K-Pop Beyond The Charts: 'WASSUP' From Rappers C Jamm And Doplamingo Is A Powerful Pastiche Of Past Hip-Hop [AUDIO]

K-Pop Beyond The Charts is a weekly review column highlighting Korea's modern day musical innovators who have yet to find mainstream success.

There's no shortage of interesting rap sounds and styles, old and new, heating up the musical cauldron that is "WASSUP," the new single released on Tuesday from South Korean hip-hop artists C Jamm And Doplamingo.

The synthesizer stabs of Kanye West's "Flashing Lights," the maximum-impact drum sound of the Rick Rubin-produced "99 Problems" and the jacked up energy of M.O.P. are all in play on "WASSUP." Even the machine gun delivery of American hip-hop's purest talent, Kendrick Lamar, makes an appearance in the song's outro.

But what makes "WASSUP" a whole way greater than the sum of its parts is the fire that C Jamm and Doplamingo bring on the mic. Their performances are coming straight from the heart and they hit you right in the gut.

While so much of Western hip-hop remains overly fascinated with digital trickery and Hollywood trickery, it is exciting to see South Korean artists like C Jamm and Doplamingo rekindling the heat of East Coat rap in it's rawer stages; back when all you needed was a beat and a rhyme and MCs had more of a message than which kind of sports car they drive.

While "WASSUP" is a hard-hitting, even challenging piece of music, the sheer precision of these two rappers and the music behind them makes the song a force to be reckoned with.

Though it is unlikely that "WASSUP" will be topping the K-pop charts any time soon, it is a song that anyone looking for an extra jolt of energy would be well-advised to turn on and turn up.

Listen to the new C Jamm and Doplamingo single "WASSUP" RIGHT HERE

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K-Pop Beyond The Charts
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