The Korean Hip-Hop Scene (Part 1)

Now, we all know Kpop is on a drastic rise compared to 10 years ago. BTS soaring in Western charts, as well as other groups like Monsta X, NCT127, and Seventeen, who are getting constant attention from Western news outlets. That's great and all, but I want to turn our attention to something that is mostly talked about in the Asian hip hop scene; obviously, in the Korean hip hop scene and the big influence it has.

Today, Korean hip hop is gaining huge popularity among all music lovers. If you love hip hop as a genre and are keeping up with the times of hip hop (more specifically, the Korean Hip Hop scene) or if you have been a lover of Korean music, then you would know a lot of these well known Korean hip hop labels

*(Note: I'm putting the "CEOs"/founders names beside the labels; you might have heard the founder's names if you haven't heard of the labels; also, I'm labeling the ones where I personally actively listen to the artists in the listed labels)*:

1. AOMG/Higher Music (Jay Park/SimonD/ChaCha Malone)
2. 1llionaire (Dok2 and theQuiett)/Soul Company (theQuiett)
3. Mkit Rain Records (Nafla and Loopy)
4. Planetarium Records
5. DPR (Dream Perfect Regime) (Chrisian Yu) *this is mostly an independent label and a visual arts label, but DPR is worth putting on here cause DPR LIVE is an amazing musician*
6. Just Music Entertainment (Swings and Giriboy)

These are just the top 6 KHH labels that I personally listen to the most, and there are a lot more, but these are the ones that I have more knowledge on. As you were reading down the list, you might have recognized the names of the CEOs or the founders of the companies, or the name of the company, or you have absolutely no idea who these people are. It doesn't matter, but what matters right now, and what I will be talking about in this article, is the influence of KHH (especially to high school students) and the conflicts that WERE talked about and are still constantly debated. Enough of my blabbering, let's get talking.

Influence of Western Hip Hop in KHH

Believe it or not, KHH has been around for a long time (some time in the 90s) and it has gone through about the same evolution as Western hip hop. KHH is unique in terms of the sounds, lyrics, and matches the overall culture in Korea. What I personally like about KHH is the array of styles of rappers and the diversity of rap style and beats. Although many of the rappers' songs have been influenced by Western artists—most noticeably by Kendrick Lamar, Migos, XXXTentacion, Lil Pump, Tupac, Biggie, etc.—they add their own "flavors" and their own style, which is the unique part of KHH or any other type of international music. As most (KHH) musicians start off, they start in the underground music scene, using Western hip-hop artists' beats and create a cover of their own.

To give a little bit of context, I'll give examples of underground rappers who turned famous. RM and Suga from BTS started as underground rappers and were well known in their cities. Their plan was not to join a Kpop group, however, as they were trying to make it purely as rappers before being given the opportunity to join the group. Suga was especially known in the underground hip hop scene for his raspy voice and lyricism (which he still known for).

Another example would be female rapper Jessi, who is known as a very rough and tough rapper with a husky voice. She became more well known for her disses in the female rap survival show Unpretty Rapstar (which is no longer showing).

To stick with something a bit more recent, Nafla (who is personally my favorite rapper of all time), the founder of label Mkit Rain as well as the winner of <SMTM777> was very underground. Although he was underground, he was very well known for his boom-bap style of rapping, with amazing flow. Nafla is a good example of an underground artist who uses beats from his favorite rappers (ie. XXXTentacion) and creates a completely different song. He uses beats and creates a completely different narrative than what the original narrative of the song.

The influence of western hip-hop creates a basis for these Korean rappers to help write their songs and help them create their own style of beats. That's why there are a lot of KHH songs that sound like western hip hop songs because if anything, they have been inspired by western hip hop. It happens a lot in the music industry; so to those people saying that these Korean rappers are munching off western hip hop and "stealing" their style, music artists all around the world have the same style of rapping and flow as western artists. They are not stealing, they are putting a new twist on the track.

Although, not to be rude or anything, but there are some rappers in the KHH scene that are very unoriginal (I'm not going to name who they are; you'll find out eventually). Yes, they get influence from the West, but you got to admit, there are some rappers who just don't know how to be original even with that type of influence. There are some rappers who's rap styles are not unique enough to the point where they can trademark it as their own voice/style. What I mean by this is that there are some voices or rap styles that are very similar to each other (which is a universally known fact), but each individual artist can be able to make that rap style their own, unique to themselves, and can trademark it. An example of this in the western world would be J. Cole. I consider him a "conscious" rapper in the sense where he raps about issues, his surroundings, and what he can observe. There are other "conscious" rappers such as Kendrick Lamar or Logic, but there are major differences not just in the topics that they are rapping about, but rather in how their sounds/flows are like in their songs. The same can be applied to KHH; with that being said, however, there are some artists--especially in the underground music scene—that there is a clear distinction as to what a "real rapper" is and what a "phony rapper" is. And the main reason for this debate is the mere fact that there are so many unoriginal rappers in the industry and they call themselves a rapper, but other artists say that because they are unoriginal, they can't really consider themselves artists, more specifically, RAPPERS.

"Real Rappers?"

Despite KHH's worldwide popularity slowly rising with Jay Park signing to Roc Nation (Jay-Z's label), Keith Ape's hit song "It-G-Ma," and with reality survival hip hop shows like Show Me The Money and High School Rapper, there has been an ongoing debate of what a real rapper is and what constitutes as "true" hip hop (in the eyes of Korean rappers). There was a moment in the KHH wave where these artists had their own opinion of what constitutes as a "real" rapper and they were very vocal about it. Many Korean rappers would mention in some diss tracks about "phony rappers" or "these fake rappers ain't better than me." This was brought to my attention during Show Me The Money, the most popular hip hop survival show.

In the early seasons of the show, rappers that appeared on the show were either K-pop idol rappers or underground rappers or rappers that finally reappear after a certain hiatus (getting back in the spotlight). The main beef and the discussion of "real rappers" occurred when K-pop idols started joining the competition, which made the underground rappers uneasy. Reason being is because they viewed K-pop idol rappers as just that: idols who rap. They were viewed as having little to no skill in rapping, not knowing what they are saying, and they just want to join the show so that they can gain traffic to their respective groups.

When watching the show, to be honest, these K-pop idol rappers are really talented, but the companies that these people were signed to never showcased their talent properly. Now, I've been a K-pop fan for more than 10 years, and I know for a fact that Kpop companies never showcase the talent of rappers properly. They mainly focus on the dancers or the main vocalists, but never emphasize the talent that the rapper(s) of the group have. It's the truth and I'm putting it plainly. K-pop idols coming on Show Me The Money was an outlet for them to showcase what they can do and break the stereotypes that Kpop idols are not always the innocent, girly-looking idols that people are always generalizing them as.

So, with this issue being a past issue (at least to me since it's currently not the biggest talk in the KHH scene), I feel like K-pop idols should not put themselves in shows like Show Me The Money because of the mere fact that we have already seen two Kpop idols win the show (Bobby from iKon <SMTM4>, Mino from Winner <SMTM5>)and it's time for underground rappers and rappers who have been unknown to be known (again) through that show. K-pop idol rappers are now being recognized and have a bigger role in their group's songs than they did before the show.

And to answer the main question of this section of the article, which is what constitutes as a "real rapper"—it's really up to how the person views rap/hip hop. But the basics of a real rapper would be lyricism, voice/breathe control, flow/rhythm, and humbleness. Now, you don't have to agree with what I just listed down, but this is what I found in my observation. If you were to love a hip hop artist, at the very least, you would like them for one of the four aspects that I listed down. Again, you don't have to agree, but keep these in mind when listening to your favorite artist.

So to end off part one...

What I've covered so far throughout this article was somewhat of an introduction to Korean Hip Hop and I got to talk about some influences to Korean hip hop artists, and I just tried to give a very general overview of what the KHH world is like. Their music is very much influenced by hip hop legends like Tupac, Biggie, and Kanye; and they are also bringing in new sounds that are very different compared to your usual Kpop boy band song. KHH is on a whole other level. On my next piece, I'll be continuing on the controversies surrounding KHH in the sense where the question will be brought up about hip hop influencing the younger generation. Now, if you don't know a lot about teenage life in South Korea, you're going to have to search that up on your own time because it's a pretty interesting topic by itself, BUT because of the rise of hip hop in South Korea, the youngsters of this generation (especially in South Korea) are easily being influenced and it's becoming a concern to many parents. I'll explain more next time. But until then!