Suni and the Seven Princesses, South Korea’s Rapping Grandmothers

Suni and the Seven Princesses is a popular rap group made up of South Korean grannies in the 70s and 80s trying to take the entertainment industry by storm.

A group of elderly women from rural Chilgok, a county in South Korea’s North Gyeongsang province, is making international headlines for their meteoric rise as rappers. Suni and the Seven Princesses only debuted in August of last year, but the unusual rap group is now known all over the world. It makes sense if you think about it. After all, it’s not every day that you see a bunch of grandmother wearing baggy clothes and chains around their necks, and rapping about their rural lifestyle, especially in rural South Korea.

The eight members of the group have known each other since they were young, but they only decided to form a rap group last year. Having grown up in a rural area, they didn’t have a chance to pursue an education, so in 2016, they decided to finally learn to read and write the Korean alphabet, Hangul. One day, Park Jeom-sun, the 81-year-old leader of the group, saw a rap video on the internet and convinced their Hangul teacher to show them how to rap. The rest, as they say, is history.

Suni and the Seven Princesses began wiring lyrics about their rural lifestyle, like picking chili and watermelon in the field, and they staged their first rap performance last year at a school play. They put on modern baggy clothes and jewelry, made funny hand gestures, and seemed to have the time of their lives. the audience loved it and since then Suni and the Seven Princesses have been making appearances at various events around South Korea and on TV shows.

 

“It feels like I’m getting younger … Even if I’m old, I’m excited,” said Park Jeom-sun, aka Suni, adding that she and the Princesses are relieving their youth in a very fun way.

Suni and the Seven Princesses isn’t the only geriatric music group making headlines in Asia. Last year, we featured G-Pop, a boyband whose members are over 65 years old.