kimj and kuru on Wasia, the Kardashians, and “hyperpop jail”

kimj and kuru have been on a serious run this year. Building off the success of last summer’s KOREAN AMERICAN kimj has been consistently releasing EPs and singles this year, and now he’s opening on tour for Nate Sib. Meanwhile kuru is riding high off the reception to his spring album Backstage hologram, touring with Lucy Bedroque and on his own.

Though they hail from vastly different parts of the world, kuru and kimj forged a friendship of their own back in the days of “hyperpop jail” (their words, not ours). When we saw both artists on the lineup for Frost Fest, we knew we had to get them together for a joint interview. Read a transcript of The FADER’s full interview with kuru and kimj below, and watch the full interview over on our TikTok. – VM

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kuru: Yo, what's up? I'm kuru, you're with The FADER, and I'm with my boy...
kimj: kimj, Korean-American musician. 안녕하세요 여러분 (Hello everyone).
kuru: I'm not Korean, I'm a lot of other things, but shout out kimj, man. Shout out Korea. It's too much going on. It's Japanese, Chinese, Indonesian... I'm like Irish, too.
kimj: Wow.
kuru: Yeah, it's crazy.
kimj: You like a mutt.
kuru: Okay, thanks, man. We're at Knockdown Center. We're playing...
kimj: Frost Fest. I'm low-key nervous cause it's such a stacked lineup, but I'm excited to hear and see everyone's set.

The FADER: You said that you guys have crazy lore. Can you get into that?
kuru: It's just funny, cause low-key like my mom dropped me off at kimj's crib one time when I was like 14.
kimj: Was it in Georgia or New York?
kuru: Yeah, it was in Atlanta. That was like the funniest shit ever. But we were both doing completely different things back then. We just had mutual friends and I met kimj at the crib in Atlanta when I was a little ass kid like six years ago.
kimj: For context, I used to live with Ericdoa and Glasear. We all lived together in Georgia. Not directly in Atlanta, but near Atlanta, in Duluth. And I think it was honestly all of our first times living with friends, but also friends that do music. And so that was a very special wrinkle in time. And because of John and Eric— I think they told kuru to pull up, and then we were all kicking it at the crib. I'm like, "Who the fuck is this guy?"
kuru: I was just in Georgia for like some different shit, and I was just like, "Ah, I'll just hit up John." I was just like, "Yo, can I pull up?" And then my mom dropped me off, and it was the funniest thing ever, cause he was wearing this long sleeve. It was like 100 degrees outside. He's like, "I didn't want your mom to know I had tattoos," Asian as hell.

The FADER: So the first time you guys hung out was around 2020. What were your first impressions of each other?
kuru: I don't remember honestly.
kimj: I will say this though—so that house had three rooms and a basement. And because I moved in a little after Eric and Glasear and another person moved in, I had the basement when I moved in. But because that basement was so dark and weird, for the first month of moving in, I was scared to sleep there. So what I would do, I would just sleep upstairs on the living room couch. And I swear one of these days while I was sleeping, kuru probably just ran into me. He's like, "Oh, this random Asian dude sleeping on the couch. Who the fuck is this?" Yeah. (Laughter)
kuru: Like some Korean dude just like chilling here. It was a time. It was an era.

The FADER: What were your first impressions of each other's music?
kuru: This is actually a really weird one for me, cause I have two different impressions. Cause you have current kimj and then you got past kimj. Like I'm talking like NBA YoungBoy kimj. I'm not talking current day electronic kimj. Rght now I think it's at the waviest it's ever been. He's on some crazy shit. My music was definitely ass as hell back then though. That was a different time – that was Hyperpop jail.
kimj: Definitely Hyperpop jail. I think—and I could say the same for kuru—his current wave of music, his new album, it feels super him. And it feels almost like this amalgamation of all his past sounds, but in the most modernized context. So I think that's really sick, and it feels so unique and him.
But I think my first instance of hearing a kuru song and having such a fond reaction to it was this EP—but you posted a single from the EP, it was a song with, either maybe produced by Wells, called like "Skywalker" or something, or something... What was it called?
kuru: "Sky Terror."
kimj: It's this ambient, wavy, DnB-ish almost song. And I heard that, and I was like, "Woah, this kid is sick."

The FADER: On that same thread, what are your guys' favorite songs of each other's?
kuru: Low-key, slight recency bias, the one with Syzy is crazy (“GET UP! GET DOWN! (EVERYBODYYY)”)
kimj: Oh yeah, that song is crazy. I like "Two Door", I think "Two Door" is badass.

The FADER: As you mentioned, you're Korean, you're Indonesian…
kuru: It's like Japanese, Indonesian, Chinese. It's a lot.

The FADER: It's a mix. I remember last time you were in the office, you said you speak a sort of niche…
kuru: Oh, East Javanese? I don't really speak it that much.

The FADER: I wanted to ask if you guys can teach each other a word in each other's language?
kuru: Oh, shit.
kimj: Teach me a word. I low-key know some Javanese, too. Teach me something in like Indonesian or Chinese.
kuru: Oh, facts. Oh, I'm already shitty at Chinese. I mean, you can just call someone stupid. You can be like, "Kamu goblok," and you can just call them...
kimj: Kamu goblok.
kuru: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Kamu goblok. It's like you gotta really pronounce the 'k' at the end.
kimj: Kamu goblok.
kuru: And then yeah, this is like "you're stupid." Like "you're dumb as shit."
kimj: Kamu goblok! (Laughter) Just joking! Come on! Okay, my word... there's a new word within I think Gen Z-ers. So, it's a rendition of the word—so everyone knows 씨발 (shibal). Everyone knows 씨발, but the kids nowadays, they're saying 씨발 (shagal), which is like a little twist on it. But it still means 씨발, but if you say 씨발 (shagal)... 씨발? Yeah, 씨발.
kuru: Yes! 씨발 (Shagal)!
kimj: Yes! It's like, "Oh shit."
kuru: Damn, aggressive!
kimj: It is... The kids, they be angry in Korea, but yeah, new word, yeah.

The FADER: As you mentioned, you're Korean, you're Indonesian…
kuru: It's like Japanese, Indonesian, Chinese. It's a lot.

The FADER: It's a mix. I remember last time you were in the office, you said you speak a sort of niche…
kuru: Oh, East Javanese? I don't really speak it that much.

The FADER: I wanted to ask if you guys can teach each other a word in each other's language?
kuru: Oh, shit.
kimj: Teach me a word. I low-key know some Javanese, too. Teach me something in like Indonesian or Chinese.
kuru: Oh, facts. Oh, I'm already shitty at Chinese. I mean, you can just call someone stupid. You can be like, "Kamu goblok," and you can just call them...
kimj: Kamu goblok.
kuru: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Kamu goblok. It's like you gotta really pronounce the 'k' at the end.
kimj: Kamu goblok.
kuru: And then yeah, this is like "you're stupid." Like "you're dumb as shit."
kimj: Kamu goblok! (Laughter) Just joking! Come on! Okay, my word... there's a new word within I think Gen Z-ers. So, it's a rendition of the word—so everyone knows 씨발 (shibal). Everyone knows 씨발, but the kids nowadays, they're saying 씨발 (shagal), which is like a little twist on it. But it still means 씨발, but if you say 씨발 (shagal)... 씨발? Yeah, 씨발.
kuru: Yes! 씨발 (Shagal)!
kimj: Yes! It's like, "Oh shit."
kuru: Damn, aggressive!
kimj: It is... The kids, they be angry in Korea, but yeah, new word, yeah.

The FADER: And then kuru, you name-dropped kimj in "pop tags 2gether.”
kuru: What? Oh my god, yeah, bro!
kimj: What?!
kuru: Yo, I definitely forgot about that! Nah, bro, I forgot about that song! Nah, I don't remember the line, but I do remember specifically name-dropping kimj in that song. But that was cause I was like with kimj, Leo, and SEBii for three days that week and I was just like, "Fuck it, I'm bored, I'm about to start name-dropping all the homies." We were just in the back of all the Ubers. (Laughter) I was just bored.
kimj: There's low-key—there's this thing with like using my name in certain bars for songs. I think "2008" by Eric, he does a kimj bar in the song. There's this old Hollis song where he does the same thing. SEBii's done it a million times, I feel like. Everyone is like "kimj" in the verse. Kind of sick.
kuru: Nah, I just thought it was extra funny cause it's on like a Perc40 beat. Like it has nothing to do with kimj or anyone what's going on. (Laughter)
kimj: That's based.

The FADER: Okay, we’re going to do a speed round now. I'm just going to say a word or concept or person, you just give me your thoughts on it. First one: Wasia.
kuru: I think I'm lit right now, and there's a couple others lit right now, but the Wasia PR is not looking too good. It was kind of lit for a little bit until people turned it into this white power shit, and now it's like kind of lit, but not really lit. It's half lit.
kimj: Okay, well I think his his understanding and perception of Wasia is way different than mine cause he is Wasian, but also he's kind of king of Wasia right now. My take, I think Wasia is lit and it'll always be lit, and Wasians are sick.

The FADER: I saw an Instagram post where they had top 5 Wasians. kuru was on it, but they also had you on it.
kuru: That's just a Korean...
kimj: I am 1,000,000% Korean. No other ethnicity.
kuru: Mad Korean! (Laughter)

The FADER: Next one: Fried chicken.
kuru: Ooh, like where from?
Interviewer: Korean fried chicken is very famous, but you said Indonesian fried chicken...
kuru: Yeah, nah. I remember there was this KFC back home in Banyuawangi I used to hit all the time. I already mentioned this way before in an older interview.
kimj: What's your favorite fried chicken though? Like all time?
kuru: My favorite? Like right now I'm really fucking with Jollibee. But before that, do you remember that cool 2019-2020 Bonchon run?
kimj: Yes!
kuru: That was crazy! That was a crazy run.
kimj: What do you mean? They have that—that's like a chain, they got that everywhere now.
kimj: No, you're right. I will say Bonchon I think low-key fell off these recent years, but yeah, 2019, 2018, like my dad, he would just work—he would work late from, yeah, just come home late from work, bring the Bonchon, it'd be a good fucking night. It's funny you say Jollibee cause I had Jollibee the other day, two days ago, and it just didn't hit, even though I love Jollibee. But that night, it was just kind of shitty. It felt old, just moldy spicy chicken. It was weird. Strange, so right now I'm a little turned off by Jollibee, but shout out Jollibee.
kuru: I don't know what has him eating mold! (Laughter) But I feel it, no. That's just that fast food shit, that's why I stopped eating Popeyes. I feel like Bojangles is still lit though, out of the American fast chicken spots.
kimj: Bojangles?
kuru: Yeah, I love Bojangles.
kimj: Never heard of Bojangles.
kuru: It's fire. Like their Bo-Berry biscuit with it too, like if they got Bo-Berry biscuit with like the little glaze on it. It's some South shit.

The FADER: Both of your names start with K's, so maybe Kardashians? Do you have any thoughts on them?
kuru: Nah, I don't really got any take on... I mean I know like Kim K did American Horror Story. That was kind of lit, I kind of fucked with it.
kimj: There was a recent Meta ad where one of the Jenners or something was in it, and there was a Ninajirachi song, which I think is pretty based, but I feel like it wasn't their decision, so whatever. Before that though, I remember Kylie Jenner put "Jeans" or something on her story once, and I was like, "Oh, that's cool for Hollis," but other than that I have no thoughts on Kardashians.
kuru: I don't even think Kylie Jenner is a Kardashian!
kimj: Oh, actually I just kind of group them all together. Sorry if that's… never mind. (Laughter)

The FADER: You guys both have songs with Jackzebra, so Jackzebra…
kuru: Yo, he's so lit. Yo, shout out China, man.
kimj: Jack Obama.
kuru: I love Jack, man. He's the best. Making music with him is a movie. It's cause me and him just have a really crazy synergy that I don't really find with anyone else. I feel like every single one of the me and Jack songs we made in 10 minutes. Like "Wake Up" we did in seven, we just punched it in in my old room.
kimj: Yeah, crazy. No, shout out Jack, he's one of the ones. Especially, he's really putting on for China, especially China this past year having a huge moment on the internet and the scene's really growing and flourishing. Jack's awesome. I love working with him. Shout out Chinese-Korean, yes.

The FADER: kuru, what question should we ask kimj?
kuru: Ooh... Let me think about this for a second. Low-key, okay. I'm actually really curious. How was your vacation in Thailand?
kimj: Oh, I mean, it's always good in Thailand. I love Thailand. I recommend Thailand to pretty much everyone I meet. Bangkok is probably my favorite city in the whole world. Fuck Seoul, fuck Tokyo, fuck Shanghai, fuck all that shit. Bangkok is the shit. And I really predict Bangkok or Thailand, within the next year, I think their scene is going to explode. Not even just Thailand, I think the way that China and Korea had this big thing last year, I think the more South-Eastern countries, like Myanmar, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, I think they're all going to go crazy these coming years. That's what I predict.