SEOUL, Jan 16 — Mnet’s hip-hop competition Show Me The Money is back after a three-year hiatus with its 12th season, and premiered yesterday in South Korea.

The long-running franchise aims to restore the genre’s cultural prominence in South Korea and beyond.

A star-studded producer lineup includes Zico, Crush, Jay Park, Lil Moshpit, Gray, Loco, J-Tong and Hukky Shibaseki.

This season drew a record 36,000 applicants from South Korea and 32 regions worldwide, performing in 24 languages.

The programme keeps its familiar format while adding a spinoff, Show Me The Money: The World of Yaksha, for streaming on Tving.

Producers hope the global scale and diverse languages will showcase hip-hop’s universal appeal and charisma.

The show also seeks to bridge the gap between traditional fans and newer audiences amid waning mainstream interest.