DJBooth article/review: "South Korea’s Rap Monster Put Strange Music on the Map & Made Me a Fan"

[DOOLY]

As the self-appointed Worldwide Ambassador for Hip-Hop, I'm always down for some great, international rap. Hip-hop started in a building in the Bronx and in just 40 short years has expanded to every corner of the world. I don't get to travel as much as I would like, so often hip-hop is my plane ticket. I may not always understand the lyrics, but I can feel the passion and, of course, the production. It's amazing when you connect to a song despite language and culture barriers. Still, I've never been to South Korea and I've never even had Kimchi, so I was a little worried; what was I in for?  I don't know why, but I couldn't help but think of Tommy Cash. I was expecting some crazy, outrageous trap character, something crazy that would be dope, but not pure, real hip-hop. 

 

 

 

Well, holy fucking shit. It's awesome! No bullshit. No "is this real?" No gimmicks, just a dude who can really spit. It's real hip-hop and it hit me right in the Seoul. I had to know more, so I ventured into the black hole that is the internet and got the scoop. Turns out Rap Monster is a member of Korean boy band, Bangtan Boys, or BTS. I hate to make this super unoriginal comparison, but they seem kind of like One Direction. When I did a Twitter search most of it was in Korean, but I gathered that they have a crazy passionate fan base. Check out this live performance where girls are going fucking nuts. 

 

 

It may be hard to hear over the thousands of girls freaking out, but did anyone catch Tech N9ne in there? Turns out they used Krizz Kaliko's "Spaz" and as a result, their fans flocked to Strange Music, to the point where even Strange took notice. In an interview on Strange Music's own show, Indie Grind Radio, Krizz and the Strange crew were blown away by the amount of retweets and views they received from BTS' fanbase. (It's crazy how a group can have so much power and influence and yet still be virtual unknown in America.) It's mind blowing to think about someone outside of Strange Music putting Strange Music on the map, but BTS essentially made them popular in Korea. They may be a boy band, but that's power. Anyway, as it turns out, Rap Monster is a huge fan of Krizz Kaliko, so naturally Krizz and Rap Monster got to talking and ended up making a track together. Oh, it's also amazing. 

 

 

I wasn't blowing smoke when I said it's amazing. I've had it on repeat all week. The most amazing part is that Rap Monster doesn't sound lost or out of his league. I'm sure I'm being an ignorant American, but frankly I wasn't expecting this kind of quality. What's consistent in any Strange Music track is the power and production value; the potency. It takes a special artist to be able to fit that kind of mold, and I simply didn't expect a Korean boy band rapper to have the chops to hang, and yet here he was blowing me away. I've listened to this cut over and over and yet it still has this fresh feel to it. It made me excited to check out his new tape where he raps over beats like "Grown Simba" and some Dilla. 

 

After a few listens I'm officially a Rap Monster fan. It took me a minute to get over the whole boy band thing, but once I did I really enjoyed what I heard. I really like the balance between rapping in Korean and rapping in English. If the project was all in Korean, I'm not sure I could have connected with him but by mixing the two languages together he provides the listener with a brand new experience; I don't feel like a passive listener. Shit even when he's rapping in Korean, I can still feel his words. He's got a hunger and an excitement that can be felt in any language.

 

I know I said it earlier, but hip-hop is remarkable. I went from an article about JAY Z's streaming music service to researching information about Korean rap all in the span of an hour and finding that Strange Music connection was the icing on the cake.  Korean hip-hop is the greatest! Strange Music is the greatest! DJBooth Nation is the greatest! Hip-hop is the greatest!

 

Lucas Garrison is a writer for DJBooth.net (http://www.djbooth.net/index/news/entry/2015-3-30-rap-monster-south-korea#at_pco=tst-1.0&at_si=551aa5027494dbbc&at_ab=per-2&at_pos=1&at_tot=2)

DJBooth is pretty famous international community/site dedicated to hiphop.

 

tl;dr: BTS getting recognition left and right from outsiders of kpop and slaying everyone once again 

[Suga's GF]

>rap mon is a good ass rapper

>all of bts is really talented and there's no dead weight in the group so i hope rap mon brings more attention to bangtan too

>WHERE IS YOONGI'S MIXTAPE IM READY FOR THAT FIRE BRUH

>im proud of rap mon wtf

[b2utifularmy97]

I liked that he's a fan of RapMon but you don't just compare BTS to ONE DIRECTION and live. They're completely different and idk how he even came up with that. Obviously he was still being ignorant and just didn't listen to BTS's songs and just RapMon but Suga and Jhope can "spit" too bro-

[DOOLY]

I liked that he's a fan of RapMon but you don't just compare BTS to ONE DIRECTION and live. They're completely different and idk how he even came up with that. Obviously he was still being ignorant and just didn't listen to BTS's songs and just RapMon but Suga and Jhope can "spit" too bro-

 

Yeah, when i read that i was like "bro you just didn't said that" but at least he admitted that he is kinda ignorant about kpop and said the didn't want to make that comparison 

[b2utifularmy97]

Yeah, when i read that i was like "bro you just didn't said that" but at least he admitted that he is kinda ignorant about kpop and said the didn't want to make that comparison 

True he did say that but he still made the comparison and reading that kinda pissed me off tbh. Plus you should never compare a KPOP group to a group who made fun of KPOP. And BTS technically don't consider themselves Kpop- Don't they consider themselves Khiphop?

[elitin]

 

Check out this live performance where girls are going fucking nuts

LOL! I was going nuts behind my computer, but because that camera man wouldn't let me see them!!

 

 

I liked that he's a fan of RapMon but you don't just compare BTS to ONE DIRECTION and live. They're completely different and idk how he even came up with that. Obviously he was still being ignorant and just didn't listen to BTS's songs and just RapMon but Suga and Jhope can "spit" too bro-

 

Haha, we were all a bit like that the first time we met Kpop weren't we? He's given him a chance and has become a fan he'll be drown to all of them soon!

[sebbula]

True he did say that but he still made the comparison and reading that kinda pissed me off tbh. Plus you should never compare a KPOP group to a group who made fun of KPOP. And BTS technically don't consider themselves Kpop- Don't they consider themselves Khiphop?

i'm pretty sure they're kpop, although they have much of the hip hop elements I guess, the whole idol thing and the addition of singing makes them kpop. For K-hip hop you'd have to be like MFBTY etc. at least I think so.

 

and i love that rap mon is getting so much recognition

[b2utifularmy97]

Haha, we were all a bit like that the first time we met Kpop weren't we? He's given him a chance and has become a fan he'll be drown to all of them soon!

I wasn't like that with Kpop. With Jpop maybe but never Kpop- At least he listened to it and liked it but yea

 

 

i'm pretty sure they're kpop, although they have much of the hip hop elements I guess, the whole idol thing and the addition of singing makes them kpop. For K-hip hop you'd have to be like MFBTY etc. at least I think so.

 

and i love that rap mon is getting so much recognition

Maybe you're right but half of their songs/albums are labelled as Hip Hop not Kpop so I guess I'm assuming from that but I'll look it up.

[dopeman.com]

I liked that he's a fan of RapMon but you don't just compare BTS to ONE DIRECTION and live. They're completely different and idk how he even came up with that. Obviously he was still being ignorant and just didn't listen to BTS's songs and just RapMon but Suga and Jhope can "spit" too bro-

 

I think what he meant was they are like One Direction in the sense that both groups have "crazy passionate fan base" backing them up.

 

 

YOU GO RAPMON! You're starting to make a difference. You'll soon realize the value of your existence, like what you always wanted.        

[Manunited]

I actually appreciate the one who wrote this article. He was being outright honest and its app-laudable.

 It really does take one time to get adjusted to kpop. It took me quite some time and I'm still adjusting to it. The only thing I admit to proudly is supporting BTS wholeheartedly. I introduced them to a guy friend of mine, He has a crush on Suga especially after seeing him in that maid outfit. Lmao. He even watched the Rookie king episode where Jhope had to kiss V and he said, he hasn't seen a funnier reaction than V's. <3

[loves]

sooooo happy for him  lol at the One Direction comparison (I really think he only meant that they are both boy bands, and One Direction is the most famous one at the moment, so he used them as an example for the boy group stereotype)

[Scorpio]

Let's ignore this ONE DIRECTION = BTS thing, it's just ugh   Buuuuut, my baby Namjoon is getting more and more recognition everyday! Words cannot describe how proud I am! He deserves this and more, I know that sounds like a pretty biased fan but he does, he deserves to be well known around the world.

 

You go, Rapmon! SLAY! 

[tazbaby]

Strange Music are the best american hip hop label.

Mayday are my favorite group from them.