By Cathy Rose A. Garcia
Staff Reporter
Korean reggae artist Skull released his debut single ``Boom Di Boom Di'' at the Apple iTunes store, the most popular music downloading Web site in the United States, on Tuesday.
Skull is one of the few Korean artists whose songs are available on the iTunes store in the U.S. He also unveiled his 3D animation music video for ``Boom Di Boom Di'' on the social networking Web site MySpace at www.myspace.com/skullriddim.
The music video received mostly positive comments from MySpace users, who described it as having ``cool beats'' and ``awesome computer-generated graphics.'' However, there were some who commented they couldn't understand the words of the fast-paced reggae song.
Morgan Carey, brother of pop superstar Mariah, is handling Skull's debut in the U.S. market. There have even been rumors that Skull will soon do a collaborative effort with Mariah Carey, but there has been no confirmation from his agency.
According to the agency, Skull will collaborate with artists Buju Banton and Kardinal Offishall. Banton is considered one of the pioneers of dancehall reggae, while Kardinal Offishall is a top Canadian rapper.
Skull has performed as an opening act for Banton at the legendary reggae venue Janus Landing in Tampa. He also performed at several shows, including The Marley's MySpace Secret Show in Miami.
Jah B., an urban radio disc jockey from WILD 98.7 in Tampa, Florida, described Skull as ``the future of reggae.'' ``I've never seen an audience embrace an opening act the way they did Skull at the Buju Banton show. `Boom Di Boom Di' is hot. I expect it to be in heavy rotation here by summer's end,'' he said.
Skull used to be a part of reggae duo Stony Skunk, under YG Entertainment in Korea. In 2003, he made his debut as part of Stony Skunk and has released three albums. However, he moved to the U.S. last year to focus on his solo career.
Skull is one of the handful of Korean artists, including Rain and Se7en, who are trying to make it in the U.S. this year.