The past decade has been a strong one for Asian hip-hop, and 2025 was no exception. It showed up everywhere – in late-night playlists, on festival stages, in cyphers with no subtitles, and in tracks that didn’t stop to explain themselves. This wasn’t about Asian rap trying to establish a global presence anymore. It sounded confident, like it already knew it belonged.

Across South Korea, China, Japan, India, Southeast Asia, and the diaspora, hip-hop artists released music that confidently spoke in their own languages, proving just how powerful that choice could be. Language was no longer something to work around; it became a strength. Accents added texture, regional rhythms brought identity, and local cadence shaped the flow. Understanding every lyric was no longer a requirement, either. With translations only a click away, listeners could easily grasp the themes, and even when nuance was lost in translation, the emotion and intent still came through clearly. While many of these artists are influenced by Western hip-hop, they are no longer defined by it. Instead, they’ve created their own styles, and individuality has become their greatest statement.

The symbolic flashpoint for this shift came early in the year with Asian State of Mind, a cross-continental track that stitched together voices from different corners of the map without sanding down their differences. Awich’s measured force, Jay Park’s global style, KR$NA’s refined wordplay, Masiwei’s smooth Mandarin flow, and VannDa’s great delivery didn’t try to outdo each other; they simply complemented each other.

South Korea stayed central in 2025, but the focus wasn’t only on star power. Artists like Nosun shaped the year through control and consistency. His studio album Exit Wounds was a well-polished release, with superb songs including Losing Senses, East Side, and Psalm, with the latter featuring Loopy. Also, Nosun’s collab on Blue Ink with James An captured a move towards more reflective hip-hop. James has been on the scene for quite some time, and every release delivers serious beats and lyrics that are straight to the point. In my humble opinion, he is a modern hip-hop poet.

Apart from the aforementioned Blue Ink, he also dropped another collab track, Hypocrite featuring KP. James’ songs are honest, and that’s what I truly cherish about him as an artist. He has always stayed close to the roots of hip-hop. With Hypocrite, he addresses all the issues that are part of our society, calling out hypocrisy, fakeness, and toxic energy. Especially when he expresses his disgust for those who show off or act disingenuously – portraying it almost like a contagious sickness – it really hits close to home. And while most of us can’t shout these truths out ourselves, artists like him do it for us.

One can’t forget Changmo’s [Op.2] release – he did it again. Changmo’s music has always carried a rare spark, and this project only confirmed why he remains such a vital presence in Korean hip-hop. Speaking of emerging artists, SO MANY EGO – also known as Jung Gyu Min – deserves special mention. A rapper with an incredible artistic approach, he is just as talented with drawings and paintings as he is with words and sound. His EP Z is a carefully produced piece of writing and music. Produced by Ten Off, AVERZI, and trashtownboy, the project proves that Korea continues to produce hip-hop gems like him.

While not as widely known as some of his peers, SO MANY EGO has clearly found his audience, reaching listeners not only in Korea but also in the UK, Portugal, and across Europe. One can only hope his career continues to grow, so that many more people get the chance to discover and experience his work.

Across the Yellow Sea, Chinese hip-hop in 2025 has also flourished. Where earlier eras emphasised technical proficiency or shock value, this year felt more self-aware. Masiwei has always stood on top of the mountain for his cinematic approach and truly great lyricism. His latest releases, The Lottery and The Lottery GT: Action, showed again that Mandarin rap continues to expand stylistically.

With artists exploring trap, cloud rap, and minimalist beats while keeping language central, Masiwei’s presence at home and in pan-Asian collaborations showed that Chinese hip-hop no longer needed to justify itself.

Japan’s scene is coming into focus, too. Awich’s presence loomed large, not just for her collaborations but for her ability to move between underground credibility and international reach without sacrificing edge. At the same time, artists like Creepy Nuts, with superb releases such as Doppelganger, Mirage, and Nemurenai, and OZworld, with his album 369ノ6 – my favourite tracks being HIGHEST (ft. JP THE WAVY & LEX), ARIGATO, and おばーの時計 (Grandma’s Watch) – released material that reminded us how sophisticated and structurally inventive Japanese rap can be. There was an ease to much of the music coming out of Tokyo, Osaka, and Okinawa in 2025 – the ease of artists who know their audience is listening, even if the rest of the world is still catching up.

India’s hip-hop growth kept rising, but this year it felt more present. KR$NA’s verses came across strong and self-assured. Hanumankind’s (Sooraj Cherukat) 2025 releases combined powerful delivery with cultural roots, instantly drawing me into his music. Across languages and regions, artists used hip-hop to express ambition, frustration, humor, and pride – and I loved it.

Southeast Asia added some of the year’s most emotionally resonant work. Cambodian rapper VannDa continued to demonstrate how hip-hop can connect with national identity without becoming slogan-driven. In the Philippines, artists and collectives experimented with multilingual rap that treated indigenous languages as rhythmic assets, not as cultural footnotes. The result was local music, yet immediately compelling to outsiders. Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia all saw rappers blending street narratives with engaging production, often releasing music that circulated widely without ever being framed as “global.”

What tied all of this together in 2025 was a collaboration as infrastructure. Artists appeared on each other’s tracks without fanfare. Diaspora voices flowed easily between scenes. Nosun and James Ah’s work exemplified this fluidity, not Korean rap trying to sound Western, not diaspora artists diluting themselves, but artists operating in the overlap with confidence.

The music released in 2025 pointed to a future where Asian hip-hop artists not only represent themselves but also the cultures and places they come from. Without a doubt, artists like Nosun, James Ah, OZworld, Masiwei, Awich, KR$NA, Hanumankind, VannDa, and many others changed the way it’s heard.

Written by Maggie Gogler

Image courtesy of Mnet

_{View of the Arts is an online publication dedicated to film, music, and the arts, with a special focus on the Asian entertainment industry. Alongside in-depth features on emerging and established musicians, we provide thoughtful coverage of cinema, from independent films to international releases, exploring the stories and work that bring them to life. Through interviews, reviews, and features, we connect our audience with the voices and visions driving the cultural landscape today.}