James An Photo: Screenshot
Canadian-Korean rapper James An grew up in Vancouver listening to Eminen and 50 Cent.
He is now at the forefront of the sub-genre K Hip Hop which is booming in popularity.
Hip hop globally, is one of the most powerful and most uplifting ways of expression through music, he told RNZ's Nine to Noon.
"I think that's partly because, first of all, the incredible history, but also the emphasis on lyricism and how there is an expectation for MCs, or rappers, to use their own lyrics to talk about what they believe in and send the message that they believe in."
It started to take off in South Korea around 2010, he said.
"Korean hip hop is really interesting because, there's a big intersection between the commercial aspects beginning in early 2010 a lot of bigger media conglomerates in Korea got really interested in investing in Korean hip hop, and starting to acquire hip hop labels."
Concurrently popular audition programmes like Show Me The Money, boosted the genre, he said.
"Show Me The Money 10th season that's the one where it gave me the first exposure to the audience."
On one of his latest tracks 'Grand Thanks Auto' he raps about gratitude, he said.
"I know GTA is a very popular game, and it's about doing a lot of bad things, but so I wanted to write a song on gratitude, because personally, I doubt myself a lot about whether or not I'm being grateful enough."
An is equally at home in the academic world, researching the potential of hip hop storytelling to impact education and dismantle racism.
He's currently in New Zealand to give a talk at the University of Auckland as the guest of the Ethnomusicology Department and Korean studies.
"I'm here to do a lecture and hip hop workshop, as well as a performance tomorrow at 3pm at Kenneth Myers centre.
"And I'm here to really talk about sort of my personal journey and story as a Korean independent hip hop artist.
"And secondly, a little bit of my insight and experience in navigating the Korean hip hop scene. And lastly, I'll also be sharing a little bit of my own research that I do with professors in Korea at KAIST and Seoul National University, and it's on Korean hip hop and how Korean rappers express success in their lyrics."