This is what happens when two musical icons collide.
The heavy influence of American hip hop on K-Pop is something that has been apparent since Seo Taiji and The Boys and 1TYM. However, attempts to actually merge the two genres have generally fallen flat. K-Pop fans worldwide cringed when the collaborations between Wonder Girls and Akon, or the ill fated JYJ featuring Kanye West single are mentioned. Whereas those attempts at fusion fell flat, there are several reasons why G-Dragon and Missy Elliot have accomplished what other K-Pop artists were unable to, with their magnificent performance of NILIRIA.
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As an artist on YG Entertainment, the label that introduced hip hop to Korean pop culture, G-Dragon spent many of his trainee years as a rapper. Originally, what is now known as BIGBANG was meant to be a hip hop group with G-Dragon and Taeyang as the primary members. At the M!Countdown performance, he appeared so flawless in both his rhyme flow and hip hop choreography; many audience members momentarily forgot they were attending a K-Pop concert.
If you did not know who Missy Elliot was prior to her collaboration with G-Dragon, then you should. Missy Elliot is a pioneer in American hip hop, and her eccentric style paved the way for artists like Nicki Minaj. For Missy Elliot, this was her reemergence into the music scene after an eight year absence. Missy Elliot is a five time Grammy Award winning female rapper, whose unique style and emphasis on complicated choreography is ideal for K-Pop. Her video for Get Your Freak On could seamlessly be remixed with a K-POP artist.
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Missy has always incorporated strong visual elements in her music videos and presented unique concepts in her album. As Dumbfoundead pointed out in his KCON panel, Asian Americans and Hip Hop, how could fans of K-Pop and G-Dragon not know who Missy Elliot is? The complimentary artistic energy between Missy Elliot and G-Dragon created a performance that was most certainly the most talked about collaboration of the night.
SOURCE:24-7 KPOP
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