How has Hanguk (South Korean) hip hop developed over the last two decades as a musical, cultural, and artistic entity? How is hip hop understood within historical, sociocultural, and economic matrices of Korean society? How is hip hop represented in Korean media and popular culture? This book utilizes ethnographic methods, including fieldwork research and life timeline interviews with fifty-three influential hip hop artists, in order to answer these questions. It explores the nuanced meaning of hip hop in South Korea, outlining the local, global, and (trans)national flows of musical and cultural exchanges.

Throughout the chapters, Korean hip hop is examined through the notion of buran—personal and societal anxiety or uncertainty—and how it manifests in the dimensions of space and place, economy, cultural production, and gender. Ultimately, buran serves as a metaphoric state for Hanguk hip hop in that it continuously evolves within the conditions of Korean society.

​1. We All Made Us: Historicizing Hanguk Hip Hop.- 2. Made in Korea: Authenticity in Hanguk Hip Hop.- 3. From Hongdae to Sinchon: Space and Place in Korean Hip Hop.- 4. 2 Chainz & Rollies: Hip Hop as Self-Development Text in Neoliberal South Korea.- 5. Idol Rapper: K-Pop and the Production of Authenticity.- 6. Unpretty Rapstar: Gender and Representation in Korean Hip Hop.- 7. We All Made History: Globalizing Hanguk Hip Hop.