One of my few redeeming qualities is that I’ve somehow retained a modicum of curiosity, and it’s something I’m thankful for every day. This manifests in a constant drive to discover new music.

Most days I firmly believe music is the most powerful art form we’ve developed as a species, but occasionally I wake up convinced cinema has earned this position… either way, I chide myself of not pushing the boundaries of my knowledge when it comes to either of these art forms.

Audrey Nuna is a Korean-American “hip-hop” musician who I’ve been fascinated by for a few years now. I put hip-hop in scare-quotes as I don’t think what she’s doing in nearly so easy to pigeonhole. Any of you who even vaguely know me will be surprised that her work connects with me – obviously I’m not her target. But there is something going on here that impresses me.

So maybe you’re thinking – well, that’s a shitload of autotune and hair.

Yeah, you’re not wrong. But I watched her recent performance on NPR: Tiny Desk, and she can knock you out without all that processing, too.

A few of you who know me will know that I spent a few years back in pre-iPhone times teaching in South Korea, and wuna – 누나 in Korean – is a term a guy would use to refer to an older sister or woman he knew.

I think there’s something wonderful buried in there – she’s the older sister, she gets to call the shots. Especially in the world of hip-hop, a notoriously mysogynistic genre of music, it’s so refreshing to hear and see a young woman forging her own way.