Keith Ape (Seoul, SOUTH KOREA)

Before Keith Ape, South Korea and hip hop may have never appeared in the same sentence outside the country's borders. Instead, South Korea's burgeoning entertainment industry has been known only for K-pop and soap operas. Now, according to The Fader- the world's authority on the genre, we have reached “the next frontier” thanks to one name—Keith Ape. Keith Ape was born Dongheon Lee in Seoul, South Korea, where he was raised by parents who encouraged his artistic interests. Keith’s mother painted while his father taught music as a professor. From a young age, Keith showed a strong interest in hip hop and rap music. By the time he was 16 years old, he had committed himself fully to music and dropped out of school to focus on his art. Keith began his rap career under the name Kid Ash. During this time, he collaborated with a number of underground rappers in Korea and experimented with a wide range of styles. As Kid Ash, he joined the collective The Cohort, consisting of 10 other artists from the realm of hip hop, songwriting, fashion, and studio art. While working with The Cohort, Kid Ash released “The Orca Tape”, which was an underground sensation within the growing Korean rap community. He followed up with “BRainwash” alongside fellow rapper G2. This second project highlighted a pronounced shift in Kid Ash’s style, which seemingly had evolved into something with a stronger character of its own. By the end of 2014, Kid Ash had fully transformed into Keith Ape, named in honor the artist Keith Haring and the Japanese Streetwear company, Bathing Ape. Using the new moniker, Keith Ape released a remix of “Hot Ninja” and followed it up quickly with “Psycho ‘14”. The two releases received critical acclaim within Korea and foreshadowed what was coming, Keith Ape was about to take the hip hop world by storm. On January 1, 2015, Keith Ape released “IT G MA” featuring JayAllDay, Loota, Okasian, and Kohh. The track and official video became a global viral sensation and Keith quickly gained the attention of key tastemakers in the United States and beyond. Within a few months, the official video had over 12 million views and musicians from around the world were reaching out to Keith to collaborate. Based on this spirit of collaboration, Keith put together a remix version of “IT G MA” in what Complex called a “groundbreaking moment in convergence culture, in which a kid from Seoul crosses continents to link up with homies from Atlanta, L.A., and Harlem, all in the name of hip-hop.” The remix features verses from A$AP Ferg, Waka Flocka Flame, Dumbfoundead, and Father and it released on OWSLA (a subsidiary of the Warner Music Group), the label curated by the electronic music producer & DJ, Skrillex. The “IT G MA” remix and official video exploded across the global hip hop scene with support from virtually every tastemaker including Complex, Fader, Pigeons & Planes, World Star Hip Hop, Fact Mag, Music Times, and many more. The track broke into Spotify’s Global Top 10 Most Viral Tracks chart and Hype Machine’s Twitter chart as the hashtag #ITGMA trended on Twitter globally on the day of release. With a number of successful releases under his belt, Keith is poised to continue on the path of his meteoric rise and the young rapper from an unsuspecting part of the world will continue to break boundaries along the way.