B-Sides: K-Hip-Hop Edition
K-Hip-Hop is a genre that’s been gaining a lot of steam, especially in recent years with shows like Show Me The Money and Unpretty Rapstar. These competitions shine light on the talent Korea has to offer in the realm of rappers, especially when the underground talent is often overlooked in favor of manufactured talent from the big entertainment companies. This week we are highlighting some of those talented artists.
“Red Carpet” - BewhY
Show Me The Money 5 winner BewhY has been recently receiving a lot of attention with the release of his first album and the conclusion of a successful world tour. Although you may not be familiar with the name BewhY unless you are an avid follower of Show Me The Money, he is definitely a talent that should be given more spotlight. “Red Carpet” showcases this not just through his rap talent, but through his lyrics as well. “Red Carpet” is produced by AOMG artist and producer Gray and has an addicting beat that BewhY perfectly raps over.
“All I Wanna Do (feat Hoody)” - Jay Park
Jay Park is in quite a unique position in the Korean music industry. As former leader of JYP Entertainment group 2PM, he’s had difficulty getting airtime via traditional means upon returning to Korea to pursue solo activities. He has risen and proven himself to be a major figure in the K-Hip-Hop community, especially with the founding of AOMG which has some of the best talent in hip-hop and soul artists. “All I Wanna Do” is a song definitely influenced by Western R&B, showing Jay Park’s origins that he brought over to the K-Hip-Hop community. The song has a perfect chill summer vibe and is complemented perfectly by vocalist and AOMG’s princess, Hoody. Jay Park is also known to collaborate with famous dance studio 1Million often, as he did in this music video release.
"Fanxy Child” - ZICO
Though originally entering the music scene as the leader of K-Pop group Block B, ZICO has been building a name for himself within the K-Hip-Hop realm through his solo activities, certainly demonstrating that he’s more than just an idol rapper. Off his most recent solo album Artist comes “FANXY CHILD,” a song featuring DEAN, Crush, and penomeco, a unit formed together and known by the same name. “FANXY CHILD” is a classic hip-hop track that is subdued in order to focus on the melody line. The combination of these four super talented artists is without a doubt fantastic, and hopefully we will get more from FANXY CHILD in the future.
“코끼리 (Feat. RM)” - Gaeko
Possibly one of the most legendary K-Hip-Hop artists to date is Dynamic Duo. Member Gaeko has been active in collaborations in the K-Hip-Hop community and has most recently released a solo track featuring BTS rapper RM. “코끼리” is a track with a smoothly driven harmony that complements Gaeko’s relentless rap flow. RM’s rap tone goes along very well with the melody as well and is quite different from his usual work. “코끼리” does have a unique sound that doesn’t fit everyone’s personal taste, but the talent put into this single cannot be denied regardless.
“도망가 (Runaway)” - 술제이 (Sool J), 예지 (YEZI), 울티마 (ULTIMA)
Admittedly, I got lucky in stumbling across this song purely because I was looking for works that FIESTAR’s main rapper YEZI had worked on. However, it has quickly become one of my favorite songs to date. The track was released under Sool J, featuring YEZI and rapper ULTIMA. The song has a very relaxing and smooth vibe to it; Sool J’s sweet vocals in the chorus balance out the harder rap verses well and create an all around awesome track.