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[Beanie Recs] Looking for more Lee Soo-hyuk


Ahoy, Beanies! It’s time to gather your collective genius for a new recommendation series that features you and your drama knowledge. Each week we’ll drop a drama conundrum and leave it up to you to provide a drama rec, and the appropriate rationale behind it, be it long or short. Respond below!

I need a drama to watch when Tomorrow is over to give me the Lee Soo-hyuk I didn’t get enough of. Help!


Have a very particular drama itch that needs scratching? In need of a Beanie Rec? Email us at hello @ dramabeans.com and we’ll feature your topic in a future post.
 
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unfortunately, he used to pick up wei4d project. my most fav of his drama is white christmas.

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My favourite role for him was in Valid Love. The drama itself wasn't so great. But I think it was his most natural role.

White Christmas and What's up were very good drama but it played the same kind of "emo" role and it was a ensemble cast, so he only got a little part.

He was a good villain Scholar Who Walks the Night but I didn't like this drama.

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loved him in Valid Love! also, he looked really hot as the villain in Scholar...

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Oh damn! As much as some of us beanies like Lee Soo Hyuk, he is one fine case of a decent actor with little to no luck in getting good project. Even if his drama is watchable his role would pretty much be a short stint like in "Tomorrow". So, I will do you guys one better and name one drama of his that you need to avoid at any cause: Born Again!

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You’re doing god’s work here, @emsel. I would add in another that must be avoided no matter what: Lucky Romance.

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Amen

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@emsel: Is that because of his reincarnated character’s dubious and dangerous belief in the existence of a ‘criminal gene’? Or that it generally sucks?

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Inclusive of everything and anything (Plot, characterization,acting, narration etc) it was a terrible drama

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@emsel Born Again was a train wreck of a drama but I watched from beginning to end.

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Personally, High School King of Savvy cracks me up... although that's mostly to See In Guk's credit...

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Urgh... auto correct...

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I quite liked Handmade Love. It's a very short web-drama on YouTube but if you're looking for at least a little more of world-weary, broody, and romantic Lee Soo-hyuk, you can't go wrong with this.

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Came here to say this. The one where he's the male lead even if it's a small webdrama plus with an excellent ost they never released. And if you have made your way to Put Your Handsome channel for HL (which is tvn's short webseries channel i guess), also give Bite Sisters with Kang Hanna a try. Both are surprisingly well made and don't look like they were on a short budget.

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Yes. I was going to recommend this too.

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Wow, started us off with a challenge, eh? 😂

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I loved him in High School King of Savvy although, as usual, there was never enough 🙁

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That was actually a fairly good show.

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I liked him in that one, too. I have this tendency to become temporarily blind to all others whenever SIG is on-screen, but LSH captured my attention. His character has a decent arc, and he looks really, really good.

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Oh! he was a tennis-playing jock in Lucky Romance - of course, the SL 😴 - but that is one pretty unwatchable show.

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I do not abandon many shows mid watch- but that was one of them

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Hoooeeeeee, that was some kind of stinker 🤦🏼‍♀️

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Vampire Idol eh
I dont watch that drama but there's Lee Soo-hyuk in it and 79 eps

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Pen and paper in hand

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Oh, don’t we all wish we had more Lee Soo-hyuk in our lives? Unfortunately, he’s one of those guys who, despite having the looks and the talent (not to mention that voice!), rarely seems to get substantial, meaty roles. Even in dramas where he’s credited as a lead (i.e. Doom at Your Service, Tomorrow), he basically only gets like 5 minutes of screen-time per episode or side plots with little impact to the main story.

But, there is some content out there. I’d say his most iconic role to date is in Scholar Who Walks the Night, where he plays a hot, evil vampire. The drama itself is kinda trashy, but he kills it as the main villain. Even if he definitely needed more screen-time.

My favourite drama which Lee Soo-hyuk’s been in has to be the drama special White Christmas. It isn’t necessarily a good recommendation as a Lee Soo-hyuk drama as he’s only a small part in an ensemble (featuring more than a few actors who achieved mainstream success after this), but a great recommendation as a drama. Lee Soo-hyuk, as much as I love him, has a notoriously hard time picking good projects and this one sticks out within his filmography because it’s actually good. I say you guys should check it out if you haven’t yet.

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I wonder about actors who don’t get the attention they seem to deserve. Bad guidance? Bad agency? Are they simply terrible to work with or make high financial demands? Just “not commercial” enough for the sponsors?
Watching Shooting Stars makes me wonder this more than ever (like the actor who makes the manager close his van door over and over until she does it “with sincerity” or some goofy thing like that).

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Whenever the subject of an "actor's bad project picks" comes up, I'm reminded of what Kwak Dong Yeon says in interview on Jinjoo's youtube channel: "why are you assuming I HAVE a say!?"

That's always put it in perspective to me that really, unless revealed to us, we have no idea how much autonomy in project picking each actor has it could be a lot (Won Bin) or none at all, or somewhere in between

And then there's the idea of well if they do, HOW do they pick their roles- what draws them to a role over what is a good role haha. For example, I've always maintained the idea that Yeon Woo Jin likes picking weirder roles because that's what he likes playing, no matter what the script is like. Ofc, I have no idea the decision making process behind his roles at all.

We blame typecasting on the casting directors, but we blame a bad filmography line up on the actor's pick of dramas? *shrugs*

I'm not trying to justify anything in particular here, or make an overall point btw. I just think it's interesting, in addition to what you've already mentioned, lol.

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This subject has always been very fascinating to me.
Having watched shows like Best Love, The Producers, and The King of Dramas, and having read a few frank interviews like the famous one with Namgoong Min, and with the fact that the script which goes to the agencies or actors is usually only for a very few episodes not the whole show, I'm always wondering what actually goes on behind the scenes. Who chooses whom.

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A behind-the-scenes tell-all on this topic would be great! Or even a drama! It’s probably been done, but too bad we can’t read Korean🙁

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I do think in the cases of most actors, it’s the agency choosing. I can’t picture these notoriously controlling agencies giving most of their actors the autonomy to choose their scripts and potentially screw up whatever “image” they were trying to cook up for publicity. It’s only after they reach a certain number of years in the industry with continued success that an actor gains some control over their choices. At least how I see it. I don’t know if that’s true at all. It’s just how it seems from one outside perspective.

So yeah, maybe me writing “Lee Soo-hyuk has a hard time picking good projects” was off the mark. I doubt only he chooses his projects. He might get a say in his preferences out of a stack, but his agency’s probably giving the final word.

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Yeah I think actors have less autonomy in comparison to their agency that hold the key to what their actors sign up for. Unless they are big enough. I heard Shin Se Kyung only started picking her own scripts/projects from Rookie Historian. That is a lot of years for her considering she's a child actress and was with the same agency for like 15 plus years. Also i guess wrong choives can be made. We stick to wrong jobs too if it makes us enough to get by. That can be the case for many actors who work consistently but don't score good projects often. They have to make enough too and I guess we're in the illusion that actors get paid a lot. Yes first leads fairly do but the supporting cast not so much. And we don't know how much their company takes their share.

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@sicarius: Poor Woojina. What was weird about “Queen for 7 days”? You Beanies introduced me to it and Inlived it!😭🥰

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Cursed iPad! I meant “I loved it”!

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@bbstl: I wonder about that too. Sometimes, it is the unfortunate confluence of not being in the right place at the right time. Multiple times. Some actors are difficult to work with even if they are talented so they book jobs but remain at the periphery of substantial roles. Unfortunately, versions of the ‘casting couch’ continue to exist. They destroy careers and elevate some who don’t deserve to take centre stage. Last but not least, nepotism and powerful connections make the career trajectory of some privileged and wealthy neophyte actors and idols seem like a breeze where other supremely talented ones might or might not succeed against the odds.

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I liked him in the Man who lives in My house (Not sure if the tile is correct). The one with Soo-A. But the drama has a super weird premise.

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He was lovely to look at as an assassin in Tree With Deep Roots. I also second White Christmas.

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Well, I would recommend youtube clips/compilation of his character Gwi from Scholar who walks the night. The drama itself ...no. For whole drama -it's Handmade love and High school king of savvy. First drama for LSH only and other drama is one of his more enjoyable drama. The drama I would not recommend is Doom, even with all the pretty.

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My fav of his projects is definitely the high school psychological drama White Christmas. It's an ensemble, but he does get an interesting character storyline, and it was also the first work for a lot of other actors that have broken out since (Kim Woo-bin, Sung Joon, Esom, etc.). Because of this the acting in the show is a little green, but it has terrific writing, cinematography and music.

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White Christmas (all around stellar rookie line up ). As Vampire Gwi, he greatlY intrigued me (Scholar Who Walks the Night). It’s such a great vampire name~

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He was definitely the best thing about that drama, he was great 👍🏼

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White Christmas! Tree With Deep Roots! Obviously! They've only been mentioned a dozen times already! hahaha
He's only supporting in those but still makes an impression.

If you don't want to watch all of Scholar Who Walks in the Night- may I second the suggestion of just bingeing Gwi MVs on youtube? :P :P

The first half is funny, but back half of Man Living in Our House is Not Good, and drags and is boring, and his role is kinda not very interesting (typical SL)- except that I finished that show for Jo Boa's bitchy second lead and her crush on LSH soooo ...yaknow, if you knew that going in it might be doable. (plus Model Avengers MLs because as a bonus you get KYK!)

I just realised that Ziggy and LSH have been in multiple projects together, dramas and movies, and I like none of them- that is grossly unfair and rude, on both me and both of them, whom I like immensely. (No, I didn't like HKOS, and yes, I never finished it... 👀 Ziggy was great but when is Ziggy not great.)
Also full squad Model Avengers Reunion when.

(if none of these options work for you: may I suggest drowning yourself in the countless LSH gifs that exist on tumblr and crying ;) )

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(if none of these options work for you: may I suggest drowning yourself in the countless LSH gifs that exist on tumblr and crying ;) ) - THIS! :-D

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Scholar Who Walks the Night. Such a great performance!

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Oooh and he's in Doom at Your Service!! I LOVED that drama and do not understand why it didn't get more hype. His romance with the second lead I wasn't totally sold on, but his character itself was fun.

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Oh it got hype alright... just not necessarily of the positive kind... :P

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Lol right? I think I've mentioned it before on here but I feel a bit wronged that I passed it up because of some comments on DB (and the promo page looked too much like Shopping King Louis, which is not my favorite drama). WElp. At least I saw it eventually!

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I feel for you.

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WHITE CHRISTMASSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!! It was his first drama. The cast was green. But that’s what made it lightning in a bottle.

And The Man Living in Our House. Imagining him as a man child with robot toys makes me smile every time. And there’s Kim Young Kwang as former thug turned mandu maker. That was awesome. He’s so underrated too.

His visuals are unmistakable. I’d recommend just FF any of his shows to his parts and skipping the rest. 😆

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But they were like all BABIES and it was the debut drama for a good half of them, ofc they were green haha.
(Actually, I always thought Baek Sung Hyun had the weakest performance of the 8 kids, despite the fact he had the most acting experience out of all of them lol. Is that a controversial opinion? Idk I guess I'll find out... XD)

Ah, I need to rewatch White Christmas~

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I remember he had the least interesting character and less natural charisma out of the kids. I think the rawness of the other kids helped with the drama.

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I think his character archetype was necessary for the story in some ways? or at least the writer wanted it to be- but it was certainly not as intriguing in execution.
But yeah, I agree with you overall.

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Vampire Idol..

One of the earlier sitcoms I watched and Iaughed too much for :)

Bonus Kim Woo Bin, Hong Jong Hyun

And a very young Chun Woo Hee :)

The cast reunited in many ways in other dramas.. But it will be hard to get all of them again :)

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Doom at your service is where I started to find him hot. I guess I used to find him sort of ethereally pretty but age had added hotness and manliness. That drama sort of went off the rails (which was disappointing since I found both couples so shippable!), but his role is sort of divorced from the main story, so you can technically fast-forward.

Like others, I recommend White Christmas. It had a stellar ensemble and story. Who would have thought all these unknowns in a shorter-length drama would hit it big?

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Watch him in the film Pipeline with Seo In-guk.

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Why nobody mentioned Local Hero/Nieghbour Hero? He appears in every episode and is actually a second lead in the every meaning of the word. He is on screen bigger part of the episode, and has to play a fun character. The drama is also quite nice. Not the best, but entertaining (ignore the FL, please, she gets better later). No romance for him tough, but other than this, he is funny, positive, a bit aloof. Try, it worth it (even if only for LSH)!

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Sadly, he does get pushed into those tsundere-type characters. I watched Scholar all the way through because of him (and I love Lee Jun-Ki in anything... except this). If you accept Scholar Who Walks at Night as campy vampire trash, it will help to get through it. Gwi is something to behold.

The thing about Lee Soo-hyuk, is that he is a bit of a goofball. His bestie is Kim Young-kwang, so watching them together in Sweet Stranger/Man Who Lives in Our House is fun. But really, it's all the behind the scenes stuff that endears LSH to me. Watching he and Seo In-Gyuk try to out-model each other on a catwalk is hilarious. Or he and KYK do silly model poses... But yes, stay away from Born Again lol! The actors tried their damnedest, to no avail. I do hope he gets something with more substance soon.

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"The thing about Lee Soo-hyuk, is that he is a bit of a goofball."
Exactly, his BTS vids are hilarious and fun, and his character is also interesting to follow, but the projects itself are less entertaining. They usually turns into a messy once, or are ruined at the end. It's a shame, because his characters are captivating and relatable.

"Sadly, he does get pushed into those tsundere-type characters."
I like him in the Local Hero, where he breaks a bit form his usual roles, or maybe it was before he fell into this pattern? In any case, he is more extraverted and funny there. Him trying to "spy" spies is hilarious. And them to allow him to do so with that good-natured smiles. Definitely refreshing from his other roles.

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I would love to see Lee Soo-hyuk and the whole TOMORROW crew (including Rowoon) in the sageuk sequel or would it be prequel?

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I love this comment because I thought the exact same thing too! Would be even better if this show has a Season 2! Such great concept and direction. I teared/got emotional at almost every suicide case in Tomorrow!

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@enenmon, En En. I am all in for a season 2 which most likely won’t happen. I think TOMORROW was a little gem but I guess not for everyone.

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There is this kshow called "like like like" I promise you this you will fall in love more... There are subtitles on twitter (just Google the show name and then add "English subtitles" with each episode)...

Valid love would be my second recommendation

I agree with every one but if KIM jae wool could give me Her private life to rewatch as much as I like then I believe elive LHS will not fail me...

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There is a kshow "like like like" you will love it ans he gets ample screen time as he is the shy dorky super model every one teases... Eng subs on tw*tter just Google the episode number looking for subs...

I believe the same way KJW pulled through with Her private life is how he will pull through for me one day...

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Nice to see a post dedicated to Lee Soo-hyuk's body of work in kdramaland. Hopefully he'll continue to get good roles and be cast in worthwhile kdramas. I've watched Lee Soo-hyuk in the following dramas (asterisk denotes a top pick/role of his to check out):

*White Christmas (2011)
*Tree with Deep Roots (2011)
*Don't Look Back : The Legend of Orpheus (2013)
*High School King of Savvy (2014)
*Valid Love (2014-2015)
*Scholar Who Walks the Night (2015)
*Local Hero (2016)
Lucky Romance (2016)
*Tomorrow (2022)

Javabeans & Girlfriday were fans of *Vampire Idol which aired 2011-2012:
https://www.dramabeans.com/2012/01/interview-with-the-vampire-idols/
https://www.dramabeans.com/2012/05/thing-vs-thing-vampires-in-dramaland/

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I remember first seeing him in Tree with Deep Roots. Man, I said this man will be lead someday. Although he had small parts in the said drama, he stole the scene quite a bit with the broody persona of an assassin.

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EXACTLY!!!! He was such a hawt assassin Yoon Pyeong who harboured a teeny crush on Shin Se Kyung's role as the mega memory court maid. There was even a fan made MV of the both of them.

For anyone who's interested to see snippets of Lee Soo Hyuk's role in Tree With Deep Roots https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsPPjBCWdj4 you're welcome :P

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I have pretty much watched whatever shows that has Lee Soo Hyuk in it since a decade ago :X I have watched majority of his dramas AND movies AND variety show/MV appearances, no matter how small the role it or how bad the storyline was, because... we all know he has visuals to die for, the model height, the tall built, the sexy manly voice...

As pointed out by majority, some of the To-watch dramas (excluding Tomorrow) includes, and in my order of favourites:

1. High School King of Savvy - funny romcom as 2nd ML, he was portrayed as this cool, emotionless/emotional role lol

2. Scholar Who Walk Through The Night - a helluva sexy/hawt and sometimes topless Joseon vampire. Most of the time I wasn't even paying attention to what he's saying... just mainly salivating the aesthetics he displays lol

3. Valid Love - he's the younger 2nd ML who falls in love with an older woman who has seems to lead quite a tragic life. It's a melo drama and I have to say it's rather hard to watch but his scenes with the FL were quite sweet whenever they're together.

4. Tree With Deep Roots - although Lee Soo Hyuk's role quite small here as a masked assassin but his appearance will definitely grow on you. I personally love this saeguk palace drama that I even teared at the scenes King Sejong teared too. Wonderful performances by other veteran actors in the show.

5. Vampire Idol/White Christmas - I grouped them together because they're kinda similar and like an extended version of each other?? Vampire Idol is a funny shit variety/drama-ish kinda show. Nice entertainment. White Christmas is a little suspense and emo? But idk, both seem very teeny bopper & entertaining to me.

5. Ipanema Boy - this is a movie of him as a slim surfboard guy who lives at a beach. Quite a sweet coming-of-age kinda show. The acting was quite raw cos it was one of his early works. Not much a plot either but u get to see a lot of him and the FL haha.

The below are in between 'meh' to 'acceptable'. You're welcome to drop/skip the show if it doesn't interest you:
1) Lucky Romance - started out promising then turned quite disappointing. He's a star tennis player but I don't find this set up helpful in the story nor his relationship with the FL. It mainly showed his manager likely having a crush on him instead lol

2) Sweet Stranger & Me - I basically don't get the whole story and thought they could have done better with the casting/setup. I mainly fast fwd to his scenes the entire show.

3) Born Again/Doom At Your Service - I grouped both together cos... both are quite meh to me lol Even watching Lee Soo Hyuk as a cameo on Runway Cop (starring Kang Jihwan) is more entertaining than these 2 shows that I totally absolutely don't get it.

Bonus:
-Lee Soo Hyuk & Hong Jonghyun hosted Style Log for under 20 episodes introducing street wear, active wear or other fashion trends. It's available on YT.
-When he was signed on with YG, he appeared in...

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After Tomorrow I watched him at Doom at Your Service👌❤️❤️He was great there too.

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