Albert Kheem W.J. — DEEGIE · Founder, Team8 Partners & ARC METRICS™

Albert
Kheem

Composer · Producer · Artistic Director

Twenty-eight years of sound — from Seoul’s underground to Saatchi Gallery London, Milan Fashion Week, and the AI music engines of ARC METRICS.

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Albert Kheem, studio portrait
Seoul, 2025
28 Years in music, since 1998
100+ Albums — as counted by the press
200+ Songs written & produced
4 Names, one practice

01ARC METRICS™

The architect behind an AI music engine

ARC METRICS is the AI music-tech division unveiled in July 2026 — with Albert Kheem as Founder, Main Producer & Director, leading its AI sound engines and data-driven production system. He is also the founder of Team8 Partners.

Albert Kheem, portrait
01

ARC INSIGHT Pro™ Engine

Extracts and analyses musical patterns from audio data — turning A&R intuition into data-designed production.

02

ARC VOX CLONE™ System

A voice-analysis engine modelling each artist’s unique vocal tone — first applied on record in 2026.

03

K-POP MUSIC LAB

ASEAN’s first university-based K-pop production camp, launched with Sunway University, Malaysia — Albert Kheem as executive producer.

“A producer of thirty years who has worked with Korea’s major labels — more than a hundred albums, over two hundred songs.”

— as introduced by the Korean press, 2026

02Press & Interviews

In conversation with the world

COMPLITALY interview, 2026

“I don’t need to be ‘world-famous,’ but I want to leave behind something people genuinely love. One legendary song before I die.”

COMPLITALY — News · Magazine · TV, International Interview, 2026

2026. 07 Executive producer of Click-B Kim Tae-hyung’s return album ‘Still, Summer’ Hankook Ilbo 2026. 05 A dialogue on sound wellness — brainwaves, meditation and scent Dailian 2025. 02 Multisensory art lecture at Milan Fashion Week OhmyNews 2023. 10 NFT sound work ‘Save Earth, Save Us’ at Saatchi Gallery, London OhmyNews 2016. 05 Korea × Italy — the gold-jacketed collaboration album ‘FARE’ HiphopLE 2013. 09 “Insane Deegie back for more” — from Korea’s original disser to luxurious jazz hip-hop The Korea Herald 2013. 09 “Behind the Scenes: Deegie” — the ‘2 Jazzy’ method, recorded abroad Discovering the Korean Underground 2011. 08 The definitive long-form interview — from PDPB to producer philosophy HiphopLE

03The Global Chapter

Between Seoul, Milano and Kuala Lumpur

Since 2023 the practice has moved across borders — fashion houses, museums, universities and studios in Europe and Southeast Asia.

With Brunello Cucinelli, Solomeo
With Brunello Cucinelli — Italy, 2024
COMPLITALY magazine interview
COMPLITALY — Magazine Interview
Milan Fashion Week, official
Milan Fashion Week — Lecture
International interview
International press interview, Seoul
TikTok x Seoul Business Agency talk
TikTok × Seoul Business Agency — Talk
On set
On set — international production
Albert Kheem, gallery walk
Between fittings — a gallery walk
Albert Kheem, portrait
Portrait — Seoul studio

“2 Jazzy for Hiphop.”

The idea declared in 2004 — rap over living jazz, not samples — that became a lifetime’s method.

04The History

Chapters of a restless career

  1. 1998

    Club Master Plan

    First stages at Seoul’s legendary hip-hop club; PDPB with Pe2ny and DJ Soulscape, then solo as “Tequila Addicted”.

  2. 2000

    Official Debut

    “No Sex, No Love” on the compilation MP Hip-Hop Project 2000 — a new voice of the Korean underground.

  3. 2001

    Insane Deegie & Movement

    The debut album arrives; a Drunken Tiger feature brings him into the Movement crew.

  4. 2004

    The Jazz Turn

    Bleu Film: 2 Jazzy for Hiphop — rap over live jazz sessions, the aesthetic that defines everything after.

  5. 2008

    Music Into Politics

    Insane Deegie 2; a run for the National Assembly, urging a generation to vote.

  6. 2010

    The Professor

    Appointed the youngest full-time professor at Korea Conservatory.

  7. 2011

    The Magnum Opus

    Deegie’s In True Mental — three CDs, thirty-two tracks: the “2 Jazzy” statement.

  8. 2012

    Trabler

    Drummer of the jazz-hybrid band Trabler — the rapper becomes a band musician.

  9. 2016

    To Italy

    The collaborative EP FARE with OVER Mid Die opens the European chapter.

  10. 2023

    Saatchi Gallery, London

    “Save Earth, Save Us” shows in London — multisensory art becomes the new frontier.

  11. 2025

    Milano

    Milan Fashion Week lecture; the EPs The Letter from 19980830 (Sat) and THE FOURTY close the year.

  12. 2026

    Now

    Main Producer of ARC METRICS, professor at Hanyang University — Seoul, Milano, Kuala Lumpur.

Albert Kheem, studio Studio — Seoul

05Selected Works

Nine records, newest first

01

THE FOURTY

2025. 12

A year-end EP on turning forty — wit, wonder, and brotherhood.

02

The Letter from 19980830 (Sat)

2025. 09

A letter back to where the music began, in 1998.

03

음주남녀 — Eat, Soju, Man, Woman

2020. 04

A duet EP of love, not protest — a softer Deegie, with Jungsikee.

04

FARE — DEEGIE × OVER Mid Die

2016. 05

A Korea–Italy collaboration that opened the European chapter.

05

Insane.d Deegie 3 (The Orchestra)

2015. 11

The Insane Deegie trilogy closes, reimagined as orchestra.

06

Deegie’s In True Mental

2011. 09

A 3-CD, 32-track statement — the “2 Jazzy” philosophy in full.

07

Insane Deegie 2

2008. 03

Orchestral satire, released the year he ran for office.

08

Bleu Film: 2 Jazzy for Hiphop

2004. 04

The turn to live jazz — the method that shaped everything after.

09

Insane Deegie

2001. 05

The debut — direct, unflinching, and impossible to ignore.

Complete Discography

Fifty-seven works, 1998 — 2026

Every album, EP, single and production credit — the full body of work behind the name.

38As DEEGIE — own releases
  • 2026.04환청 (Hallucination)
  • 2025.12THE FOURTY
  • 2025.09Milano, Cosa Mangio?
  • 2025.09The Letter from 19980830 (Sat)
  • 2025.08R.I.O.T. HIPHOP 精神 (feat. IGNITO)
  • 2025.08The Hexahedron's Tale (Original Exhibition Soundtrack)
  • 2025.08IL'Ciclo di Piazzarola : SEMPRE
  • 2021.04Everything will be OK
  • 2020.05The Cure.
  • 2020.04음주남녀 (Eat, Soju, Man, Woman)
  • 2019.12XXII INTERMISSION
  • 2016.05FARE [DEEGIE × OVER Mid Die] Il Orchestral Lingua
  • 2015.11Insane.d Deegie 3 (The Orchestra)
  • 2014.032 Jazzy For Hiphop Vol.4-01
  • 2014.022 Jazzy For Hiphop Vol.4
  • 2013.10Bleu Film Vol.3
  • 2013Control: 신세계 마트 이중구 상무이사
  • 2012.11Ego Or Identity Trip (Trabler Vol.1)
  • 2012.11이뻐
  • 2011.09Deegie's In True Mental
  • 2011.09Deegie's In True Mental Pt.5
  • 2011.09Deegie's In True Mental Pt.4
  • 2011.09Deegie's In True Mental Pt.3
  • 2011.09Bleu Film Vol.2 / Deegie's In Trumental
  • 2011.07Deegie's In True Mental Single Pt.2
  • 2011.07Deegie 1st Single (True Mental Pt.1)
  • 2009.03
  • 2008.11The Musium — Jazz Hiphop Symphony
  • 2008.06Mad Bull
  • 2008.03Insane Deegie 2
  • 2004.04Bleu Film: 2 jazzy for hiphop (+ 클리토레스)
  • 2003.05DG.ESQ
  • 2003.04417일간의 세계일주
  • 2003디지 (Since 2002.06)
  • 2002.02Still-A-Live (Club Master Plan Last Live Album)
  • 2001.12The Last Winter Story
  • 2001.05Insane Deegie
  • 2000.06MP Hip-Hop Project 2000 초(超)
13Produced for other artists
  • 2026.07아직, 여름 (まだ夏だよ) · Kim Tae-hyung (Click-B)
  • 2026.0320 Million Eyes On Me · NOAH EVEL
  • 2026.02광진을 걷다 · 김혜영
  • 2025.12래피의 라디오 (feat. The Martian Project) · Rappy
  • 2021.02[QODES] Quest 1 — $ Better Than X · QODES
  • 2021.02[QODES] Quest 2 — 따르릉 (OTW) · QODES
  • 2021.02[QODES] Quest 3 — 새신 (Nu Shoes) · QODES
  • 2021.02[QODES] Quest 4 — LALALA · QODES
  • 2021.02[QODES] Quest 5 — 빛이 나니까 (#BE ME) · QODES
  • 2021.02[QODES] Quest 6 — LIKE YOU · QODES
  • 2017.02Millennium · Hozy
  • 2009.08Motiphie Meets E.Via! · E.Via
  • 2009.06e.via a.k.a. happy e.vil · E.Via
6Features & guest appearances
  • 2026.02RUNWAY NOW, MILANO (feat. DEEGIE) · NOAH EVEL
  • 2013.05한량사 — 절충(折衝) Project Vol.02 · Various Artists
  • 2012.12이비아 겨울이야기 (이비아 × Trabler) · E.Via × Trabler
  • 2012.04Full Time · MC Sniper
  • 2008.06Step By Step · Battle
  • 2001.03The Legend Of... · Drunken Tiger
Albert Kheem, portrait Albert Kheem, detail

06Profile

Four names, one practice

Albert Kheem W.J. — known to Korean hip-hop as DEEGIE — is a composer, producer and artistic director working between Seoul, Milano and Kuala Lumpur. Since his first stage at Club Master Plan in 1998, the press counts more than a hundred albums and two hundred songs under his hands, from uncompromising hip-hop to orchestral suites and gallery sound work.

His career pivots on a single idea, declared in 2004: “2 Jazzy for Hiphop.” Instead of sampling jazz, he put rap on top of living jazz sessions — a method he deepened as a producer, as drummer of the band Trabler, and as a professor of music.

Today the work reaches beyond records: multisensory exhibitions in London, lectures at Milan Fashion Week, sound-wellness research combining brainwaves and scent, and AI-driven production as Main Producer of ARC METRICS.

From the Archive · 1998 — 2026

Contact

For commissions, collaborations and lectures

CEO.overseas@team8partners.com
Instagram · Bugs · Melon · SoundCloud

Founder — Team8 Partners & ARC METRICS™

Seoul — Milano — Kuala Lumpur