by JONATHAN CHA
On October 18th, Eugene Ahn, also known by his rap moniker, Adam WarRock, participated in a 24-hour Rap-A-Thon to raise awareness and funds for the survivors of sexual violence. Within 24 hours, Ahn wrote, tracked, produced and released 18 songs via his Tumblr to benefit RAINN, the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network. After completing this amazingly philanthropic feat, KoreAm checked back in with Ahn for a recap of the production process.
How are you doing in the wake of recording 18 songs in a day?
Ahn: I’m doing okay, though I don’t know if I’ll be in the mood to make any more music for a bit. Ha. But I always say that and then end up getting an idea and making more in a couple of days.
Which songs are your favorite? I read that you particularly enjoyed your fourth song, “Dazzler,” and are considering a release.
I am really proud of “Dazzler” and “Kick Punch.” A lot of people really liked “Fin Fang Foom” and “Steve Rogers,” but I thought they were kind of throwaway songs, so I’m surprised that people dug them as much.
How much did you raise?
In the end, I raised about $2000 for RAINN from around 122 donors.
What’s the next step? Are you emailing directions to donors and then collecting?
I email them a link to donate via PayPal, and then they submit it. Some people have had stuff come up in life, so I always say its totally fine if you can’t fulfill a pledge. But, enough people did, so we raised a solid amount of money.
On your Tumblr, you concluded the fundraising experience by writing the following:
“I have had a lot of people very close to me, loved ones, who’ve been survivors of sexual violence. Beyond that, I seem to know even more people who share this experience, having loved one’s as survivors as well. In this day and age (especially with topical stories like gamergate and all that), nerd and geek culture can be a toxic place not just for women, but for a lot of demographic segments. It’s easy to hate, to threaten, to be generally terrible people. It’s sad to me to see so many self-proclaimed nerds fall victim to things like rape threats or homophobic, misogynist insults hurled around like it doesn’t mean anything. It means something incredibly hurtful to a lot of people. Those aren’t the kind of nerds that I want representing what I want to do, or who I am. So, I hope you can continue to be good to people, or maybe think twice before hurling around b——t that affects people in very real ways on a daily basis.”
After reading it again, what was the most rewarding aspect of this experience?
You are forcing yourself to make music at such a furious clip, that sometimes a song or line happens that genuinely surprises you. You go back and listen and say, “Wow, I really did a good job on that one,” because in the moment, you don’t really get the chance to think that. In the end, the very obvious idea that you made some good out of this thing that you created is always a good feeling.
Here’s a post from Ahn about what’s next in terms shows and new music, including an eight-song EP called “Gifted Student” produced by Mikal kHill and a full-length album on the horizon for late 2015, or early 2016.
Read our previous interview with Ahn here.
