Show Me the Money 777

The seventh season of Show Me the Money, known as Show Me the Money 777, premiered on September 7, 2018. It is on broadcast every Friday at 23:00 KST on Mnet.

This season features judges Swings and Giriboy from Just Music, Deepflow and Nucksal of Vismajor Company (VMC), Paloalto of Hi-Lite Records and Code Kunst of AOMG, and The Quiett of Illionaire Records and Changmo of Ambition Musik.

Different from previous seasons, this season does not have the first preliminary round. Instead, the production crew watched over 13,000 audition videos and selected about 1,000 contestants. These selected contestants then were judged by the producers teams, and the qualified ones will move on to Round Two.^[1]

There is a new betting system that is used this season. 200 million won (the winner's final prize money)^[2] will be equally divided among the 4 producer teams (50 million won for each team) prior to Round Two, and can be used to evaluate each passed rapper's rap in the round.

Judges

Team Just Music:

• Swings: Founder and rapper of Just Music and its sub-label Indigo Music. Previously participated in season two as a contestant under Team D.O, and in season three as a judge/producer alongside San E under Team Brand New Music.
• Giriboy: Rapper, songwriter and record producer signed under Just Music. Previously participated in season three as a contestant under Team YDG. Member of WYBH crew.

Team VMC (also known as Team 119):

• Deepflow: CEO, rapper and producer of Vismajor Company (VMC).
• Nucksal: Rapper signed under VMC. Previously participated in season two as a contestant, and in season six where he achieved 1st runner-up.

Team Hi-Lite & AOMG:

• Paloalto: Founder, rapper and producer of Hi-Lite Records. Previously participated in season four as a judge/producer for Team ZiPal.
• Code Kunst: Music producer signed under AOMG. Previously signed with HIGHGRND.

Team Illionaire Ambition:

• The Quiett: Co-founder, rapper and producer of Illionaire Records. Previously participated in seasons three and five as a judge/producer under Team Illionaire.
• Changmo: Rapper and producer signed under Ambition Musik, the sub-label of Illionaire Records. Previously auditioned in season three.

Teams

During Round Five of the competition, four contestants were chosen to be in each team as follows:

Team Just Music:

• ODEE : Rapper signed under Vismajor Company (VMC).
• Nafla : Rapper from Pasadena, California where he's the member and CEO under his record label/crew MKIT RAIN and member of “42” crew. Gained popularity in the Korean hip-hop scene after his collaboration with Dynamic Duo in 2015.
• YunB : New York-based rapper/producer signed under Hi-Lite Records.
• OLNL : Korean rapper signed under STONESHIP. Member of WYBH and JUICEOVERALCOHOL crews, part of Korean rap duo AREYOUCHILDISH.

Team VMC (also known as Team 119):

• Chaboom : Veteran rapper signed under Lay Back Records. Member of project rap groups BLING THE CASH and GRAY ROOFTOP.
• Los : LA-based rapper signed under Feel GHood Music's sub-label GHood Life. Previously signed with Cycadelic Records. Previously auditioned in season 6.
• EK : Member of rap group/dance crew Most Badass Asian (MBA) under STONESHIP. Previously auditioned in SBS K-pop Star.
• Keem Hyo-eun : Rapper under Illionaire Records' sub-label Ambition Muzik. Previously auditioned in season 3, and in season 5 where he was a member of Team Illionaire. Also known by his moniker “Kenny Raw”.

Team Hi-Lite & AOMG (also known as TEAMCODEPALO):

• pH-1 : New York-based rapper/producer signed under AOMG's sub-label H1GHR MUSIC. Member of collab duo Sous Chef with fellow contestant Owen Ovadoz.
• Kid Milli : Korean rapper under Just Music’s sub-label Indigo Music. Member of COZYBOYS and WYBH crews. Former pro-gamer who once participated in StarCraft’s semiprofessional tournament.
• Qwala : Member of the OSAMARI Crew (OSA). Previously auditioned in seasons 2, 5 and 6.
• Loopy : LA-based rapper/producer signed under record label/crew MKIT RAIN. Originally started as a producer, he decided to try rapping after moving to LA.

Team Illionaire Ambition:

• Superbee : A regular mainstay of Show Me The Money where he auditioned in the first three seasons and finally made it in season 4 as a member of Team YG and season 5 where he was the second runner-up and member of Team Illionaire. Currently signed with Feel GHood Music’s sublabel GHood Life and a member of the 82HottestMC’s. In an interview prior to season 5’s final round, he hilariously stated that he’ll keep competing in the future seasons until he finally becomes the champion.
• Lee Dong-min : Fourth runner-up in the first season of High School Rapper. Also known by his monikers RAPTO and ICE PUFF.
• D.Ark : Second youngest contestant in the show’s history at 15 years old (Korean Age). Lived in China for 10 years and is trilingual in Korean, Chinese and English. Member of Blue Alien Crew.
• Coogie : Rookie rapper who started rapping less than a year ago. Signed under ATM Seoul.

Rounds

Prior to Round One, about 13,000 contestants sent in their audition clips to the production crew and they will watch each clip and select about 1,000 to participate in Round One.

• Round One: Rapper Selection Round – After sending in their audition clips, those selected by the production crew will attend this round. These contestants will choose one of the four producer teams they want to be judged by, and they will be judged by their choice of the producer teams through a short a cappella rap. Necklaces are handed to contestants that have passed to the next round. 140 contestants advanced to the next round.
• Round Two: Rapper Open Evaluation Round – Contestants have one minute to rap in front of all judges and all passed contestants from Round One. At least one team of judges must pass the rapper in order to move on to Round Three, the Fight Money Battle Round. The team(s) that have passed the rapper can each place their bets to evaluate the rapper's rap, from a minimum of 100,000 won to a maximum of 5,000,000 won. Each passed rapper can be evaluated for a maximum of 20 million won. The total amount of money the passed rapper received will be carried over to Round Three as his/her Fight Money. A total of 60 contestants advanced to the next round.

List of Passed Rappers and Notable Failed Rappers at the Rapper Open Evaluation Round

     PASSED by the Producer Team
     FAILED by the Producer Team

• Round Three: Fight Money Battle Round + Revival Round – The bets each rapper received from Round Two has been carried forward to this round. Different from the 1-on-1 Rap Battles that have been used in previous seasons, for this round, there can be a triple battle. MC Kim Jin-pyo will randomly pick a card with a rapper's name, and contestants that want to battle against this picked rapper can step forward to ask for a battle. The picked rapper will then pick one of the rappers for a 1-on-1 rap battle. A triple battle is established if a picked rapper picks two of the rapper challengers, or when one rapper wants to go up and join an already set 1-on-1 rap battle. The winner of each triple battle will take all the money of the two other rappers in each triple battle, and the latter two will also be eliminated from the show. In the event of a tie, a sudden death 1-on-1 match will be held to determine the winner. Selected rappers that were eliminated in this round will participate in the 1-on-1 revival round, where the winner of each 1-on-1 battle will advance to the next round, the Group Battle. The winner of each Revival Round battle will receive 100,000 won as Fight Money.

     Indicates the winner.

• Round Four: Group Battle – The remaining 24 contestants after Round Three will be split into two teams: Team Nafla and Team Superbee, named after the two rappers that currently have the most Fight Money accumulated. Each group will take turns as they do freestyle/pre-rehearsed raps under certain beats. The winning group will advance to the Team Choosing Round, with the group receiving 50,000,000 won that is to be equally distributed. The losing group will have to undergo open voting to determine the eliminated contestants. In the case of a tie after two rounds, a third round will be held to determine the winning group. A total of 16 contestants will move on to the Team Choosing Round.

• Round Five: Producers Stages/Team Choosing – Producers will have live performances to determine which team will get the first pick. The remaining contestants will vote which producer team had the best performance. In the Team Choosing segment, each contestant ranked from the least amount of Fight Money earned to the most amount of Fight Money earned will choose which producer team he will join. The chosen producer team will make a choice whether to accept him or not. All producer teams will show their bet money before the contestant makes his decision. A total of four contestants per producer team will be set. If there are more than four members in the team, the latest contestant picked by that producer team will choose which contestant he will replace in the team, causing the replaced contestant to be eliminated from the show. The remaining contestants not selected by any team will also be eliminated.

Ranking of Producers Stages

List of advancing rappers and eliminated rappers after Team Choosing^{[lower-alpha 2]}

Color key

Total accumulated Fight Money for each team

• Round Six: Team Song Mission – All producer teams travel to Hong Kong for their team bonding and Team Song Mission preparations. Just like in the previous seasons, each producer team performs in front of all the judges, and the judges will eliminate one contestant from their own team at the end of each performance.

• Round Seven: Team Diss Battle – Producers from opposing teams play rock, paper, scissors to determine the teams that get to choose their opponents for this round. Three 1-vs-1 diss battles will be held for each round. Each of the teams' judges will place Fight Money bets on their own teams (only 1 million, 3 million, 5 million, 7 million and 10 million won bets are allowed and can only choose 1 value). The winning team will receive 2 times the bet amount they have put, while the losing team will lose the bet amount they have put.

     Indicates the winning team.

     Indicates the winning contestant/s.

Money distribution to each contestant after Team Diss Battle

• Round Seven: First Live Performances - Contestants get to choose their opponents in order of money distributed before this round. Contestants have live performances with the producer/s and/or with featuring(s) of other artist(s). For this round, based on the live audience and online votes, the winner of each battle advances to the next round and gets all of his opponent's money while the loser gets eliminated.

     Indicates the winning performance.

Notable contestants

• Mommy Son : The pink-masked Korean rapper which was later revealed to be former season 2 contestant and season 5 judge Mad Clown. After passing the Rapper Selection round, fellow contestants, notably Snacky Chan and Pento, questioned Mommy Son's real identity, in which he later revealed his true identity to them.^[3] After the show's first episode, netizens posted comments on Mad Clown's Instagram page stating that Mad Clown was indeed Mommy Son, in which he quickly shut down the rumors that he's not the man behind Mommy Son^[4] and instead gave Mommy Son's actual Instagram account.^[5] In the Rapper Open Evaluation Round, the judges, notably Swings, asked him to remove the mask, knowing that it was Mad Clown all along. However, he refused to do so, stating that the mask is an artistic tool for him to fully express himself as an artist and the Mommy Son character is solely for his joy regardless of whether they found out his true identity.^[6] Unfortunately, Mommy Son was eliminated after forgetting his lyrics.
• Onesun : First generation Korean hip-hop artist who previously auditioned in season 5 and season 6, where he was known for his famous phrase "Let Me Do it Again" after failing the latter season's preliminary round. He returned this season but failed to pass the Rapper Selection round.
• Owen Ovadoz : Rapper and member of the crew/record company MKIT RAIN alongside fellow contestants Nafla and Loopy. Previously participated in seasons 3 and 4. Eliminated in the Fight Money Battle Round.
• Snacky Chan : Rapper under Dynasty Muzik. Previously participated in season 3 as a member of Team YG and in seasons four and five. Eliminated in the Fight Money Battle Round.
• Osshun Gum : Rapper under Just Music and first runner-up of the first season of High School Rapper. Eliminated in the Fight Money Battle Round.
• Reddy : Rapper under Hi-Lite Records. Previously participated in season 5 as a member of Team YG. Eliminated in the Revival Round.
• Maniac : Korean-American veteran rapper under his own label, PayDay Entertainment. Previously a member of Jiggy Fellaz, Dynasty Family, New Dynasty and Uptown crews. Also known as "1-Shot" and "OG" with Uptown. Previously participated in season 6 as a member of Team Feel Ghood Music. Originally passed the Rapper Open Evaluation Round with 300,000 won, he was not seen in the Fight Money Battle Round. There is a possibility that he has voluntarily left the show, reasons unknown.
• Ness : Korean-American rapper currently signed under iiA, also known by the moniker 'Noctunes'. Previously participated in season 6 as a member of Team H1GHR MUSIC. Eliminated in the Rapper Open Evaluation Round.
• Ryno : Member of the hip-hop collective crew New Area Aliens. Previously participated in season 6 as a member of Team Dynamic Duo. Eliminated in the Fight Money Battle Round.
• Simba Zawadi : Rapper under Luminant Entertainment. Previously auditioned in season 6. Prior to this season, he had a three-year feud between him, judge/producer Paloalto and his record label Hi-Lite Records. However, Paloalto extended his hand to Simba Zawadi and congratulated him after passing the Rapper Open Evaluation Round, marking the end of their long-standing feud. Eliminated in the Fight Money Battle Round.
• Swervy : The only female rapper this season to advance further to the Rapper Open Evaluation Round. Member of Team YAYA crew. Eliminated in the Fight Money Battle Round.
• Jo Woo-jin : Rapper who previously participated in season 2. He dissed judge/producer Swings, who was also a participant in season 2, through a track titled "Switch" in 2017. At the Rapper Selection Round, he volunteered to be judged by Swings. Swings was upset upon seeing him due to this issue, but then passed him after his rap, saying that he has improved his rapping skills. He was eliminated in the Rapper Open Evaluation Round.
• Louie : One-half of the rap duo Geeks and member BUCKWILDS crew, signed under Rainbow Bridge World. His rap partner, Lil Boi, participated in season 4 as a member of Team AOMG. Louie was eliminated in the Fight Money Battle Round.
• Dayday : Former member of Dalmatian. Known by his real name David Kim. Previously participated in season 4 and season 5 both as a member of Team AOMG. Eliminated in the Fight Money Battle Round.
• NO:EL : Rapper under Indigo Music, the sub-label of Just Music, and part of the COZYBOYS crew alongside fellow contestant Kid Milli. Known by his real name Jang Yong-joon. Previously participated in season 6 and dropped out of the first season of High School Rapper due to prostitution and bullying controversies. Eliminated in the Revival Round.
• H2ADIN : Second runner-up and fourth-runner up of the first and second season of High School Rapper respectively. Known by his real name Jo Won-woo. Eliminated in the Fight Money Battle Round.
• JJK : Veteran freestyle rapper and Leader of the Angdreville Crew (ADV). Previously participated in season 6. Eliminated in the Fight Money Battle Round.
• Bully Da Ba$tard : Member of DICKIDS crew. Previously auditioned for season 6 but was disqualified after posting on social media that he passed that season's preliminary round before that season started its broadcast. He also was a contestant on the first and second season of High School Rapper having both Swings and Deepflow as mentors. Eliminated in the Revival Round.
• Changstarr : Korean-American rapper who has a great appreciation to the hippie culture. He assisted in providing English translations of Swings' Just Music label music tracks and also made a cameo on Lil Uzi Vert's P's and Q's music video. During the Fight Money Battle Round, he made a comment on the show's female DJ Vani "She's really hot though" prior to the start of the performance. However, he suddenly forgot his lyrics, causing him to be eliminated. Judge/producer Swings commented that saying such comments will obviously cause him to forget his lyrics, while judges/producers The Quiett and Code Kunst stated that he should not have auditioned for the show if he is not serious enough to compete. At the end of the show, Changstarr explained through his Instagram account that he made the comment on the DJ in an attempt to lighten up the mood of the judges/producers and the remaining contestants due to the very long and exhausting recording schedule for that round. Furthermore, he clarified that he was not nervous at that time but was very exhausted, causing him to forget his lyrics.^[7]
• New Champ : Previously participated in season 4 where he was a member of Team YG, and auditioned in seasons 3 and 6. Signed under FAME Records’ sub-label Urbane Music. Eliminated after the Team Choosing Round despite being chosen by Team Hi-Lite & AOMG, after Loopy replaced him from the team.
• Boo Hyun-seok : Previously participated in season 3 as a member of Team Brand New Music. Also known by his rapper name SNAP OUT. Eliminated after the Team Choosing Round despite being chosen by Team Illionaire Ambition, after Superbee replaced him from the team.
• Black Nine : Known for his hardcore rap style. Previously participated in season 6 as a member of Team Feel GHood Music where he eventually signed to their label company two months after that season ended. Eliminated after the Team Choosing Round despite being chosen by Team VMC, after EK replaced him from the team.
• Lee Su-rin : Rapper and leader of DICKIDS crew and member of XXYXNAF crew. Signed under FAME Records. Previously participated in season 5 and the first season of High School Rapper. Also known by his rap names LUDA, TRAPSTARSUREEN, UNOFFICIALBOYY, and Baddie Homie. Eliminated after the Team Choosing Round despite being chosen by Team Illionaire Ambition, after Coogie replaced him from the team.
• Zene The Zilla : Member of Young Thugs Club (YTC). Eliminated after the Team Choosing Round despite being chosen by Team VMC, after Los replaced him from the team.

Controversies

• D.Ark was involved in a controversy, which explained that a 26 year-old woman, who claimed to be his ex-girlfriend, posted on social media that he had an intimate relationship with her,^[8] and alleged he made her engage in "forced relations" during their relationship. After this controversy blew up, D.Ark posted a public apology through his personal Instagram, and stated that "he did meet with the female who made the allegation". He also mentioned that the two have cleared up the misunderstanding.^[9] Regarding this controversy, Mnet have released an official statement that they will only air footage of D.Ark that is necessary to properly convey the efforts of the other contestants and the judges, instead of completely editing him out.^[10]

Discography

Notes

References