#r!ch

[wuyaaah]

https://www.boredpanda.com/funny-dark-comics-channelate-ryan-hudson-part-2/?utm_source=bp_art&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=BPFacebook&fbclid=IwAR1NZPOh7ux2sMuKhlhq63SzQS_qgff_ACqolQqOQ2z01OO2D9QSBCF385I

[wuyaaah]

honk

r!j: Why are you following me around?

r!ch: (he plays with his feet looking at them) (he looks up to see r!j's irritated face) I LOVE YOU! :D

r!j: Uuuughhh... bleh (face full with disgust) Tohomiko, it said it loves me!

th: lock him in the wardrobe. That's how I deal with his affection.

r!rai and mi: (concerned stare at each other)

mi later to ch: HONK HIS NOSE

ch: i wha-

mi: HONK HIS NOSE, YOUNG ONE!!!

even later

r!j: (is at the same level as the kid)

r!ch: (grabs his nose) HONK!

r!j: (blabbers something painfully)

[wuyaaah]

silly bois

r!ch: (stole r!j victorin clothes)

j: (is in samurai clothes and re-creates samurai with a cat meme)

r!ch: (talks unfovaurbly about j with a specific disgusted mannierism) He's unspekeably... annoying... Like a pest!

Such worms should be stomped on.

j: Hey, am I at least the wormiest?

r!ch: ... The most hideous... and the wormiest... (growls)

j: snort

[wuyaaah]

g!wuya: CHASE, THIS... IS MOON MOON.

r!chase: Something weird is gonna happen, right?

jack:

r!chase: So, what about her?

g!wuya: THIS IS MOON MOON! :D

moomoonata:

r!chase: ........... Unacceptable.

moomoonata: I stand correct, Wu-wu. he is like a cat. :)

r!chase: ????

jack: She's got those weird lines. You'll get used to them.

r!chase: ok, mind tellin us why did you bring her here?

g!wuya: You see, I was grumpy, annoying and eevil but then I met Moon-moon and became less evil and more weird.

Being weird is my conscious decision and sometimes we hang out oustide that heylin-xiaolin conflict. Her friends hate that, that's why i'm doing it.

[smtmxrich-blog]

Show Me The Money (SMTM) and the influence of Hallyu in Asia and beyond. (1/10)

Show Me The Money (SMTM) is a South Korean Hip Hop focused television reality show that first aired in 2012. When it debuted, it was the only television show in South Korea to focus on the Hip Hop genre.  The show has since expanded beyond South Korea with auditions being held in other countries such as Los Angeles. 

Like many popular South Korea television shows, SMTM was copied by production company iQiyi, including its format, its judging and even its filming and editing. The Chinese version, despite its criticism for being more about trying to make money out of hiphop than for promoting hiphop, has since exploded in China. In a little over its first month in China back in 2017, the show recorded over 1.3 billion views.  SMTM also spawned a Thai version called Show Me The Money Thailand in 2018. SMTM has since spawned 7 seasons with an upcoming 8th season while the Rap of China just concluded its 3rd season. It's hard to imagine that it is South Korea that is producing hip hop content for the rest of the world to consume considering the culture and history of Hip Hop and rap music. 

Hiphop was born in New York City, in the Bronx. Hiphop by definition is a style of popular music of US black and Hispanic origin, featuring rap with an electronic backing. Many rappers whether American, Korean or Chinese will say that hiphop is a culture, something larger than a genre of music. It encompasses many things, many parts of people's life.  As MC Jin once eloquently puts it, "Hiphop reflects the world."  He says the violence and curse words in hiphop comes from the fact that people are suffering in the world. But hiphop can also be about good things. And to many people, that is what makes hiphop 'real'. It is an outlet for people to voice out their unhappiness, to talk about their problems. 

While America continues to have shows that feature rap battles and freestyle battles, these shows are often not consumed by mainstream audience. Shows like Wild & Out with rappers engaging in freestyle battles continue to air today, but others like the once popular 106 & Park (which propelled MC Jin to fame as a legitimate Asian American rapper) are no longer around. 

(MC Jin [middle] with his fellow co-stars in 2Fast2Furious)

While South Korea has long had a bustling underground rap scene, fans of the genre could have never imagined HipHop music going main stream, and especially not on their television screens. It is hard to image having a television show about hiphop and rap in a country where tattoos are censored.

(Korean American rapper Jay Park with his tattoos censored on a Korean television show) Despite these, SMTM has since flourished, with multiple spin-offs in South Korea alone. 

(Unpretty Rap Star)

(High School Rapper) Beyond its own shore, SMTM has also inspired The Rap of China and Show Me The Money Thailand. Netflix has also announced its a new hip hop reality series called Rhythm + Flow. While Netflix did not say that this series was inspired by SMTM, it is hard not to see the success of SMTM (and subsequently The Rap of China ) as a reason why there is suddenly a new rapping competition show in the country that Hiphop and Rap came from.  It also wouldn't be the first time America adapted a reality tv show concept from South Korea

American singing reality show The Masked Singer was adapted from South Korea's King of Mask Singer. 

(King of Mask Singer)

So how did K Hip-Hop arrive at this point?

The angsty yet inclusive cultural movement of hip-hop first popped up in Korea around the late 1980s. While Korean hip-hop was largely influenced by its western origins, much like every other country's hip-hop scene, it became inventive around 2001 where new artists starting overcoming the challenges of following Korean language grammatical structures. (Joshi, 2018)

Today K hip-hop is known for its smooth beats, eclectic instrumentation and dazzling visuals in their videos (much like K-pop). K-pop's influence in K hip-hop is also evident. In an effort to expand out toe global markets, K-pop underwent rapid changes, adapting to transnational influences from America and Europe, and this resulted in K hip-hop becoming a fusion of styles as well. (Ong, 2018)

Show Me The Money's importance in bridging Korean Hip-Hop and rappers on idol groups cannot be neglected. Where there was once a distinct division between underground 'real' hip-hop rappers and idol rappers, SMTM has since started to converge these two sides. (Bissoux, 2017) Numerous idol trainees have taken part in SMTMwith Bobby, a trainee at YG Entertainment winning SMTM3.

The show also popularised the idea of "real". Hip-hop and rap music has long been viewed as a form of dissident by people, and as an outlet to voice out social issues.

"Real" hip-hop to rappers means to understand the culture and the genre. It means rapping and writing lyrics that reflect what goes on in their life and what they go through, instead of rapping for money.

Before SMTM made K hip-hop popular, the source of hip-hop and rap music for people around the world and in Asia came from America. Rappers in America would rap about the hood, runs and violence because it was representative of their life.

Rappers around the world would mimic this.

(阴三儿IN3 - 北京晚报Beijing Evening News, 2008)

The song above by rap group IN3 revolves mainly around girls and suggestions about prostitution. A common theme in American rap and hip-hop music in the 2000s.

Rappers in Korea on the other hand faced censorship which caused their music to evolve. Their lyrics could not drift from the standard romantic idyll that was popular at the moment. (Howard, 2006) This resulted in Korean rappers rapping about the problems and issues that they faced in South Korea instead of mimicking their counterparts in America. Every country and culture has universal needs and problems, but they also have their own unique stressors and forms of oppression acted upon then. (Lopez-Rogina, 2017)

When SMTM became popular around Asia, it became an example of how every country could have their own version of hip-hop.

"Hip-hop and rap cannot be viewed simply as an expression of African American culture; it has become a vehicle for global youth affiliations and a tool for reworking local identity all over the world." - Professor Sarah Morelli



Indeed, we cannot understate the importance of SMTM in making Korean hip-hop popular and in making the genre of hip-hop music popular in Asia and beyond.

[gritgirl]

ASIAN-AMERICAN RAPPERS IN ASIA, BUT WHAT ABOUT AMERICA?

Earlier this summer, a show called “The Rap of China” (R!CH) aired its first season– like its name suggests, it’s a survival show where Chinese rappers battle each other to win the most audience votes and praise from established hip-hop artists.

I started watching the show because it was pretty much a copy of its widely popular Korean predecessor, “Show Me the Money”, of which I am a fan. R!CH almost plagiarizes SMTM, including the same systemic judging procedures, 60-second audition/cypher/battle/performance format, and even the producers’ jewel encrusted microphones. In addition, one of the producers was Kris Wu, formerly of EXO. I thought he was a surprising choice as a producer because idol members are notoriously criticized on SMTM for not having serious rap skills and Wu hadn’t particularly “proved” himself to be a successful rap solo artist (unlike Zico, also a producer on SMTM.) After the episode aired, netizens voiced similar thoughts by creating a buzzword out of Wu’s harsh criticism of the contestants: “有freestyle吗?”

When I was watching, one of the contestants, “Hip Hop Man” piqued my interest. Hip Hop Man obscures his identity by wearing all black and a mask, but that doesn’t stop everyone knowing exactly who he is after he starts to rap during his audition. Multiple audience members gasp and point at him right before he opens his mouth, immediately grabbing everyone’s attention. Not knowing much about Chinese rap, I assumed that he was some sort of celebrity (I didn’t even know the other producers, MC Hot Dog and Wilber Pan.)

However, my impression was unfounded when Hip Hop Man started rapping in English– it was obvious that he was Chinese-American and better at rapping than his fellow contestants (perhaps I’m biased as an Asian American myself.)

Asian-Americans trying to make it into Asian rap is common on SMTM as well– this is especially because they’re succeeding. Korean-Americans that are prominent in today’s Korean rap and R&B scene include Jay Park, Dok2 (both producers of multiple SMTM seasons), Yoon Mirae, Jessi, Joon Park of g.o.d and more. There are even more Korean-American SMTM contestants: Flowsik, Snacky Chan, Junoflo, Killagramz, etc. Korean-American SMTM contestants have been signed to Korean recording companies after the show as well– Junoflo to Feel Ghood Records and Killagramz to Cycadelic Records. This participation is encouraged: recent seasons have hosted NYC and LA auditions in order to recruit American contestants.

Like the Korean-American contestants on SMTM, Hip Hop Man also struggled with the language barrier and eventually was eliminated for using too much English in his lyrics, despite his skill.

I was surprised that so many Chinese members of the audience knew who Hip Hop Man was because he was Chinese American, but didn’t think much of it because I didn’t know anything about him– he literally was masking away his identity.

Who is Hip Hop Man? He’s actually an American rapper named MC Jin, who after a YouTube search, seemed to be a battle rapper who was featured on a few TV shows in the early 2000s.

It wasn’t until last weekend when I watched “Bad Rap“, a documentary about Asian-American rappers, did I learn more about MC Jin’s track record in the music industry. Two rappers in the film, Awkwafina & Dumbfoundead cite MC Jin as an inspiration when they were growing up as a role model in the hip-hop industry.

He was the first Asian American rapper to be signed to a major American record label: Ruff Ryders, also home to DMC. He debuted with the single “Learn Chinese” in 2004.

I had never even heard of this song and was frankly in disbelief that something that played into so many racial stereotypes was MC Jin’s first shot at the mainstream. It also seems like it was the only shot he got, since his two singles (the other called “Senorita”) did not do well commercially and he was later dropped from his label. However, MC Jin has continued to try and stay relevant. With his recent appearance on R!CH and multiple public American appearances, it seems like he might be trying to make a comeback in both countries.

It’s interesting to see the milestones and back-steps that Asian American artists have taken in the music industry, even if we’re looking at rap exclusively. Though not a traditional “success” as an American recording artist, let’s acknowledge MC Jin for his accomplishments as an Asian American rapper and as a source of inspiration for those who are inspired and will come after him. While “Bad Rap” paints a continuous uphill struggle for Asian American rappers in the mainstream entertainment market, there are changes occurring in the industry.

Earlier this year, Jay Park signed a deal with American hip-hop label Roc Nation and he notes: “This is a win for Asian Americans.”

It should be noted that Jay Park was presumably able to get this deal with Roc Nation due to his demonstrated success as a K-pop artist that can sell multi-platinum records. This requirement for Asian-American artists to “prove themselves” in Asia seems to be a route that many Asian American artists seem to be taking: Wang Lee Hom, Wanting, Eric Nam, Sam Kim, Roy Kim, among others.

And it might be the way to go– Even though MC Jin has been active for almost 2 decades, it’s his Chinese rap videos that have the most views on Youtube.

The emergence of these hip-hop focused shows reflects how China’s music audience might be developing a taste for rap, just like how it has become extremely popular in Korea in recent years. Korean rapper, Keith Ape, reached American music charts with his song “It G Ma.” This phenomenon hasn’t gone unnoticed– the New York Times recently published an article about Higher Brothers, a rap duo in China. They’re actually managed by the same company, 88Rising, as Rich Chigga. And even though 88Rising is an Asian-American music focused media group, they seem to be realizing that trans-national artists are paving the way to mainstream prominence.

PS I watch this diss battle from SMTM6 like MONTHLY it’s just so friggin good

[sillsif]

Thank you for these four months. I am PG One, Triple H Honghuahui forever.