Mnet's 'Dirty Talk' discusses who the better rapper is between G-Dragon and Zico

On a new episode of Mnet's variety show 'Dirty Talk' which touches upon the hot topics of the music industry, the MCs discussed the question of whether Big Bang's leader G-Dragon or Block B's leader Zico is the better rapper.

The MCs began with both of the boys' history and background.  Lee Sang Min, former member of Roo'ra, said, "G-Dragon's history begins as a part of Little Roo'ra.  Starting from the age of six, he had a strong sense of pride. At the time, he even did the Roo'ra rap in his style. He was of the opinion, 'I won't follow the Roo'ra rap exactly' and did it in his own way at such a young age."



Jewelry's Yewon, who has a one-day MC on the show, revealed that she is good friends with Zico, but has personally never come face to face with G-Dragon. So she could not speak for G-Dragon's work, but for Zico, she praised his ability to write and compose songs and tweak it in a distinct style that he knew worked and appealed to the audience.

Duble Sidekick's Jang Geun said, "Zico got his start in underground.  Even now, as he promotes with Block B, he promotes side-by-side also doing underground activities and releasing mix tapes constantly to preserve his identity as a rapper." 

In relation to G-Dragon, Jang Geun said, "There was a time G-Dragon came to learn rap when he was in about fifth grade of elementary school.  At the time, he crammed a notepad with raps and wrote words that were hard for fifth graders in order to find a rhyme.  He was unbelievably talented so at the time, I took him to a famous producer in the hip hop scene and he got to release a song at the age of 13."

To give his thoughts, music critic Lim Jin Mo was called in to participate in the discussion. He started off saying, "The question is who raps better, but rapping well and doing music well are separate things. Although we probably couldn't say these two are the absolute best rappers in Korea, they rap very well to their music. When I heard Zico rap in his featuring for Verbal Jint and Cho PD's song, I felt an Eminem vibe from him. His tone is very strong and he is the type who tries to find the importance or focus within the rap itself, while GD on the other hand goes outside of the rap to draw a bigger picture."  

Kim Gu Ra then asked, "So then you're saying if we were to only just talk about the rap itself, Zico is better?" and Lim Jin Mo stated, "If we were only focusing on the rap, then I feel that Zico's rap is more strong and powerful. But this really all depends on preference and that is if we were only looking at the rap. However, if we go beyond the rap to look at the bigger picture, then musically G-Dragon is superior."

When for reference, he was asked who he likes the best among the Western rappers, Lim Jin Mo listed 2pac, Notorious B.I.G, and Eminem. When he remarked "Jay-Z personally isn't my style", Yoo Se Yoon hilariously interjected, "Yeah, he's Beyonce's style."

The panel then went on to discuss the netizen's ranking of the best idol rappers and the distinct styles of Zico and G-Dragon to conclude that rather than placing one below the other, it's best to put them side by side as rivals who can continue to inspire one another as they're both different musically and in terms of style.

What are your thoughts? Do you agree with what has been said on the show?