The title of Hope in the street (main video) cleverly aligns BTS’s j-hope’s professional nom de guerre with the title of his new solo single and the rapper-singer-dancer’s professed adoration of street dancing. Directed by Jun-Soo Park with creative input from j-hope himself, the six episodes of Hope in the street will be released weekly on Prime and will feature j-hope and special guests like South Korean dance champion Boogaloo Kin as they pop and block on a global scale, reaching Seoul, Osaka, Paris, New York and j-hope’s hometown. Gwangju, where a young Jung Ho-seok learned the first moves from him.
HOPE ON THE STREET: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?TO
Initial shot: “I started dancing,” j-hope tells his interviewer. “Dancing was what opened the doors for me. So I thought I should remember the dances I’ve done before.”
The essence: Before making his Big Hit debut as a K-pop idol, before becoming a standout in the BTS rapper contingent, and before hitting the Hot 100 as a solo artist with the Becky G collaboration “Chicken Noodle Soup,” J- Hope was just a kid who loved to dance. “I had completely forgotten,” he says at the beginning of the game. Hope in the street. This is perhaps a bit of an exaggeration, considering the supercut of BTS’ furious dance moves that plays as she says it. But the point is that this docuseries allows J-Hope to reflect on where life has taken him. What was his mindset when he debuted? What happens now that he begins his mandatory military service? (J-hope was on active duty as of April 2023.) And was it dance that made him who he is today?
The answer, of course, is yes. And in a leading segment Hope in the streetIn the brief introductory episode, j-hope dances alone through the converted shipping containers of Seoul’s Common Ground shopping mall for a performance of his new single “On the Street.” In clipped interviews, the K-pop star describes her motivations for creating the documentary series about the dance. And as an entry within the reach of HopeShort vignettes feature footage of J-Hope and his friend and mentor Boogaloo Kin as they cut to locations such as Seoul, J’s hometown, Gwangju, Paris, Osaka, and New York City.
J-hope also stops his flying limbs for a moment to philosophize. Take for example the popular hip-hop dance form of lock. “My life is similar to the lockdown dance,” he says in his hotel suite interview. “There are times when I have to shut things down, and there are other times when I have to relax, take things slower.” Truer words, j-hope. Truer words.
What shows will it remind you of? An entire ecosystem of programming has developed around the members of BTS as they take the superstar boy band into hiatus mode, complete their mandatory military service, and explore solo projects. Hope in the street director Jun-Soo Park directed In the framewhich documented the making of j-hope’s solo album and the lead-up to his performance at Lollapalooza 2023, as well as SUGA: Road to D-Day, which are streaming on Disney+. And BTS danced and sang their way down memory lane in the recent movie/documentary. Is coming.ÂÂÂÂ
Our opinion: The early departure of Hope in the street It is certainly an effective teaser for the full series of the six-episode documentary series. The raw, almost iPhone-like footage that captures studio practice is lively when compared to the basic interview segments and more professionally filmed sequences showing J-Hope and Boogaloo Kin dancing in the streets. of Osaka, or up and down a street. Staircase in Paris. But j is also really excited to connect each location. Hope visits to a specific dance style that inspired him and performing with heavy hitters that way. So he shows up in Osaka (that’s local favorite Akihito “Gucchon” Yamaguchi’s forte) and sets his sights on Seoul. Paris is all about house (“house has always been my inner rhythm” – j-hope facts!), while New York is all about hip-hop alongside legendary street dancer Henry “Link” McMillan. And once Hope in the street When he returns to Gwangju, anyone who has memorized the biographies of BTS members will also recognize the guys from Neuron, the dance team where our featured idol got his start. About guys like DXNG WXX and MISHKA, j-hope simply refers to them admiringly as “saem,†or teacher.
Sex and skin: None of that, but the daring looks and oversized cuts of urban fashion dominate. Hope in the street. Do you like the bright blue number 34 Nike dri-fit jersey j-hope rocks in some segments here? The army of BTS fans has already done it. background research in the garment. And get ready to see the Supreme logo. A lot.
Parting Shot: The credit arrives Hope in the street becomes a cool final segment in itself. J-Hope is back in his giant Nike t-shirt as a single shot captures him dancing down a Seoul alley as production credits appear as graffiti on the surrounding walls.
Sleeping star: Hak-nam Kim, better known by his stage name Boogaloo Kin, brings a veteran presence to Hope as a renowned dancer in his own right and mentor to j-hope. “Passing on the dance moves I have learned, studied, researched and practiced to this generation and the next, in the right way, is my current motivation.”
Most pilot line: He Hope the introduction brings the indications: “Who am I?”; “What future do I want?†; “What is dance?†– and answers his own question. “Dance is life; “Life is dance.”
Our call: Hope in the street It’s definitely a STREAM IT if, as the leader of BTS, you can’t get enough of the wave of content featuring the boy band members in solo stages. But in a broader sense, anyone who is a fan of street dancing as a dynamic form will find plenty of moves on display.
Johnny Loftus (@glennganges) is a freelance writer and editor living in Chicago. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift.
