Watch our RADIO.COM LIVE Check In with I.M of Monsta X

Monbebes, are you ready? After a year of wins and triumphs for Monsta X, the all-star rapper of the K-pop group, I.M, is striking out on his own. Today the rapper has debuted his first solo digital mini-album called DUALITY, which is out everywhere now.

As he premiered the new EP, I.M sat down with RADIO.COM’s Kevan Kenney for a special RADIO.COM LIVE Check In to share all the details about his brand new solo project, the success that Monsta X saw in 2020, and so much more.

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The rapper talks us through his inspirations for DUALITY and explains what he was trying to convey with the new music saying, “I got inspired by myself, trying to find the real me, what I am, what I want and what I want to be.” The artist was looking to answer questions about himself and explore his own identity on a deeper level.

While I.M hasn’t specifically defined messages contained in each song on the mini-album, the rapper tells us he wants his fans to find their own ways to connect to the song.

When discussing the process of putting together his first solo project, the member of Monsta X says the experience was vastly different than when he gets to work with his bandmates. “When I’m recording with my members I have something like eight bars, sixteen bars, and just rap, but this is just all about me,” shares I.M. Rather than his typical eight to sixteen bar verse the artist focused on crafting verses to fill entire three-minute tracks.

The artist also says that when he’s recording with the group he’s thinking about so many factors, not just what his bandmates are doing vocally, but what the public will think of the group’s music. However, when recording on his own I.M says, “I just need to be honest to myself.”

Since releasing the new album I.M notes, “I want to feel mysterious and curious about myself because that’s my idea of my music.” The whole recording process has been a moment of self-discovery for the 25-year-old.

Additionally, throughout the making of DUALITY, I.M shared his music with other members of Monsta X in order to get their feedback. The rapper tells us, “Hyungwon said ‘It’s really good, but it’s not really kind of like Korean mainstream music.’”

The rapper discusses where he derived inspiration for his track “Happy to Die” and tells us that the name of the song came about after watching Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. “I was watching Eternal Sunshine at that time and I got the inspiration by that movie and I named that song ‘Happy to Die’ because Jim Carrey says at the frozen lake, ‘I could die right now Clem,’ so I got the inspiration from that,” elaborates I.M

I.M describes that the title DUALITY, “means me.” The title represents the self you are projecting to the world versus the self on the inside that needs protecting. “I think everybody has kind of like a duality like this. I have a sad me, a happy me, a very excited me…I thought this is a word to describe me just in one word,” shares the “God Damn” rapper.

Watch I.M’s full interview above. DUALITY is out everywhere, now.

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