K-Underground Songs?

[Guest kiia]

<< Another Loptimist beat, another LEO song. Really awesome beat Can't tell you much about the verses since I'm always so stuck on this ill beat, but I can assure you, LEO is good.

Yes. This is so amazing I had to set it to be my ringtone. (Well, the instrumental version.) /cool story

<< Oh shi. When I said Wimpy was the most intense, with Simon D trailing. I forgot Mad Clown. He is the most intense rapper in Korea. He only has one EP/single, yet is gaining tons of interest (it helps that he's in SC ^^). Very nice beat, and The Quiett always spits fire.

Mad Clown is amazing. (Somebody wrote on YouTube (month ago?) that he's out of SC but I guess that was BS.)

And this made me very happy a while ago:

Yes Mad Clown is really intense , really like him. Quite sad that he have only release an EP 'tiil now. I like all the persons you listed above, except maybe Fuuryeye & J'kyun who I'm not familliar with. Which of there releases would you recommend to me ?

J'Kyun has an EP (Just Clap) and a mixtape (Long Time No See) out. Also quite many featurings as himself and some as a part of Fresh Boyz.

[Guest davidfresh]

AGHHHHHH WTF OH MY GOD THIS IS CRAZY!

I made a Twitter account just so that I could stalk The Quiett, but I stopped logging in a while ago. Stupid of me

I can't believe they're working on something new <3 I love all of them. I wonder if it's like a Mad Clown/Jerry.k project with The Quiett producing, or something else. Either way, it'll be great to hear more Quiett beats, and rapping from all/any of them (but I'm especially anticipating Mad Clown, he doesn't have enough stuff out!).

I think The Quiett is a very handsome man. O.O

[imtoghai]

Wow, thanks for the suggestions you guys! I'll make sure to give the ones I haven't heard of a listen. What a great Christmas gift for the year, haha! Much appreciated!

[Guest PurpleMTL]

@armorking: Ah I see (; And the Supreme Team album was just crap. Apart from Hooligan's Anthem, Beatbox DG's, and Tasha's that is. Vasco's actually quite an interesting producer, but no where near Loptimist/Quiett's level of producing. And Deegie is a VERY interesting producer, I'd say. I like him!

@PurpleMTL: Nope. I have a feeling he's going to move to Salon 01 VERY soon though He'd be a great addition (but personally, VON is my favorite Salon member ever! Just <3). Talking about jazzy beats, I have a feeling PoppinBC will like

Nevermind that it's not exactly Korean, who knew that the Dirty South could produce such gems?! <3

@kdawg2k: ㅋ

Yep love Von too . Oh CYNE, they're good. I've came to know them when listening to Nujabes albums. And Dirthy South ... they are from Miami I think, but they sould not be associate with the typical ''South'' sound.

[Guest davidfresh]

VON has an awesome flow and not only rhymes, he mimics the rhythm of the previous line like a mirror. It's amazing!

Honestly though, I still haven't honed myself to differentiate between Von and Giant lol. They sound very alike in my opinion. I love both of them too. Pento is awesome too, and Ja could be considered the RZA of Korea ^^

In fact, I often associate Salon 01 with Wu Tang Clan o.o I just hear the Wu Tang in them, although you can say that Salon is a bit more extreme. Which is good in my opinion ^^

Anybody know of any Korean rappers that actually lived on the streets/projects/ghettos?

If there actually are in Korea.

I'm not saying Korea doesn't have it's share of hardships though, it's just in a different form. To be completely honest, I'd rather hear about the streets than test stress though

[Guest PurpleMTL]

Oh JA and RZA never tough about it, I guess you can say that they are similar in the type of beat they make. But Salon01 and Wu-Tang, maybe later Wu-Tang. RZA is in another world since 8 diagrams, is beat are kinda crazy, don't know how to describe it. Salon01 are defintely more ... well I don't know but they have their own sound.

As for the ''street sound'', that's another thing I like about korean hip-hop. They don't all pretend to be hardcore, don't try to gain street cred or whatever most of the U.S. rapper do. For me a good storytelling, wherever the provenance is, is still good storytelling. But this doesn't mean they don't have their share of wannabe gangster.

[Guest davidfresh]

I detest the new RZA. I long every day for his old, sick, grindy beats, but I doubt it will fully happen anytime soon. Only Built 4 Cuban Linx was awesome though!

And I agree. There are many components to rap, having a hardcore previous life is not everything. Good Korean rappers are lyrical geniuses, sick with wordplay, ect.

[Guest PurpleMTL]

Only Built For Cuban Linx 2 was awesome. Practically equal to the previous. One of the best album this year, but that alone doesn't mean much, hip-hop in the US is becoming as stale as indie rock. And the current ringtone trend is really not helping changing that.

But getting back on topic. I've listen to some of your recommendation and there's some really good stuff. J'kyun, he's awesome. Fuuryeye, listen to his last album whenever i get the chance. Need to find the first One. I've also download Swings discography and ... now I really understand why everyone is calling him the king of flow. I aslo relisten UPT last album, and the Maniac, Chan, Swings combination can produce some great tracks. The Sophist album is really really good. Is he a producer ? Because the beats are exactly my style. Now I hope someone will be able to understand my gibberish.

[Guest davidfresh]

THE SOPHIST MAN I LOVED THAT ALBUM! GREAT FEATURES AS WELL! (:

And yeah, he's a producer. Either that, or he decided not to rap on this album. And I love his style too, its rugged and sexy.

I thought I would love UPT, but I still have trouble loving it, even with the amazing Swings and Maniac. I simply am not feeling those beats. And I'm not really a fan of J'kyun's releases, but I like his style. The beats really don't connect with me though. Swings, in my opinion, has a smoother flow that VJ and Von. Well, Von is so abstract, you can't really put him in a category (which makes me love him that much more!).

As for the US hip-hop thing, I disagree 2009 was a sexy year, with stuff from K'naan, Brother Ali (SQUEALS), Raekwon, K-Os, Scholarman, Em (runs), ect.

[Guest PurpleMTL]

Yeah UPT is disapointing, but they are still some good track. You just need to disregard the beat, the singers, and most of what they're saying ... For J'kyun, it's not what I'm use to listen, but it's different and pretty good. I don't think you can really compare Von with them, he's flow is really different.

I didn't say they're was nothing good coming out of the US. Just that most of it was trash. When i can't even listen to one artist who have some mainstream recognition. Don't say Em, that's different K'nnan was really good. He change is music a bit, but I prefer it like that. Lupe mixtape was ... not good. Except one or two tracks. And that's coming from a really big Lupe fan. I also like that you've name two Canadian MCs.

[Guest davidfresh]

Hahahahahahahaha. 'You just need to disregard the beat, the singers, and most of what they're saying'. ㅋㅋㅋ That's like everything. Well their flows are always nice. I simply can't listen to a song with a bad beat unless the verses are ridiculously sick.

As for K-os and K'naan, haha I didn't know you were Canadian. But K'naan's album was one of my favorites of the year, that sh was different and he has a sick sick flow. And the singing song (Wavin' Flag) actually ended up being my favorite off the album because it always inspires me lol. Any other good Canadian rappers out there? o.o

I think Von has a perfect flow. Absolutely flawless, he amazes me every single time. I don't know why he doesn't release more stuff My favorite song by Von is probably URD - Love Is Gonna Save Us.

It's just too smooth, and I really liked URD material because there were not as many features as Von usually has (he has like a plethora of friends T.T)

[Guest PurpleMTL]

I'm not canadian but I'm living there, French Canada. But UPT have some almost okay track. Baby Baby could have been really nice without the singer. Maybe seeing Big Chan dance doesn't help ... Yep URD album is very good. I think that URD album have more versatily in the songs than Von solo album. For Von I need to be in a certain mood to listen to his album, but I can bump URD album anytime. Who is the second member of URD, I forgot his name haha.

[Guest kdawg2k]

The UPT album was pretty average for me. Definitely not as good as it should be when you have 3 phenomenal emcees in the group. I was always a huge fan of CHAN before he joined. Didn't know he could rap in Korean as fluent as I thought.

[Guest PurpleMTL]

Was a fan too before he joined UPT, didn't even know it was him at first listen. Lonely Road is one of my all time favorite. Are they all from the states? Chan is, swings I'm pretty sure too with is english and Maniac don't really know.

[Guest davidfresh]

Come on, Maniac's GOTTA be from the States, right? He's English is flawless...

Not to mention, that's the only language he raps in (although there may be exceptions, I'm not a die-hard fan, honestly).

As for the VON album, I definitely preferred that over the URD album (sorry ). I loved those strange-richard simmons beats, sexy as hell. The primary complaint would be the overuse of features (were they really necessary?) although most of them were top-notch rappers (Swings, VJ, The Quiett, ect.)

At the moment, I've been exploring more into American hip-hop. Seeing as I got into Korean hip-hop BEFORE American hip-hop, you all would probably laugh if you saw my reaction when I first spun 'Liquid Swords' lol. Ever since, I've been copping Wu albums, Cold Vein, Public Enemy stuff, ect, and took a hiatus from Khip-hop. For now, I'm awaiting some Giant. GIANT GIANT GIANT I DIS GUYEEEEEEEEE HE AWESOMEEEEE. Reminisces of RZA's kungfu samples (I think it was in a 우주선 (Giant + Von) song where they sampled 'The Incredibles'. It worked PERFECTLY).

[Guest PurpleMTL]

For me it was the opposite. I've been inot american hip-hop for years. And one day I've wake up to find my itunes fill with k hip-hop. Don't really know how it started.

[siliconrex]

I'm pretty indiscriminate about what I listen to: pop, hip-hop, classical, house, etc. I go through a million artist phases though Right now I'm in a random Rhyme Attack/Pento phase and before that it was a random Cosmic Ally phase

[Guest davidfresh]

To be honest, Rhyme Attack and Pento both kind of bore me. Neither have a really distinct style, as Pento just raps on Ja's beats, which means the style possession probably belongs to Ja and Rhyme Attack is like the most generic hip-hop out there. Sure, his latest album was a classic, but I didn't bump it more than twice.

[Guest PurpleMTL]

I'm not really into Pento, but he was good on Briks album (One of the MOST underrated producer). But I neither like him or hate him, I guess he's alright. Rhyme-A-, I think he's good, really good. But I don't like most of his beat. Except the mildbeats collabo and again Briks album. Yeah rhyme attack on the microphone ... Superpeople, go listen it.

FIRST SWINGS STUDIO ALBUM IN FEBRUARY !!! GROWING PAINS !!!

Sorry for this ...

[Guest davidfresh]

Oh really, I didn't hear about that yet. Haven't been checking hiphopplaya lately T.T

It's going to be straight fire...... SWINGS, GET FAMILIAR~~~~

Briks is alright. The only song I remember is the one with the flute, and to be honest, I don't enjoy flute in my hip-hop But his album gave a nice vibe. Plus, what do you expect from the legendary Soul Company? Trust me, in a decade or two, Soul Company will be as renown in Korea as the Juice Crew are in America.