This Guy In South Korea Is Taking His Obsession With American Rap To The Next Level

First, Keith Ape remixed “Hot Nigga.” Now he takes on OG Maco.

January 23, 2015

Over the past decade, South Korea has emerged as a powerful force in entertainment. While Korean soap operas and pop music have long had a hold on Asia and parts of the Middle East, the country's global influence has grown alongside its booming economy in recent years. For instance, nine-piece mega-pop group Girls' Generation and a handful of their labelmates sold out Madison Square Garden back in 2011. A year later, FADER TV was cracking jokes with 2NE1.

The next frontier, though, might be hip-hop. One potential candidate to lead the South Korean rap takeover is Keith Ape, a 21-year-old rapper and member of Hi-lite Records' group The Cohort. He certainly retweets enough to deserve the title. Keith, whose stage name is a reference to the late Keith Haring, has been releasing music online for a couple of years. But he began attracting attention after releasing interpretations of viral American rap songs. Last year, he put out "Hot Ninja," a dub of Bobby Shmurda's summer smash "Hot Nigga." And earlier this month, he dropped "It G Ma," a track so heavily inspired by "U Guessed It" that Keith Ape is quickly being dubbed the Korean OG Maco. Regardless, the posse cut, which features verses from a handful of Korean and Japanese Cohort affiliates and whose video stars a bottle of rice wine, is a certified banger.

To quote one enthusiastic YouTube commenter, "This goes so fucking hard even when I don't understand a single word in Korean DAAAAAAAMN."

Thumbnail image via Keith Ape's Facebook.

Posted: January 23, 2015
This Guy In South Korea Is Taking His Obsession With American Rap To The Next Level