Don Malik

With ‘신관예우(新官禮遇)’, VMC’s boss Deepflow has responded to Don Malik‘s diss track ‘old Wave’ which targeted his label, amongst others.

Deepflow is known as the “godfather of Korean hiphop.” He gave his solo debut in 2003 and released his first solo album in 2007. He participated in over 50 albums of fellow artists, which accumulates to over 100 songs plus over 80 of his own. The veteran rapper has been a member of the groups BASTARDZ (with Bizniz and New Champ) and Blazers (with Mild Beatz).
Furthermore, he is the leader of the label Vismajor Company (VMC) which rappers like Nucksal, Don Mills, and ODEE belong to. In 2015, Deepflow released the full-length album ‘Yanghwa‘ which fans soon considered one of the best albums of Korean hiphop.

Yesterday, rapper Don Malik revealed the song ‘old Wave’ via SoundCloud, in which he dissed VMC and directly targeted Deepflow by including a snippet of Deepflow’s song ‘Lookin’ Good‘, which is about hiphop being Deepflow’s one and only calling and in which he disses “mainstream” rappers.

A few hours ago, at the early dawn in South Korea, Deepflow has uploaded the BUGGY-produced track ‘신관예우(新官禮遇)‘ in which he responds to Don Malik’s diss. The title roughly translates to “treating newcomers with respect,” and the image used as cover art already says it all: “So you’ve had a death wish…”
Deepflow starts his verse off like this:

“This is me treating newcomers respectfully but actually I’m not going to lose [on purpose].
A caterpillar dares to flaunt its feelers pretending to be a butterfly?!”

As expected, the veteran uses his years of experience against Don Malik who debuted only in 2014, eleven years later than Deepflow.

“The bravado of a twenty-year-old, that’s nice to see, well, [so] I applauded you first
However, after hearing your rap, uhm, I sighed
You paid to learn rap but there are no rhymes in it, is your teacher to blame?
Or did you think about something else during class?”

“Actually, I just want to do the stuff you hate, bitch
I want to use the words ‘motherfucker’ and ‘fucking bitch’ in my rap bitch”

“‘underground’, you can’t use this word
I invested ten mil in QM‘s ‘WAS‘ album
and you got paid ten mil for featuring on QM’s track
I don’t remember living under the same roof as you”

Deepflow references QM’s first full-length album ‘WAS’ which he apparently invested in. Before, he also helped crowdfund QM’s mini album ‘Eyez in the Drawer‘. Don Malik featured on the song ‘CREAM’ off the ‘WAS’ LP.
The last line above references Don Malik’s ‘old Wave’ lyrics where he rapped: “Thinking we once lived under the same roof makes me want to throw up”
Deepflow continues:

“I don’t even know your real name”

“Because of your poor slang you got sent back from the US airport
and immediately used that as marketing, is that being true ‘underground’?
You dare use the word ‘underground’?
I’m its synonym. Think about who you’re making enemies with
Me taking time to do this is the underground way of respectful treatment
If you grow up I’ll consider giving you my autograph, really
Come my way”

Here, the rapper refers to the incident at San Francisco Airport where Don Malik and several other STONESHIP artists en route to SXSW were denied entry and sent back to Korea. In the following, the agency started a Campaign Against Racism for which Don Malik released the single ‘Yellow‘.

Korean fans were ecstatic about Deepflow’s quick response, reacting mostly like: “As expected from Deepflow,” “So dope,” or “This is the response of an adult!” However, some also supported Don Malik: “Don Malik did better” and “I’m a fan of Deepflow’s but Don Malik made more sense.”

While most are enjoying this development and are looking forward to more, a minority is wishing for peace and quiet: “This scene is so small, what will they do when they run into each other at events? I do hope they stop fighting and get along.”