Jamaican daily eyes Korean reggae stars
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Haha(left) and Skull in the front at a Hongdae festival in Seoul / Courtesy of Naver blog
By Ko Dong-hwan
Image cover of "Love Inside"
A Jamaican newspaper has published a full-page interview with Korean reggae singers Skull and Haha, a rare spotlight on Korean celebrities by a foreign media outlet.
released the article on June 3. It highlighted the duo’s collaboration with Jamaican-American reggae musician Stephen Marley, the son of reggae legend Bob Marley, for the single “Love Inside” released in Korea on Mar 29.
Titled “Korean acts eye Jamaica,” the article said Skull, growing up listening to Marley’s music, “really respected him” and reached out to him for the collaboration. It said the duo “has made their mark on the growing Korean reggae scene and hope to do the same in Jamaica.”
It took the duo almost two years to persuade Marley to do the collaboration, according to a Korean media outlet.
Skull, 36, whose real name is Cho Sung-jin, posted an image of the article on Instagram on Sunday.
Skull's Instagram post of an article by The Jamaica Observer / Courtesy of Instagram
Quan Entertainment, the duo’s agency, said the Jamaican news outlet interviewed them when they were working on “Love Inside” but they never imagined the interview would receive such huge coverage. “The article definitely caught the two off guard,” the agency said, according to media reports. “And they are excited about it.”
Skull and Haha, the most popular reggae duo in Korea, released their first album in July 2012 and have been introducing singles including “Ragga Muffin” (2013) and “Beautiful Girl” (2015). Haha, 36, whose real name is Ha Dong-hun, is also one of Korea’s top variety show actors, starring in “Infinite Challenge” on MBC and “Running Man” on SBS.