Oh how I wish I could raid this man’s ipod. If you want to know where he got his onstage charisma and sensuality (besides just being born and blessed with it), I think much of it comes from the music that JinYeong Park, his musical mentor since his debut, likely exposed him to. JinYeong Park has experience working in the States, producing hits for mostly African-American artists, including the likes of Mase, Will Smith and Cassie, so it comes as no surprise to me that he would get exposed to the music, particularly r&b music. No doubt he passed alot of that on to Bi. Don’t know what I mean? Bi once said in an interview, “I love rnb, hip hop, and rap music. My favourite singers are Stevie Wonder, Nat King Cole, and Eminem.” Also, everyone knows he’s a huge Michael Jackson fan, not to mention Janet. I wasn’t really surprised that he’s into Eminem, but my ears perked up when he named Stevie and Nat. Nat King Cole is a legend, and Stevie’s the best period, and I really appreciated him for pointing them out.
Bi’s not all talk. He has covered songs by such popular r&b artists as R. Kelly, Sisqo, James Ingram (a personal favorite!) and Usher. He even serenaded a reporter (check out the vid clip below) in an interview with the Luther Vandross-style version of “Superstar”. *Sigh* He sounded good…
So yeah, Bi’s got soul in more than ways than one.
Black Women Love 비 
It’s funny you posted this clip. I posted the exact clip in one of my responses on Cloud USA’s blog. I love the fact that his “musical heart” beats in the African-American culture. As far as Michael Jackson goes, I believe Bi has stated that Michael is THE reason he wanted to become an entertainer after seeing him perform. JYP is his mentor who honed the raw talent he saw in Bi and you’re right, he exposed him even further to many other Black artists. I think this is one reason so many of us Sistas find him so appealing. The “soul” oozing out of his Korean veins is like “home” to us, it’s “calling to us.” Funny, it seems so natural coming from him even though R&B music was not “born” of his culture.
I would LOVE for this man to finally come over to the U.S. and do an R&B album proper, with some Fly artists. Can you see Bi and “B” (Beyonce) doing some Hot Track and then doing a Hella Hot video! Aaahh, Wow that would be so COOL!!
I would also love for Rain/Bi to come back to the States and create an incredible R&B/ Neo-Soul/ Hip-Hop record. I am not a fan of Beyounce so I really hope he doesn’t work with her, but I wouldn’t mind if Bi worked with Jay-Z. Jay has a good ear for creating strong beats and rythmns so that collabo would be nice. I think if Rain really wants to have a really good English language album (some a lil bit of Korean thrown in) he definitely SHOULD work with Ne-Yo, Drake, Kanye West, R. Kelly, and maybe even Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. But please please please I don’t want him to work with Diddy! NOOOOO! I’m just sayin’!
Monica, thanks for your comments! I personally would love to see him duet with Beyonce…as I know their onstage chemistry would be off the chain! I don’t care for Jay-Z… Ne-Yo and R. Kelly would be a definite. Some people have found this suggestion a bit strange, but I think if he did a duet with T-Pain, he would kill it! I just think they would sound so good together. I’m not too crazy about Diddy, either, but JJ and TL??? Oh yes ma’am!! Heck, why doesn’t he just work with Janet, too? Oh this could be a beautiful thing 😉
Seems like Bi has good taste in music.
I would love for him to work with Usher and Janet Jackson.