Mnet's hip-hop competition program "Show Me The Money" (2012-) is making an ambitious comeback after a three-year hiatus, aiming to reignite the genre’s influence in Korea.

With a star-studded producer lineup and an expanded global applicant pool, the twelfth season of the long-running franchise seeks to recreate the momentum of its earlier years, which helped catapult the careers of some of the nation’s biggest rappers.

“If you’re a Korean, you cannot deny the significance of ‘Show Me The Money’ as a catalyst for the mainstream expansion of Korean hip-hop,” said singer Crush during a press conference on Thursday in southern Seoul. “We joined the program as people who love Korean hip-hop and its culture, hoping to contribute to the genre.”


“Show Me the Money,” first aired in June 2012, played a central role in the surge of hip-hop’s popularity from the mid to late 2010s. The franchise has since launched the careers of prominent rappers such as Loco, who won the first season and returns as a producer for this season.

Largely following the show’s previous format, this season features four musician teams serving as judges, mentors, and producers: Zico and Crush; Jay Park and Lil Moshpit, also known as GroovyRoom; Gray and Loco; and J-Tong and Hukky Shibaseki.

As the twelfth season arrives after a long hiatus following the previous installment's 2022 airing, the show saw a record-breaking 36,000 applicants from Korea and abroad, and rappers from 32 regions will perform in 24 different languages.

“We scaled up the preliminary rounds not only domestically but also globally, so I believe this will be a new opportunity to introduce artists with diverse languages and identities,” said the program’s chief producer Choi Hyo-jin.

Choi noted that there were initial concerns about evaluating performances in multiple languages, especially given the nature of hip-hop lyricism, but stressed that musicality transcended cultural barriers.

“Regardless of language differences, there were many compelling qualities in attitude, charisma and expression that stood out,” she said.

Another highlight of the upcoming season is its expanded narrative format, including a spinoff series titled “Show Me The Money: The World of Yaksha.”

Billed as a “hidden league,” the spinoff features a more ruthless competition and will stream exclusively on streaming platform Tving.

As the franchise returns amid a waning mainstream interest in hip-hop since the early 2020s, the producers say they hope to restore the genre’s cultural prominence for both existing fans and the public.

Acknowledging that hip-hop has recently lost touch with a broader audience, rapper Park noted that “as K-pop music has become more elaborate, the distinction between genres has blurred, and prejudice about the superficial elements of hip-hop culture might have contributed to the decline in relevance.”

But Park emphasized that the goal is not to manufacture an inauthentic image for mass appeal.

“Personally, my goal is to show our mindset and authentic attitude as it is so that the viewers will think, ‘This is the real hip-hop,’” he said.

The 12th season will premiere at 9:20 p.m. on Thursday, simultaneously on Mnet and Tving.

BY SHIN HA-NEE [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]