Mnet’s hip-hop audition program “Show Me The Money 2” launched on Friday, casting renewed spotlight on South Korea’s talented rappers.

Its first episode showed contestants going through a preliminary round doing free-style in front of the country’s legendary rappers such as Lee Hyun-do and MC Meta, a member of hip-hop group Garion. 

Unlike the expectations that the program’s viewership would be limited to hip-hop followers, the contestants’ and the judges’ names swept the lists of the most searched keywords in major portal sites as soon as the first episode of the show aired.

One of the most talked-about figures, “Swings,” impressed not only the judges but also other contestants at the scene with his rhythmical and straightforward rap. Singer-songwriter Yoon Jong-shin also showed support for the rapper via his social networking site “The era of Swings has arrived.”

“(It) seems like everybody‘s on my side. I will do good on my own. Thank you everybody,” the rapper responded through his Twitter.

The audition program airs Friday nights at 11 p.m. on Mnet.


Jin Eun-soo, Intern reporter
(janna924@heraldcorp.com)