Miss Ko is a Taiwanese-American singer-songwriter and rapper signed to Universal Music Group. Ko has released three studio albums and is the winner of Best New Artist of 24th Golden Melody Award in Taiwan, the first rapper/hip-hop artist to win the award.

Miss Ko
Birth nameChristine Ko
Born (1985-09-05) September 5, 1985 (age 39)
Queens, New York, United States
Genres
Occupations
  • singer
  • songwriter
InstrumentVocals
Years active2012–present
Labels

Life and career

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Christine Ko was raised in Queens, New York.[1][2] She graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School and attended Five Towns College.[3][4]

Ko released her first album in 2009, while based in New York.[3][5] She studied Mandarin at National Taiwan Normal University,[3] and during that time participated in a rap competition, which brought her to the attention of an executive at the music label KAO!INC.[6][7] She left a master's program at New York University to pursue her music career in Taiwan.[4] In 2010, Miss Ko was regarded as a "newcomer to the scene," and Meredith Schweig observed that there were no other professional women rappers in Taiwan at the time.[8]

2012–2015: Knock Out and XXXIII

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Ko released her debut album Knock Out on August 15, 2012. Knock Out peaked No. 1 on local music charts and won Ko Best New Artist at the 24th Annual Golden Melody Awards, in addition to "Most Outstanding Asian-American Youth Overseas" that same year.[citation needed]

On December 31, 2014, Ko released her second album XXXIII (33), which featured various artists such as Crowd Lu, Billie, and Amber An.

2016–present: Queen of Queens

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In 2016, Ko signed with Universal Music Group.[9] On December 22, 2016, Ko released her third album Queen of Queens. The album reached No. 1 on i-Tunes and Spotify.

Ko was nominated for Best Female Artist at the 28th Golden Melody Awards in 2017.

On March 27, 2018, Ko was announced as the spokesperson for McDonald's.

Discography

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Albums
  • Knock Out (August 15, 2012)
  • XXXIII (December 31, 2014)
  • Queen of Queens (December 22, 2016)
Collaborations

Other ventures

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On August 14, 2015, Ko performed and threw the ceremonial first pitch for her hometown team, the Mets, at Citi Field.[10]

References

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  1. ^ Singh, Nidhi (March 18, 2019). "This Taiwanese-American Rapper is Kicking Stereotype Butt". Entrepreneur. Retrieved June 15, 2020.
  2. ^ "Rapper Miss Ko sings about her experiences". Straits Times. February 12, 2018. Retrieved June 15, 2020.
  3. ^ a b c Yeung, Stan Karr (October 10, 2017). "Following the Footsteps of Kanye – Goes From a Broken Jaw to Award-Winning International Hip Hop Artist". Jackfroot.
  4. ^ a b Hsu, Winston (November 12, 2013). "Interview Miss Ko, the Missy Elliot of Taiwan". Asian in NY. Retrieved June 15, 2020.
  5. ^ "MIDEM 2015 Taiwan Artists/Miss Ko(葛仲珊)". Taiwan Beats. May 29, 2015. Retrieved June 15, 2020.
  6. ^ "Meet the Taiwanese music sensation from New York, Miss Ko!". Special Broadcasting Service. June 5, 2017. Retrieved June 15, 2020.
  7. ^ Dai, Roy (March 10, 2017). "SXSW 2017 Taiwan Artists: Miss Ko". Taiwan Beats. Retrieved June 15, 2020.
  8. ^ Schweig, Meredith (2016). ""Young Soldiers, One Day We Will Change Taiwan": Masculinity Politics in the Taiwan Rap Scene". Ethnomusicology. 60 (3): 385. doi:10.5406/ethnomusicology.60.3.0383. With the exception of one artist—Miss KO, a Taiwanese-American newcomer to the scene—there are no professional female MCs on the island, and only a handful of professional female hip-hop DJs. Note: Although the article was published in 2016, it covers events that took place shortly after the 2010 Taiwanese local elections.
  9. ^ "葛仲珊不當饒舌鄧麗君 跳槽當環球小姐". China Times. April 14, 2016.
  10. ^ "MLB》大都會台灣之夜昨登場 葛仲珊「饒」著開球(影音)". Liberty Times. August 16, 2015.
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