[ASKKPOP] 5 Non-Idol Rappers with Memorable Rapping Styles
As hip hop becomes more of an "accepted" and a noticeably popular genre in the Korean music industry, up and coming rappers have beensprouting up here and there for their shot at the 'hip-hop king' title (Tiger JKstill holds that venerableposition). Some are successful—those are the ones with talent—while others createbuzz but die out like a flame that is untended to (what happened to you,TakeOne?). It is still extremelydifficult to make it as a rapper in the Korean hip hop scene mostly due to lackof resources (proper recording equipment, hip hop labels that are few and farbetween) and the Korean population's general disregard and indifference towardsrappers. Bluntly put, many people are going to think you are delusional and have no future if youtell them you aspire to make it as a rapper.
Despite all the tribulations however, many rappers gainedrecognition through perseverance and of course, an unprecedented rapping style.And by unprecedented rapping style, I mean a way of rapping that is unparalleledby anyone else in the Korean hip hop scene and is recognizable immediately uponlisten. Over my nearly three years of unearthing Korean hip hopmusic and busily listening to it, I have come across many gems. But onlya few number of artists decidedly stuck out to me with memorable rapping styles. Forsimplicity, I will be sticking to several elements of rapping which include but are notlimited to: lyricism, rhyming, delivery, and flow. The most memorable rappers to me in the criteria listed above areMadClown,Minos,Dok2,GaryandFana. I'll be explaining the reasons as to why I believe these particular rappers are memorable based on their rapping.
Just to get this out of the way - In no way am I a hip hop music/culture expert. I am merely expressing which specific set of skills represent exceptional rapping based solely on my opinions, limited knowledge of the genre, and the artists I've been exposed to.
Mad Clown
I initially discovered Mad Clown via YouTube on a Korean hiphop channel and what struck me most about Mad Clown was his voice. It was quitehigh-pitched for a male rapper. His high pitched voice doesn't at all discredit hisrapping which is so sharply polished that if his rapping were a weapon, it'd bea scythe. He spits his rhymes with a near bullet-like speed (though not as fastasOutsider) and precision thatflies rapid-fire into your ears. When he raps fast, there are subtle syncopationswithin his verses; you have to really listen to hear them. The way he stresses syllables—sometimes in the middle of averse, sometimes at the end or the beginning—is minimalistic yet aggressive enough to keep you bobbing your head along to his flow. His clever punchlines deserve some kudos as well. In one of hissongs, "Prodigy of Discipline," heraps, "Ifdisciplinewas a religion then I'd be your Bible."Now we knowhow Mad Clown got so good at rapping.
Minos
Minos' wily craftiness with words is the one characteristic thatgot a hold of my attention when I first started listening to his music. Koreanis a hard language to rhyme easily with sinceHangul's vowels and consonants are not structured the same as the alphabet. I guess Minos realized this early on and studied a way to make Koreansound as fluid as English—or at least have Korean words rhyme in a similarmanner to English rhymes. His effort can be most clearly heard in "21stCentury Aliens," a songthat ends with the long "ee" sound at the end of almost every verse, using amix of Korean and English. If Mad Clown is clever with his punchlines, thenMinos is clever with his rhyme scheme. His delivery is not as fast as Mad Clown's, but he is adept at adjusting his usual laid-back rapping and speeding it up when necessary, as was showcased when he featured on a track called "I Need a Beat" produced byNuol.
Dok2
Before I begin praising Dok2's (pronounced Dok-eenotDok-two) rapping, it may be appropriatefor me to mention he is a rarity in the Korean music scene for popularizing theso-called 'gangsta rap' sub-genre of hip hop music. Be that as it may, gangstarap has been around in Korea for quite some time, including the western counterpartof the genre. Unfortunately, it was never brought under the mainstreamlimelight. That is until Dok2 andIllionaireGang's relatively recent success. How was Dok2 able to make that genre sopopular? Well, his beats are pretty damn solid and the same can be said abouthis rapping. When you listen to Dok2's lyrical content—especially of late—theyare none too impressive nor are they brimming with literary brilliance.However, Dok2's flow, or how he delivershis rhymes on beats, is what gives him that edge over other rappers. Whenspitting his verses, Dok2 converts effortlessly from an almost lethargic droning style of rap, lazily gliding his rhymes along, to trumping the beatwith the prowess akin to that of a seasoned surfer riding waves. Whether he rides the beator vice versa, Dok2 has plenty of control over his rapping that he's going tosound good either way.
Gary
The fourth rapper I will mention is Gary fromLeessang(he doesn't really need theintroduction, through). As Gary became more and more popular as a 'Running Man' regular, his music started garnering attention as well. And one thing peoplenoted was his unconventional way of rapping (unconventional in the Korean mainstreammusic scene at least). To me, Gary's rapping is story-telling in its purestform. No fanciful or gimmicky techniques are nested in Gary's raps to baffleyou and have you break a sweat trying to decipher the meaning behind those delicate similes, double entendres or metaphors. Not that Gary's lyrics aren't poetic—they are andbeautifully so. But they aren'tso deeplypoetic with some hidden or obscure meaning that the message of the song endsup clouded. In other words, when listening to Gary rap, it's almost as ifa good friend is telling you a story—it's simple and easy to listen to. And it'sthat intimate relatability he establishes with listeners that sets his rapping apart from those of other rappers.Or even if you can't relate (especially when he talks about how he can'tbelieve how much money he's made), you can still appreciate it somewhat becausehe tells it in a manner that is sincere, not pretentious or overbearing.
Fana
The final rapper on my list will be none other than Fana (pronounced'Hwana' in Korean). If you mix thepunchlines of Mad Clown and the rhymes of Minos, the end result would be Fana. In one song, "Recipe of LyricalChemistry," he compares his dexterity in composing lyrics to cooking. It soundsfunny on the surface, but if you listen carefully to the verses, you'll be able to appreciate the keen wit behind them. In the aforementioned song, Fana raps the following lines (sidenote—my crass translations from Korean to English will never be able to fully reflect Fana's geniusway with words): "Whilst my passion heatsup I pour from the Pot of Language an endless stream of expression / I am thecook that'll sculpt the shape of a sentence / With a level head, my tongue andlungs alongside my paper and pen / Melody fused within rap and rhythm / And quite aneat topic are my ingredients."He delivers these lines withself-assuredness in the signature grainy, gritty voice of his, all the while managingto make his sentences rhyme throughout the song. And mind you, as I havementioned, not many words rhyme easily in Korean. You can rhyme only withlimited vowel-consonant combinations but somehow Fana uses this limitation tohis advantage.
I have only mentioned five rappers in this article but thereare of course, many,manyother—non-idol—rappersthat boast memorable rapping styles. So in order to give some of those otherartists some due credit, I will list some honorable mentions:Tablo(I deliberately omitted him because he's already well established and I didn't want my list to be too predictable),Jerry K.,MC Meta,i11evn,San-E,Ignito,Huck P.,Rhyme Attack,Swings,Yankie(yes, that's how he spells his stage name),andothers whom I will not list because then the list would just go on and on (to the break of dawn). If you'd like to proffer your own list, please share it! I would love to hear whose rapping styles you prefer and why.