Here's where I consider the rappers to be serviceable at worst. Not a knock on Sihyun, because she has it tough in particular, being in a vocal powerhouse group like SPICA. More unfortunately, while their latest comeback "Secret Time" was awesome, there was no rapping to be had. Still, her past works speak for themselves. I would consider her the reverse Moonbyul (sort of): a great singer that happens to be alright on the mic.
#19. Exy (--)
If Dahyun gives me Hyelim vibes, then Exy gives me Yubin vibes, but not to the same extent. She sounds like a younger, more nasally Yubin, which at the end of the day is still a relatively pleasing voice to listen to. Even though she is in a gigantic group, she gets plenty of opportunities in the spotlight. Her rap in "Secret" was one of the best of this year, although it agonizes all Bora fans because if Exy can get a 15 second rap in a group of 13, how is it that Bora gets half of that in a group of four? But I digress.
#18. Yeeun (--)
As we roll further into a string of newbies, I'd like to explain why most of these girls are where they are. Some of these rookies have been very impressive out the gate, no question. But a batting average of 1.000 isn't very meaningful with only 10 at bats. What I mean is that they have to have more songs under their belt before better / more accurate judgments can take place. They have plenty of time to improve. Anyway, Yeeun has a flighty rapping style befitting her group and did a great job with "Pepe" and "No Oh Oh." It'll be interesting to see if CLC ever changes up their style and how Yeeun's raps will adapt.
#17. Jennie (--)
Jennie is special because she had two excellent debut raps. Of course that's because she got to debut with "Whistle" and "Boombayah" but hey the raps still had to be good to mean anything. Her rapping in "Boombayah" was more impressive though I liked the laid-back style in "Whistle" more. She's got a great voice that works well for both rapping and singing, and as previously mentioned she'll be a wonderful component of Black Pink because she can do it all.
#16. Lisa (--)
Another pair of rappers from the same group find themselves side by side. This is eerily reminiscent of the first list back in early 2014. Anyway, Lisa is ranked directly above Jennie if only for the fact that she got a solo rap in "Playing With Fire" (and Jennie did not). Both of them are pretty similar, but where Jennie has a voice advantage, Lisa has the charisma advantage. She's the next CL in terms of her energy and I love watching her perform live.
What could have been. What could have been. D.ana's powerful voice (the likes of which could only be contested by Yubin) has been squandered away in recent Sonamoo songs. In "I Like U Too Much," she was relegated to brief rap-singing which is simply a waste of her talent. At least "Cushion" still had her despite all the cringeworthy English usage. I'm willing to bet that if Sonamoo stayed with their debut style for at least another comeback I'd be down with putting her close to the top 10.
#14. Lime (+4)
Don't be misled by Lime's surge to #14. Even though Hello Venus had "Glow" and "Paradise" this year, neither release has any rapping to speak of, which means she's been exactly the same since "I'm Ill." To be more politically correct, she hasn't had new material since "Wiggle Wiggle." It seems rap-singing has been more of the rage for some of our veterans. Hello Venus need to work with Brave Brothers again to get some of Lime's swagger back. In hindsight I think D.ana deserved to stay at #14 from last year because she at least got some form of rapping in.
#13. Mimi (--)
Following what I said about rookie placement, the best newcomer is the one with the most good (or better) raps, and that distinction has to go to Mimi. Mimi is the proud owner of three excellent raps: "Closer" was an underrated rap section of last year, while "Liar Liar" and "A-ing" are only worth listening to (for me) because of Mimi's performance. The "A-ing" rap in particular is probably my favorite because it shows off her pizzazz. All of the new girl group rappers have potential, but the one I'm looking forward to the most is Mimi.
#12. Hana (+3)
Secret has been in limbo ever since summer of 2014, so unlike other rappers who have at least been releasing new music, Hana has nothing to speak of. Now that Sunhwa is no longer you would expect TS Entertainment to do something but nope. Granted it was only in October that their contracts expired, but the fact that Hana remained with the label says something, at least I hope it does. Now that I think about it, I'm not even sure she belongs at #12 after such an extended time.
#11. Hyomin (+1)
Hyomin has been rather quiet on the rapping front. Her solo comeback with "Sketch" and T-ARA's "Tiamo" have both lacked rapping, so in the same way that others in her range (Hana and Lime specifically) rise a little so too will she. Of course, with no new raps to speak of there's nothing else to talk about. Inactivity and not receiving any raps are basically synonymous, and she'll quickly be overtaken by the rising stars despite having a consistent history in her raps.
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