R.ef was a boyband trio in
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...
. Their main genres were
K-pop
K-pop (; an abbreviation of "Korean popular music") is a form of popular music originating in South Korea. It emerged in the 1990s as a form of youth subculture, with Korean musicians taking influence from Western Electronic dance music, danc ...
and
hip-hop
Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hi ...
.
History
In 1995, 21-year-old singer
Lee Sung Wook (이성욱), 25-year-old
rapper
Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and ommonlystreet vernacular". It is usually performed over a backing ...
Park Chul Woo (박철우) and 21-year-old singer
Sung Dae Hyun (성대현) formed R.ef as a trio.
The group's first album was released in 1995 and contained singles including ''Farewell Formula'', ''Heartbreak'' and ''Silent Scream''.
Then the trio released their second album in 1996, titled ''Back to the Black''. The separately-released singled on the album include ''Luminous Love'' and ''Walking Into Your Heart''.
Later in 1996, their third album, ''Memories in Fall'', was released.
In 1998, R.ef moved away from rave music and began to produce hip-hop music. To reflect their change of genre, the group was renamed from R.ef (Rave effect) to REF (Ruff Eazy Flava).
The group disbanded in 1999 but briefly re-formed to release a single on August 13, 2004, called ''Love is Hard''.
The group planned to release a fourth album in 2015 after their almost 17-year hiatus but no releases have been made as of January 2017.
Discography
Studio albums
Single
*Love is Hard (2004)
Awards
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:R.ef
South Korean electronic music groups
Techno music groups
K-pop music groups