Name: Lil Cherry
Nationality: Korean
Occupation: Rapper
Current release: Lil Cherry teams up with GOLDBUUDA for their new single “Yummy 88.”
Current event: Lil Cherry and GOLDBUUDA are among the artists performing at the 2026 edition of London's K-Music Festival. For more information and tickets, go here.  

[Read our GOLDBUUDA interview]

If you enjoyed this Lil Cherry interview and would like to find out more about her music, visit her on Instagram. For merch, check out her online store.



What were some of the musical experiences which planted a seed for your interest in hip hop?

I grew up in Miami, and in middle school, Flo Rida came to perform at our Field Day. This was before he blew up with “Apple Bottom Jeans,” so needless to say, I was jamming out and dancing my heart out with my friends.

I also went to a bunch of my friends’ bar/bat mitzvahs, and Pretty Ricky came to perform at one of them. Needless to say, once again, I was mesmerized by the live performance!!! From a young age, I heard hip-hop and R&B wherever I went—even at home through Buuda’s LimeWire downloads and watching BET and MTV on my TV.

Before Lil Cherry, I was debating between these other names (lol): Sunweezyfbaby, Sunny Minaj, and Chungalicious tha Poet. Don’t laugh.

What does the term hip hop mean and stand for today, would you say?

Fundamentally, hip-hop will always symbolize self-expression, honesty, storytelling from the guts, and poetry of the soul.

Today, it also means staying on my toes, practicing gratitude, and working toward retaining a free-spirited mindset.

It also means connection between people and a sense of community through connecting our ears and hearts through music.

Hip hop has always been about a lot more than just music. For you personally, is hip hop a way of life – and if so, in which way?  

The key to my creativity has always stemmed from poetry and storytelling. It’s the story that must unfold that drives my soul, and then the music, melodies, and visuals naturally follow. The need to tell a story is the key behind everything I do.

In that way, yes, hip-hop is a way of life, because without living life to the fullest, there is no story worth telling.

What role do electronic tools and instruments, including AI, play for your creative process?

I honor the roots of hip-hop by paying respect to the legends that I hold a lot of love for. If it wasn’t for them, none of us new-wave artists would be here.

But as far as my own interests in expanding the boundaries of music, I’m far more interested in pushing and experimenting, as you may already know. One of the most fun parts about music is discovering myself through the creative process, so pushing the music forward is very rewarding for me.

Hip-hop will always be the umbrella of what I do, but we enjoy paving our own lane by experimenting and mixing it with electronica, techno, pop, K-pop, hyperpop, and more.

Tell me a bit about the sounds & creative directions, artists & communities, as well as the colleagues & creative hotspots of your current hometown, please. How do they influence your music?

There are lots of creative hotspots in Korea, but I want to give a shoutout to one of my lil brothers who’s really paving his own way through the hyperpop scene right now, and his name is Chilloud.

He’s a self-made producer and artist who also helped create my electronica single “CRYING IN DA CLUB.” He already has so many albums out, and I really enjoy listening to his evolution.

Moreover, the hyperpop/electronica and DJ scenes, as well as the dancer scene, have been getting increasingly more love in Korea, and this has been one of my deepest wishes for years now. I’m giving ’em Rainbow Roses for them all!

The mainstream music market has enough resources and love—now let’s give a round of applause to all the subcultures too, plz.

How do you see the role of sampling in hip hop today?

Sampling will always have a special role in hip-hop because it adds infinite emotions of nostalgia.

People always talk about “timeless music,” and sampling is the beautiful part about that—it makes music, and a moment in time, timeless.

There has always been a close connection between hip hop and jazz. What role does improvisation play in your current creative process?

Improvisation and freestyling are all about being in the here and now. In my opinion, it’s every artist’s homework to learn how to live in the moment and capture a human emotion.

I get wiped by reality sometimes, and stress and worries can easily stack up on my shoulders and weigh down on me and my creativity. Improvising in the booth, freestyling in the car, saying silly random shit, and giving the world my Kevin Gates-type comedic moments are all very important to me.

I take life too seriously sometimes, so staying improvisational is indeed one of my biggest homeworks in life.

It can sometimes seem as though, in hip hop, production is the main force of progress. Do you feel like there is still space for genuinely new ideas for lyrics and vocals as well? If so, what could these look like?

Yes, for sure!

Production and lyrical storytelling go hand in hand, and it’s never fair to say that one is more important than the other. They have to work together, and it’s when we express ’em together that it works the best!

For many artists, life-changing musical experiences take place live. How do you see that yourself?

Yes, I love this question, and it’s the best when I get to meet the fans in person during a live show. Interacting online is special, sure, since we’re in a generation where we can stay connected that way, but it can still feel a little disconnected compared to meeting in person.

It’s really something else—and so much warmer—when I see them in person, especially when they’re chanting all the lyrics to our songs. I love taking pictures with them, talking to them, and getting to know them and their names too. Sometimes true lifelong friendships come out of those moments.

I love their hearts and our genuine moments of connection during shows around the world. Those moments make everything feel real to me.

How, would you say are your live performances and your recording projects connected at the moment? How do they mutually influence and feed off each other?  

Recently, I’ve been working with a new live engineer who helps handle my Auto-Tune on another level. He works with a lot of different rappers in the K-hip-hop scene, including doing Auto-Tune for Show Me the Money live performances.

It’s made my rehearsals more joyous because, for every song, we find different, ultra-specific tones for my vocals depending on what we’re expressing in that song. It adds more of a grungy vibe to my live shows, and I love that right now.