Thus, the music that is made will become a trend that is widespread throughout the country and will also enliven the aspects of the entertainment industry in a country known for producing the best ginseng in the world. At the same time, many music managers are promoting by preparing trainees from talented young people. Of course, to prepare for their debut to become a celebrity or a star on stage, with all the efforts given by management during the training period that every trainee must carry out, finally, SM Entertainment had already debuted the boy group Shinhwa in 1998, then expanded its promotion by debuting a new boy group in 2002, which is Black Beat with a fresh new concept: ready to become the new challenger in the South Korean music industry at that time. To find out more about Black Beat, let’s take a look at the article that Channel-Korea has prepared below!
Black Beat’s Profile
Black Beat debuted under SM Entertainment and had an original 5-member line-up, which included Lee So-min, Hwang Sang-hoon, Jung Ji-hoon, Shim Jae-won, and Jang Jin-young. Black Beat began appearing in front of the public with their appearance in Lee Ji-hoon’s Dream Concert 2000 as backup vocalists and dancers. After that, Black Beat got the opportunity to release an album together with their debut on March 1st, 2002, and do other performances as dancers of S.E.S and many more. Black Beat also has a fandom called Soul Black and their official color is Pearl Black. However, it seems that Black Beat’s career did not go well. Although the members were given the opportunity to appear on several music videos by singers under SM Entertainment, the management that was owned by Lee Soo-man did not allow Black Beat to release new songs and they had not received a further promotion since 2006. This made Black Beat’s career fade away as time went on. Before disappearing, Black Beat managed to at least get an achievement winning the 2002 Mnet Asian Music Awards in the Best New Group category for their single “In The Sky”.
Black Beat’s Members’ profiles
Let’s take a look at Black Beat members’ full profiles in more detail in the section below! Black Beat’s Somin Real Name: Lee So-min (Hangul: 이소민) Stage Name: Lee So-min (Hangul: 이소민) Birthday: March 18th, 1981 Star Sign: Pisces Height: 174 cm Blood Type: O Position in the group: Leader, Low tone vocalist Black Beat’s Sang-hoon Real Name: Hwang Sang-hoon (Hangul: 황상훈) Stage Name: Hwang Sang-hoon (Hangul: 황상훈) Birthday: March 2nd, 1981 Star Sign: Pisces Height: 173 cm Blood Type: B Position in the group: Rapper, Choreographer Black Beat’s Ji-hoon Real Name: Jung Ji-hoon (Hangul: 정지훈) Stage Name: Jung Ji-hoon (Hangul: 정지훈)/Kanghan (Hangul: 강한) Birthday: May 20th, 1981 Star Sign: Taurus Height: 173 cm Blood Type: AB Position in the group: High tone vocalist, Choreographer Black Beat’s Jae-won Real Name: Shim Jae-won (Hangul: 심재원) Stage Name: Shim Jae-won (Hangul: 심재원) Birthday: February 8th, 1983 Star Sign: Aquarius Blood Type: B Position in the group: Lead Rapper, choreographer Black Beat’s Jin-young Real Name: Jang Jin-young (Hangul: 장진영) Stage Name: Jang Jin-young (Hangul: 장진영) Birthday: July 1st, 1983 Star Sign: Cancer Height: 174 Blood Type: O Position in the group: Lead Vocalist
Black Beat’s Debut
Black Beat, which debuted in 2002, had a very fresh concept to be enjoyed in that era. With the K-Pop genre introduced by this group, Black Beat appeared by releasing their debut music video, “Wing”, and put on an excellent performance in the music video. The members who looked energetic and charismatic also appeared in the performance by performing dance moves in sync with one another. Despite the fast tempo of the song, Black Beat were able to make a very good performance with this song.
Still in their debut era, Black Beat also released a music video of the single that brought them an award in the category for Best New Group. “In The Sky” is a single included in Black Beat’s 1st album, Volume 1 – Black Beat #2002, that was released in 2002. Different from the “Wings” genre which seemed very energetic, in “In The Sky”, the members showed their vocal skills in singing with their very sweet voices. Black Beat proved that not only they have interesting performances showing their dance moves but also their singing skills through “In The Sky” with the ballad genre also deserve appreciation.
Black Beat’s Career Journey
When talking about the history of SM Entertainment, this management will certainly not be forgotten, especially with the rows of groups that have debuted under the agency and still have career histories that many people will not forget. The underrated groups from SM Entertainment that debuted in early 2000 are such as Isak N Jiyeon, M.I.L.K, and Shinvi. Black Beat received the 2002 Mnet Asian Music Award for the Best New Group and was the most successful team among them, Isak N Jiyeon, M.I.L.K , and Shinvi. Even though only one album, Volume 1 – Black Beat #2002 in 2002, was left behind and disappeared into the back of history. Black Beat was originally planned as a group of 7, Lee Kang-in and Yoo Hyun were supposed to be part of the original member line-up too, but SM Entertainment made Black Beat’s debut after reorganization as a five-member group, and as many as three out of five members were a group that gave a quite strong impact to the public with an unprecedented combination of main dancers and choreography difficulty beyond imagination. Because of this, even people who were not very interested in Black Beat still remember, “Ah, the team that danced very well?” and “Oh, the team that was good with the poppin moves?” It wasn’t a box office hit or loser, such as winning a rookie award at the time, and a fairly solid fandom was built from before debut and also fan sites or fan cafés from the days of trainees. As the activity period of the first album proceeded for nearly a year, the public awareness was built up to a level of flatness. For example, at the same time, YG Entertainment’s 1TYM’s fandom and the color of the balloon were black, just because the two fandoms were sharply opposed to each other, so the fandom was solid. At that time, onetime fandom’s signature, that is, the images and achievements that were imprinted by the public meant that it is never a team that will be treated as a black history or a broken team. To put it coldly, Black Beat’s 1st album activity was much better in terms of performance, which was famous for the explosive activities of Shinhwa, the agency’s senior group. In fact, as far as it is known, Black Beat’s 2nd album was scheduled to be released. It wasn’t just an obvious excuse that ruined artists who were going to release an album vaguely. The initial plan was aimed at around 2003 or 2004, but as everyone knows, TVXQ, a junior group from the same agency at the end of 2003 debuted. At the same time with their debut, TVXQ swept through the year 2004, and at that time, TVXQ released 2 singles, 1 full-length album, and 1 winter special album during the year of 2004, and continued to be active throughout the year. There wasn’t really an appropriate timing for Black Beat, the same five-member boy group, to make a comeback. For this reason, Black Beat’s 2nd comeback was pushed to 2005, and from that point on, preparations for a really specific 2nd album, such as recording for the album production and confirmation of the concept had begun. In early 2005, Black Beat’s fan club, Soul Black, was recruited for the second term and from mid-2005, Black Beat took part in performances where SM artists participated, but it turned out to be a lie because they didn’t really perform there. It started to digest again in earnest after a year. The concept of the 2nd album was also confirmed, and when the fans attended the dream concert in 2005 for defamation, fans went on stage with the outfit and style planned as the concept of the 2nd album. After that, the concept was revealed, the new album activity was a fixed fact, but somehow, until the end of 2005, Black Beat’s album was not released at the end, and only TVXQ released their 2nd album, and the year went by. In addition, at the end of 2005, all five members attended the SM Entertainment 10th Anniversary Party, which was the last step as a whole. After that, there was no news again. Eventually, the contracts of Lee So-min, Jung Ji-Hoon, and Jang Jin-Young were terminated in 2007, resulting in substantial dissolution. Until recently, it was unclear for what reason the concept was finalized and the album that had been recorded was overturned. At the time, the most convincing rumor was that TVXQ’s second album title song, “Rising Sun”, was the second album that was prepared for the title track of Black Beat. It turned out that two higher votes in SM Entertainment decided that TVXQ were more efficient and decided to take “Rising Sun” as the title track of their 2nd album, and for this reason, Black Beat’s comeback was delayed. There was also a rumor that the album was not released after Black Beat could not find a suitable title song. And later, through an interview with Shim Jae-won, this was revealed to be true. Even “Rising Sun” as well as “O”-Jung.Ban.Hap and Super Junior’s “A Man In Love” were Black Beat songs. However, all of these songs were stolen by juniors, and the second album was not released in the end. The fans were waiting for Black Beat’s comeback every year and they also paid the membership fee that turned out to become inflated with expectations for their 2nd album activity and became the fandom who pay the most as they joined the fan club. But after two years without any activity, they were struggling with the news of the expiration of the contracts of Black Beat members. Eventually, when the contract of the members at the time was terminated and the actual dissolution occurred, SM Entertainment refunded the membership fee in full to the 2nd batch recruitment for the Soul Black who just joined the fandom when the agency announced that the members will terminate the activity. In the end. Black Beat disappeared completely into history.
Black Beat’s Stage Performances
Different from other groups that get well promoted and appear on several music programs broadcast on television, Black Beat’s stage performances can be said to only be counted on the fingers because the members also got the opportunity to appear individually in other SM Entertainment’s artists’ music videos. However, let’s watch Black Beat’s performance in this video below to find out more about their promotions! On May 5th, 2002, Black Beat who had recently promoted as a rookie boy group under SM Entertainment had their debut stage with “Wings” which was broadcast on SBS’s Inkigayo. In this performance, Black Beat, who had just debuted for a few months, already had quite a number of fans who were present in the music program. You could clearly hear the fan chants shouted by fans when Black Beat began to perform wearing the exact same outfit in the music video.
In another performance, Black Beat also performed one of their singles that was included in their 1st album, a song titled “Before We Part” (Hangul: 헤어지). Almost the same as “In The Sky”, this song also has a ballad genre and shows more of the Black Beat members’ excellent vocal qualities. If “Wings” tends to show their dance skills on stage, “Before We Part” and “In The Sky” show more of the vocal character of each member.
Black Beat’s Latest News
Most of the members are still working in the entertainment industry now. Despite being a group that disappeared after releasing only one album, there are surprisingly many episodes and stories that have been handed down. In particular, member Shim Jae-won is appearing quite often on social media and interviews of being an SM artist even now. Black Beat’s leader Lee So-min formed a vocal group called The Black with Black Beat member, Jang Jin-young, in 2010, and after Jang Jin-young withdrew, he was active with other members until February 2016. Recently, a small Japanese ramen restaurant opened around August 2020 that is owned by him. Jung Ji-hoon is the member who turned back to his non-celebrity life after Black Beat disbanded. He went back to a B-boy team alongside Kim Chang-ryul in a mixed group WE in 2011. The group also became fuzzy after releasing only two albums until 2012. Currently, he is a professional dancer and has changed his career as a B-boy and he is also active as a YouTuber with his YouTube channel Soma’s Dance World☆SOMA DANCEWORLD. Even after the contract ended, the youngest Jang Jin-young remained in SM Entertainment and worked as a vocal trainer. In 2013, along with member Shim Jae-won, he appeared as a judge that represented SM Entertainment in K-Pop Stars. In 2017, he appeared as a vocal trainer in Sister’s Slam Dunk: Season 2. “Who is that handsome vocal trainer?” and “SM is also a handsome vocal trainer,” were some of the comments aimed at Jang Jin-young that were drawing attention from the public again, eliciting a reaction such as. In the middle, he showed rust-free dancing skills, while having the nickname Jichung-sam. Nevertheless, Jang Jin-young was still popular among netizens and showed a variety of appearances by showing the appearance of adapting little by little to entertainment. Also, thanks to the popularity of Sister’s Slam Dunk: Season 2, from July 2017, he participated as a teacher in Mnet’s Idol School with Bada, Stephanie, and Kim Heechul. He became a vocal trainer. As you can see, most of the trainers who participated in this program are former and current SM Entertainment graduates and have a close relationship with each other. Not to mention Bada, who had a senior and junior relationship at SM Entertainment at the same time, Stephanie also received training from Jang Jin-young when she just started vocal training when she was a trainee. In particular, both Kim Heechul and Jang Jin-young were born in 1983 and even Kim Heechul danced to the song “Wings” by Black Beat during the SM Entertainment audition. Currently, he is working as a representative of A-Top Company, a vocal training company. Red Velvet, WJSN, NCT, SF9, Golden Child, The Boys, Everglow, and many active idol singers underwent training in the company. Hwang Sang-hoon and Shim Jae-won also remain at SM Entertainment and as everyone knows, they are doing very well as very famous performance directors. Hwang Sang-hoon appeared as a judge when the members came to audition for SM Entertainment in the “Infinite Challenge Idol Special Episode” and together with Super Junior’s Donghae, he presented “Sorry Sorry”, one of the representative choreography he was in charge of. Shim Jae-won only played the role of a choreographer who was only in charge of choreography and then gradually developed and began to take charge of the stage production of the artist. Hwang Sang-hoon is also in charge of the choreography of SM Entertainment’s artists, starting with rookie performances and is currently gaining great response as a performance director of artists capable of solo concerts in SM Entertainment, such as Taeyeon and Taemin. In particular, they are responsible for not only creating choreography but also revising and coordinating the performances provided by famous overseas choreographers to suit the artist. Hwang Sang-hoon and Shim Jae-won are not an absolute standard. When it comes to work, it seems that the division of labor is appropriately divided according to the song and artist at that time, rather than being in charge of unconditionally. Actually, Shim Jae-won said that it was a project prepared by Hwang Sang-hoon for one year, so he had not much to say about the question about EXO‘s “Growl” and choreography. According to their interviews, they cannot bring the movements of famous choreographers as they are and they also play such roles by making changes in SM Entertainment’s style in a large framework such as movements with personnel and movements that take into account life. It is said that SM Entertainment artists trust them very much because they were cast by SM Entertainment directly and actually stood on the stage. Even though Black Beat did not have sufficient promotion as a whole group, SM Entertainment has provided a very big opportunity for the members and managed to channel their talents in the company. You could say ‘flop’ or ‘underrated’ as a group, but the members of Black Beat proved that they can become professional idols even today and have important positions in SM Entertainment and other places where they work. Well, that was all of the information about SM Entertainment’s boy group Black Beat that was active in early 2000. Disbandment is not everything because there are still many opportunities to start a career again if only you have sufficient potential in the entertainment industry. Black Beat members have also been able to give their best to date and it turns out that they are also the key to the success of any group that is now very famous, right? If you like this article, don’t forget to share it on your social media and stay tuned for the other interesting upcoming articles from Channel-Korea!
