In this week’s Rapper In The Spotlight we will be sharing the career of a rapper that got very popular after his participation in ‘Show Me The Money 6’, let’s talk about Woo.
Show Me The Money 6
From the first round, Woo Won Jae (Woo) sparked a lot of attention with his rapping skills and raw lyrics and storytelling. He was judged in his first round by hip-hop legend Tiger JK. From there on out he started a journey packed with incredible moments and musical gems. Watch below a compilation of his best moments.
Woo became well-known in the show for his openness about mental health and his personal struggles. For this season of ‘SMTM’ he ended up ranking third, however, he left incredible stages with legendary collabs. Check them below.
AOMG
After finishing the survival show, he released the single ‘We Are’ featuring Loco and GRAY, this track was nothing like what we heard from him before. With this song Woo showed a completely different style and achieved an all-kill in several Korean music charts.
The track was meant to be used for his final stage in the show, however, as it ended before he expected it became his debut one.
Check it below.
Soon after the release of this single he signed with the well-known label AOMG, and released the single album ‘Anxiety’, including the tracks ‘Paranoid’ and ‘Loop’.
In 2018, he released the singles ‘Balance’ featuring Loco, ‘Cash’ and the EP ‘af’.
His first extended play ‘af’ included features by The Quiett, Hoody, JUSTHIS and DeVita. His title track for this release is the single ‘a fence’. In the lyrics of this track he talks about his personal life and struggle, part of the lyrics go as:
‘(…) My treatment list keeps getting filled
Why do my medications keep piling up
Doctor, I have quite a bit of money now
Oh damn it, memory loss as a side effect is intense
Put my key in the ignition and race to the studio
Boost Knob Kyung Sun and Mood Schula
Said to me, this is prison
Living an imprisoned life
They said I’m the one who imprisoned myself
A prison without bars, scream into the nothingness(…)’.
Lyrics by: Genius.com
He started off 2019 with the release of the single ‘ENGINE’ featuring Jay Park, followed by the tracks ‘Taste’ featuring Giriboy and ‘SS’ featuring label mates Simon Dominic and Hoody.
Black Out
In 2020, Woo released the single ‘USED TO’ featuring CIFIKA as a pre-release song for his first album ‘Black Out’. This single, besides having incredible lyrics, is also a visual masterpiece. The aesthetics and concept of the production are very unique and make the lyrical content of the track even more powerful.
Check it below.
‘Black out’ includes some incredible features, including big names in the Hip-Hop industry like Tiger JK. The title track for this release features him alongside Qim Isle. Check the music video below and get ready to be blown away by this track.
His latest release is the single ‘Zip’, for this one he went for a lo-fi, almost underground vibe. Check the music video below.
Collabs
Woo has got a very impressive list of collaborations including big artists like Ja Mezz, Simon Dominic, Code Kunst, The Quiett, among many others. Check below a few of our favourite ones.
As part of the campaign ‘Feel the Rhythm of Korea’, Woo released the single ‘Gyeongju & Andong’ featuring sogumm this year. Check the music video below .
You can dive into Woo’s music here, and make sure to follow him on Instagram for cool snaps.
