Once upon a time, while working in a Korean-owned boutique in NYC, I was introduced to the world of K-Pop, Korean food and culture. I say this to give a little background as to why I would be watching Korean music videos on Arirang TV (with Spanish subtitles, lol). This would also explain why I came across a new video by Korean Rap group, Clover for their debut single, “La Vida Loca.” The group, a new project collaborated by Korean Rap artist Eun Ji-won — includes himself as G One, Gilme, a female rapper under Ji-won’s label GYM Entertainment, and Tyfoon.

After watching a few cutesy Pop videos, the video for “La Vida Loca” — which begins with strong Mexican horns over a Hip-hop beat and includes classic Mexican-American/West Coast imagery — stood out a bit. “A Mexican-Korean Rap group? Really? I learn something new everyday!” Well Clover is a purely Korean group but the song’s decent, the video production — using a bit of Tarantino’s style — is hot and I’d hope Mexican-Americans would see the emulation as flattering. The lyrics to “La Vida Loca,” written by the members themselves, are said to describe the struggles and hardships the trio had to face to get to the top. Maybe I just love seeing a familiar culture becoming the subculture of another — a lot like Dancehall queens in Japan or perhaps I’m a sucker for a strong female emcee with flow and style. Whatever it is, check out the video below!

Clover‘s mini album Classic Over released March 31st and is available for download here [link updated: 2011/11/29]. Eun Ji-won says, ”This album won’t feature any of the auto-tune and hooks that are so popular with mainstream music. Instead, we’ll be writing and composing everything in order to produce something unique to ourselves.”