Ever since Show Me The Money was created in 2012 and Unpretty Rapstar in 2015, they have become increasingly popular among Koreans and International "K-Pop" fans. Of course with anything, once it gets hot people either love it or hate it and find ways to disprove of it. I'll be analyzing the Pros and Cons to both shows just to show the true impacts and importance of the shows.
A brief introduction for those of you who don't know and are reading this and don't listen to Korean Music, stick around because this may be your inception into this world. Show Me The Money and Unpretty Rapstar are South Korean Hip Hop Competition Shows where all rappers alike participate to be recognized, win the prize money, and show off their skills. SMTM is for all contestants but UPRS is for female competitors only.
Pros
1. Talents Are Recognized
If you don't Know, well now you know that South Korea has birthed some of the greatest rappers alive like Epik High, Verbal Jint, Paloalto and tons of others but at some point Idol Music took over and now that is the main focus of the music media in SK. For some odd reason even with the reputation of Korean Hip Hop, rappers rarely get any shine on charts and television. For an up and coming Rapper who isn't apart of a big Hip Hop label or isn't backed by some of the best rappers, the best chance they have is going on these shows. Here, if they are good, can make a reputation for themselves. We've seen rapper like Yuk Jidam start their careers here, people like Olltii, Bobby, and Mino make names for themselves while launching their career as well as seeing rappers like Lil Boi, Basick, and Cheetah relaunch their careers here. It’s hard for artist who aren't Idols to get shine especially without the necessities I said earlier to be recognized but here they can.
2. Collaborations
Watching these shows I've seen some of my favorite new and old rappers straight up murder the stages by themselves but they've also done it with help. SMTM and UPRS have birthed great collaborations and working friendships between rappers and singers. UPRS gave us KittieB, Yezi, Gilme, and Ahn Soomin while SMTM gave us Basick and Lil Boi. There are more great collaborative groups and songs and honestly without these shows, majority of these collabs would have never happened. There is no one that can look me in the eye and tell me these shows are bad when we've heard Team AOMG x Bewhy and Team ZiPal x Mino create great performances.
3. Hip Hop in Korea is Back on The Map
Like I said, for some odd reason Hip Hop in SK dwindled for a bit but is now back on the map. SK seems to be more accepting of the Hip Hop culture and with every season the songs produced from said shows are taking over the charts. Also International fans like myself get to enjoy music from artist who aren't Idols and the rappers are getting International fame. Win/Win situation.
4. Producers Nurture the New Talent
For those of you who don't know, the show has 4 sets of Producers who are the hottest Rappers and Producers in the game at the moment. Their goal is to win the show by using the contestants that join their team. With the last two seasons we've seen an increase in Producer and Contestant relationships as the Producers help nurture their talent. On the current season of SMTM which is season 5, AOMG Producer Simon Dominic helps out the contestants in the preliminary round. He gave advice to people who didn't make the next round and he did it without any qualms. Some of the talent he helped could show up in future seasons or launch a career in rap thanks to him. Unlike most Producers, SMTM5 Team AOMG and SMTM4 Team ZiPal have worked to not only create good songs but work to also bring out the Contestants charisma and talent. Bewhy was already a great Rapper but Team AOMG is crafting new ways for Bewhy to express himself. In Hip Hop, torches are passed from one Rapper to the next and in SK, the big time rappers are actually trying to help nurture the younger talent.
Bewhy Pre SMTM5
Bewhy Post SMTM5
Cons
1. False Drama/TV Controls The Artist
Since these shows are reality TV or Survival Shows there must be drama right? Well Rappers beef. It’s apart of the culture. Not all Rappers beef but it happens. The thing about the beef on SMTM and UPRS is that they got a taste of real beef and went crazy. Olltii beef with B.I and Bobby on SMTM3 was intense and Jessi's beef with everyone on the first season of Unpretty Rapstar was extremely entertaining. The creators of the show wanted that real life drama so they started "evil editing" as people who don't know what editing a show means would call it. The editing of the shows were cool as it gave off a sense of drama or uneasiness but after a while it went overboard with Black Nut's insistent talk of Mino and everything on Unpretty Rapstar season 2. It was obviously fake and made the shows lose credibility. If the drama is not there, let it stay away as the viewers came to see our favorite rappers and watch new rappers rap. We don't care about false drama.
2. Fake Hype
Nowadays everybody hypes every and any fucking thing. So of course the rappers from these shows would be hyped to the moon. The thing is that people hype the rappers that aren't that special and/or have no discography. People want rookie rapper One to be so amazing and because of that and being apart of YGE, he falls short trying to keep up with the more experienced rappers on the shows. One is a good rapper and I like him but I'm not expecting him to be on the same level as Bewhy or even G2 when he doesn't have much material and is still a baby rapper. Lots of fans put so much onto the rappers who are extremely new to the game and are saddened when they don't release music 24/7 or their music isn't on the level they want it to be. Stop hyping everything and let the artist grow.
3. Infuses the Rapper/Idol Rapper Beef
This is a very controversial topic as Idol Rappers are seen as the people in the K Pop group who can't sing so they had to rap and the Underground Rappers who are for some reason extremely good even tho most have no discography or are just bad. People think that Idol rappers still the shine away from the "Real" Rappers and in some cases that is true but at the same time if every fucking Underground Rapper was amazing, they wouldn't be in the Underground. It is okay to be an Idol Rapper and a Underground Rapper as long as you know your place. Idols Rappers for the most part don't write their lyrics and can't be taken seriously but not all Idol Rappers are like this. G Dragon, TOP, Zico, Rap Monster, Bang Yongguk, Kemy, Miryo, and others can be taken seriously because they write and produce their stuff. Not every Underground rapper is good. As Tablo expressed on seasons 3 and 4 of SMTM, at some point it doesn't matter whether Idol or Under just as long as you are a good Rapper, your talent will be recognized.
I can't turn my back on these shows even tho I tried because great songs are produced from them as well as me getting into artist I don't know. C Jamm and Ja Mezz would not be some of my favorite SK rappers if not for SMTM. Would I really be calling Yezi bae and Rap God if not for UPRS? These shows produce good stuff but not everything about them is great. You just have to look at it from two perspectives and not one. From what I've seen from watching the shows, talking about the music and hearing what other people are saying, I was able to write this list.
Garser Dismuke is a writer for Blerdsonline.com as well as Garserspoetry.com
He releases his vast knowledge of Anime, Wrestling, K-pop and Poetry on the daily
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