FEATURE ARTIST: LHAJuly 20, 2011

LHA is producer Lee-Hahn and MC Adikkal, a cross cultural mix of hip hop and soul, straight from Korea and Australia.

Since releasing their debut in 2009, the duo has received recognition from both fans and critics. Their track “That’s Just Life” won a spot in the final 5 for the Launch Your Band competition and also was named in the top 20 in its category in the International Song Writing Competition. They have just launched their latest single “Keep It Movin” and will have their newest album “Split Decision” out in July. As one of the featured artists on our Valleyarm “Absolute Hip Hop” compilation, we wanted to get to know the band a little more, so Coleman from our New York office caught up with them for a chat.

The collaboration between a Korean born producer and a native Australian MC is pretty unique, how did LHA form?

Adikkal – Yeh, it is pretty unique. We will lay claim to being the only Korean Australian Hip Hop duo until proven otherwise! We met, ironically enough, in Music101 class at Macquarie University. We got to talking and I mentioned that I was an MC and Lee Hahn told me he was a producer so I harassed him to give me a beat CD. When I listened to it for the first time I remember being really impressed with how polished it all sounded. Though at that stage it was mad gangsta rap G-funk type of beats! Even then though, it had soul and feeling which i definitely connected with. Over the next few years I freestyled and wrote to those beats plenty of times, but nothing ever really came of it.

We had a few more music classes together but it wasn’t really till after i finished uni and The Suitable Few (the band I was in at the time) ended that Lee Hahn and myself linked up. Lee Hahn asked me to do a guest spot on his album and that was the first real collab we did. It was a spin out to find my name popping up on all these Korean websites! He slung me a few more beats and soon enough we decided we’d actually release something, the result of which was our first collabo EP, “It’s Time”.

What artists would you say influenced LHA’s sound? Where do you get inspiration

Lee-Hahn- Many artists influenced me and to name some – Cinematic Orchestra, Common, 9th Wonder, Breakbot, Ebrahim, DJ Cam, Hyponotic Brass Ensemble and Asian acts such as Mitsu the Beats, Dumbfoundead have definitely inspired me when making tracks for SPLIT DECISON, the upcoming album.

Adikkal- Inspiration comes from art, music, photography, books, people, places, emotions, thoughts, travel; in a nut-shell it comes from life and all of the experiences within it.

Your music seems very positive and relaxed. Tell us about your songwriting process. What are your songs about generally? Do you write them together

Lee-Hahn- When an inspiration hits me, I sit in my tiny, isolated studio room which is next to a stylish dry cleaning place and start hitting drum pads or keys first, hum over it a bit, then the rest are built layer by layer over many hours.

Adikkal- Gotta spread the good vibes right? I usually get the beats off Lee Hahn and vibe over them in my own time waiting for inspiration to strike.

By and large I write about personal experience as it comes naturally to me. I have huge respect for artists who speak the truth in music and in a world fulled with so much superficial bullshit, the truth cuts through the clutter.

The challenge for me is matching the lyrical content to the vibe of the song. As Lee Hahns beats have such a strong feeling or theme, I feel like I have to write lyrics to match the vibe so that it becomes a complete song, not just ‘beats and rhymes’. I may sit on a beat for ages before life hands up a circumstance which inspires lyrics which match perfectly.

Lee-Hahn- In saying that, I’m looking forward to experimenting a bit more with the process and throw down the gauntlet to write beats to match Adikkal’s lyrics!

A fun part of the process is when we comment on each other’s work, the pros and cons, and we both get defensive.. haha.

How long have you guys been making music and where do you hope to be in 3 years?

LHA as a team started jamming and getting to know each other musically from 2008, though only the last 1 ½ years have we really been taking it seriously.

3 years from now? I’d hope we get recognized internationally as a successful cross cultural collaboration with at least 2 or 3 more releases and many tours under our belt.

Working with many more talented artists such as Parpunk who is the creator of “Keep It Movin” music video is something we strongly desire.

Lastly, we wish to reach out to many different communities and minority groups in Australia and share the joy of making and playing music with them.

Check out “Keep It Movin”