After almost two years of its original release, Min Yoongi, known as BTS’ Suga, dropped a variation of his self-produced mixtape for sale on iTunes Music. Even though the iTunes version doesn’t contain two tracks from the original, this is because his title track “Agust D” and his intro have samples of the song “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World” by James Brown throughout its 3:06 minutes and couldn’t be released for a cost; it was a surprise for us all how the mixtape managed to climb so high so fast.
Without any promotion, he topped the charts of several countries with his highest entry being at #1. In the U.S., he reached a peak of #3 on both iTunes and Billboard Worldwide Albums.
The member of the South Korean boy group first dropped his music on August 16, 2016 at 12 AM KST, surprising his fans all over the world. The album, named after his nickname which is a mix of his stage name and the name of his hometown Daegu (DTSUGA) spelled backwards provides an inside look at his thoughts and career, sharing his unknown story to his fans.
In the original mixtape, Min Yoongi introduces himself on his title track “Agust D” as a “new thing,” stating that “next up is the Billboard” which is funny considering that a year later his group would attend the Billboard Music Awards and win in their nominated category. The upbeat hip-hop song states his thoughts and ambitions, making an entrance for the rapper’s solo work.
“Give It To Me” and “724148” set up the mood with different hip-hop styles, showing his versatility while addressing the distress of his younger years. On the later, whose particular name is a mix of two bus numbers he usually took (724 in Daegu and 148 in Seoul), he talks from moving out from his town to the capital, auditioning for being an idol, becoming a trainee, working part-time jobs to pay for his expenses, and the future thoughts of where he is now.
The mixtape reaches its peak in the song “The Last” with strong lyrics such as: “It’s been a long time since my everyday life became killing my passions and comparing myself to others;” he addresses the hardships of having depression and social phobia as a public figure.
Closing up with “So Far Away” the rapper ends it all on a brighter note: “Dream, we’ll be in full bloom at the end of these hardships” telling the listener to achieve their dreams no matter how impossible they seem.
The mixtape is currently #1 under the genre K-Pop on U.S. iTunes. You can listen to mixtape on Spotify, Apple Music, Soundcloud, buy it on iTunes and watch his title track here.