[Recap] Show Me The Money 3 Episode 1

Mnet’s notorious hip-hop show Show Me The Money has returned with season 3, boasting a star-studded producer line-up. After the first season that seemed to focus on finding new stars and the second season that seemed more occupied with rediscovering known talents, the details of how season three will go still seem unclear. Although hesitant to watch this series after being largely unimpressed by the first few episodes of Show Me The Money 2, I nonetheless decided to give this season a go. And boy, am I glad! Show Me The Money 3 is already proving to be the best season yet, with so much unbelievable shit and drama. The first few episodes were so fucking good, I’ve decided to start a recap series so I could have a chance to talk about how hilariously awesome SMTM3 is turning out to be.

To help me Olltii-smirk my way through recapping the show, I’ve asked my dear friend Ranya (@itsRanya) to join me in this madness. Since we're behind, we'll try our best to catch up as soon as possible. But for now - and I’m saying this wholly ironically here - leggo!

Introduction

Although not formally introduced yet, the ‘producers’ of the show dish out on - take this - the show itself! They all take turns criticizing the show. That swag.

Sangha: What a great start. We see The Quiett calling Show Me The Money “not very hip-hop” (?), while Dok2 says he is not impressed by rappers who try out for the show just for “getting money” (??). Last time I checked, the show was called Show Me The Money, but okay.

Ranya: All the producers quickly tries to assert their “realness” by trashing the show and who chooses to participate in it, including Swings, who basically just dissed himself and his own involvement in this whole mess. Shout out to my swag homie Dok2 who’s pretending that he isn’t taking this job for the money so he can continue to rap about his “5 hunnit grand a year”. Y’all were asked and said yes, y’all are getting paid (shout out to capitalism).

Sangha: Meanwhile, Tablo and Swings take digs at the show’s infamous ‘devil’s editing’. YDG even goes as to say that if they do their ‘devil’s editing’ on him, he’ll “set shit on fire”. This is all fucking hilarious to me because this ‘devil’s editing’ won’t get any better this season around, oh I know. But alas, I’m getting ahead of myself.

Ranya: YDG needs to chill so I already like where this is going. Swings just flipped his entire demeanor from dissing the show to claiming to be its only defender, because the other producers dissed the show. But bro, you dissed everybody.

Sangha: Then the show cuts to an ominous sequence with text reading, “are you ready to curse?”. They're just setting themselves up here, aren't they.

The viewers are finally introduced to the ‘producers’ of the show, although their exact roles on the show are not explained. It’s interesting to note that each team of producers represent different labels: Dok2 and The Quiett from Illionaire, Masta Wu and Tablo from YG, San E and Swings from Brand New Music, and YDG from… YDG…?

Sangha: blah blah blah hip-hop blah blah true hip-hop blah blah blah we’re the best blah blah blah. Meanwhile, Swings is hilarious here, “avengers are cool but everyone knows that Iron Man is the best. I am that Iron Man.” Haha okay.

Ranya: In Avengers nobody ever cares about Hawkeye. Now imagine if Hawkeye also had a shitty attitude. Imagine Aquaman walking into Justice League HQ and people going “Damn Aquaman, you really let yourself go!”. WASSUP “KING” SWINGS. (btw is he gonna make Iron Man fart sounds the entire show? Is that gonna be his catchphrase? Can it?)

Sangha: Swings’ Iron Man impersonation is so funny, at least he's good for comic relief.

Ranya: Dok2’s gonna have to speak up if he wants me to hear him over the rattling of his chainz.

Sangha: So I just found out that he has a Ferrari logo and a Louis Vuitton logo tattooed onto his body...

The show’s MC is Kim Jin Pyo, who replaces Eun Ji Won from season one and two.

Sangha: I can’t stand Kim Jin Pyo’s emceeing tone. This is not gonna be fun.

Auditions

We learn that more than 3000 people tried out for the preliminary rounds. Similar to the format from previous seasons, contestants get to show off their skills in front of a judge, and if they are not given the blinged out Show Me The Money 3 chain, they’re out. 

We are introduced to contestant New Champ, who seem a little crazy, and kind of scary.

Ranya: Yeah, that’s New Champ alright. Also:

Sangha: Respect. 

Sangha: The greatest thing about Show Me The Money 3 so far is all the fantastic reaction shots. There are so many great ones, from both the judges and the contestants. Here are already two of my favourites from this episode (both contestants are watching New Champ have a psychotic burst):

The first producer team to judge the contestants is Dok2 and The Quiett. They’re merciless, as they don’t pass on anybody from the first batch of a hundred contestants. 

Sangha: I love The Quiett and the way he says “thank you”, cutting people off. Taking no shit from anyone, this man. Meanwhile, what is Dok2 hiding under his hat? How does he keep his hat so precariously balanced on top of his head? So many questions.

Ranya: The Quiett is unimpressed by everyone, so am I. It seems like the majority of the first 100 have less than decent flow. 

After a series of disappointing tryouts, we are now introduced to Vasco - widely seen as the show’s strongest contestant. Vasco is a renowned underground rapper, having been active for 14 years. The producers take turns saying how unbelievable it is that Vasco is a contestant on the show and not a judge. He shows a great performance and passes first round, easy-peasy.

Sangha: Vaaaaaaaaasco. God, I have a softspot for this guy?! He’s been through a lot. Man, I wish he does well. His 2013 album was so good. He seems very humble too, with enough confidence to not come off as egotistical. And he did well in this round, well done, sir.

Ranya: Everybody loves Vasco, how could we not. That was some dizzying camera work there right before he started rapping though. As much as I love to knock down on this show’s more famous rapper, I gotta root for this one. That audition was oscar-worthy *slow claps*.

Ranya: Who the hell is ‘Snacky Chan’?

Sangha: Apparently he was part of hip-hop group Uptown in… 2010??? Uptown was active in 2010??? This is news to me.

Sangha: Possibly the best purposefully funny moment from this episode is when Dok2 and The Quiett explain why they cut off contestants - “In reality, we’re not bad people, we just want to go home early.”

We take a break from the audition room and head outside the studio, where a cypher is taking place. The ‘current’ freestyle king battles it out against a couple of weak contestants, but ultimately loses to rising freestyle star Olltii.

Sangha: To be honest, not really impressed by either of them.

Ranya: Tiny grew up! One thing I always thought this show was lacking severely was the freestyle, I want to see the contestants be challenged in every way there is! Shame.

YDG is up to judge and he’s proving to be an interesting one. After failing a bunch of contestants, he can’t take it no mo’ and has to leave for five minutes. Yet when he comes back, he ends up passing unlikely contestants. Everyone’s confused. What’s he up to? Will there be major plot twists with the contestants he’s picked? Stay tuned…

Ranya: Looks like YDG is not cut out for this job…

Sangha: I love this. So much shade being thrown by YDG. He's so hilarious I'm loving every moment of this.

Sangha: ...And New Champ is back, this dude severely creeps me out.

Ranya: Don’t let your kids watch this show if you wanna keep them from being voodooed by prolonged eye contact from New Champ. That was some scary shit.

The spotlight is now on North Korea-defector Kang Choon Hyuk. He escaped North Korea when he was 12, and tries to communicate the terrors of North Korea through his rap and art. His lyrics are shocking, as he refers to public executions and nuclear bombs. He passes and raises a sincere applause from the onlookers.

Dok2 complains that many of the rappers were too loud, blaming Swings for inspiring them. Previously, Swings caused a stir by being incredibly loud during the first round of SMTM2.

Sangha: I love how all the other producers talk shit about Swings, it’s so great.

Ranya: Like, I could’ve actually gone my entire life digging Swings had he not opened his mouth outside of the verses he did on Giriboy’s tracks. Now though, draaaaaaag.

Sangha: Look, a black person! Everyone turns their heads! A ‘hip-hop native’! They are both not very impressive though, and the second guy forgets his lines. At least they are super chill. But man, Korean hip-hop community’s obsession with black people…

Ranya: UGH.

Ranya: We get hunger induced frustrations and death drops.

Watch the queen conquer! Unfortunately, we don’t get to see much of the female contestants, with the show only focusing on Kisum, Tymee, and Jolly V. All of them pass.

Sangha: wow, they don’t even bother telling us the names of the other female rappers. Alright. Kisum is hella cute. Tymee I am very meh about, I’ve seen her do better. And Tymee and Jolly V? Will shit go down between the two?

Ranya: Too bad we never got to see more of the ladies, but Kisum is adorable! And it’s gonna be interesting to see what Nada from Wa$$up brings to the table since I’ve only ever seen her drop lines about her impressive behind before. Oh an I can see PD’s of this show wetting themselves when Jolly V and Tymee showed up like,

Sangha: Yes, the PDs are definitely eating this up. Also will Nada be twerking at all on the show? Stay tuned to find out…

High school rapper Yook Ji Dam catches the eye of Swings and San E with her rap, which unfortunately isn’t original, but a verse from Dok2’s “100%”. Yet she passes with her charismatic performance.

Sangha: It’s cute and all but I can’t say I’m completely won over. Also, how did Swings not pick up that this is Dok2’s lines? “Gonzo”? “Illionaire?” Even someone who’s never heard of the song, like me, figured out from the get-go that this must’ve been Dok2’s verses. Also Swings saying this: “Normally I don’t expect much from a high school FEMALE student, but…” Someone push this guy into a ditch for me, please. 

Ranya: May girls stay away from you forever Swings.

San E comes across a rapper with shocking lyrics that involve women and his dick, only to find out that the said rapper is a middle school student. San E is shown giving a lot of feedback to the contestants.

Sangha: San E: “jiiiiooossagooo jiisisaogo I don’t like this” “dadadada wadadadada anybody can do this” San E is so annoying to me, wow. I know he’s trying to be helpful but so annoying.

Ranya: Little boy needs to chill and wait for his balls to drop before dropping lines about his “beautiful dick”, that’s what’s up.

Tarae, a contestant from season 2, is back, as he says he feels like he wasn’t able to show his best. He passes on easily. 

Sangha: what a loud performance. Also he says that he’s gonna put his life on the line for this? People really need to stop taking this show so seriously.

Idol trainees B.I and Bobby from YG are here. They were on the YG competition show WIN. Some of their fellow SMTM3 contestants are critical, as they question why they’re on the show when they’re already trainees at a huge company. Tablo tells them that they must do well as Dok2 is harsh, and Masta Wu tells them to rap.

B.I is the first to go among the two of them, and although he starts strong, he messes up and forgets his lines. Then he takes a leap of faith and jumps off, freestyling. Dok2 gives him green light for his attitude. 

Sangha: YO YO YO, EVERYBODY! THAT’S RIGHT I FORGOT MY LYRICS! I am laughing oh wow. B.I is surprisingly stronger with freestyling though. I’ve never heard him rap since.. that one episode of WIN I watched and he wasn't anything impressive then. This was pretty good.

Ranya: B.I’s freestyling felt much more authentic than when he started out and I gotta give him props. People seem maaaaad pressed though that YG trainees are showing up.

Bobby does better than his friend and pulls off a powerful performance. San E is clearly impressed as he passes on the bling. Other contestants are also impressed. 

Sangha: I feel like Bobby is the stronger rapper out of the two. 

Ranya: Bobby definitely had a better rhythm going as the rap wore on, gonna be fun to see where he goes.

Second Round

Out of the 3000 contestants, 96 move onto the second round. In the second round, the rappers will undergo solo stages in front of all the producers. They get one minute to show what they got, and if the producers don’t like what they’re hearing, they’ll fail the contestant. If by the end of the one minute, if there’s at least one producer who hasn’t pressed the fail button, the contestant moves on. 

Sangha: I think this is the better way to weed out people, as everyone gets a fair chance in front of all the producers.

The producers joke around with each other before the actual tryouts. Dok2 and The Quiett jokingly say that they’ll look at what shoes the contestants are wearing, and the angle of the contestants’ snapbacks.

Sangha: God, I love this duo’s humour. I feel like they both know that this is all a joke and are just trying to have some fun. 

Ranya: But does this mean that Dok2 knows how fucking ridiculous he looks? 

Sangha: Oh God, I hope he’s aware. 

Masta Wu adds that if the contestants have “Swings” in their lyrics he’ll fail them. Any mention of “I’m this season’s Swings” and they’re out, on Masta Wu’s standards. Swings gives him a side-eye. 

Ranya: Masta Wu knows what’s up.

First contestant to be seen on their second round stage is Tymee. She talks about her diss battle with Jolly.V. Jolly.V says that she doesn’t consider Tymee an artist. They both think they’ll outwin the others.

Ranya: Judges:

Jolly.V explains that she started the female rapper diss war because she didn’t like how the other female rappers only tend to focus on their femininity instead of “her idea of hip-hop”. 

Sangha: Both of them are so problematic. But damn, Jolly.V, all that internalized misogyny. 

Ranya: Jolly needs to stop dissing people and just let them be themselves like girl, get over your issues. I feel for her because female MC’s have it tough trying to get credited, but damn. Tymee (and whoever else) needs to stop discrediting Jolly based on her body and appearance, y’all are as bad as each other.

Choi Sam is probably sitting at home right now, like: 

The show ends on a cliffhanger, with only a few seconds of Tymee and Jolly.V’s stages shown. 

Concluding Thoughts

Sangha: Show highlights so far - 

• “In reality, we’re not bad people. We just want to go home early.” 
• New Champ: there are so many crazy people here. 
• Tarae: Taaaaaaaa-ray! 
• B.I: YO YO YO EVERYBODY THAT’S RIGHT I FORGOT MY LYRICS!
• Vasco’s gloomy ‘I’ve-gone-through-some-shit-in-my-life” face.  

Ranya: Why the actual hell would you wanna fake being a buddhist monk, like seriously what was your angle there?

Sangha: Initially I wasn’t particularly interested in this show, but after that first shitastic episode I am hooked. I hope they keep up the drama level high for the rest of the season, really. I love all the producers, they're so funny. 

Ranya: What secrets is Dok2’s forehead hiding?

Sangha: Maybe he has an ATM machine hidden up there for all his money. 

What are your thoughts on the first episode of Show Me The Money 3? Comment below to let us know what you think!