Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
‘Unpretty Rapstar‘ episode six with subs has been posted! And yes, don’t mention episode seven in this, because later today will have a post on that episode. Fair? Fair.
I already expressed most of my opinions on the episode at the time of release, but I can clarify some stuff now.
Leggo.
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In terms of the battle, you can sort of see what Cheetah was complaining about now, where every judge or contestant is like, “Wow, she prepared!” or “Wow, surprising!” They wouldn’t give that reaction to Jessi or anybody but Jimin or Kisum.
Like if it’s “Cheetah has better delivery” and “Jimin was surprising” as your dueling thoughts in a rap competition and the latter wins, why do this? The logic was basically that even though Cheetah was better, everybody knew she was better to start, so they expected more. Then MC Meta basically says after the fact that was leaning Jimin from the start because it fits his track. Like … why bother with the charade then?
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For the teamwork competition, I don’t agree with Jessi that Jimin and Kisum were the worst, because Jace was easily the worst rapper of them all. The problem, I think, is eliminating rappers based on “teamwork” and what essentially boils down to choreography in the first place. It’s how you end up with the rapper who probably did the best individual rap (Tymee) eliminated and the best overall rapper on the show (Cheetah) on the brink.
It’s just dumb by production.
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Kisum Feat. Taewan, San E – “Superstar”
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Cheetah, Tymee, and Lil Cham gave an interview recently, and a lot of it ended up revolving around Yoon Mi Rae.
After the usual prefaces about her being amazing, I thought they got pretty blunt pretty quick:
-Is Yoon Mi Rae the best female rapper in Korea?
[Lil Cham] I don’t think there is such a thing as ‘the best’. Actually, before I participated in ‘Unpretty Rapstar’ I thought that one could be called ‘the best’. However, through the program, I realized that each rapper clearly had an aspect that they were really good at. I’m saying that it’s hard to label someone as ‘the best’. For example, winning first place on ‘Show Me The Money’ is not indicative of who the best rapper is. Similarly, I don’t think I can say that Yoon Mi Rae is ‘the best’.
[Tymee] It’s like this: there’s so few female rappers to begin with that I think finding ‘the best’ among them doesn’t make sense. It’s a sensitive topic, but although she is unrivaled, to say that she is ‘the best’ is a bit…
[Cheetah] The three of us respect her very much, and thank her for setting up the playing field. But I don’t want to say that ‘Yoon Mi Rae is the best’. Every rapper intrinsically believes that ‘I’m the best’. I’m like that too.-If that’s the case, why hasn’t there been a definite line of succession after Yoon Mi Rae?
[Tymee] Honestly, I have thought that it would be nice if Yoon Mi Rae could lead her juniors. Male rappers have the concept of ‘the crew’s youngster’ and encourage him by allowing him to participate in featurings. I don’t think that process follows with Yoon Mi Rae. From her unrivaled position, I haven’t seen the willingness from her to help out other female rappers.
[Cheetah] I say this repeatedly, but I think the public’s ears have been trained to be in sync with Yoon Mi Rae; and therefore, are not prone to be open to other sounds. Especially since people think that if someone has a different style than Yoon Mi Rae, they aren’t good. Of course, it is up to us to garner the attention. I believe that since we have become the center of attention through ‘Unpretty Rapstar’, we should get acknowledged via the release of albums and open up a new field.
If you read between the lines even a bit, there’s definitely a sense of annoyance, which is only justified by three-quarters of an interview with three cast members of the show being taken up by questions about Yoon Mi Rae. I think Cheetah has made the same points she made here in like two other interviews, and you can tell she’s basically driving the point home that the Korean rap scene has Yoon Mi Rae as the token woman they turn to, and anybody else but her isn’t respected or taken seriously in the game.
I thought the whole thing had interesting perspectives, and both Cheetah and Tymee revealed that they were working on albums. On the other hand, Lil Cham said she’s working on getting back on a reality show, probably to redeem herself.
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Speaking of Yoon Mi Rae, she responded to the ‘Unpretty Rapstar’ cast complimenting her.
Yoon Mi-rae opened up about the compliments she received from the female rappers on ‘Unpretty Rapstar’, stating, “It feels nice but burdensome at the same time. I’m still learning and all I think of is that I must work harder. I feel a bit burdensome and shy. Whenever I hear such statements, I feel comfortable. I will work hard.”
Tiger JK said, “Yoon Mi-rae is tenderhearted. She supports female rappers whenever they appear. She keeps on learning by herself, but she doesn’t believe when someone praises her.”
I have to believe she knows exactly how respected she is.
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Finally, all nine rappers from the show will hold a concert on April 25, which is sort of amazing to think about. I’m not sure anybody thought the show would be relevant at all, but high ratings and charting songs have gotten them to the point where there’s demand for a live show now.
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Episode six with subs:
Episode seven preview:
