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I’m SUPER behind on recaps so this one will be a combined recap of episodes 5 and 6.

At the end of episode 4, the producers wrapped up their performances and this episode they look forward to putting their teams together. First, at the top of episode 5, we all find out how the 35 remaining contestants ranked the producer teams.

In 1st place, voted the best performance by over half of the rappers, is Jay Park and Dok2’s team. In 2nd place, Dean and Zico, who are full of gratitude at the announcement. This leaves 3rd and 4th place to be split between the two OG producer teams. Tiger JK and Bizzy come out in 3rd place, leaving 4th place for Dynamic Duo.

This year, a random cypher will be used to determine the producer teams. There will be 7 rappers per cypher group, chosen randomly to perform with randomly selected beats.

The first place winner of each cypher will get to select the producer team of their choice while the last place rapper will be eliminated. The remaining rappers will be chosen (or not) by the producers but only 20 rappers will survive this round.

Dynamic Duo selects the names of the rappers for the 1st cypher – Maniac, Ice, Kasper, Double K, Hanhae, and Young B (Mnet doesn’t even introduced us to the 5th rapper called). RIP Kasper. Everyone has nicknamed this 1st cyper crew the ‘Group of Death’.

Hanhae continues to impress me. Maniac and Double K were really strong and I thought Young B did a great job with that difficult Lupe Fiasco beat.

Ice (who’s performance wasn’t even shown on the show) is eliminated. Although Kasper was definitely the underdog in this cypher, she places 6th. Choi Nakjun (that’s his name!) places 5th. The MC announces that there is no 4th place for this group, with Hanhae and Maniac tied for 3rd. Separated by only 4 points, Double K comes out on top with Young B in 2nd.

Which team will Double K choose? He tells the MC he still has to make up his mind. He wanders around for a bit, but finally walks towards Team Jay Park & Dok2 aka Team DoPark.

Zico and Dean begin selecting the rappers for the 2nd cypher – JJK, Hangzoo, Black Nine, Hash Swan, Ja Mezz, Lee Yongjin, and Sleepy. Wowwww this group tho. Poor Sleepy, haha. This Lee Yongjin guy apparently received an All Pass in the second round but Mnet has barely given him any camera time. Hangzoo has finally gotten his chance to get revenge on Black Nine for taking Boi B out. But can he do it?

I expected greatness from Hangzoo and JJK but Ja Mezz DID THAT. The last second beat change didn’t faze him at all. Hash Swan had great rhythm. Black Nine destroyed this. Dok2 said he has the lung capacity of a diver.

Lee Yongjin did really well too. This group was bananas. What will the results be?

Sleepy receives the lowest score, ending his journey on SMTM here. In 6th place, Lee Yongjin, in 5th – JJK, in 4th – Ja Mezz. There is no 3rd place but instead two 2nd place rappers (with a one point difference between 1st and 2nd). Damn… Hash Swan and Black Nine tie for 2nd and Hangzoo gets 1st! It’s well deserved.

What will Hangzoo’s team selection be? He walks up to Dynamic Duo and shakes Choiza’s hand…only to run away and choose Team Zico & Dean, a choice that surprises everyone, Zico and Dean included.

Tiger JK and Bizzy pick the next round of contestants to face the cypher challenge – Nucksal, Jay Moon, 1kyne, Lako, Mojae, Choi Seohyun, and Woodie GoChild. 

Nucksal is sure to come out on top in this one but I was most interested in seeing how Woodie GoChild would perform.

I was surprised by how worried Nucksal seemed. Everyone was impressed with his performance but he was less than pleased with it himself.

1kyne is eliminated since he made a mistake, Choi Seohyun comes in 6th, Lako in 5th, Woodie GoChild in 4th and Jay Moon in 3rd, leaving Mojae and Nucksal. Nucksal takes 1st and makes his way to Dynamic Duo’s team, much to the elation of Choiza and Gaeko.

Jay Park and Dok2 call out the names of the rappers for the last cypher group: Junoflo, Kim Sungpil, Asol, Myundo, Big One, Olltii, and Truedy.

Asol did so well!! Olltii’s freestyle skill was awesome as expected, and Junoflo’s rap was perfect for the beat. The results? Kim Sungpil lands in 7th place and is eliminated but we find out that for this round 6th place will be eliminated as well. Truedy is in 6th and will be leaving. Big One is in 5th, Asol is in 4th, and Myundo lands in 3rd – Olltii and Junoflo are left. Junoflo ends up receiving the most points placing Olltii in second.

Who will Junoflo pick? He walks up to Team MFBTY and bows to his boss Tiger JK before making his way to Team DoPark.

The remaining 7 rappers – Woo Wonjae, Killagramz, Jo Woochan, Ness, P-Type, Ryno, and Ocean – will face off in the last cypher. Woo Wonjae is nervous because he thinks cyphers are difficult for him and Jo Woochan says he just wants to avoid being last.

Ryno shocked everyone with how good he was, Jo Woochan rapped with ease, and Woo Wonjae was awkward but stable. The results – Ocean in 7th (eliminated), P-Type and Ness share 5th place, Woo Wonjae in 4th, Joo Woochan in 3rd, Ryno in 2nd and Killagramz in 1st place.

I thought it was interesting that Choiza likened Ryno to Boi B in Season 5. There are so many established rappers this season, it’s nice to see Ryno gaining exposure.

Killagramz chooses to join Zico and Dean’s team in the end.

The 2nd round of team selection will take place in Episode 6! Keep reading >>>>>

In the second round of team selection, there will be many more eliminations. The producers can pick the remaining rappers for their team but the rappers can choose to reject their offer if they wish.

Jay Park and Dok2 make their first choice – Woodie GoChild! Team DoPark has been obsessed with Woodie from the beginning so this is no surprise.

Here are the rest of the selections made and the photos of each full team:

Jay Park x Dok2 – Ja Mezz and Ness

Team Zico x Dean – Olltii, Young B, Hash Swan

Tiger JK x Bizzy – Woo Wonjae, Maniac, Asol, Black Nine, P-Type

Dynamic Duo – Hanhae, Jo Woochan, Ryno, Myundo

Now the show truly begins. We move on to the first Song Mission.

All 4 teams will perform the songs they’ve prepared. After the performances are over, the producers of each team will have decide on one rapper from their team to eliminate. The rest of the rappers will be included on the official released track.

The first team to perform is Team Dynamic Duo. Per usual, we get to watch the team members interacting with one another and preparing for the mission behind-the-scenes. Choiza and Gaeko prepare a meal for their team at Choiza’s house.

To “test their rhythm”, they play a classic Korean drinking game, which is completely lost on young Woochan. Later on, Gaeko and Choiza reveal the beat they have prepared and share with the team that Ryno and Woochan are the rappers most likely to be eliminated, simply because of a lack of experience on the show and the fact that they are less well known by the public. Ryno and Woochan feel the pressure to give this mission everything they’ve got.

I loveeeee this song. Everyone did so well. At one point, one of the contestants watching compared Ryno to Paloalto, saying he has such strong basics, and I have to agree. He was solid. Myundo kicked off the performance perfectly and Nucksal and Hanhae killed it. Woochan held his own and really brought his own flavor to the performance.

Everyone loved the performance and admits Choiza and Gaeko have an incredibly hard choice to make.

Team Dynamic Duo says they decided to approach their decision with the intent to give the rappers who have had less opportunities to show their talent a chance. Jay Park and Dok2 speculate that Hanhae and Myundo could actually be the ones in danger since they have been on the show before and are more well known.

In the end, Myundo is let go. It’s his 3rd time appearing on the show and Choiza and Gaeko thought it was only fair to give Ryno and Woochan a chance to continue since they were just as good.

Next to perform is Team Tiger JK x Bizzy, whom they refer to as the ‘Suicide Squad’. It’s a team of rappers that no one has expected much from but has managed to give surprising performances so far..well, maybe not P-Type.

Tiger JK and Bizzy meet their team at a boxing gym for some sparring…so random. When they meet to share the track they’ve created, they reveal that P-Type is indeed the rapper on their team most likely to be eliminated. During their mid-way check in, Tiger JK and Bizzy listen to what each contestant has prepared and give them some constructive criticism. Tiger JK tells Black Nine that he had so much swearing that it was useless – that if he swears it should be with reason and purpose, otherwise it takes away from the rap. P-Type surprises everyone and delivers a stable rap with great rhymes. He seems to be determined to stick around this season.

It was a strong performance but Asol and P-Type both made lyrical mistakes. In the end, Tiger JK & Bizzy decide to let P-Type go, continuing with the mindset of giving newer rappers a chance.

Next up, Team DoPark.  During their team meal, the other rappers seem to feel a little left out because Double K goes way back with Jay and Dok2. Before they share the beat and their song concept, Dok2 and Jay share that they came up with the hook in the car on the way over. It’s a play on words with their team name – ‘도박’ (dobak) is the word for gambling in Korean.

During rehearsals, Ness and Double K seem to be in trouble because of their failure to memorize their lyrics. In addition to lyric trouble though, Ness is a bit awkward on stage. Will these two be able to pull it off?

Ja Mezz seems to be coasting right on through this season. He’s definitely talented, just not as high impact as some of the other rappers on the show. Woodie GoChild was super comfortable on stage and Junoflo delivered his verses with no problem. Ness was able to pull through with no mistakes but Double K falters towards the end of his performance to everyone’s dismay.

Dok2 and Jay Park are put in the tough position of judging the rappers based off the performance they just gave versus considering their potential to do well in the future. They end up eliminating Double K. Ugh so sad but I’m happy Ness will stick around and be able to show us more.

Last but not least, we will get to see Team Zico x Dean’s performance. First, Zico and Dean pick the guys up and have a little rooftop barbecue. For some reason, Olltii is being a jerk towards Hangzoo, to the point that it even makes Young B and Hash Swan uncomfortable.

Hangzoo of course is the rapper voted most likely to be eliminated, but during rehearsals in the studio, it is Hangzoo that impresses with his delivery while Olltii receives a lot of coaching from Dean and Zico. Olltii may have just seemed confident earlier in the show, but now it’s straight up arrogance. He gets corrected for being awkward and unnatural on stage.

Young B has a lyrical mistake during rehearsal and puts in a lot of work backstage prior to performing to make sure he gets it right. How will things turn out for this team?

First of all, this performance has me very excited for the music that will come from Team Zico x Dean in the future. Second of all, Hangzoo killed this. I love it when underdogs prosper and unfortunately, Olltii got what was coming to him. The bar was so high after his performance in the cypher round and although he did well, his small mistake is what eventually led Zico and Dean to eliminate him.

In the next episode, the team battles kick off with everyone’s favorite, the diss battle. Thanks for reading and check back here for more recaps soon! The official studio versions of all the songs from episode 6 can be found on Apple Music!