Tymee, Cheetah and Lil Cham talk Yoon Mirae + future plans

[adenar.livejournal.com]

Mnet’s ‘Unpretty Rapstar’ participants Tymee, Cheetah, and Lil Cham speak honestly about rapper Yoon Mi Rae in an interview with ‘The Daily Sports’.

Hip Hop is difficult.

It is a rare occurrence for people to understand the culture and sentiments 100%, and even those who do have different values. The standards for what makes a certain rap good and what makes another bad are ambiguous and most often decided by personal preferences. However, a program that calls for a ‘competition’ among rappers is gaining quite a lot of popularity. The participants of Mnet’s ‘Unpretty Rapstar’ fiercely fight, “ripping each other apart”, and have gained the attention of viewers in the midst of controversy and disputes. What is the secret behind this hot topic?

Tymee, Cheetah, and Lil Cham were asked about ‘Unpretty Rapstar’, ‘Female Rappers’, ‘Yoon Mi Rae’s Presence’, ‘Hip Hop’, and ‘Rap’.

-What is extraordinary about Yoon Mi Rae?
[Cheetah] Put simply, she is just really good. Although it’s a touchy subject, I think she seems extraordinary because there is this notion of ‘only Yoon Mi Rae’. When it was safe to say that Korea was not affiliated with hip hop, she became the ‘first generation’ female rapper. People, as if they are ‘brainwashed’, have come to set her as the standard by comparing other female rappers to her, and I think that’s a bit wrong.

-What about her skills?
[Cheetah] Fundamentally, she has a different engine. Jessi unni and Jidam have similar nuances. Of course, Jidam is still ‘a learning engine’, but I would say that Yoon Mi Rae is close to the ‘perfected engine’.
[Tymee] It’s hard to explain, but even if she only says “ah”, it’s coming from a completely different engine.
[Cheetah] Hip hop and rap has its roots in America, and I think it’s right to say that she has the elements of the ‘origin’.

-One female rapper has stated that ‘All Korean female rappers train and practice through Yoon Mi Rae’s rap’ in a previous interview.
[Tymee] When I practice, I keep Yoon Mi Rae’s rap as a reference, but I don’t treat it as a textbook. It’s because I’m afraid I’ll be exactly like her. Since she’s so unrivaled, there is the risk of simply copying her.
[Cheetah] Of course I have practiced with Yoon Mi Rae’s rap before. It’s because there was no other female rapper besides her.
[Lil Cham] I have rapped to her songs at karaoke before, but I can’t say that I practiced with her raps.

-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. Similarily, 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.

-When would you be confident to state that you have succeeded?
[Cheetah] If I am asked to perform overseas, I think I will say that I have succeeded.
[Lil Cham] If I’m still rapping 10 years later despite being a female, I would call that success; since it’s so rare in both overseas and Korea to have a rapper active for that long.
[Tymee] Placing first on music charts. But, it has to be a song that is filled with just my rap, not a featuring. Although that’s going to be really difficult, it is a dream.

-Tell us your future resolutions as a female rapper.
[Lil Cham] It’s a bit of a spoiler, but I plan on participating in another ‘survival of the rappers’ stage. I believe that there were things that I didn’t show during the program, so I want to focus on that.
[Cheetah] I plan on releasing my album soon and working hard, but I also want to participate as a ‘producer’ and not a ‘contestant’ on a show like ‘Unpretty Rapstar’. I think that I will continuously work hard without getting weak if I have those goals and ambitions in mind.
[Tymee] I will prepare my album with great efforts, but I also want to hold many concerts. In addition, through broadcasts and radio, I will try to get close to the public often.

source: TheDailySports
trans: HIPHOPKR

Comments

[yuzuruhanyu.livejournal.com]

CHEETAH ALBUM????? OMG IM READY!!!!

[bunica1990.livejournal.com]

*settles in this post*

I love your icon OP!

I really enjoyed reading the answers and I hope people will take notice of their music post show. By the looks of it UR, though messy, has opened up a couple of doors for some of the girls, so I'm really excited to see what they have in store (I know Cheetah and Tymee have a concert/performance/idk in March and Cheetah has some other schedules lined up). She better not keep me waiting for that album omg <3

I wonder if Lil Cham is coming back for season 2 of UR or SMTM4 lmao. And I'm here for Cheetah being featured as a producer. She can even host the next season imo. They really need women there.

[adenar.livejournal.com]

When she mentioned appearing as a producer I was throwing my arms up mentally in hallelujah. I bet she'd be the perfect mix of sweet and nasty as a judge too.

[shintotchi.livejournal.com]

Sounds like sour grapes to me. I mean, I'm all for not singing Tasha's praises and wanting to think of yourself as the best. Ego is a part of the job. I just take issue with them turning around and saying they wished Tasha would hold their hands so they could get recognized too. Nobody held her hand, and while Tiger gives features, to me, he only gives features to people who earned it. Maybe Tasha doesn't think anyone is good enough to feature with her other than her husband and Bizzy (sp?), or maybe she truly thinks she's the baddest female, and wants to be the only female on her tracks rapping? I don't know, but it's not her job to raise hoobaes up to her level. I was willing to respect those three as rappers, but that line killed it. If they truly had confidence, and believed in their own abilities, then they wouldn't have said that.

[bunica1990.livejournal.com]

Yeah Tymee's comment was a bit odd. It's not Tasha's duty to guide others.

[hipployta.livejournal.com]

My initial response involved a lot of "Tymee who tf do you think you are demanding shit from Tasha bitch? You want to eat then go make it happen! Yall media playing with her name on UR and in this interview already!"

Then I had to throttle back on my urge to snatch her wig and be reasonable

[shintotchi.livejournal.com]

I'm not even a big Tasha fan, but I had to take a breath before I lashed out. The shade all up in this article is just...-deep breath- I'll just ignore them and call it a day.

[zeysech.livejournal.com]

I don't think it's her job, but it's a fair point that a lot of the male rap stars do it for other male rappers and the women really have no one to do it for them. Again, I don't think it's Tasha's job just because she's considered the unrivaled female rapper

[shintotchi.livejournal.com]

I agree that they do, and if they had said it in another way,t hen I would've been cool with it. They could've said, unlike male rappers, we don't have a system where the noona lifts up the hoobaes, and if I get big enough, I would like to start something like that. I could've respected it if it was stated like that.

[zeysech.livejournal.com]

I think my thing is that pretty much half the questions in this interview were about Yoon Mirae, so I can understand how it would be hard to phrase it another way. I don't "respect" the way it was said, but I also don't blame them or think they necessarily said anything wrong.

[audiograms.livejournal.com]

Wow YMR had to fight like hell to get where he is, the fact there's a unpretty rapstar is because of the work she put in, way to not recognise that.

[angela-derp-otp.livejournal.com]

wtf at Tymee and her comments.

Its really funny they actually think it must be Tasha's work to help them.

[tjmok125.livejournal.com]

but isnt it tho? I hate to be the one to say if cause someone always does but in Korea that mentor mentee thing is taken way serious. Regardless of the field seniors are supposed to treat juniors like their children and juniors respect them like their parents. Only because of how korean culture is do I understand why they think that.

That being said I also understand Tasha, she's american and half black it was a struggle to get recognized iff she could do it facing prejudice and a whole host of other bullshit they should be able to do it 10 times more easily.

[hipployta.livejournal.com]

It is hilarious. Tasha does not owe them anything just because they are on a tv reality show...they are not in her crew

[hipployta.livejournal.com]

My immediate reaction to tell Tymee it's not Tasha's job to hold her hand...(that's the nice version)

You can make your own way...for all that she gets hated on CL is seen as a distinctive female rapper and Tasha has said she would like to work with her (because she's out here hustling)

[zeysech.livejournal.com]

idk, I think people are reading Tymee's comments the wrong way. Like I get that the comments are aimed at Yoon MiRae specifically here, but I think it's mainly because every time one of these girls gives an interview half of the questions are about her to begin with. Cheetah said it in another interview too, everyone turns to Yoon Mirae as the token female rapper. Like it's not difficult to talk about the mentor-mentee relationship about male korean rappers, because there are a lot more big male rappers.

[zeysech.livejournal.com]

I think she's talking more mentor-mentee relationship and honestly, I don't really see any catfight. Like they are all showing some resentment across the board and I don't think any of it is just because of Yoon Mirae, it's because they aren't allowed to be themselves and not be compared to Yoon Mirae. There was a commenter on another article who said it a lot better than me tbh.
And honestly I'm confused about the "should" part, I mean if we make it clear that Yoon Mirae doesn't have to do anything, it follows that none of the big male rappers do either. I always figured it's kind of how you'd leave your mark on the next generation of music. Now, I do hate it that the male rappers who want to do that almost exclusively help male rappers, but there's pretty much a wall on the industry for girls.

[adenar.livejournal.com]

Like they are all showing some resentment across the board and I don't think any of it is just because of Yoon Mirae, it's because they aren't allowed to be themselves and not be compared to Yoon Mirae.

I think literally all the contestants as well as mirae herself were done with the comparisons before the show even aired haha, i think they'd be a lot kinder about the question if it was a one-off.

[zeysech.livejournal.com]

pretty much, like I doubt Yoon Mirae appreciates it either. I mean, it reminds me of how in episode one, people were commenting and calling them Yoon Mirae imitators. So it's like, the minute you enter, you have to deal with that.

[adenar.livejournal.com]

i feel like a few of her lyrics in wondaland were a slight response to the situation (there were a fair few 'i am the original & best, respect that' lyrics). i thought cheetah's response at the press panel they did a while back ('she is a wall but we need to find our own way to the top, not through trying to be her') was really good but i guess some of them have lost patience since then.

[zeysech.livejournal.com]

I think they lost patience, mainly because journalists are still asking them the same questions about it.