INFO
| Name | Hanju Kim (he/him) |
| Also known as | Hans. |
| Born | 1997 |
| Country of Birth | Aotearoa |
| Place of Residence | Warrane Sydney |
| Ethnicities | Korean |
| Artform | Music |
| Decades Active | 2010s, 2020s |
ABOUT
Hanju Kim (also known as Hans.) is an alternative/hip-hop artist and producer who was born in Kawakawa two years after his parents migrated to Aotearoa. He grew up in Kerikeri and moved to the North Shore when he was 15. He describes the move to Tāmaki Makaurau as a form of culture shock, from feeling like “the only Asian born north of Auckland” to having “never seen so many [Asian people] in my life”, a shift that helped him become closer to his Korean identity. “Now I rep it pretty hard. I'm proud as fuck about it.”
The move to Tāmaki Makaurau also introduced him to music. While his mum is a classical piano teacher, Kim didn’t really grow up with music, instead discovering ‘90s hip-hop through friends, and eventually stumbling across Korean-American rapper Dumbfoundead. “Seeing him was kind of amazing to me, cause there was this dude, not great at Korean, rapping in English, and repping Korea heavy. I saw myself in him a lot and having this idol really helped show me I should be proud of my heritage.”
Kim started making music during the Soundcloud era of experimentation, and is now known for his deadpan, “almost sleepy” delivery and for the way he weaves his identity into his music. “I stopped the American accent in 2013,” he says, mentioning Homebrew as an inspiration for doing so. “I try to incorporate bits of Korean into my rapping now. I speak a bit of Korean from time to time, and incorporating that is like building up my identity.”
In 2017, he released his debut EP 1995, a three-track mixtape which NZ Musician described as “buoyantly glitchy” and featured the single ‘better’. Set on the North Shore, in a Korean supermarket and BBQ restaurant, it attracted attention for its unapologetic Aotearoa Korean-ness. “That was I guess something very new for the New Zealand Music scene.”
That same year, he released a standalone track, the dreamy lo-fi ‘Froyo’ ft. Clairo (2017) which attracted more than 20 million streams. Kim describes getting the beat off producer Aso’s Soundcloud and adding his own part to it. “I sat on the record for ages after trying to find the right person to jump on the first verse and then my sister showed me Clairo's music,” he recalls. “ That's when I remembered I had that song and thought she'd be perfect on it. I just emailed her one day from uni in between classes, and she replied straight back saying she was keen on it! After that, I hit up Aso just for final confirmations and boom, the song was done!”
He followed up his debut with collaborations with local producer SWRLY, including Lagoon (2018) and Puddles (2018), with the upbeat opening track for the latter inspired by his experiences dealing with depression.“It got real bad… Usually, you can see the warning signs and get help, but I didn’t do that. I just funnelled it in and in. I didn’t leave home at all. I was just not in a state where I could do anything. It was pretty dark.” He describes talking to family and getting help. “That’s why I named it Puddles, because if last year was the storm then now I’m kind of in the aftermath stage, excited about what’s coming next.”
Emerging out of lockdown, Kim’s music has become more upbeat, and he describes his buoyant 2022 single ‘Be Grateful’ as coming out of the desire to make “a song people could dance to” — “I imagined it for the clubs and nightlife fans after we got out of lockdown.” He has also worked towards establishing infrastructure to support other Asian artists and in 2021, set up label ABG (Always Be Grateful) where he manages artists hanbee, Taebz and Hypnosis Therapy.
Kim graduated with an MSc in Human Geography from the University of Auckland in 2021, which he says helps him understand what is happening in the city, “in terms of gentrification and how the music scene is really affected by that.” He has been named as one of DJ Zane Lowe’s favourite artists in Aotearoa and opened for international acts like Billie Eilish, Rejjie Snow and Easy Life.
Kim lives in Sydney where he works in digital music strategy for The Orchard
LINKS
Key works / presentations
EPs:
2020 — Tango Hue
2018 — Puddles
2018 — Lagoon
2017 — ‘Froyo’ ft. Clairo
2017 — 1995
Albums:
2023 — Porcelain Demos
2022 — Candy
2022 — Kimyuntak