Korean rapper Mirani talks hip hop as a female artist, a Doja Cat collaboration and the pressure she feels to succeed

Mirani shot to fame on reality competition series Show Me the Money in 2020. Her success left the rapper a bit burned out – something her first album reflects

She is taking the time to adjust the way she thinks – this year, she’s focusing on having fun and dreaming of future collaborations, such as one with Doja Cat

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Female rapper Mirani (pictured) shot to fame on a hip-hop competition series in South Korea in 2020. She’s been so busy she’s feeling a bit burned out, she confesses. Photo: AREA/Graff Records

Published: 6:17pm, 19 Jan 2022Updated: 1:12pm, 20 Jan 2022

Mirani is one of the hottest rappers in Korea today. The secret to her success? “Not sucking,” she says with a laugh.

Born Kim yoon-jin, the 25-year-old shot to fame in 2020 in the ninth season of the Korean hip-hop reality TV competition series Show Me the Money. A song she was featured on, VVS, became one of the biggest South Korean hits of the year. In 2021, working with the likes of Moonbyul of Mamamoo and Jay B of Got7 (also known as Def), Mirani released her first album, Uptown Girl.

Mirani, who fell in love with hip hop after her older brother introduced her to the genre, went to study fashion at university, where she joined a hip-hop club and had the chance to write her own songs.

She took a break from her degree to focus on music and has not looked back. Now she has to figure out what comes next.

“I released Uptown Girl one year after Show Me the Money ended, so it talks about what I felt while trying to adapt to the changes in my life,” Mirani tells the Post over a video call from Seoul. “Kind of like a diary that I wrote.”

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