The Song Planner

Korean Rap

tagStarted 1999Peak 2010-2024Last big hit still activeFrom South KoreaSung in Korean

Located in 1 route

Hip-Hop / Rap → Global / Fusion Rap

South Korean hip-hop spanning soulful boom-bap to slick K-pop-adjacent rap. Epik High's lush, emotive jazz-and-piano production and Tablo's bilingual verses; Drunken Tiger's pioneering hardcore Korean-language flows; Jay Park's R&B-laced swagger. Hangul wordplay, melodic sung hooks and high-gloss production, with a thriving competitive scene fed by TV's 'Show Me the Money.'

History

Drunken Tiger (Tiger JK), debuting 1999, brought Korean-language rap into the mainstream as Movement-crew pioneers. Epik High (formed 2002) made it emotive and international, hitting #1 on Billboard's World Albums chart with 'Shoebox' (2014) and playing Coachella in 2016. Jay Park's AOMG built a label empire, while 'Show Me the Money' (from 2012) turned rap into mass-audience competition.

Defining artists

Essential listening

← Explore Hip-Hop / Rap

Sources

  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_hip-hop
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epik_High
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drunken_Tiger
  • https://www8.hiphopkit.com/entertainment/10-legendary-korean-hip-hop-tracks-f610/