ILL MO, real name Kang-Sheng Mo, has a Ph.D. in English Literature from Tamkang University and teaches English in Chihlee University as an Assistant Professor. More importantly, he is a member of the rap trio TriPoets and a hip hop writer/curator, who has been in the field of Mandarin rap for almost two decades. The TriPoets is a veteran rap group from northern Taiwan who had independently released the first rap mixtape in Taiwan named "Listen and Speak" in 2004, an official album "The Beginning of Rhymes" (Rock Records) in 2008, and the first book about local rap scene in Taiwan "Da Project: TriPoets" (Studio E-Ban) in the same year. After that, ILL MO founded a hip hop duo named Revival and released its critically acclaimed mixtape with the same name in 2012, and the duo released their album "Portrayal" (Asia Records) in 2014. ILL MO is respected for paving the way for the younger generation by developing rhyming skills in Mandarin as the one of the first “Academic Rappers.” The contribution he has made in the past cannot be overlooked; moreover, he ages gracefully as he started to pay more attention to social issues in his lyrics. For example, “Boom Bap With Conscious” in 2019 stood as the manifestation of an OG’s wisdom mixed with a gritty, hard-knocking boom bap beat. “Lady First” was his latest single, and it had been listed in numerous playlists and generated over 200k plays. It is considered as one of the best hip hop singles in Taiwan by far in year 2020.
ILL MO's debut album BECOMING was released in 2021, which was one of the strongest Mandarin hip hop releases of the year.
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老莫 ILL MO - 我教你 (Teach You)2:52
老莫 ILL MO - Boom Bap With Conscious4:15
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