EP14 Flowsik - From Queens to Korea

Flowsik was born and raised in Queens, discovered by Ice-T at 18, and signed to Cash Money at the height of Drake and Lil Wayne - then watched the label shelve his album and go silent for four years. He won a MAMA Award with Aziatix, blew up in Korea on Show Me The Money, took four years off working in HR at a shipping company, and came back to do it all again as a contestant with nothing left to prove. Koreans call him the Korean DMX. The voice that earned him that name arrived at a church retreat when he was 13, and his music teacher told him it was coming before it did. We talk about ego, reinvention, cultural appropriation, and why he's making country music now... here on the Drink of Choice. Drink of Choice is a long-form interview podcast hosted by restaurateur Sid Kim and entertainment lawyer Han Kim. Every guest arrives with a drink that means something to them, and that drink becomes the doorway into a much larger conversation. Built around Asian and Asian-American voices that don't always get a seat at the table, Drink of Choice is intimate, unhurried, and long overdue. CHAPTERS 0:00 – Introduction & Drink of Choice: Casa Azul (Sort Of) 2:07 – Born in Queens, Raised in Hip Hop 4:25 – His Brother Daygunz & Carrying the Torch 5:40 – How Ice-T Discovered Him at 18 8:03 – A One-Month Trip to Korea That Never Ended 9:33 – Aziatix, the MAMA Award & the Cash Money Deal 10:04 – Getting Shelved: Four Years in Limbo 14:24 – Show Me The Money 5 & Blowing Up in Korea 17:08 – Nobody Understands What Korean Rappers Are Saying 19:26 – The Pandemic, Going Home & Four Years Away 20:21 – Working in HR at a Shipping Company 22:11 – Going Back on Show Me The Money 12 With Nothing to Prove 23:51 – Putting the Ego Down: Like Jesus on a Donkey 24:53 – 20 Hours of Waiting, Then Come Back Tomorrow 29:15 – The One Lesson: You Have to Surpass Yourself 30:57 – Auto-Tune Engineers & the Death of Sonic Identity 33:00 – Being Called the Korean DMX 34:18 – The Voice That Changed at a Church Retreat 38:44 – What's Next: Country Music 42:00 – Appreciation vs. Appropriation & Why Korea's Homogeneity Limits Storytelling Flowsik's IG -   / jayflowsik   Flowsik's YouTube Channel - ‪@OfficialFlowsik‬