His real name is Moon Ji-hoon and he was born on October 14, 1986. Swings debuted in 2008 with the extended play Upgrade. Then he joined the hip-hop group Uptown in 2009, but left by the end of the year. His first full-length album, Growing Pains released in 2010. Competing on the second season of the TV rap competition Show Me the Money in 2013 made him gain wider popularity. Swings triggered a ‘Control diss phenomenon’ within the Korean hip-hop scene with the release of his diss track King Swings Part 2, over the instrumental of Big Sean’s “Control”, in which he accused rapper Simon Dominic of not protecting his Supreme Team member, E-Sens, from an alleged slave contract offered by the label Amoeba Culture. In 2014, he returned to Show Me the Money as a producer for its third season, alongside established rappers including San E and Tablo. It seems like he was a controversial person as he triggered a control diss phenomenon before. Maybe it was not that unusual among the Korean hip-hop, but, let’s discuss some of his controversies!
Rumored to be Bisexual
Swings was rumored to be bisexual, as there was a Tweet that spread, mentioning that Swings is bisexual, “Swings is bi. I didn’t want to know but I did so you should know too.” Knowing that someone was spreading the news about it, he then responded to it by screenshotting the tweet and uploaded it on his Instagram. He commented, “Lol I feel like Freddie Mercury during his peak days.” He also hash-tagged, “I want to sue the person who wrote this just because I am curious how s/he will react.” He’s since deleted the post, but if you are still curious, we still have the picture.
Defending Young B
Young B is a controversial rapper who became popular thanks to the show High School Rapper. He is the rapper under Swings’ label. Young B became controversial when rumors claiming that he was a bully in school began to spread on the internet. There was a netizen who claimed that he was the worst bully in his neighborhood and was reported numerous times for school violence. Numerous other netizens claimed that they were victims of the rapper. As the rumor spread, one netizen commented that he would not listen to the music of a school violence offender, even if he promotes him. Feeling cross about the rumor and the negative babbles of the netizens, Swings responded it by saying: “First of all, that’s your choice. No one will say anything to you about that point. Secondly, what we know and what we think we know do not always correspond. It’s dangerous to have confidence in something that we only heard about when we didn’t even see it. It’s unfair. For you and for others. Thirdly, you say you don’t like the music of a school violence offender yet you embody the idea of gangsters, gamblers and bch in your Instagram ID. Is it more real if you don’t beat people up in school but beat them up as an adult instead? Hm? And finally, please acknowledge that people have the potential to change. If everyone is like you and think, ‘Since you were an ahole once, you’ll always be an a*hole,’ life will eventually become hell. Do you think you won’t be a part of it? Let’s all just chill, listen to some good music and develop ourselves!” Swings was defending Young B from the netizen’s attacks by saying that a person has the potential to change, but his negative words provoked other netizens to point a negative comment to him. Perhaps Swings stepped up to defend the young rapper because he is under Swings’ label. But, what Swings said is true. Everybody has a chance to change. In order to make it happen, we should support them to be better than before. Maybe it was Young B’s past that he wanted to bury. So, let’s just move on and see his positive side. Because Swings is a rapper, maybe his words are vulgar and to the point.
Calling MAMA an Idol-centered Ceremony
The Mnet Asian Music Awards, usually called MAMA, is a major South Korean music awards ceremony presented annually by the entertainment company CJ E&M. The ceremony was first held in Seoul in 1999 and aired on Mnet. Starting since between 2010 and 2017 MAMA has been held outside of South Korea and now airs internationally. Not just presenting awards for Korean Idols, the ceremony usually presents the performances of Idols who attend MAMA. Usually, Korean boy-groups and girl-groups are the most awaited things in MAMA. After MAMA 2018, Swings came into the spotlight because of his personal Instagram posts. He uploaded a hip-hop appearance video with the intention of making insinuations about the 2018 MAMA. In that posting, he wrote “Seriously, I once again realized that nothing is impossible seeing this person. It was the hottest stage from the idol-centered ceremony.” His posting, of course, invited many of netters blasphemy. Many netizens criticized it because his post was seen as looking down on idols. Even though some of the netizens agreed with Swings by saying that he’s criticizing ‘MAMA,’ not idols, and “It’s true. ‘MAMA’ would be nothing without idols.” After catching so much flak, Swings deleted his controversial post without making any replies to the hateful comments. So, what do you think about his post? Do you agree with him or are you disappointed with his statement?
