved it. They were singing along
(13:45):
this Korean song, saying all the Korean words better than
I could ever sing it. It was incredible. And then
and that was in Atlanta, or it was I was
here at Georgia's State. Are there a lot of kate
pop concerts in Georgia right now? There are? That's another
thing I started tracking. Was just in twenty eighteen or
twenty nineteen alone, I was tracking average four four bands
(14:09):
come through Atlanta every year. I mean, do you know
you don't part part month, part a mount a month
per month, So that's you know, and our day to
performing when they come to Alanta or what are you
doing here? Their concerts? Just like if you go to
a Sam Smith concert, you know, and they're like all
getting sold out, and yeah, I mean, don't quote me
on the numbers, probably to do some more research, but
(14:30):
I mean that was just my own kind of personal
data research, just just tracking it and looking at Facebook
events and things like that. So now i'd say four
been a four concerts or you know bands coming through
Atlanta per month that's incredible and sold out. You know,
like two thousand, three thousand seats sold out. I think one,
you know, Black Paint King through of course that was
(14:51):
a big one, ten thousand seats months to x and
the more recent bigger ones came through. But even you
know Eric Nom he's from Atlanta by the way, Yeah, yeah,
he had a big, you know, like a three thousand
theater show a couple of weeks ago. Are there a
lot of K pop stars that are born out of Atlanta?
(15:13):
I don't. I think another one is the rapper Sunny.
But that's what you're trying to do. You're trying to
sign people from the Atlanta area, right, yeah, I guess yeah. Essentially,
why you know, I go to Korea, do it here,
throw it here, there's a demand here, do it organically here,
(15:34):
and how has it been for you? We started like
the whole audition process in early twenty nineteen. We've signed
since then for artists or trainees that's what they're called.
And so they've been training in these four are for
a year for for We signed them in May, so
(15:54):
a little bit less than a year and they start
training in June. Yeah, so it's been And what's a
process like? So they their trainees and obviously I'm like
a total nube in this world because I don't know
how that works. So you sign the audition and they
send it through digitally or do they come in audition? Yeah,
so it's a process. First you submit your your online
(16:19):
you know audition. If you get selected, you get invited
into for in person interview and audition and then from
there you get selected. How is your process of finding
these talents? Do you just have a feeling or what
do you look for? Definitely have to have some baseline
skill set, you know, vocals, dance, or have some some
(16:43):
affinity for it. But more importantly at say two is
we look for a character, personality, integrity, work ethic to
having discipline. Training to be a recording artist is a
very a it's very similar to like training to be
(17:03):
an athlete or a basterds, very intense. Every day is
a full time job. You come in, they come in
every morning, they do their skills, they do the warm ups,
they run a mill and say at the same time
every morning, and then they go into their kind of
routine performance show stuff. If they're not doing that there
(17:24):
in the recording studio, you know, making an album making
you know, making songs and learning production as well. So
they're constantly working in and who is training these Chineese.
So we have a band manager and she really kind
of just stays on top of them, making sure that
they're doing what they're supposed to be doing and making
sure we have deliverables. And then we also have a
(17:46):
talent developer. He's on our team and he's incredible. I mean,
he's got huge credentials. He's got he's America's Got talent guy.
He was also think you Can dance, So he's incredible dancer, singer, musician,
pianos and producer. He does it all. He and he
does it professionally even to this day. So he's really
taking all those skills that he has and really just
(18:08):
pouring it back into the trainees, which is incredible. I'm
super grateful for His name is KP or we called KP,
but Kenneth Pario. He's been incredible just just keeping them
discipline going through. I mean it's a mundane thing too
at the same time, because it's just like coming You've
got to do your work, just like just just like
anything else you do in life exactly. I mean, they're
(18:30):
putting in their work right now, and then what happens
when do you know when they're ready to go out.
One of the things that we do differently too is
we already have them out in the market, so they're
like they're all like on our social meaning what like
they're they they're going on auditions or oh so when
we say out, we're talking about they're going out there
(18:51):
and doing performances. We'll get booked gigs and things like that.
So they're already out, okay, but our followers know them
to be as trainee. Yeah, they're out as trainees, not
necessarily as debuted artists yet, So how do we know
they just have to be ready like mentally, stamina wise, professionally.
(19:11):
You know, there's there's there's there's so many different things
that we look at when we know, Okay, this person
is ready to go out and get an album done
and then perform. Right. One curious thing is I was
looking at the artist that you signed, and not all
of them are Korean, that's right, right, but they're technically
(19:34):
kate pop stars. I'm curious about that, Like, what what
does that mean? You're sticking to Asian Americans but not
necessarily Koreans, but they're doing K pop. Can you talk
a little bit about that. Three of our artists or
trainees are Korean American um and then two of them
were actually born in New York, right, So there they
(19:57):
have that background. And then Trinity, she's she's happy at
means and half Caucasian. But when we say k pop,
we're starting off as a K pop group doing K
pop cover songs. In addition to that, we're recording music
that is kind of in tangent or to K pop genre. Okay,
(20:17):
so in that sense, it's K pop with Korean lyrics
and things like that. I was curious because what personifies
K pop anyway to you or to the public. That's
a great question. Is the whole package k pop is?
You know? The way I see it is more than
a genre itself. It's a brand. It's the whole the
(20:38):
way they do music, videos, makeup performances, dancing and singing
at the same time, it's the whole package. Is what
in my mind is what makes up k pop and
also the type of music. Obviously the music is beautiful
and even my producers would say the same thing. What's
so incredible about kate pop is is a mix of
(20:59):
different genre us right. It's not just one singular thing.
It's like you take a piece of urban right or
hip hop, and you take a piece of E d M.
And you can take a piece of this and that
and mess it up and then you put in the
turn it upside down. And then on top of that
you have these beautiful kids, you know, with makeup and
style and doing this beautiful choreography. So it's like it's
(21:21):
pretty intense when you if you think about it, it's
not just be a best sing or just be a
best You've got to put it all is a package.
That's why you say it's a brand. Really, I would
say it's more of a brand, and I think that
is one of the reasons why it's reaching so many
different demographic in different countries and is breaking those barriers
(21:43):
because it's not just a music play, right, it's a
brand like Nike or Puma. You know, it's a brand.
It was actually talking to a K pop music producer
and he said, the more unexpected turns that you have
(22:06):
in the music when he's like writing the music, the
more popular and the more people love it. So it's
it's a lot of these like different things, right. I
just think that's why K pop is so unique if
you kind of think about the way, So here's my music,
ears kind of talking now if you if I listen
to it, if you listen to other genres like urban
for we'll just pick on urban for now is like
(22:27):
one of the most popular. Rap is so popular it's
kind of like those two dimensional road right, you kind
of you can anticipate what's going to come, and there's
this pattern recognition in K pop. You don't know what's
going to turn. I mean, every eight beats just like
rapp and then oh that's another turn. Now jazz and
now this and now that you know, it's like what's
(22:49):
a saxophone mayor? You know. And on top of that,
what's so incredible about it is the choreography. The visual
effect is what makes K pop k pop. It's not
just that here what you hear is beautiful what you hear,
but then visually your eyes are like moved with the music,
right right, That's why the music videos are so elaborate
(23:11):
and they're like really insane to watch. Yes they are, Yes,
they are. In the choreography, that's right. The dance, it's
the choreography. I've seen some of the you know, kind
of simpler music videos. I mean you can just watch it,
the old Daughter BTS music videos. It was so clean
and simple, like one dimensional scene kind of thing. But
the choreography goes, it twists and turns with the music,
(23:33):
and so you can't help but stay glued to the
screen wondering what's going to happen next. Do you think
that this all came from your love of Korean culture
and your heritage in the end, because you're passionate about Yeah.
I was introduced to K pop the original O G
S of O G S when I was a little kid.
That was like it was t idle, I mean it
(23:57):
was them, and I watched it all on videotape back
in VCR days, and I love them so much. It
was like rewind and play, rewind and play like a
hundred times, you know. And I mean that was kind
of like my foot my first love for K pop.
I remember those days. Yeah, it was special. But here's
(24:21):
what here's what I would say to I never thought
in a million years that I would ever see that
the K pop of what I knew back then be
accepted and not winning in the market. It's incredible in
the world. I never thought I would see in my
(24:41):
lifetime a modern version of strategy. Idol Itiers on YouTube was,
you know, billion views or the modern version of strategy
is BTS right on. I was, I was working out
the other day. I'm sitting here going through the channels
on my on my elliptical machine, and I see BTS
(25:03):
on today's show with a hundred thousand people lined up
in Times Square. Wanted to see just a glimpse of them.
It's really about the fans. I just never thought that
even Korean, honestly, even Korean culture, even Korean food, because
the parts of where I grew up, would ever be
accepted and be winning in the market. Not only beings
(25:23):
that the but winning too, which is incredible. And you
wanted to be a part of it. That's that's where
your passion really lies. It just made sense, you know,
like puzzles, you know makes sense. It just I don't know.
I just like, what do you want to do for
the rest of years? You want to stick to your people?
What I know and the culture and what i'm This
(25:44):
is my root, my heritage, and I don't want to forget.
I love it. What is the future of your label
and your new business? I don't know, Like what do
you want? I don't know what the future holds. I
just have a lot of deliously optimistic about the future.
Which way this turns, I have no idea, Just like
(26:04):
ca pop songs, I'm stepping one friend for the other.
But I'm I'm very optimistic of what this could become.
And music is such a no I was like having
this conversation with pelicists earlier. Today, music has such become
such a a commodity play. It's easy to get, easy
(26:27):
access free you know everywhere, it's online everywhere. You know,
millions of streams here and their spotiby everywhere. I know
what I don't want. We're not just going to be
another like music play or a k pop band trying
to make it. You know, I kind of see more
as a okay, the first stepping stone for us is
k pop. Now what you know where it could this
(26:49):
turn into a more of a a brand play where
we really make it as say, wow, you know they
starts KP pop there from Atlanta? How cool is that?
And then something else could have you know, some more adventures.
In some ways, it's kind of like hacking culture in
a way. What's so incredib about Atlanta too is the
(27:09):
this is where culture, culture happens in Atlanta. A lot
of culture has this in Atlanta. Music culture happens Atlanta. Imagine,
like it's like, why not I was talking to my
team the other day, why not bring you know what
we're already doing well in kop, but then bringing other
you know, how about country? How about you know blues?
How about ar how about like things that we're now
(27:32):
exploring and being being able to experiment and then put
all the visual stuff there too, at the whole cap
pop stuff as well. So doing something different. Yeah, but yeah,
it's different, but I think everyone seeks to trying to
be different. But it's more, it's more than that. I
think it's an adventure and it's this journey that we're
taking and having just this optimism about the future for MG.
(27:53):
So I can't wait to see what's in the future
for you guys. Where can we find your talent? Like,
where where can we find your K pop group? Yea,
So we have an Instagram page, UM is that at
official dot y MG Underscore in t So that's where
we do all our posts. We have on Facebook side
as well in our website. Does your band have a name? Yes?
(28:15):
And no. We started playing with this band name and
r G and Energy used to be the nineties K
pop group. That's exactly right, so I know, I remember
you remember right? So is UM next Rising Generation is
what we came up with until and we had no
(28:36):
idea until we started getting a lot of the comments
and feedback saying, you know, the Energy is the nineties
K pop band, And of course we're like, oh sorry,
And so now I was a fan of them. Yeah,
so the fans are coming to us about that, and
that was good to know. And so now we're looking
at exploring other band names out of respect for the
(28:57):
nineties K pop band UM, so you should check them out.
Though I used to love their Yeah, I'm all about
the nineties. Keep up. Oh yeah, for sure, that's my
generation exactly. Oh my gosh, Well, Heather, thank you so
much for being here. I can't wait to see what's
in your future for YMG Entertainment. But I do have
(29:19):
something special for you. I cooked one of your favorite dishes.
And this is what I do for all of my guests,
and they did the best for last, of course, it's
always the last segment. And honestly, to do this, it's
it's a lot of work because you know, I'm like,
I just flew in this morning. You know, I was
gonna say, how in the world did you cook? And
(29:40):
travel and landing the busiest airport I've been the world exactly,
And Marcy by producer, she literally landed, got her car
and she was like a startingna go food shopping for
you because like timing wasn't right for her to like
come pick me up at a week. Yeah, so she
was like face timing with me and I had to
show her what to buy, which is hilarious, hilarious, and
(30:03):
obviously one of the dishes that you picked was one
of like it's just not a common Korean dish, which
now you know what I cooked for you because I'm
not going to make kim chi here because I don't
have time to pervent um kibigui. It's it's too typical,
and I've already made it for another guest. So we
have a jim left amazing. My favorite dish smells so good.
(30:27):
Oh my gosh, I hope you like it. So it's
a jim your favorite. Wow? Do you want to explain
your fondest memory of agutim and why this is your
favorite dishab It goes back five years when I was
first introduced to ako chim in Korea in Pussan, the
best place the city of Akuchi. I went to this little, tiny,
(30:50):
family owned restaurant her it was the best fish place
and I do love Stuete fish and I had the
best aguchim there, and I will forget that. Oh man,
that's big shoes to I've been looking everywhere for that
comparable and this smells incredible. Please try it. I'm sitting,
I'm already. I can already tell you. I'm in bliss
(31:12):
mode right now. I'm so happy. I love when people
just like love food so much right like I love it.
The swim in this. Okay, now you gotta eat it
and tell me the truth. Obviously, because I had to
make this on the fly, I was going to say,
this is a pretty hard dish to pull off. Yeah,
(31:34):
and obviously, and you're traveling, so how did you even
accomplish such a big feat? I will tell you after
you Okay, okay, take a few bites, all right, I
gotta try to love kuam what that? Wow? Mm hmm
(32:11):
it's so good. The sauce. It's incredibly rich and spicy
and oh man, this actually is taking me back the
Cusan esther. Oh my gosh, that's a big compliment. So good.
I can't compare to those, um, the Pusan people who
(32:36):
have been making this for years. And hey, you're incredibly talented. Shoved.
This is so there are a little bit of bones,
but you know it's monkfish. So Ago Jim is a
monkfish stew that's been breeze and just like really spicy sauce,
(32:58):
and it has lots of bean sprouts. We I think
it is the best part of a right. I love
the crunchiness of the bean sprout and how the fish.
But I love about agu this gym is it's not fishy.
It's like the meat it's like it melts and it's not.
(33:19):
It doesn't have a fishy flavor at all. It's actually
a very clean taste, very Cleanish fish, and it just
melts in your mouth, like how do you describe it?
Almost like jello, but but with texture. I love it.
Call you more, please, we want to hear the sounds
(33:51):
and what you're hearing, guys. It's that's the bean sprouts
and the crunchiness as the bean sprouts really compliment the
text ure of the fish. Like the softness and yeah,
I know what you mean by it's like kind of
chewy but very soft at the same time the fish.
The texture of the fish. Yeah. And I love that
(34:12):
it's like cut into these like little tiny pieces. And
I love that the bone is still like in there
because that's kind of like the fun of it. You
kind of like eat it with your hands and you know,
you eat around the bones and um, it's just such
a rustic, you know, homey dish. And I love that
it's incredibly spicy and it's it's funny because I saw
(34:34):
you you wrote aguci on it on the thing, and
I was like, okay, so I have to travel to
Atlanta and that day somehow shop for monkfish and all
of these other ingredients and like cook it's like smelly
stew somewhere. But so a block away from our hotel,
(34:55):
our executive producer's friends live in this like really cute
house and they were so generous to lend me their
kitchen for the next few years to cook for all
of my guests. Um, so that's what I'm gonna be doing,
going to be walking a block over from our hotel,
using these very generous people's kitchen and like thinking of
(35:17):
their home with like massive Korean food. But in turn
I leave half of it for them to enjoy as well.
So they're having this for dinner right now. Nice. So
I would say that's a good exchange, right, Yeah, totally fair.
I love for you to come into my kitchen any
time to think of my house and make you Yes,
(35:42):
it's happily, How was it? How was it delicious? I
want to eat more? So this is your first time
trying my food. It's delicious. I have to come visit
your restaurant now, Yes you do know about Agum, thank
you for having that on the list, because it was
really fun to make it and I literally have to
(36:03):
make it in like three minutes, and I was like,
oh my gosh, yeah, I want to take the hardest
dish right. Thank you so much, Heather, Thank you, pleasure
and honor. What an honor to be here with you.
Thank you. It was an honor to cook for you.
And I'm so happy you love the food. And that's
our show. Thanks for listening. If you like what you heard,
(36:23):
please subscribe and leave us a five star review. Get
Down with Kaytown is a production of I Heart Radio
and was created by our executive producer, Christopher Hasiotis and
me as the Troy Follow me on all so share
media at toy Bites and I'd also like to thank
our producer, editor and mixer Marcy to Pina. For more
podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app,
(36:45):
Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
What's so incredible about Kate Pop is is a mix
of different genres. It's like you take a piece of
urban right or hip hop, and you take a piece
of d M, and you can take a piece of
this and that and mess it up and then put
it to turn it upside down. And then on top
of that, you have these beautiful kids, you know, with
makeup and style and doing this beautiful choreography. Is a package.
(00:26):
Welcome to get down with Kate Town. I'm your host
Esther Troy. Hey, Hey, hey guys. We are here recording
in Atlanta. It is a beautiful Sunday afternoon, and I'm
really thrilled to be here because I've heard so many
great things about the growing crean scene in Atlanta and
how it's really popping off. I've been wanting to check
(00:46):
it out for a while now and finally have an
excuse to be here and talk to some amazing locals
who will really break it down for me. Today, I
have the pleasure of sitting down with Heather Kim, who
is a local Atlanta native, not born here, but was
raised here. Welcome to the show, Heather, you, thank you
for having Oh my gosh, thank you for being here.
Heather is the founder of Urico Music Group or y
(01:10):
MG Entertainment, the very first Korean American female owned record
label in Atlanta, and y MG claims to be the
first k pop label out of Metro Atlanta? Is that correct? So, Heather,
originally your background was technically not even in the music
industry at all, and you're in tech and venture funding
(01:31):
organizations before all of this. So how did this happen?
How was why MG Entertainment born. I've always loved music,
had a passion for music. My father was a musician.
In fact, he read like a nightclub back in the eighties,
one of the first Korean scenes. I loved this story.
You have to like elaborate. Yeah, So we immigrated to
(01:53):
the States. I was born in Junju, South Korea. We
immigrated to Atlanta. I've always loved music. My father was
a musician, he played guitar, he's sang whatever he needed
to do to you know, feed the family. And so
we immigrated Atlanta in nine four. There was just no
Korean scenes or no Korean restaurants, hardly any maybe one,
(02:16):
but why Atlanta? It was just by chance my mom
happened to have some family members to some distant cousins
who lived here, and so you know, we came here.
Very few Koreans then, yeah, very few. It wasn't because
the city or the geography was just oh we know
so and so of some cousin. Okay, well what always
(02:36):
happens that It was kind of like, okay, well we'll
choose Atlanta. Um, and that was it. And so he
ran this, you know, the shabby restaurant hole in the wall.
It was part of like a probably like a motel
six kind of situation in downtown Atlanta. And during the day,
in mornings, it was a food stop for truck drivers
(02:57):
and what kind of food, like diner food, yeah, burgers,
you know, hot dogs, right. And then at night, I
mean they rent, like they worked twenty four hours and
so at night they will shut it down. Um, after
the foodre you know, truck drivers went to their motel
rooms and then it would convert into this Korean nightlife.
How he just like randomly was like I'm just gonna
(03:18):
do this. Yeah, like he um, you know he was.
He's a very social guy, and so he knew every
Korean player all fifty in Atlanta, and he just started,
you know, using his resources. You know, he was already
a singer guitarist, and so he just started playing live music.
And my mom's in the kitchen cooking Korean food and
(03:43):
was stuff and you guys have so drew to um.
I don't know, but I know they had a lot
of liquor in alcohol, like chron Royal and all that, right,
and so yeah, they just did what you see in
the typical you know Korean market today in the nightlife,
is that they had live music and my father playing
(04:04):
and stuff. And so was he playing Korean music. He
was he was doing that, you know the eighties or yeah,
like you know Jena, you know these are some like
very old square you know before before k pop. You know,
I think it was called something that was back then,
right trought yes Emi job you know. In fact, Emija
(04:29):
actually came Why did she came to Atlanta? And she
had a concert and she had my dad playing with
her because he was the person and she was like
she was a very iconic singer. She was like the
most yeah, one of the most influential and iconic in
the seventies or was it eighties, think it was the
seven She must have started really like maybe seventies I
(04:52):
don't know the facts something like that, but yeah, but
she was still very popular. Has had his fame in
the eighties as well, and so it was a very
big deal when she came. That's a huge deal to
of all places. Was it because of your father? I
don't think so. But somehow they hooked up and he
was he was her guitarist, that's when. But he was it,
(05:14):
you know, there was nobody else. And so you were
growing up in this scene where your family was all
into music. Yeah. We lived in the restaurant, you know.
I was five, you know, no more than five. My
brother was probably four. My sister was just born with
a baby, and so back then you don't have things
like care dot com, you know, and you bring your
children to them. And so we lived in the storage
(05:38):
unit right next to the walking freezer, and we would
witness my parents working, you know, all day, my mom
in the kitchen and my dad out there entertaining, yes
at night, And that really influenced your love for music,
I think so. Yes. When he started, I loved it. Um,
He'll bring home his keyboard and I would play by
by ear just whatever he was playing, all pick up
(06:00):
on it and play and but you didn't go in
that direction. I didn't because they were the you know,
first generation immigrants, and they wanted a better life for us.
And so it was more, hey, you know, get good grades,
stay in school, and do something better than us, right always,
And so it was it was not the music, It
(06:21):
was not a restaurant. You better do something else where.
It was worthwhile for us to bring the entire family.
Go get a white call, you know, go get a
job or be a doctor. You know, always be a
doctor or a lawyer. Just you know, something where it's
going to get you out of this, you know. Kind
of we at the time, we you know, it was
a hard live. It was. Yeah, we were there, their
business was blossoming and everything. But we lived in East Point, Atlanta,
(06:44):
which is, you know, not the greatest part of Atlanta.
I mean, there are ganging fights outside, um. And so
it was that that culture, the subculture we're living in
and so um it was a very kind of rough
kind of neighborhood. And so I think they were associating
that lifestyle, the nightlife and all of that with that.
And so I think in their mind, this is not
(07:06):
a sustainable living or lifestyle for for our children family.
So they ended up leaving that dinner and doing something else.
So they came in with nothing, literally a few hundred
bucks in their pocket. And then um, they built enough
savings like they just didn't spend, you know, like we
didn't have it. You know, I don't remember having a
c and it's just like a very typical immigrant style.
(07:30):
We lived in a one bedroom apartment. You know. The
only the one of the reasons what triggered us to
leave was my mom always got shot. She was sleeping
in her bedroom and the gun there was a there
was a fight upstairs the apartment above us, and they
were a gun fighting and the bullet hit it dropped
to the ceiling and literally landed in between her legs,
(07:51):
and that nicely, Okay, we're going to pack up our
stuff and go so and least that's when it happened,
and leave and leave the neighborhood. And we're going to
leave the restaurant. It was a blossoming restaurant. I think.
I think my dad said in the eighties they saved
in two years, they save fifty grand, which is a
lot of money back back then in the eighties, And
so they took that money and bought a convenience store
(08:13):
and moved to the rural parts of Georgia and raised
us there. And then from there you obviously decided to
go into a more professional tech It was, Yeah, it was.
The emphasis was do well in school, go to a
great college and great get a get a great job. Yeah,
and that's what And I listened well. For being the
(08:38):
first born, firstborn Korean, and the responsible sister taking care
of the siblings, I just did what they asked me
to do, and I did. And how long were you
in that industry in that career before you decided to
change it up? Yeah? So I've been in corporate you
know life, you know since after college, you know, um
(08:59):
two thousand and fourth when I graduated and since then.
It's so it's been a long Yeah. You started your
label last year. And how did this happen? Like all
of a sudden you were like, you know what, I'm
just gonna go for it. Was it like that or
was it a long time coming? Yeah? So, you know,
I turned forty and I started doing a lot of more.
(09:23):
I have a daughter. I started doing a lot more
self reflection and thinking about how do I want to
live my life? For the next thirty years, I'll started
with that what do I know? What is it that
I love? I've always loved music, and it just made
sense to me with my business background and love for music.
So you know what, I think, I'm just gonna try
(09:43):
what's it gonna hurt? And that was it. And it
was simple as that. Obviously your passion for music is there,
(10:05):
but like why kay Korean? I said, you know what,
I want to do something in music business. I didn't
know how, Like what do you do? Like like what
do you do? Or you know, how do you run?
What's the record like? I didn't even know the term.
I didn't understand the meaning of a record label until
I want to go visit an attorney, an entertainment attorney.
(10:26):
I had to sit down with her and I said,
this is what I want to do x y Z.
She goes, that's called a record label. Oh You're like, oh, okay,
then what what do I How do I do this?
And and so I was struggling with that and then
and then when I was visiting Korea, my parents said, hey,
we know somebody in the music industry. Maybe he'll give
you some expertise, and you know, some mentorship great. So
(10:49):
I flew there met with him. He happens to own
one of the largest labels in Korea and almost one
of the largest band boy bands of all time. And
he was telling me, hey, okay, so he is a
CEO of formerly Y M C Entertainment, so now at
things called swing entertainment. And who's the boy band? The
boy band it's called one on one? Have you heard
of I mean, I'm sorry, my p but they owned
(11:14):
produced one on one and they do all the reality
making it the bend kind of thing. And so I
met with him and he was telling me, hey, we're
touring the US, Like, no way, I had no clue
that k pub was on this rise and this was
last just two years ago. Yeah, and then it got
(11:35):
me thinking, and he was telling me at the Atlanta Market,
he's telling me about just it was just mind blowing,
kind of eye opening education for me. And so with that, right,
I was thinking, there there's their demand. The US came back, Calm,
did a lot of research, started making phone calls, and
then one thing led to another and I pitched this
(11:56):
idea to this amazing producer. He's Grammy winning producer. He says, yes, Heather,
You're you're onto something, Let's do this, And so it
just started with that. It was just it was just
a full conversation, great idea, let's do it, and passion. Yes, right,
And it was based out of here in Atlanta. And
I feel like that's a really important point, right because
(12:17):
obviously there are many like in New York or l A.
But like Atlanta, your native here. So what about this
growing crazy Asian population in Atlanta? That's probably what kind
of drove you to this, right, Honestly, I didn't think.
I wasn't even thinking about the Asian population. Oh you weren't.
(12:38):
You were just like, I just want to do this. Well,
I learned that k pop, sure it has that baseline
of the Asian But what was more surprising to me
was it really was becoming more accepted by the non Americans,
non Asians. Yeah, if you go to like Cacon, it's
(13:01):
pretty wild. Is not a lot of people are a Korean?
That's so true. And then when I started doing my
market research stuff. So my market research was go to
a cake pop concert, I mean, and I went and
I looked all around me. I didn't see a single
Korean which ke pop concert did you go? I actually
went to the first one where everyone to was they're
(13:22):
fairly popular, they've been around for a long time. And
I went and I looked all around me. I was
more fascinated. I had my camera. I was more fascinated
with the fan with the fans more than the actual
perform beforefare, I was like, oh, that's good, you know.
But then I'm like, look at this fan base. It
was just it was just a diverse group of people
and they were they loved it. They were singing along
(13:45):
this Korean song, saying all the Korean words better than
I could ever sing it. It was incredible. And then
and that was in Atlanta, or it was I was
here at Georgia's State. Are there a lot of kate
pop concerts in Georgia right now? There are? That's another
thing I started tracking. Was just in twenty eighteen or
twenty nineteen alone, I was tracking average four four bands
(14:09):
come through Atlanta every year. I mean, do you know
you don't part part month, part a mount a month
per month, So that's you know, and our day to
performing when they come to Alanta or what are you
doing here? Their concerts? Just like if you go to
a Sam Smith concert, you know, and they're like all
getting sold out, and yeah, I mean, don't quote me
on the numbers, probably to do some more research, but
(14:30):
I mean that was just my own kind of personal
data research, just just tracking it and looking at Facebook
events and things like that. So now i'd say four
been a four concerts or you know bands coming through
Atlanta per month that's incredible and sold out. You know,
like two thousand, three thousand seats sold out. I think one,
you know, Black Paint King through of course that was
(14:51):
a big one, ten thousand seats months to x and
the more recent bigger ones came through. But even you
know Eric Nom he's from Atlanta by the way, Yeah, yeah,
he had a big, you know, like a three thousand
theater show a couple of weeks ago. Are there a
lot of K pop stars that are born out of Atlanta?
(15:13):
I don't. I think another one is the rapper Sunny.
But that's what you're trying to do. You're trying to
sign people from the Atlanta area, right, yeah, I guess yeah. Essentially,
why you know, I go to Korea, do it here,
throw it here, there's a demand here, do it organically here,
(15:34):
and how has it been for you? We started like
the whole audition process in early twenty nineteen. We've signed
since then for artists or trainees that's what they're called.
And so they've been training in these four are for
a year for for We signed them in May, so
(15:54):
a little bit less than a year and they start
training in June. Yeah, so it's been And what's a
process like? So they their trainees and obviously I'm like
a total nube in this world because I don't know
how that works. So you sign the audition and they
send it through digitally or do they come in audition? Yeah,
so it's a process. First you submit your your online
(16:19):
you know audition. If you get selected, you get invited
into for in person interview and audition and then from
there you get selected. How is your process of finding
these talents? Do you just have a feeling or what
do you look for? Definitely have to have some baseline
skill set, you know, vocals, dance, or have some some
(16:43):
affinity for it. But more importantly at say two is
we look for a character, personality, integrity, work ethic to
having discipline. Training to be a recording artist is a
very a it's very similar to like training to be
(17:03):
an athlete or a basterds, very intense. Every day is
a full time job. You come in, they come in
every morning, they do their skills, they do the warm ups,
they run a mill and say at the same time
every morning, and then they go into their kind of
routine performance show stuff. If they're not doing that there
(17:24):
in the recording studio, you know, making an album making
you know, making songs and learning production as well. So
they're constantly working in and who is training these Chineese.
So we have a band manager and she really kind
of just stays on top of them, making sure that
they're doing what they're supposed to be doing and making
sure we have deliverables. And then we also have a
(17:46):
talent developer. He's on our team and he's incredible. I mean,
he's got huge credentials. He's got he's America's Got talent guy.
He was also think you Can dance, So he's incredible dancer, singer, musician,
pianos and producer. He does it all. He and he
does it professionally even to this day. So he's really
taking all those skills that he has and really just
(18:08):
pouring it back into the trainees, which is incredible. I'm
super grateful for His name is KP or we called KP,
but Kenneth Pario. He's been incredible just just keeping them
discipline going through. I mean it's a mundane thing too
at the same time, because it's just like coming You've
got to do your work, just like just just like
anything else you do in life exactly. I mean, they're
(18:30):
putting in their work right now, and then what happens
when do you know when they're ready to go out.
One of the things that we do differently too is
we already have them out in the market, so they're
like they're all like on our social meaning what like
they're they they're going on auditions or oh so when
we say out, we're talking about they're going out there
(18:51):
and doing performances. We'll get booked gigs and things like that.
So they're already out, okay, but our followers know them
to be as trainee. Yeah, they're out as trainees, not
necessarily as debuted artists yet, So how do we know
they just have to be ready like mentally, stamina wise, professionally.
(19:11):
You know, there's there's there's there's so many different things
that we look at when we know, Okay, this person
is ready to go out and get an album done
and then perform. Right. One curious thing is I was
looking at the artist that you signed, and not all
of them are Korean, that's right, right, but they're technically
(19:34):
kate pop stars. I'm curious about that, Like, what what
does that mean? You're sticking to Asian Americans but not
necessarily Koreans, but they're doing K pop. Can you talk
a little bit about that. Three of our artists or
trainees are Korean American um and then two of them
were actually born in New York, right, So there they
(19:57):
have that background. And then Trinity, she's she's happy at
means and half Caucasian. But when we say k pop,
we're starting off as a K pop group doing K
pop cover songs. In addition to that, we're recording music
that is kind of in tangent or to K pop genre. Okay,
(20:17):
so in that sense, it's K pop with Korean lyrics
and things like that. I was curious because what personifies
K pop anyway to you or to the public. That's
a great question. Is the whole package k pop is?
You know? The way I see it is more than
a genre itself. It's a brand. It's the whole the
(20:38):
way they do music, videos, makeup performances, dancing and singing
at the same time, it's the whole package. Is what
in my mind is what makes up k pop and
also the type of music. Obviously the music is beautiful
and even my producers would say the same thing. What's
so incredible about kate pop is is a mix of
(20:59):
different genre us right. It's not just one singular thing.
It's like you take a piece of urban right or
hip hop, and you take a piece of E d M.
And you can take a piece of this and that
and mess it up and then you put in the
turn it upside down. And then on top of that
you have these beautiful kids, you know, with makeup and
style and doing this beautiful choreography. So it's like it's
(21:21):
pretty intense when you if you think about it, it's
not just be a best sing or just be a
best You've got to put it all is a package.
That's why you say it's a brand. Really, I would
say it's more of a brand, and I think that
is one of the reasons why it's reaching so many
different demographic in different countries and is breaking those barriers
(21:43):
because it's not just a music play, right, it's a
brand like Nike or Puma. You know, it's a brand.
It was actually talking to a K pop music producer
and he said, the more unexpected turns that you have
(22:06):
in the music when he's like writing the music, the
more popular and the more people love it. So it's
it's a lot of these like different things, right. I
just think that's why K pop is so unique if
you kind of think about the way, So here's my music,
ears kind of talking now if you if I listen
to it, if you listen to other genres like urban
for we'll just pick on urban for now is like
(22:27):
one of the most popular. Rap is so popular it's
kind of like those two dimensional road right, you kind
of you can anticipate what's going to come, and there's
this pattern recognition in K pop. You don't know what's
going to turn. I mean, every eight beats just like
rapp and then oh that's another turn. Now jazz and
now this and now that you know, it's like what's
(22:49):
a saxophone mayor? You know. And on top of that,
what's so incredible about it is the choreography. The visual
effect is what makes K pop k pop. It's not
just that here what you hear is beautiful what you hear,
but then visually your eyes are like moved with the music,
right right, That's why the music videos are so elaborate
(23:11):
and they're like really insane to watch. Yes they are, Yes,
they are. In the choreography, that's right. The dance, it's
the choreography. I've seen some of the you know, kind
of simpler music videos. I mean you can just watch it,
the old Daughter BTS music videos. It was so clean
and simple, like one dimensional scene kind of thing. But
the choreography goes, it twists and turns with the music,
(23:33):
and so you can't help but stay glued to the
screen wondering what's going to happen next. Do you think
that this all came from your love of Korean culture
and your heritage in the end, because you're passionate about Yeah.
I was introduced to K pop the original O G
S of O G S when I was a little kid.
That was like it was t idle, I mean it
(23:57):
was them, and I watched it all on videotape back
in VCR days, and I love them so much. It
was like rewind and play, rewind and play like a
hundred times, you know. And I mean that was kind
of like my foot my first love for K pop.
I remember those days. Yeah, it was special. But here's
(24:21):
what here's what I would say to I never thought
in a million years that I would ever see that
the K pop of what I knew back then be
accepted and not winning in the market. It's incredible in
the world. I never thought I would see in my
(24:41):
lifetime a modern version of strategy. Idol Itiers on YouTube was,
you know, billion views or the modern version of strategy
is BTS right on. I was, I was working out
the other day. I'm sitting here going through the channels
on my on my elliptical machine, and I see BTS
(25:03):
on today's show with a hundred thousand people lined up
in Times Square. Wanted to see just a glimpse of them.
It's really about the fans. I just never thought that
even Korean, honestly, even Korean culture, even Korean food, because
the parts of where I grew up, would ever be
accepted and be winning in the market. Not only beings
(25:23):
that the but winning too, which is incredible. And you
wanted to be a part of it. That's that's where
your passion really lies. It just made sense, you know,
like puzzles, you know makes sense. It just I don't know.
I just like, what do you want to do for
the rest of years? You want to stick to your people?
What I know and the culture and what i'm This
(25:44):
is my root, my heritage, and I don't want to forget.
I love it. What is the future of your label
and your new business? I don't know, Like what do
you want? I don't know what the future holds. I
just have a lot of deliously optimistic about the future.
Which way this turns, I have no idea, Just like
(26:04):
ca pop songs, I'm stepping one friend for the other.
But I'm I'm very optimistic of what this could become.
And music is such a no I was like having
this conversation with pelicists earlier. Today, music has such become
such a a commodity play. It's easy to get, easy
(26:27):
access free you know everywhere, it's online everywhere. You know,
millions of streams here and their spotiby everywhere. I know
what I don't want. We're not just going to be
another like music play or a k pop band trying
to make it. You know, I kind of see more
as a okay, the first stepping stone for us is
k pop. Now what you know where it could this
(26:49):
turn into a more of a a brand play where
we really make it as say, wow, you know they
starts KP pop there from Atlanta? How cool is that?
And then something else could have you know, some more adventures.
In some ways, it's kind of like hacking culture in
a way. What's so incredib about Atlanta too is the
(27:09):
this is where culture, culture happens in Atlanta. A lot
of culture has this in Atlanta. Music culture happens Atlanta. Imagine,
like it's like, why not I was talking to my
team the other day, why not bring you know what
we're already doing well in kop, but then bringing other
you know, how about country? How about you know blues?
How about ar how about like things that we're now
(27:32):
exploring and being being able to experiment and then put
all the visual stuff there too, at the whole cap
pop stuff as well. So doing something different. Yeah, but yeah,
it's different, but I think everyone seeks to trying to
be different. But it's more, it's more than that. I
think it's an adventure and it's this journey that we're
taking and having just this optimism about the future for MG.
(27:53):
So I can't wait to see what's in the future
for you guys. Where can we find your talent? Like,
where where can we find your K pop group? Yea,
So we have an Instagram page, UM is that at
official dot y MG Underscore in t So that's where
we do all our posts. We have on Facebook side
as well in our website. Does your band have a name? Yes?
(28:15):
And no. We started playing with this band name and
r G and Energy used to be the nineties K
pop group. That's exactly right, so I know, I remember
you remember right? So is UM next Rising Generation is
what we came up with until and we had no
(28:36):
idea until we started getting a lot of the comments
and feedback saying, you know, the Energy is the nineties
K pop band, And of course we're like, oh sorry,
And so now I was a fan of them. Yeah,
so the fans are coming to us about that, and
that was good to know. And so now we're looking
at exploring other band names out of respect for the
(28:57):
nineties K pop band UM, so you should check them out.
Though I used to love their Yeah, I'm all about
the nineties. Keep up. Oh yeah, for sure, that's my
generation exactly. Oh my gosh, Well, Heather, thank you so
much for being here. I can't wait to see what's
in your future for YMG Entertainment. But I do have
(29:19):
something special for you. I cooked one of your favorite dishes.
And this is what I do for all of my guests,
and they did the best for last, of course, it's
always the last segment. And honestly, to do this, it's
it's a lot of work because you know, I'm like,
I just flew in this morning. You know, I was
gonna say, how in the world did you cook? And
(29:40):
travel and landing the busiest airport I've been the world exactly,
And Marcy by producer, she literally landed, got her car
and she was like a startingna go food shopping for
you because like timing wasn't right for her to like
come pick me up at a week. Yeah, so she
was like face timing with me and I had to
show her what to buy, which is hilarious, hilarious, and
(30:03):
obviously one of the dishes that you picked was one
of like it's just not a common Korean dish, which
now you know what I cooked for you because I'm
not going to make kim chi here because I don't
have time to pervent um kibigui. It's it's too typical,
and I've already made it for another guest. So we
have a jim left amazing. My favorite dish smells so good.
(30:27):
Oh my gosh, I hope you like it. So it's
a jim your favorite. Wow? Do you want to explain
your fondest memory of agutim and why this is your
favorite dishab It goes back five years when I was
first introduced to ako chim in Korea in Pussan, the
best place the city of Akuchi. I went to this little, tiny,
(30:50):
family owned restaurant her it was the best fish place
and I do love Stuete fish and I had the
best aguchim there, and I will forget that. Oh man,
that's big shoes to I've been looking everywhere for that
comparable and this smells incredible. Please try it. I'm sitting,
I'm already. I can already tell you. I'm in bliss
(31:12):
mode right now. I'm so happy. I love when people
just like love food so much right like I love it.
The swim in this. Okay, now you gotta eat it
and tell me the truth. Obviously, because I had to
make this on the fly, I was going to say,
this is a pretty hard dish to pull off. Yeah,
(31:34):
and obviously, and you're traveling, so how did you even
accomplish such a big feat? I will tell you after
you Okay, okay, take a few bites, all right, I
gotta try to love kuam what that? Wow? Mm hmm
(32:11):
it's so good. The sauce. It's incredibly rich and spicy
and oh man, this actually is taking me back the
Cusan esther. Oh my gosh, that's a big compliment. So good.
I can't compare to those, um, the Pusan people who
(32:36):
have been making this for years. And hey, you're incredibly talented. Shoved.
This is so there are a little bit of bones,
but you know it's monkfish. So Ago Jim is a
monkfish stew that's been breeze and just like really spicy sauce,
(32:58):
and it has lots of bean sprouts. We I think
it is the best part of a right. I love
the crunchiness of the bean sprout and how the fish.
But I love about agu this gym is it's not fishy.
It's like the meat it's like it melts and it's not.
(33:19):
It doesn't have a fishy flavor at all. It's actually
a very clean taste, very Cleanish fish, and it just
melts in your mouth, like how do you describe it?
Almost like jello, but but with texture. I love it.
Call you more, please, we want to hear the sounds
(33:51):
and what you're hearing, guys. It's that's the bean sprouts
and the crunchiness as the bean sprouts really compliment the
text ure of the fish. Like the softness and yeah,
I know what you mean by it's like kind of
chewy but very soft at the same time the fish.
The texture of the fish. Yeah. And I love that
(34:12):
it's like cut into these like little tiny pieces. And
I love that the bone is still like in there
because that's kind of like the fun of it. You
kind of like eat it with your hands and you know,
you eat around the bones and um, it's just such
a rustic, you know, homey dish. And I love that
it's incredibly spicy and it's it's funny because I saw
(34:34):
you you wrote aguci on it on the thing, and
I was like, okay, so I have to travel to
Atlanta and that day somehow shop for monkfish and all
of these other ingredients and like cook it's like smelly
stew somewhere. But so a block away from our hotel,
(34:55):
our executive producer's friends live in this like really cute
house and they were so generous to lend me their
kitchen for the next few years to cook for all
of my guests. Um, so that's what I'm gonna be doing,
going to be walking a block over from our hotel,
using these very generous people's kitchen and like thinking of
(35:17):
their home with like massive Korean food. But in turn
I leave half of it for them to enjoy as well.
So they're having this for dinner right now. Nice. So
I would say that's a good exchange, right, Yeah, totally fair.
I love for you to come into my kitchen any
time to think of my house and make you Yes,
(35:42):
it's happily, How was it? How was it delicious? I
want to eat more? So this is your first time
trying my food. It's delicious. I have to come visit
your restaurant now, Yes you do know about Agum, thank
you for having that on the list, because it was
really fun to make it and I literally have to
(36:03):
make it in like three minutes, and I was like,
oh my gosh, yeah, I want to take the hardest
dish right. Thank you so much, Heather, Thank you, pleasure
and honor. What an honor to be here with you.
Thank you. It was an honor to cook for you.
And I'm so happy you love the food. And that's
our show. Thanks for listening. If you like what you heard,
(36:23):
please subscribe and leave us a five star review. Get
Down with Kaytown is a production of I Heart Radio
and was created by our executive producer, Christopher Hasiotis and
me as the Troy Follow me on all so share
media at toy Bites and I'd also like to thank
our producer, editor and mixer Marcy to Pina. For more
podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app,
(36:45):
Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com