Flowsik, my badassrapbeast

This is a video-heavy post. For my standards lah. :P

And about a week delay? Since episode 9 of Show Me The Money 5 (SMTM5) was already aired on Mnet. I waited to watch the subbed version of episode 8 before completing this post.

Check out Khiphop Subs for subbed episodes of Show Me The Money!

Initially the title of this post was "Who am I rooting for on SMTM5" but then after Flowsik got eliminated I had to come up with a new title. After a few titles I've decided to just name this post Flowsik, my badassrapbeast.

#sorryforthelackofcreativity

Never in my life I have ever felt heartbroken for someone who I have no relation whatsoever to me/personally know/personally knows me. Or maybe I had. I think it must be during one of Lee Chong Wei's losses.

However this is of another level altogether that I am surprised at myself. I couldn't watch the live broadcast of SMTM5 so I had to wait for the subbed version.

Until I saw this at Flowsik's IG:

From the bottom of my heart, thank you all so much ... Just knowing I have people like you by my side is more than a victory for me. #flowsik #플로우식 #Godisgood / 저를 끝까지 응원해주셨던 모든분들...너무너무 감사합니다. 여러분 때문에 정말 행복했습니다.

A photo posted by flowsik 플로우식 (@jayflowsik) on Jul 1, 2016 at 8:38am PDT

I freaked out and started looking for #smtm5 tags on IG and found out that he was eliminated.

I was really confident that Flowsik would make it far into the competition, hence I couldn't believe it at all.

Heck, I was hoping for him to win after becoming a fan from watching him on SMTM5.

I mean, I knew he was from Aziatix, and I wrote about them here.

I didn't really follow their releases after getting their first one and found out they disbanded last year. Then somehow it was reported on allkpop that Flowsik released The Calling and when I watched the MV I was like, "Wow this guy is quite cool"

But that was it.

Until I found out that he was one of the contestants for SMTM5, a hip hop competition which runs on Mnet. So I looked for his videos in the show. He received the necklace from Simon D and at the next round he received ALL PASS from the judges/producers, including by guest judge Timbaland, enabling him to go to Korea.

To be praised by Timbaland, that has got to be a feat right?

In Korea, he was placed in the top tier group (because of the ALL PASS). The groups then did cypher to show off their skills to allow each participant to evaluate one another since the next round would be a 1 VS 1 battle. He got picked by UNIQ's Seungyeon (everyone was shocked) and the scene where they were preparing for the battle was hilarious. It looked like he was so overwhelmed with Seungyeon's enthusiasm.


I like the producers' expressions LOL. They were all awed by his voice haha. He said he got it when he was 15! I cannot imagine a 15-year-old sounding like that lah weh. Uncut version of this performance here.

I looked out for other videos and found out that he got into team 1llionaire under Dok2 and The Quiett (who I started listening to after their appearance in Season 3, I thought they didn't want to do this anymore!), and he was so awesome in their 공중도덕 (Air DoTheQ) track.

So badass.

Before the track came about they did some outing with their producers (will Beenzino ever join those two fellas?) Quite playful also for him to trick the others to try winning the prize offered by Dok2 and The Quiett, which turned out to be a MacBook.

WTF. I also want.


The VJ was out of breath chasing him LOL and he was so cute with the ahjumma asking for the directions haha

Ok distracted liao. Anyways!

This is the version with Dok2 and The Quiett, minus Hyo Eun, who got eliminated after the team battle.


I really like how well Dok2 took over from Flowsik's verse. I'm not very into The Quiett when he's trying to be badass and all that, I think he does better in erm.. the softer/laidback kind of hip hop?

I'm not very good with explaining stuff #sorrynotsorry

What sealed my fate as his fan was his diss battle with Donutman:

Yes I don't understand much at first but I found this the most enjoyable:

"I'll throw you off the Namsan

Then dump you in the Hangang"

I mean like what? So smartttttt... XD

I swear I'm gonna use that on people who pisses me off someday haha.

I got so intimidated even just by watching him attacking Donutman like he gave no fucks whatsoever. And his neck veins looked they would just pop out and smack Donutman, #Gun and Boi B then and there LOL

He also mentioned Yoo Shijin eheyyyyy smart eh to ride on the Descendants of the Sun (Song Joong Ki did you watch annot?) popularity.

He mentioned a lot of names in his raps so I'd always end up googling those people up XD Now I know who Steph Curry, Lei Wu Long, Lee Yeon Bok, Stun Gun Kim Dong Hyun etc. are haha

There's also "you don't have a drive like young Kylie Jenner" in The Calling.

Oklah I'm sure others did well also but this post is about Flowsik ok?

And I love how he faced Donutman while the latter was rapping. Macam nak cari gaduh hahaha

So Team 1llionaire battled Team Zion.T+Kush in the first performance rounds. Flowsik went up against Xitsuh (or Seo Chul Goo, who tried out for Season 4 and is quite famous for freestyling in the underground scene). They tied at the first voting but total amount calculated for two voting rounds awarded the win to Xitsuh. Flowsik only managed to collect KRW1,650,000 as compared to Xitsuh's KRW3,000,000.


HE LOST.

I felt so sad looking his face during announcement:

:'(

My heart broke as if I was the one who got eliminated! *cries* (oppa I hug you ok?)

Especially since he dedicated the beginning part of his performance, I Just (a track by The Quiett from his Q Train 2 album) to his elder brother who he admire very much.

I do admit that Xitsuh's performance was better, however rapping-wise, I think Flowsik did better. Although I find his movement a bit awkward. And I thought Dok2 sort of overshadowed him?

Maybe it's been a long while since he last performed on stage or maybe the dynamics while performing as Aziatix were different than SMTM5? I don't know.

It's a pity because if he had maintained what he did for the diss battle and Air DoTheQ I'm pretty sure he might have a better chance.

But what to do lor? The audience voted based on the performance so I guess losing close to half showed that they preferred Xitsuh's performance (with Zion.T and Olltii) more.

I really really feel bad for him.

Hoping to see more of him after this and I do look forward to what his projects are. Hopefully there are companies who will take notice of him and offer him some good opportunities.

Hey why not 1llionaire gang do an updated version of YGGR with him and Bobby? That would be fun! I wanna see a Beenzino+Flowsik combo (Beensik? Flowzino? Sikzino? XD)

I hope I'll get a chance to witness him perform live someday, even if it means I need to fly to Korea to do so.

So much positivity coming from this guy.

So I'm gonna end this post with a single which he released before SMTM5 started.

BE STILL AND LISTEN

For more SMTM5 videos: Mnet Official Youtube
Flowsik's Official Youtube: Official Flowsik
Flowsik's Instagram: @jayflowsik
Flowsik's Twitter: @flowsik

shoutout: screen caps credits to the awesome team at Khiphop Subs for their hardwork at subbing!

catch you later awesome badassrapbeast!