Let’s face the facts. There are not a lot of solid Korean rappers out there. We’re not talking about underground professionals along the likes of Tiger JK, LeeSSang, or Dok2. We’re referring to the lovely idols we’ve all come to know and love. Many are often ridiculed for their talent or lack of (Minho), others are merely used as faux rappers with low voices and rap singing (Bora), some have all the pieces but can’t quite put everything together (Amber), and a select few have enough ability to truly call themselves a rapper. These players know how to utilize their charms to give their music (or anything they show up in) an edge, of which we’ll be talking about here.
For this, I’m not singling out the best rappers in the industry but rather, specific tracks and showcases which really emphasize the user’s talent, whether it’s speed, flow, energy, etc. It’s more a matter of these raps being memorable than anything else.
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CL - Clap Your Hands
Now there certainly is a lack of female presence here, but don’t worry, CL has you covered for both “female” and “presence”. In terms of energy, CL is unrivaled. She brings so much power and stage presence, she controls the crowd and when 2NE1 performs and CL is up, you know all eyes are on her. As far as aggressive rapping goes, you can’t overlook “Clap Your Hands”. Of course, Dara and Minzy also rap but you can’t ignore the main rapper and thus the star of the show. CL is aggressive but not overwhelming, perfectly on the borderline. Live performances of this were absolutely thrilling.
T.O.P - Digital Bounce
Now, T.O.P has got quite the track record with Big Bang, but when Se7en released “Digital Bounce” and performed it for music shows, this skyrocketed future expectations for Mr. Choi Seunghyun. Now the song itself isn’t that appealing, it’s full of autotune, repetitive chorus and a boring dance, all mixed with a truckload of English. But then T.O.P enters for a rap break and it’s like the rest of the song was never there. I think it’s probably one of the fastest iterations to date and T.O.P rapping this live only solidified his skill. His rap took the mediocre “Digital Bounce” and made the performance aspect much more exciting.
Chanyeol - Two Moons
EXO’s debut album was a mixture of songs, and the rapping in “Two Moons” from everyone else (Kai, Sehun, Kris, Tao, Key) was good, but not great. Chanyeol, was great. It’s incredibly addicting should you be able to match the pace of him in the second verse, and I remember seeing a comment like “It’s almost as if Chanyeol is saying ‘Is this the fastest you can do? Seodulleo seodulleo…” and that’s exactly how I feel. Lively, energetic, with glimpses of power, too. Further showings in “DJ Got Us Falling In Love” and http://tinyurl.com/avocyb2 prove that the future is bright for this kid.
Zico - Nillili Mambo
When Block B debuted in 2011, nobody really thought much but Zico (and P.O) caught my eye for their rapping work in “Freeze”. Transition across some media controversy and a few more releases and we’re at “Nillili Mambo”. Zico may have been underrated before but the rapping in “Nillili Mambo” was spot on. Partnered with Kyung, these two made the rap the highlight of the wild and bizarre song. Now with the lawsuit raging on (what’s going on with that, anyway), we’ll have to see when next Zico will enlighten us all.
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Okay this turned out longer than I thought, so I’m going to split this set into two and release the second half next time.
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