#212: Jay Park

This week on A Waste of Time with ItsTheReal, we welcome Roc Nation singer/songwriter/rapper and son of Seattle, Washington, Jay Park to the Upper West Side! Jay speaks on growing up the son of travel agents in the Emerald City, running around town with his crew on a mission to make a career out of breakdancing, doing poorly in school and hiding his report cards from his parents, and with his back against the wall, auditioned for a Korean talent competition, which ended up getting him cast in a boy band. With his folks going through a tough time, Jay took the gig to support his family and flew to South Korea knowing nothing of the language or culture, not to mention the shock of K-Pop artist development. We discuss his time in 2PM, what differentiated them from 2AM, their supergroup 1 Day, his attempts to work the system and take care of his body and soul without losing who he was over three and a half years before they ever dropped a project, and why he left the group. Jay gets into the reality of coming back to Seattle, his job working at a used tire shop, how his love for music came back, how starting to sing YouTube covers in the bathroom gained him a fanbase, why he felt weird about it, and how it ultimately make him an international draw once again. All that, plus the levels of Korean tattoos, friends by convenience, holding onto creative control, getting 2 Chainz verse, living in Korea as former member of a boy band, becoming a businessman, his latest project Ask Bout Me, and much more!