TV show banks on popularity of rap music

Participants of Mnet’s female rap competition show “Unpretty Rapstar” season 3 pose during a press meeting at Amoris Hall in Time Square in Yeongdeungpo, Seoul, Friday. Contestants, from left, are rappers Grace, Nada, Miryo, Euna Kim, Yuk Jidam, Giant Pink, Jeon So-yeon, Janey, Kassy and Ha Joo-yeon. / Courtesy of CJ E&M

By Kim Jae-heun

The third season of Cable TV Mnet’s rap competition show “Unpretty Rapstar” premiered Friday, hoping to take on the success of the recently ended season 5 of the hit hip-hop survival series “Show Me the Money” (SMTM).

Unpretty Rapstar is a spin-off of SMTM, featuring female contestants only, and aired its first and second seasons last year from January through March and September through November. Both seasons turned out successful, recording a 1.4 percent and 2 percent viewer rating, which are high for cable TV series, considering that the content is limited to a genre of music that mainly appeals only to young adults.

SMTM confronted the same dilemma as Unpretty Rapstar in its earlier seasons but successfully brought a new heyday for hip-hop to the K-pop industry by adopting survival formats among the participants and casting largely unknown contestants who became popular. Prominent producers from major record labels such as YG Entertainment, Illionaire Records and Above Ordinary Music Group (AOMG) making up teams and mentoring the rookie rappers also played an important role in catching the audience’s attention.

Unpretty Rapstar took a similar path by discovering new faces including season 1 winner Cheetah and runner-up Jessi. In the second season, the female rap competition show was more star-studded as Yubin of Wonder Girls and Hyorin of SISTAR took part as contestants.

The appearance of YG Entertainment’s trainee Moon Sua brought attention to the program with her skill, learned from the hottest hip hop record label in the country, and the strong rap style of Yezi from LOEN Entertainmnet’s girl group Fiestar showed that a female rapper could be as rough as her male counterparts.

However, the potential for success of Unpretty Rapstar’s third season is yet to be seen as it has not cast charismatic rappers as it did in season 1, or feature big name celebrity rappers from idol bands as in the previous season.

Miryo of Mystic Entertainment’s girl group Brown Eyed Girls and underground rapper Yuk Jidam from Unpretty Rapstar season one 1 SMTM season 3 are the only ones who are household names. Other participating rappers include Ha Joo-yeon, a former member of the disbanded girl group Jewelry; Jeon So-yeon, a Cube Entertainment trainee; Euna Kim, a former YG Entertainment trainee and member of disbanded girl group The Ark; Nada of girl band WA$$UP; Grace from entertainment company YYAC; Giant Pink from Mystic Entertainment; Janey, LOEN Entertainment’s trainee; and Kassy from Nextar Entertainment.

“When I participated in SMTM season 3, I was not a trainee nor did I learn music properly but my appearance became a topic of discussion and I grasped the chance to compete with professional musicians for a high rank (in the survival),” said Yuk Jidam during a press meeting at Amoris Hall in Time Square in Yeongdeungpo, Friday. “I knew I was not prepared and I had to improve more and I felt stressed trying to release an album. However, at that time I received a request from Mnet to join the show’s third season.

“I wanted some comments (on my music) and I wanted to hear how I’ve changed and where I am at (with my rap skill). I also wanted to perform on stage and get a chance to work with good producers through Unpretty Rapster, said Yuk Jidam.