The Seoul Dynasty were one of the first teams in the Overwatch League to have a walk-out song other than the generic one that the producers played for all the teams. More and more teams started to adopt that idea as the seasons continued. Gen.G as an organization would commission artists to create an original track for them to use. It would be used in the Burbank arena when the team walked out or later during the pandemic of background music when the team was being introduced on air. Here is a look at the past walk-out songs that the Seoul Dynasty has had and a prediction of what could come in Season 4.
Season 1
In Season 1, it was pH-1 who was the artist on their first walk-out track. It debuted in Stage 4 Week 4 against the Philadelphia Fusion. The response to the song was very positive from the community. It came as a surprise to fans when the new walk-out song came on in Season 3 as 82 had spanned both the end of Season 1 and all of Season 2. At this point, 82 became a staple in Tiger Nation and associated with the team because of the long run time in the League.
Season 3
Though the track was released on April 22, 2020, the day of their show match against the San Francisco Shock Echo edition, there was a shift from Season 1-2 to Season 3. This song was centered around Tiger Nation that was adopted by all teams of Gen.G. It can be seen in the music video that this video was not just centered around the Seoul Dynasty, but all of the organization.
The song wasn’t debuted on the Overwatch League stream until Week 12, March 26, 2020, in their match against the Shanghai Dragons. This video was crafted around the Seoul Dynasty. It had highlight footage of the Dynasty against the LA Valiant and LA Gladiators that they had played previously to the song. Unfortunately because of Covid-19, the walk-out song didn’t get as much time to shine as 82 did. With the intent of the homestands before the pandemic hit, there is no doubt that there would have probably been a live performance of the song at Seoul’s homestand weekend.
Season 4
Prediction:
The Seoul Dynasty seem to enjoy collaborating with the producer Davidior as both of their previous songs were a product of his work. In a recent interview with Dusttin ‘Dogman’ Bowerman, Arnold Hur talked about how he enjoyed the Korean rap scene. It would make sense that the Season 4 walk-out song would also be a Korean rapper to continue with the theme.
Both previous walk-out songs were done by rappers who appeared on the Korean competition TV show, Show Me The Money. This survival-based TV show highlights all different kinds of rappers in their writing and performances who are mentored in groups by well-established names in the business. pH-1 was a contestant in Season 7 of Show Me the Money, while Junoflo was on Season 6. Both of these rappers are Korean America, while perfectly highlights Gen.G. They are an organization that also has that identity within both America and Korea for esports.
Possible Artists:
There are many different possibilities of the rappers that Gen.G could collaborate with if they followed this trend. Korean American and on Show Me the Money seems to be the patterns for the artist that the organization picks to work with on creating their walk-out track. That being said, the fact that these rappers on Show Me the Money more speaks to the fact Gen.G is giving up and coming artists a chance of exposure. So the artist may not be in Show Me the Money, but a good bet would be that they are not a mainstream name in the music industry yet. Some of the Korean clips may have some profanity within them, so be aware if you choose to listen.
Jinyoung ‘Loopy’ Lee
Loopy was on Show Me the Money 7. He is a California, LA rapper and producer. Gen.G has a headquarters in LA as well as Seoul, which would make it easy to collaborate with. He just released ‘No Fear’ in 2020, but is seemingly taking a small break. Loopy is apart of MKIT Rain which is an LA-based label. He was a part of a scandal alongside a few other rappers (including Nafla), but the indictments were suspended as it was their first offense. This has slowed down his career a little bit, but this could be an opportunity to show he has reflected and grown from the situation.
Nicholas ‘Nafla’ Choi
Nafla is another rapper that is from California. He has done some big collaborations such as working with Dynamic Duo which was when he gained popularity in the Korean hip-hop scene. Nafla was also on Season 7 of the show. He was caught up in the same scandal as Loopy but has been much more active on social media through the times. His rap style fits well within what has previously been produced for the Dynasty. He is a part of the same agency as Loopy that is based in LA. These two artists have even collaborated on an album together. To see a duo create the theme/walk-out song would be cool to see, which would be a split from the solo songs of previous seasons.
Michael ‘YunB’ Myeong
The Show Me the Money contestant in Season 7 and 8 is a New York native. He had an extended play of D.O.P.E as well as a single L.A.F.S featuring CJamm in 2020. In his single, he was more of a vocalist, which wouldn’t fit as well as some of the others as the walk-out songs always have had a more rap-heavy vibe. In the clip below YunB is the one in the glasses. He doesn’t fit the previous walkout songs as well, but if Gen.G was looking for a new sound he would be a good fit. Whether it is more melodic or heavier rap YunB would be able to flex to fit what was needed.
D.Ark
D.Ark breaks away from the pattern of being a Korean American, but there a few factors that would seemingly make him attractive to Gen.G. The first reason is that he is trilingual. He speaks Korean, Chinese, and English. Those are the three regions that Gen.G are in when it comes to esport locations (LA, Seoul, and Shanghai). He was in Show Me the Money 7 but due to a scandal, reflected before coming back in Season 9 to try again. He is a promising young talent, which is the exact MO that Gen.G looks for in their players as well.
Walk-out Song
An honorable mention needs to go out to Epik High, The group has interacted with the Seoul Dynasty in the past. The leader of the group, Tablo, is fluent in English. Though they are an established group and it isn’t Korean-American that would be a huge collaboration if they produced Gen.G’s next theme/walk-out song. It would break all the patterns, but be massive for the brand.
No matter if the organization decides to stay with Junoflo’s bomb for another year or work with another artist Tiger Nation is lucky to have an organization that supports all kinds of artists. The collaborations in content and in the arts show how committed Gen.G is to become a mainstream name. The Overwatch League fans will definitely listen closely the first couple of matches when the casters introduce the team to see if a new melody can be detected.
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