"K-hip-hop came to forefront of the news when Swings pushed the first domino by releasing “King Swings,” a track intending to have a similar effect as that of Kendrick Lamar‘s feature in Big Sean‘s “Control” in the US. But what came after was countless diss tracks, all based on the beat of “Control,” with the participating artists using the opportunity to air some dirty laundry while boasting of their own merits. One of the repeating messages involved a chasm between the perceptions of mainstream and underground artists as well as a dislike for idol music. Probably the most memorable exchange of all, however, were the tracks tossed back and forth between two pairs: E-Sens and Gaeko versus Swings and Simon D, making known that E-Sens’ departure from Amoeba Culture wasn’t as smooth as it may have initially appeared." - Anika

I think all the comments about how utterly lame diss tracks are are spot on. I do quibble with the lack of English translation being an obstacle to Korean hip-hop. A good flow is a good flow. A good beat is a good beat. That doesn't matter whether it's English, French, Ethiopian or Korean. There's also a huge difference in Korean rap between real rappers and manufactured ones. It's probably even bigger than in the US. But, I'm not sure this diss track episode even made it on the radar of anyone who'd call themselves a real hip-hop fan. All while it was going down, speaking to people around the world, none of them had even heard of these guys (so sad) when I mentioned it. Do they even want to be worldwide stars or is overseas (read: Japan & maybe China) domination enough? - Anika