For the fourth consecutive year, LiFTED presents the LiFTED 50, a ranking of the Top 50 Hip Hop artists in Asia. This is the first time we have a repeat number one–Awich–who simply has had the best all-around year in the Asian game. It’s actually not that close. She’s become not only an ambassador for Japanese Hip Hop but for the region. Her upcoming release with RZA, which we’ve been privileged to hear some of, is going to take her to even loftier heights. With her releases and appearances this past year, she sewn up links with some of the biggest artists from Korea, China, India, Indonesia, and Cambodia. Like any great stateswoman, she’s out here building alliances.

Other highlights include the biggest song of the year, Hanumankind’s ‘Big Dawgs’ which shot out of India like a shooting star and charted in 10 different countries including going to number 23 on the US Billboard chart. Viral phenomenon of the year goes to Japan’s Yuki Chiba, with his irrepressible ‘Team Tomodachi’, a song that played on the theme of friendship and loyalty on a proto-Crunk beat and ended up with similar versions from MCs in China, S Korea, Indonesia, Taiwan, Vietnam…well, too many to mention them all!

JP The Wavy had a big year, with the highlight being his collaboration with artworld icon Takashi Murakami. Continuing a time-honored Hip Hop tradition that merges Art and Rap–names like Fab 5 Freddy, Rammellzee, Futura, and Jay Z come to mind–these two, known as MNNK Bro. [Mononoke Brothers] have created something special indeed. Elsewhere, RAMENGVRL kept the pressure up with collabs with Awich and Jay Park and starting to DJ for her own Going Noodles events. Cambodia’s VannDa had quite a year, too. He performed at the closing ceremony of the Paris Olympics, threw the party of the year for 15,000 Hip Hop fans in Phnom Penh, and released his magnum opus three-part album, Treyvisai.

Jay Park dropped a new album, world tour, and got together the who’s who of female Asian rappers for his ‘Xtra McNasty’ remix, including Awich, MILLI, RAMENGVRL, Lil Cherry, CAMO, and others. India’s GOAT rapper DIVINE did DIVINE type ish, with a groundbreaking collab album with Karan Aujla and India’s first Hip Hop festival, Gully Fest. Thailand’s MILLI dropped ‘ONE PUNCH’ and brought Muay Thai into the limelight. KR$NA came from India and jumped on a huge Awich track ‘Asian State of Mind’ [also featuring VannDa, MaSiWeiand Jay Park] that set a new standard for Asian cross-border collaboration. This is something we expect more from Indian rappers this year, as their buzzy scene continues to go global.

As India and Japan continue to dominate the Asian Hip Hop landscape in 2025, countries like Korea and China remain strong, and SE Asia is on the rise. This year we even had a new entry from Pakistan, and we’re starting to hear definite rumblings from the Middle East. Wherever the new noise is coming from we’ll be there. Thanks for following us, and thanks for reading.

Awich is the LiFTED 50’s number one rapper for the second year in a row. Check out the announcement and interview here.

Indian rapper Hanumankind’s unlikely year was eclipsed only by our number one, Awich. But boy did he have a big year. The Houston, Texas-raised rapper’s massive single ‘Big Dawgs’ dropped last summer and took off like a Tsunami, with a confident Southern drawl, slick rhyme, signature distorted bassline, production by Kalmi, and a crazy video that captured Indian carnival motorcyclists riding around in a well of death. It all added up to a perfect storm that catapulted the respected Indian rapper into the international spotlight.

Signed to Def Jam India, the track has charted in 10 countries, including going to number 23 on the US Billboard chart. With nearly half a billion Spotify plays and 240 million YouTube views, ‘Big Dawgs’ was by far the biggest international Asian Rap hit in the last year. Just when the uninitiated were wondering if he was a one-hit wonder, the follow-up single, ‘Run it Up’ dropped three months ago and pushed the aural and visual boundaries even further, with heavy tribal drums and a spectacular video - again directed by Bijoy Shetty - that gets deeper into his Keralan culture. 2021 saw Cambodia’s VannDa create a monster hit by mining Khmer culture with ‘Time to Rise.’ 2024 saw Hanumankind do the same thing and up the ante by taking it international.

Three has been VannDa’s lucky number in 2025 because instead of creating one album to try and follow up his mega-hit ‘Time to Rise’ with Master Kong Nay, he put out a three-part concept album, Treyvisai, showing people the compass of his life. In a recent interview with LiFTED, VannDa explained that his compass pointed to four things, “My country, my craft, my family, and the people I consider family.”

His management company, Baramey, is doing a great job pushing VannDa into the stratosphere as well. They recently put on a 15,000-person strong concert that brought all corners of Asian Hip Hop together in Phnom Penh with Awich and OzWorld from Japan, KR$NA from India, OG Bobby from Thailand, and Thinlamphone from Laos. VannDa also had a coveted slot at the closing ceremonies of the 2024 Summer Olympics.

Instead of just riding on the coattails of his mega-hits, VannDa is trying to do things in the international field that have never been done by a Cambodian artist before.

Formerly known as KOHH, Yuki Chiba had one of the most successful rebrandings of all time. The Japanese rapper and singer needed to make a statement when he came back out under a new alias, so he released the Crunk-ish ‘Team Tomodachi,’ a track where he and his homies got hype outside a convenience store. Soon, ‘Team Tomodachi’ was THE song in Asian Hip Hop, and everyone wanted to make their own remix. In Japan, there were 10 [TEN!] official remixes of the song, and around Asia, dozens of artists and crews chimed in with their own takes. The song got so huge, that even Big Willie himself, Will Smith, made a version.

Yuki made the list because of the ‘Tomodachi’ phenomenon last year, but a bit later in 2024, he was tapped by Megan Thee Stallion to hop on her mega-hit ‘Mamushi.’ Instead of languishing as an album cut, the song has a video based on Japanese snake mythology with 79 million views on YouTube, and she brought him out at a concert in London and the MTV Video Music Awards. Since his rebranding, Yuki has been relentless in his release of music, showing his desire to be at the top of the Japanese Hip Hop scene.

Japan’s JP The Wavy dropped down a few notches from last year, but not for lack of hustle. He had another great year, but the competition was rough! From what we already know about the year coming up, expect Wavy to be easily in the top five again next year. First off, Wavy is not new to this. He’s been steadily turning out hits and dope videos ever since he broke through with 2017’s ‘Cho Wavy de Gomenne,’ and he hasn’t looked back.

In 2024, he blew the art form wide open when he collaborated with contemporary street art icon Takashi Murakami for his art exhibit in Kyoto. They joined forces for a new song and some wonderfully blinged-out merch, and Mononoke Brothers AKA MNNK Bro. was born. Then this year they did it again, this time with Louis Vuitton for Murakami’s new collection, complete with a dope new single and video, ‘LV Murakami’, and a surprise performance at Art Basel in Hong Kong. We hear a bigger production is in the works, but we can’t let the cat out of the bag yet.

Considering Hip Hop’s roots are at the nexus between music and visual art, JP The Wavy is building on a tradition that includes everyone from Fab 5 Freddy, Rammellzee, and Jay Z. Now that’s dope.

RAMENGVRL is a perennial top 10 Asian rapper with good reason: She’s dope. She just keeps raising the bar for herself and the Asian Rap game. Last summer, she performed at LiFTED’s mainstage takeover at Bali’s Suara Festival and crushed it. Since then, she’s been on a tear. She’s been on game-changing singles like Jay Park’s ‘Xtra McNasty,’ which featured a who’s who of Asian Rap queens like JESSI, Awich, MILLI, Lil Cherry, and CAMO. Then she dropped more heat with ‘Bombae’, also with Awich.

If that wasn’t enough, she started DJing her own Going Noodles parties and owned that. Finally, she was asked to be on this summer’s Rap of China [oh yeah, she had a few successful China tours, too], and she’s gotten the coveted gold chain. Not bad for a former Indonesian office worker who started rhyming in her free time and is now a force to be reckoned with and one of the biggest names in Asian Hip Hop.

Jay Park moves in and out of the spotlight as he chooses and focuses on what he wants. When you are the OG Asian Hip Hop superstar, you get afforded those rights. In 2024 and 2025, Jay was everywhere. He got a lot of people verklempt by starting an Only Fans on the runup to his single release, ‘McNasty,’ and posting some steamy pics. Even better was when he dropped the ‘Xtra McNasty’ remix with the hottest females in the game Awich, CAMO, MILLI, RAMENGVRL, Lil Cherry, MIRANI, and Maliibu Miitch.

Last year, Jay also released his latest album, The One You Wanted, which had a very heavy R&B influence and featured top-tier artists like Ty Dolla $ign. To follow that up, Jay has been on his first global tour in six years, Serenades and Body Rolls, where he brings out big names to open for him in each city he stops in.

By DIVINE standards, this past year was kinda quiet, but he’s still the GOAT of Indian Hip Hop as far as we’re concerned. His album Street Dreams with Punjabi singer-rapper Karan Aujla was groundbreaking, and the single ‘100 Million’ has that many streams and views between Spotify and YouTube. Then his Gullyfest broke records as India’s first Hip Hop festival, with performances from DIVINE, Pusha T, Prabh Deep, Gully Gang All-Stars, Sambata, Reble, and many others. His single ‘Triple OG’ on a hard Phonom beat proved that he’s still at the top of the game, lyrically and sonically.

Divine’s style, swag, and business prowess lead by example for a new generation of Indian MCs looking to rise up in the white-hot Indian Rap game.

As LiFTED’s April 2025 coverstar, Thailand’s MILLI came in with a knockout left hook on her single, ‘ONE PUNCH.’ The song displayed her talent for rapping, but her love for Muay Thai goes deeper than just a photo or video shoot. MILLI trains at her own gym, Rope A Dope Boxing Gym, AND she just had her first public fight. In an era of media-savvy artists who rarely say or do anything controversial, MILLI hung it all out on the line and lost a fight very graciously. In it, she learned that the secret to martial arts isn’t about others, but what a single person can learn themselves.

MILLI is so talented that when she’s not in a fighting ring, she can pop out on an anthem, like her summer jam with DaBoyWay,‘OUIIII’ or go in full R&B mode for her latest single, ‘MENACE.’ As a rapper and a singer, MILLI will go on to be one of the biggest superstars in Thailand’s history by the time all is said and done.

KR$NA has always been in the mix of the best Rap artists in India. He’s not new to this. He’s also always been outward-looking, having previously featured on joints with US rappers Hi-Rez, Royce Da 5’9”, Joell Ortiz, Bizzy Bone, Tech N9ne, and Twista. But he made a power move in Asia this past year by jumping into the frothy Japanese scene and working with the queen, Awich. He was on her genre-defining smash ‘Asian State of Mind’ with cross-border luminaries Jay Park, MaSiWei, and VannDa, where he dropped one of the illest lines of the year, ‘Shimmy shimmy yay shimmy ya, I don’t know you, you ain’t familiar’. That record is the first in the region that reps India [and Japan, Korea, China, and Cambodia] on a level footing with the rest of Asia. It’s big, and KR$NA kicked that door down. His signing with Mass Appeal was big news this past Spring, coinciding with Rap god Nas’ first trip to India. His mixtape Yours Truly dropped to great fanfare, and he’s right where he should be at the top of the game.

On Halloween of last year, G-Dragon shook the world when he dropped back in after a seven-year hiatus with ‘Power.’ 65 million views on YouTube and a world tour with arena shows in Vegas, LA, Australia, and all over Asia later, G-Dragon has proved that he’s been missed.

In the seven years he was gone, K-pop artists like NewJeans, BTS, and BLACKPINK whom G-Dragon had influenced when he was with BigBang jumped to the forefront of music. He needed to come back on his own terms, and Übermensch, released in February of 2025, showed that he had K-pop and Hip Hop skills to fill a full album.

MCs Calm and Encore ABJ have been rising through the ranks of Indian rappers steadily since we first worked with them as part of our Next 5 campaign in 2022. This year, they land at number 12, and that’s because they are almost in a league by themselves as Indie rappers. Since 2017 they have been building one of the most fervent fanbases in all of India, and releasing with iconic independent label Azadi Records. Since 2024 they have become even more indie and started their own DL91 label. Everything they drop streams because they have fans everywhere, and are one of the few acts who can draw thousands almost anywhere in India. In the past year their DL91 compilation album featured a gang of artists they are now working with, including Lil Bhavi, OG Lucifer, Ab-17, Samay Raina, and others. Needless to say, it has found an eager audience. With 2.5 million monthly Spotify listeners and almost a billion streams last year, they promote themselves by performing and the best PR of all - word of mouth.

Rap groups are few and far between in Hip Hop in 2025. Asia’s biggest Hip Hop group, the Higher Brothers, has had a few years off to pursue solo projects but decided to reform for this year’s Head in the Clouds festival by 88rising. It’s always good to see the brothers–Psy. P, a newly svelte KnowKnow, heartthrob MaSiWei, and Melo–back on the same stage, and we are hopeful that the reunion was so well-received that the group will be back in the studio soon.

Taiwan also has a group that has branched out with their solo careers. For 2025, the crew is back together, and it’s always great to see E.So, Kenzy, and MUTA rocking their respective mics as MJ116. This time around, the crew is a bit older and wiser, and they have released OGs, an album that blends many different styles of music. They are also flexing their collective might with a four-day concert series at the Taipei Arena, a 15,000-person venue that promises different special guests each night.

Unlike MJ116 and the Higher Brothers, Digi Ghetto is creating more success as solo artists. Like Wu-Tang Clan 30 years ago, Members KIV, MACOVASEAS, MULA SAKEE, THOMEBOYDONTKILL, and TOYOKI seem to constantly be doing solo or duo tours in China and overseas, while occasionally getting the gang together for big shows like ComplexCon Hong Kong. Whatever they are doing is working for them.

Unlike the men’s groups above,XG stands as one as their popularity continues to increase daily because they straddle the line between J-pop and Hip Hop. Their videos are big budget, they sell millions of tickets around the world, and they can also Rap and dance like no one's business. In May, the girls of XG sold out a 50,000-seat Tokyo Dome on the final stop on their world tour, The First Howl. Now, they are taking a well-deserved break, and we’ll see if they come out again as a group or as solo artists.

For the past three years, Rich Brian has been lying low and only popping up when he felt like the time was right. Sometimes he would drop a dope verse on a labelmate's song, or he’d want to be part of 88rising’s Head in the Clouds. This year, he’s back to business and releasing WHERE IS MY HEAD?, a long-sought-after album, on August 15. He’s doing his own thing on the singles like ‘Butterfly’ or ‘Little Ray of Light.’ The songs aren’t necessarily Hip Hop, but then again, they aren’t not Hip Hop. In his latest release with Ski Mask the Slump God, Rich Brian gets ‘Jumpy,’ and back to the essence of the music people know and love him for.

YOUNGOHM is the reigning king of soulful Thai Hip Hop that connects with everyone from delivery drivers to school girls to high-profile celebrities. He’s got a way with words and vocal tones that resonate with anyone with a heart. Plus, the Already Deadd leader likes to take chances, like he did with ‘เจิดจรัส,’ a New Wave track with a lot of singing and a sax solo, because he can.

Winning Artist of the Year at the 2025 Korean Hip Hop Awards means a lot because that’s where a good portion of the Asian Hip Hop heat is coming from. Sik-K is a pioneer in the Rage Rap space in Korea, and he had a very fruitful 12 months with ‘MADE IN KCOREA [1TAKEBAR]’featuring Lil Moshpit and‘Trap’ with Jimmy Paige got a lot of burn.

Singapore’s Yung Raja has been on our top 50 list every year since we started and with good reason. He’s consistently dropped big tracks and expanded his audience. Last summer he co-headlined the LiFTED mainstage takeover at Suara Festival in Bali [with RAMENGVRL] and literally left no prisoners. Also In 2024 he left his longtime label Def Jam and signed on with Mass Appeal India, after making a strong move to the subcontinent that included opening for 50 Cent in Mumbai and working with artists like Sri Lankan/Canadian MC Shan Vincent De Paul on the fire AF single ‘Aiyo!’ which is one of the best music videos of 2025. This year Raja dropped ‘High Fashion’ with Mass Appeal India, along with a video showcasing his fashion-forward, way-ahead-of-the-game style.

GINJIN has been holding the Mongolian Rap crown for almost a decade, along with his queen, Mrs M. But make no mistake, GINJIN is the King. He’s been prolific with his releases since last year, touring with [and without Mrs M] wherever the Mongolian diaspora is. They dropped the super catchy ‘Pokemon’ last summer and shot the video in Tokyo. Then he hit Cali and dropped some hard-as-nails West Coast Trap bangers with MCs 113 and B Tamir, and came back with a couple of joints featuring OG of OGs Icetop Boogie from the seminal Mongolian Icetop crew. GINJIN even touched some Afro vibes with Mrs M on the smooth ‘HaterYA’ featuring Twinpearly and Gana, with a colorful video shot in an UlaanBaatar housing project. There have been even more releases since we last checked in, but there isn’t enough room. Suffice to say that release-wise, GINJIN had one of the most prolific years in Asian Hip Hop.

Flow G is the crown jewel in the ASINTADA team, which includes OG Gloc-9, and superstars Shanti Dope and Skusta Clee. With a Rolls-Royce lifestyle in ‘Mala SV,’ Flow G explains how he went from a zero to a cultural icon, and if things overflow, it’s better to give away than to let things spill.

Straight outta Okinawa, OzWorld comes at the world from different angles. He spits in English, Japanese, and Okinawan Ryukyuan, and keeps it real in all three. Besides making solo tracks, he has teamed up with a who’s who of Japanese Hip Hop, including Awich and Miyachi, to make songs for video games as well as to represent the rebel kingdom of Okinawa to the fullest. His ‘Gear 5’ Remix with Miyachi and Jinmenusagi was one of our favorite jams from the past year.

When thinking about Thai Hip Hop, all roads point to Thaitanium. The crew has been doing their thing for nearly a quarter of a century and is part of the reason why Hip Hop is so prominent in the Kingdom. When thinking about Thaitanium, all signs point to DaBoyWay as the de facto leader of the crew, main mouthpiece, and solo artist. As a businessman, Way has a chain of barber shops all over Thailand, NEVERSAYCUTZ, and a children’s clothing line, Dek Tay. Music is a first love, though, and summertime is when the heat is on. After hooking up with the Dominican Republic’s Mark B for ‘POGO’ in 2023, he just released the summer anthem with MILLI, ‘OUIIIII,’ that will have people dancing all year round.

2024 and 2025 have been relatively slow years for Jessi to release music, but that doesn’t mean she’s not dominating the scene. As the world embraces K-Pop and K-Hop, Jessi is the best of both worlds because she has millions of fans, her live show is killer, and she stops traffic with her good looks. Jessi left Jay Park’s More Vision after they announced their collab at Rolling Loud 2023, and she terminated her contract with the DOD agency after a fan was assaulted by a friend. Once all the dust settles and Jessi gets into music-making mode, she will come back and be one of the biggest superstars in the world again.

Widely credited with bringing Urdu language Rap into the Pakistani mainstream, Karachi’s Young Stunners have been together since they were 16 years old. But it was 2024 when Nas’ Mass Appeal label, already rolling in India, made a power move into Pakistan, partnering with Talha Yunus and Talha Anjum AKA Young Stunners. Now Young Stunners are starting to collab with their better-known Indian counterparts, and cross-border features and collaborations can’t be far off. Last year’s ‘Me & You’ was credited to Young Stunners/Talha Yunis/Talha Anjum, a sign that the boys are also starting to release under their own names. With 1.4 million monthly Spotify listeners and another 1.8 Million YouTube subscribers, they have a solid fan base and are still under 30. The future looks very bright.

Japan has a deep roster of Hip Hop talent, and ¥ellow Bucks is up there with the best of them. After dropping the well-received Jungle 2 album in 2024, ¥ellow Bucks put out videos for ‘My Resort Pt.2,’ ‘Big Shit Trouble,’ ‘MALIBU,’ and ‘Blessed.’ With an undeniable work ethic and a dope rhyming flow, ¥ellow Bucks is here to stay.

To make it to the top tier of Indian Hip Hop, MCs must be consistent, build a following, and be able to rap their asses off.Emiway Bantai clicks all the boxes and then some as the ‘KING’ had a different year in 2024. He got married, and he also put a ‘Tribute to Sidhu Moose Wala’ around the second anniversary of his death. For that, he got death threats from the same people linked to the assassination, which he promptly brushed off and did what all great MCs do: put out more music like his latest release, ‘PAISA PAISA.’

Twopee Southside is like the monsoon season in Thailand. He’s always lurking in the background and has the ability to make a big splash when he wants to. The MC from the southside of Phuket is consistently putting out quality material [like ‘ไม่เป็นไร’] while holding it down in live shows with his crew or as part of the extended Thaitanium family.

The thing about CAMO is that she has such a built-in fan base that she can pop in and out of the music business when she wants. Take for example the beginning of 2024, when she released the Yours Truly mixtape with smashes ‘K-Pack,’ ‘Only You,’ and ‘Ring Ring’ back-to-back-to-back. Then she can be out of the music side of things and enjoy her life while doing shows riding her own wave. But don’t take our word for it, just check out her IG which is bananas.

The queen of Chinese Hip Hop had a pretty full year, but stayed mostly in the Middle Kingdom and you have to find most of her output on the Chinese web. Having said that, she has dropped over 15 tracks and collabs since 2024 and has been a steady presence on the Rap of China. Her recent song ‘Sista’ with Wang Rong was a hit on the TV Show Ride the Wind 2025. If you want to see VaVa’s real reach in China you need to check mainland apps. For example, her Spotify has 150K monthly listeners, but it’s millions on NetEase Cloud Music. Likewise, don’t worry about her IG, but check Weibo, where she has over seven million followers.

When you drop a bomb, you get a lot of love. Last year, Yuki Chiba put out ‘Team Tomodochi’ in February, but the full extent wasn’t felt for over a year. In 2025, Shan Vincent De Paul teamed up with Yung Raja for the over-the-top zaniness of ‘AIYO!,’ a video that is sure to come in at the top of many Best Video lists of 2025. SVDP has shown a lot of creativity in his output, and his Rap game is on point, but this video has cemented him as one of the best visual artists in the business right now.

When Morobeats rushed the scene last year, they declared themselves the Boom Bap kings [and queens] of Asia. They have earned every syllable of that moniker. Soon, DJ Medmessiah- produced songs were inescapable on Asian social media. With Morobeats, it’s a true family affair as MCs Miss A and Fateeha are Medmessiah’s daughters. With the whole family locked in, be on the lookout for the worldwide Morobeats takeover.

While juggling being a mother and an MC, Mongolia’s Mrs M is continually putting out quality music that puts people in romantic moods, makes people think, and gets them to dance. On ‘Midnight,’ M takes the Disco diva vibes and runs with it. It's a shift that expands her fan base and also shows that she’s not only going to be a hardcore Hip Hop MC for the rest of her life.

If you need someone to turn up a Boiler Room set, Miyachi is the MC to call. Hong Kong recently got the Boiler Room love and during tokyovitamin’s set, the ‘salaryman’ came to drop off some dope rhymes and turn the crowd into a frenzy. Party rockin’ is not the only thing Miyachi is good at. Just last week, the rapper dropped ‘3AM in Hong Kong,’ a somber tribute to JJJ, a Japanese rapper who passed away on April 13.

Novel Fergus is firmly entrenched in the Canto-Rap scene in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and China. He doesn’t try to emulate foreign rappers; instead, he brings his own flavor to the scene by rapping about what he knows, and he’s become one of the most lyrical storytellers to come out of Hong Kong. With a stack of collabs recently released with Multiverse’s Macdella, Zoe, and BG8LOCC, Fergus is slowly and steadily climbing the Asian Hip Hop ladder.

Haysen has been on our list every year since he was part of The Next 5 project in 2022. He’s stayed on the list because he’s always been an Indie force, from the time he was dropping tracks in Hong Kong, to his power move to Chengdu to join forces with super producer HARIKIRI. In 2024, he struck gold with KIV from Digi Ghetto and Clutch on ‘Tsim Sha Tsui’ - one of the first Rap songs to blow up in the Mainland and Hong Kong. That led him to develop his Hong Kong Don persona and start rhyming in Cantonese again, which was a strong move to the hoop considering he was all the while living in Chengdu and working with the Mainland’s finest. Then he dropped the Hong Kong Don album with features from KIV, Novel Fergus, and VINIDA, who sings and raps on the standout hit ‘Black Eight’. His numbers may not be stratospheric just yet, but he keeps busting power moves, and he makes a big jump up the chart this year.

The gully don’t lie. MC Altaf is as real as it gets because he comes from the streets. He’s been writing rhymes since 2018, and was called in as a coach for the Bambaiya slang in the Bollywood blockbuster Gully Boy. As he prepares for the superstardom that is just around the corner, he’s putting out a great body of work like ‘Hood Poetry’ and ‘Chooke Dekh’ with a co-sign from Gully Gang labelmate DIVINE.

MC Jin is one of the best-known pioneers in the Asian Rap game, and this year, he was everywhere. He was hosting shows in Dubai, doing live sets at ComplexCon Hong Kong, and being on the cover of LiFTED in May. That doesn’t even mention his video for On the Radar Radio, putting out the Roller Coaster album, and finding common ground with Jeremy Lin [Can we call this podcast Jinsanity?]. Asian Hip Hop is a better place with MC Jin in the picture.

As an immigrant rapper who frequently travels between the US and China, Bohan Phoenix knows the struggle. That all came out on ‘Great Wall of America,’ one of the most poignant songs Bohan has ever made. That tail ends a year that started when he released ‘No Chain’, a brave diss to The Rap of China conglomerate when he didn’t make it past the qualifying rounds. Instead of taking it sitting down, he made the record so many before him wanted to.

Hong Kong rapper JB is all about his friends. In his song ‘Me and My Crew,’ the MC doesn’t really care what anyone else thinks except his Greytone family. He lives that song when he does shows for Chivas Regal or even when he dabbles in harmonica Hip Hop. The past year JB has been all over the world repping Hong Kong, from Kuala Lumpur to Bangkok to Paris. He dosn’t drop a ton of new music, but when he does it hits every time.

As the female half of the Yurufuwa Gang, Nene was dropping some of the most psychedelic videos in Japanese Hip Hop. Over the past year, she’s ventured into solo territory and has been making a lot of waves with her style and madness. Whether it’s ‘HONEY BUNS’ with Awich or ‘KITERU’ on her own, Nene is showing out and proving that she’s got what it takes to be a baddie superstar in a male-dominated industry.

Wonderframe impressed when she was one of the first acts to play at Rolling Loud Thailand. Even though the early crowd was thin, she and her dancers gave it their all to bring the audience joy. She’s been growing rapidly since, and was even on the LiFTED cover in 2024. She definitely represents the Pop side of Asian Hip Hop, but with a fierce determination and focus, singer, actor, and rapper Wonderframe knows where she wants to go.

Sitting at the San Francisco airport, I looked up from my phone to the digital billboard and recognized Lil Cherry in a campaign for Heineken promoting being social off social media. A lightbulb flashed in my brain because when I was first introduced to Lil Cherry, she was on the fringe of the mainstream rapping in Korean about ‘Pye Life’ and ‘MUKKBANG!’ with her producer/brother GOLDBUDDA. Now the world has shifted to a place where Lil Cherry is next to Joe Jonas slanging beer, hopping on Jay Park remixes, and crying bedazzled tears at 188 beats per minute to her song ‘CRYING IN THE CLUB.’ This world is healing.

In 2020, at the age of 15, Saran won Thailand’s most prestigious TV show Rap competition, The Rapper, and he’s been on an upward trajectory since. He’s leading the new wave of rappers in a country with a deep history of Hip Hop by putting out a stream of amazing tracks and building a young audience with every show he does. In his latest,‘BUS STOP,’ featuring Maiyarap, Saran shows his versatility by going a bit R&B and a bit New Wave Weeknd style.

2024 and 2025 have been great years for Khantrast, a Chinese-American who got his start as an anime rapper. He’s been everywhere dropping bops including ‘Landed in Brooklyn,’ ‘Where is the Bread?’ and ‘Man of the Year.’ While Khantrast has made a bit of a mockery of Asian Hip Hop by always filming in Chinese restaurants, wearing farmer’s hats, and including goats in the videos, he’s got a crazy ear for beats and a creative lyrical flow that shows a lot of potential.

In the one zillionth case of women having it harder than men, Malaysia’s Mimi Fly released ‘Serumpun,’ and then the complaints started rolling in because it was during Ramadan, and some people said her outfit was inappropriate. To confront the criticism head first, Mimi took the video down, reedited it, and now it sits at 14 million views, which shows she knows how to do Hip Hop in a secular world. In another song, ‘ANGKAT,’ she sums it up perfectly by saying, ‘I don’t care/I smile, but it’s prickly.”

With a Japanese mother and an Indian father, Rapper Big Deal is a one-man melting pot of Asian Hip Hop. He’s from Odisha and rhymes in English, Odia, and Hindi. As the coverstar in October of 2024, he explained that since he didn’t look like anyone else wherever he went, he faced racism, but instead of letting that hold him down, it pushed him to create his own narrative for standing out. With tracks like ‘Fresh Toka’ and the ‘East Indian Cypher,’ Rapper Big Deal is living up to his name.

Reble enters our chart this year because she’s making a lot of noise in India. She hails from Shillong in the Northeast of the country, and grew up on Hip Hop giants like Eminem and Andre 3000. Naturally, she mainly rhymes in English. But man can she spit! Her turn guesting on tracks like ‘Set it Off’ by fellow Shillong native Kim the Beloved shows she can rhyme quick fast in a hurry with hard lyrics and no shortage of attitude. Last year she was added to Mumbai’s Gully Fest and she’s a name on everyone’s lips right now. Don’t sleep on Reble.

Number 50 is always a long shot, but sometimes the returns on the final LiFTED 50 gamble are great. Moon was born and raised in France by Vietnamese and Senegalese parents. The dope part is that she raps in Korean and English as well. December was mooncember as she promoted her EP, Uncharted Vol. 1, by dropping bars each Sunday leading up to her birthday. If the future of Asian Hip Hop sounds like a combo of Afrobeats, Drill, Trap, and K-pop, then moon is a combination of every corner of the globe.