Behind the 100 to 1 ratio in Rap Viet

Out of more than 5,000 candidates who registered for the casting, only about 50 people were selected to enter the recording round of Rap Viet season 4. JustaTee, Suboi, Karik and Thai VG, the judges, were under great pressure to choose a worthy name.

Immediately after organizing casting in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi , the game show production team Vietnamese Rap immediately finalized the lineup to enter the recording round. A week ago, Rap Viet held a meeting with the contestants of season 4 to agree on the terms of participating in the game show and plan to prepare for the first round.

This year, Rap Viet's contestant selection criteria are similar to season 3. Rappers who are already famous and have a fan base are not necessarily favored to pass the casting. Instead, from the success of Double2T, Rhyder or Phap Kieu in season 3, Rap Viet is not afraid to choose contestants who are less known in the rap world, as long as they meet the criteria of talent and potential to develop after appearing on television and joining the music race.

CoolKid, one of the potential candidates likely to appear in season 4.

Eastern but not "elite"

The number of more than 5,000 candidates went Rap Viet casting, on the surface, is grand, showing that the competition is especially fierce in this game show. However, in reality, the number of contestants going to the casting is very large, but the quality is not close to each other. Most of these are rappers who are just starting out on the rap path.

When stepping up to the casting stand opposite JustaTee, Suboi, Thai VG and Karik, they received a wave of the hand to stop just a few seconds after speaking.

Quality rappers, highly regarded by the rap world, mostly completed the casting well and were selected for the next round. A rapper who went to the casting shared with Tien Phong : “On the casting floor, if a rapper completes the first performance completely, then is allowed by the judges to perform the second performance, he/she will have a very high chance of moving on. On the first day of casting in Ho Chi Minh City, only a few rappers were able to do that.”

This rapper said that most of them were eliminated early, before they could finish their first performance, because of basic mistakes such as forgetting the lyrics, rapping off the beat (background music) or colors that did not match the program's selection criteria. Therefore, the judges were the ones who had the hardest time in the casting sessions because they had to "filter out the mistakes" and choose the right contestants with a ratio of 1/100.

The contestants summoned by Rap Viet to the meeting included Gill, Coldzy, Robber, who are famous rappers in the industry. Gill and Coldzy were on Rap Viet season 1 and 2. After that, many potential rappers, gradually establishing their positions such as CoolKid, Dangrangto, Puppy, 7dnight passed the casting, as expected by rap fans. The rest will be a series of new rappers, playing the role of "unknowns" in Rap Viet season 4.

Compared to the generation of Thai VG, Karik, the rap world now has an explosion of rappers.

Rap music boom

Tien Phong asked rapper MPaKK about the rise of rap, from rappers pursuing this genre to their products. The member of the Da LAB group commented: “I think it’s easier to be a rapper than a singer. A person who can’t sing well can still rap, just need to arrange the words and they will have rhymes.”

The number of thousands of candidates registering for Rap Viet season 4 casting is partly a reflection of the exponential explosion of rap in the Vietnamese music market. “There are 10 rappers per square meter”, this is a saying that many viewers jokingly commented on social networks to point out the sudden increase in the number of rappers appearing in the market. At that speed, the number of rap songs released on music listening platforms is also countless.

To be a singer, there is only one way to sing well. Meanwhile, to be a rapper, there are many ways. Just by mastering the rhythm and melody, a rapper can create a rap. Many rappers who do not have a talent for rhythm and melody can still be "saved" thanks to studio technology. If the rapper's voice is not good, using auto-tune is the solution to pull everything back, from the right tone, the right beat and the feeling.

Producing a rap product, most of the process is simpler than a standard song of a singer. It is a beat that does not require too many layers of instruments, simple structure, just verse and hook enough to create a rap song. The flexible combination of rappers in the product is also an important part, a unique feature of rap, helping to shorten the song production process a lot.

For the above reasons, the door to rap is open to anyone. For a rapper, producing an EP, mixtape or album in a short time is normal. Looking back at the developments in the Vietnamese music market in the past 2 years, in the truly mainstream music segment, where famous artists are, most of the albums released come from rappers.

Rap music is released a lot but the quality and audience appeal are not worth much, corresponding to the ratio of one to 100 in Rap Viet casting. In the past 5 years, the number of famous rappers in the Vietnamese music market has increased a lot compared to the previous period, but it is still small if we take the average of active rappers. Similarly, from the game show Rap Viet, the percentage of contestants who maintain long-term appeal and truly reach their potential can be counted on the fingers.

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