AMP On Their New Album & On How We Can Inspire the Future Generations

AMP has just released their brand new record FUTUREGEN. A symphony that swings from modern electronica to grand orchestrals, the album brings into focus the next rising generation, rallying them on to run toward the prime joy of making Christ known and glorified.

The track list, featuring AMP's signature sound and lyricism, is both electric and vertical, passionate and authentic, contagious and full of praise.It exhibits the musical and spiritual growth of each individual in the group, and in doing so, overflows into an active encouragement for all believers to vigorously pursue Christ as the One who will groom and raise each generation, and build a Kingdom that truly lasts into eternity.

Q:  Thanks so much for your time and opportunity.  What does ​ AMP mean?

​Thank you for having us! AMP stands for "Amplify Christ." We seek to have the glory of Jesus amplified in our lives and the lives of those around us.​

Q:  Tell us a little about how you came together? 

​Initially, Sam Ock was browsing on a popular social media site when he came across a random video where he saw a young Korean-American waxing his rap skills with his friends dancing in the background. Sam was majorly impressed by the talent of this fellow who turned out to be J. Han. They connected through the internet and realized that they attended sister colleges, and quickly began to collaborate. CL, the third member of AMP was pursuing a solo rap ministry at the time and his cousin, a youth pastor from J. Han's church, ​initiated a connection between the two rappers. It was through a collaboration upon a J. Han track where Ock and CL we able to connect. Since then, through some fellowship over Korean Barbecue, Sam Ock, J. Han, and CL decided to join forces, and the rest was history.

Q:  Being Korean-Americans, does that give you a different ​perspective to Christian music that makes your music special? 

The tension between our ethnic heritage and the American context we grew up in absolutely informs our worldview​, which in turn helps us to have an interesting perspective within the sphere of Christianity. We have seen the glory of Christ manifest in a "we," collectivist culture such as South Korea, and we have allowed that marry with the "I," individualist Western context we grew up in, which we believe gives us a unique opportunity to be a bridge between those communities, and to be able to see how they are able unite together as the body of Christ. It also gives our music an interesting sound.

Q:  Congratulations on the release of FUTUREGEN, how would ​you describe the sound of this record?  

​Thank you very much! The sound of this record seeks to marry modern rap elements and textures with the melodic aesthetic of Asian culture, while seeking to achieve a grand, genre-bending sound which gives the listener a desire to reflect vertically, to see the bigger picture of God's glory and how we as individuals fit in that context. 

Q:  Did you approach the making of this record any differently compared to your previous albums?

​We wrote this album almost exclusively separate from each other, through shared online documents, many times while traveling or away from our usual creative environments. While Sam Ock and J. Han who live in Atlanta were able to collaborate on the sounds and hooks of each track, CL who resides in Maryland wrote most if not all of his lyrics apart from the others. An interesting fact is that all of the members collectively recorded all of their vocals within an 18-hour span! 

Q:  Let's talk about the album's lead single "Hail the​ King," what are you most excited about this song?

​Hail the King was an ambitious song for us, because we sought to capture the feeling of a glorious King whose movement cannot be stopped by any earthly power, where all of humanity plays a part in His grand scheme that spans all of history and leads into a glorious future, all while combining modern textures with rap and song. We are most excited to perform and unite together with our audiences, to be excited for the grand purpose and vision of Christ as King.​

Q:  I believe you will be embarking on a world tour going to ​Korea and even Australia.  Tell us more about the tour and what fans can expect when they come to see you. 

​Yes, we are very excited to share our music with the world and connect with the greater body of Christ. Fans can expect to praise God together with us, rather than it just being a performance!

Q:  How can we prepare ourselves so that we can speak to the ​future generation about Jesus and the Gospel? 

​As 1 Timothy 4:12 states, "Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity." [ESV] We believe that this is a calling for all of us to be leaders in gospel living and expression, by seeking to create what is beautiful, excellent, and glorious through the talents God has given us, in order to inspire the our current generations as well as the youth who will become the future generation to pursue what is most worth pursuing: to seek to glorify God by enjoying Him forever.

 

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