It’s once again en vouge to make lists of top rappers. This is a past time as old as pen and paper. People making lists of their favorite things, and in this case favorite MCs. However, I think the sudden resurgence of “Best MCs” lists in the past few months started after Jermaine Dupri‘s indictment of rappers, particularly female rappers, post-1995.
In fact, as recent as last week, Korean rapper San E cashed in on the trend in preparation for his latest release. I found his list to be, shall we say… a bit lacking in certain areas.
Instead of brooding about it, however, I decided to respond in kind. I’ve challenged myself to create my own list. But instead of doing a Top 10, I decided to stretch my knowledge of the hip hop I actually listen to and make a Top 20. Celebrating the past 20 years of hip hop from South Korea.
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When thinking about my list I had to ask myself: What exactly makes an MC Top 20? Cultural impact? Lyricism? Delivery? To be honest, it’s a bit of all that and something indefinable. Something unique to all fans of the genre.
This list is a culmination of what I’ve experienced with hip hop since I was about seven or eight years old. Some of these artists might not even be my absolute favorites, but their impressions and overall impact on the entire industry in Korea (not just hip hop) is undeniable. Favoritism aside, they all in some way have undeniable skill (if you’ve taken the time to actually listen).
All right, that seems good enough. The list is in ascending order, so without further ado, I give you my Top 20 Rappers (to Ring in 2020)!
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. Save my Top 4, this is a list in constant flux. I could’ve made it two times over. When it was all said and done, I had a grand total of 40 artists off rip I had to navigate to get my current Top 20. (If I’d stretched a little further in my memory, this could’ve easily been a Top 50.) These Honorable Mentions are
. He has the sort of technique that should make most rappers from this generation afraid to step to the mic. An MC to watch out for, for sure!
To be honest, these were probably the hardest to omit from my Top 20. I have such a soft spot for the young men of XXX that I nearly wept when I couldn’t put them on the list. Kim Ximya‘s delivery and vicious lyricism grows more impressive the more music he releases. FRNK‘s production is just
My Top 20 Korean Rappers (to Ring In 2020)
The same with my ‘Nello. His album “at 5:43am” did a number on me last year. I couldn’t believe that much musical awareness came from a young man I’d only just heard rap. Add to that his ever-increasing prowess as a powerhouse MC…? Yeah, these two omissions physically hurt.
To be honest, I had to go back in the annals of time for this one. X’Girlz was the very first legitimate female hip hop I heard from Korea. Surprising, I know. You’d think it would be Queen T, right? The fact that these were two women with some
In their voices who could actually spit blew me away! For my money, one of the first true examples of female-fronted hip hop to come from the country.
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Love her or hate her, Jessi has undeniable swag. More than that, homegirl knows her stuff. She represents the kind of ferocious attitude that comes from years of trying to build up self-confidence. She
Every part of who she is. Fearless, unapologetic, and multitalented. As a graduate of the legendary Uptown collective, Jessi certainly has a spot in Korea’s hip-hop history. Never mind that whenever she features on a track she enters another tier. One of the few female artists who truly don’t give two f***s about what you think about her.
To be perfectly honest, Jay isn’t exactly one of my favorite rappers. His work doesn’t always connect with me. Obviously there are moments of utter brilliance (see any time he goes on a radio show and blesses us with a freestyle). But by and large he just doesn’t do it for me. However, this man’s mind for music, his ear for talent, his work ethic, and his dedication to giving artists a voice is astounding. His
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Impact on Korean music and culture is undeniable. He’s done so much to push Korean music outside of Asia, and has done so with resounding success. For that alone, he
To be on this list. He has skill, of course. The fact that it doesn’t always connect with me is a moot point given everything he’s done and continues to do for music from South Korea.
This is another artist whose work (particularly her older work) speaks for itself. Cheetah has a growl as thick as the desert cat of her namesake. Her’s is certainly a story of triumph over almost insurmountable obstacles. However, what puts her on this list is undeniably her pen. When she’s serious, I mean when she
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Has something to say, she can eviscerate almost any MC out there. Test her. Mama passes every time. She ain’t new to this, y’all.
There are some groups and artists you just have to pay homage to. I think it’s safe to say Dynamic Duo has morphed the hip-hop game in Korea, given it a different kind of breadth. When they first came out, they were part of an elite class of artists who lived and breathed the craft. At the height of their popularity in 2006, they created Amoeba Culture. The rest, as they say…
Honestly, coming to them as late as I did, I still marvel at how revolutionary they were. The notion of making music and paying your respects to a craft that even in its home of origin gets disrespected is bold. I can’t do anything but thank them for their love of the culture and their dedication to bringing honest-to-goodness R&B and hip hop to the Korean masses.
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Whatever your thoughts on their hip-hop relevance, there’s no denying just how influential Epik High is. Tablo, Mithra Jin and Tukutz as a unit have inspired so many younger artists to open themselves up and fearlessly tread where so few dare.
I first actively started listening to them probably in 2013. They’re a group that even far removed from Korea everyone sort of just knows about. At work, bored, I think to myself, “I should listen to Epik High for real.” I work through their discography, but the first album that really gets my attention is “[e].” That damn album was a punch in the gut. In 2014, “Shoebox” dropped. I was forever theirs from that moment on. Intelligence, wit, undeniable love of hip hop and all of its many evolutions. You can’t do much better than that for hip-hop legends.
Okay… so I kind of cheated with this one. I wanted both Loopy and nafla on my Top 20. But I couldn’t do it without fudging a bit and adding them as their unit. To be honest, the parts are bigger than the sum.
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Nafla has a power in his delivery, lyricism, and stage presence that’s bigger than him. When he’s in full swing of his talent, his small stature has the silhouette of a giant. Loopy… LoopyLoopyLoopy. What can I say? I have a soft spot for Cali dudes with foul mouths and a middle finger in every word. His delivery sets me on pins and needles, and his flow is just tyrannical when you let ‘im loose.
All things added up, nafla and Loopy bring an authenticity to contemporary hip hop in Korea that the country is only now slowly starting to recognize. I praise them for their desire to stick to who they are and what they know.
There’s just something about Verbal‘s delivery that gets me every time. He pretty much revolutionized rhythm and wordplay in Korean hip hop. Taking it from throwing English and Korean words together because they seemed to fit (regardless of meaning) to thinking about how words actually worked in concert. That’s a poetry convention. Attention to detail, every aspect of words and phrases to give a song layers of meaning. Respect to the man who helped usher in the era of the legitimate MC.
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Where do I even start with Los? If you want to find a Korean rapper who knows what the hell he’s talking about… Los. Of all the rappers coming from Korea (or who rap mostly exclusively in Korean), Los is without a doubt the closest to the reality that defines hip hop. He lands so high on my Top 20 because there isn’t anyone in the game from Korea right now who seems to know the harshest sides of the youth that created the culture. He’s gully, hood, rough. A Cali boy who wears his battle scars like badges of honor. There’s nothing disingenuous about this man. That ghetto grit is his life. There are plenty of
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