D-2 is the second mixtape released by South Korean rapper Agust D, better known as Suga of boy band BTS, following his eponymous debut mixtape released in 2016. The mixtape was released on May 22, 2020, through Big Hit Entertainment along with the lead single 'Daechwita'. The album consists of ten tracks, with songs sung and rapped in both Korean and English. Its lyrics share the rapper's viewpoint on the current world. The album's peak at 11 on the Billboard 200, at 7 on the Official UK Chart and at 2 on the ARIA chart, setting 3 new records for the highest-ranking album in the US, UK and Australia by a Korean solo artist. 'Daechwita' debuted at number 1 on the Billboard Rap Digital Song Sales Chart, becoming the highest charting and first song by a Korean artist to do so.
Background
Due to Agust D's heavy schedule with BTS, the album was produced at a far slower rate than the previous mixtape. Originally, the mixtape was almost finished in 2019, but the artist wanted to spend more time editing it to make it sound "more complete". In total, production took almost 4 years since the last mixtape.
Production and Theme
Prior to writing the mixtape, Agust D spent the bulk of his time listening to his previous, self-titled mixtape. The rapper stated that he "always liked making music that contrasts with my previous songs... to show there is a beauty in contrasting things". D-2 is, according to Agust D, "A documentation of myself as a 28-year old", and a "documentation of myself from 2016 onwards." He has said that the mixtape is focused more on talking about the present, comparing it to his last mixtape, Agust D, which was more focused on telling the past. According to Billboard, the mixtape is largely about how it feels to be Agust D in the present time. Inspiration for the album has also been drawn from the COVID-19 quarantine, and the themes of traditional Korean storytelling and music were, according to the artist, an accident that developed naturally into the pansori storytelling and kkwaenggwari percussion. According to the artist, these themes developed naturally from wanting to sample the sound of a real daechwita, a piece of traditional Korean military music. These daechwita elements are clearly audible in the song of the same name and its music video, released on the same day as the mixtape. According to Agust D, the many questions the album raises about society are for the listener to answer, and he is merely putting forth the question. D-2 features collaborators such as MAX, NiiHWa, and Kim Jong-wan as co-writers and singers, along with RM, who is his co-member in BTS. The large-scale collaboration present in the album is not new to the rapper, as he has previously collaborated through both BTS and himself with artists such as Halsey and IU within the year prior to the release of the mixtape.
Name and release
Twenty days prior to release, the rapper had told fans not to expect anything big in the future, and said that the mixtape was still incomplete. D-2 was promoted through social media as a countdown of cryptic teaser images during the days before release. Fans of the artist had been engaged in continuous speculation on whether it was going to be the second Agust D mixtape or another project. Hours before release, the artist's profile picture on Apple Music changed, leading to an increase in speculation on social media. According to Billboard, Agust D thought the name "Agust D 2" was not satisfying enough for the album. Instead of releasing the mixtape on "D-Day" or "D-0", the artist wanted to undermine expectations and release it a few days before, inspiring him to combine "Agust D-2" and the second to last day of the countdown "D-2" into the name of the mixtape.
Music video
On May 22, 2020, the official video for the mixtape's lead single, "Daechwita", was released. The music video draws inspiration from the 2012 film Masquerade, in which a lowly acrobat takes the role of a double for King Gwanghae, and eventually takes the throne while the ruler recovers from being poisoned; in the music video, Agust D acts as both the king and his double. This was revealed by Agust D in a behind-the-scenes video to be symbolic; the king represents the "old" Agust D, while his double represents the "new" Agust D. At the end of the video, the double is meant to be executed, but he instead forms a pact with the executioner and shoots the king, killing him. Agust D's theme of contrasts, previously mentioned in relation to differences between D-2 and his debut mixtape, continues in the music video. For instance, he wears a modern outfit in front of a traditional, Silla-era building, and drifts a car through its courtyard.
Track listing
Credits adapted from the digital booklet released by Big Hit Entertainment. Additional citations from Apple Music.
Charts
Release history
Controversy
In his song "What Do You Think?" a sample of a speech by cult leaderJim Jones was used. The preacher is known for directing his followers to join in a mass murder-suicide in 1978. Big Hit later issued an apology on behalf of the song producers who were not aware of the source of the speech used in the sample and re-released the track after removing it.
