Supreme Team's Simon D recently sat down for an interview with Yeonhap News to talk about the inspirations behind not only his solo album, "SNL League Begins", but also what defines him as a rapper. He made quite a few fans confused with his solo album cover alone. �In the cover, he appears as a comic book antagonist and E-Sens is depicted as the hero. Many questioned why would the star of the show want to be the antagonist. It actually has to do with his roots. "As it is my first solo album, I wanted to put in it the determination I debuted with. Ever since my younger days, I wanted to become the rascal of the hip-hop scene. In the movies 'Die Hard 3' and 'Demolition Man', both of the antagonists are named Simon. I felt really charmed by that, so I was determined to become a rapper that would work to get rid of all of the fake rappers that only look nice on the outside," he explained. On his title track, "Cheerz", he told Yeonhap, "I was about to give up on the song knowing that it would be banned to minors, but I decided to just go ahead and go through with it. Dramas and movies depict a lot of drinking scenes with bars and whatnot, so I'm not sure why music is given that restriction. When the MOGEF was under fire for their unclear standards, I expressed some of my thoughts regarding that on my Twitter as well." To add some depth to the overall album, he also enlisted the help of long-time friend,�Loptimist as well as foreign underground musicians like the Boston Horns, the Spain Band, and Nicotine Swing. "I wanted to win people over with the quality of my music. I contacted bands through Myspace and YouTube and had Loptimist send over music sheets to show them. The bands would chat with us through video messages and show us their live performance. If we liked it, they'd send us the recording," he said, describing a very unique production method. When asked about E-Sens' lung condition and Supreme Team's inevitable hiatus, he stated, "One day, when we were rapping on stage, E-Sens told me that he was nervous because he was running out of breath. It must've been hard for him to perform live due to the poor condition his throat and lungs were in. He was diagnosed by the hospital, but there isn't a clear name to his condition. We eventually had to let Supreme Team rest and release my solo album first." Simon D reflected back to when he first met E-Sens at a b-boy musical in Busan. He had just come up from performing at clubs in Hongdae and Seoul and decided to form a team together. His parents weren't happy with the decision, especially since they had thought he was in Seoul to attend TOEIC academies. "My solo album feels like a reward for all that I've suffered to get here. It's especially meaningful in that Loptimist and I had promised each other when things were hard to work on an album together in the future. Now my mom watches my stage and acknowledges my career. �She even goes and shows off to the ajummas in her apartment." On his growing image as a variety star, he commented, "Hip-hop artists usually want to protect their pride as much as possible when they go on variety shows because they don't want to mess their image up. But after observing senior singers maintain that balance between music and variety, it made me realize that you just had to prove yourself through your music and nothing else. That helped me feel a lot better. You can't ignore the influence that variety shows have on your image anymore either, because the influence is directly evident on digital music charts." Finally, on his girlfriend of four years, Lady Jane, he stated, "I never hid the fact that I had a girlfriend, but once it was actually revealed, I did feel some pressure. If I could go back in time, however, I wouldn't change my decision." If you haven't heard his title song, "Cheerz" yet, check it out below. Source + Photos: YNA via Naver