The 1992 debut of an idol group called Seo Taiji and Boys is often remembered as the Korean public's first introduction to hip hop. The trio's rap infused dance song “Nan Arayo [I Know]” would not only become a nationwide sensation, but the precedent for K-pop as we know it today (i.e. “rap dance”). While the public's introduction to hip hop was through rap, Korean hip hop grew from the mid-1990s as an artistic and cultural entity. Korean fans of American hip hop began to meet in offline places to create Hanguk hip hop (Hanguk can be used as a noun meaning “Korea” or adjective “Korean”). A club called Master Plan, located in the Hongdae/Sinchon area of Seoul, was the symbolic birthplace of Korean hip hop in these formative years.
Twenty years later in 2012, Korea's largest entertainment and media company—CJ E&M—launched a new reality competition program called Show...
University of California Press