Rain, Big Bang, BoA, TVSQ, Mighty Mouth, Dynamic Duo, and a very large majority of Korean pop music's brightest stars liberally borrow and copy African-American music styles right down to the fashion. If some variants of black culture are so desirable for mass Korean consumption, why aren't black people equally engaged as, at the very least, human, on a fair and individual basis?
Being foreign in Korea already presents challenges, regardless of complexion: getting a cell phone, credit card, one's own apartment and even certain bank services can be unnecessarily difficult because of one's citizenship. Being of color need not and should not be an added burden.
Some Koreans, and I say some because I have been treated quite nicely by a great and many people, should ``critically think" about their racial presumptions and prejudices. Where's the simpatico? The histories and experiences of Koreans and the African Diaspora are unique but not dissimilar, as both struggled and died to gain freedom and demand human dignity from brutal imperialist forces.
Yes, this debate happens back home, too, but I'll just direct your attention to the title of my blog. I think the above paragraphs are things we've all thought about while in Korea, and often well outside the arena of hip-hop: like when people in jeans, t-shirts, Converse, and perms chuckle at the foreigners.
I recall reading in a journal article some years ago about Asia and borrowing hip-hop culture that performers are imitating the domestic acts that have come before, not necessarily the Western groups that inspired them. So a new Korean quote-unquote hip-hop group coming out in baggy jeans is doing it because another Korean group did it, not because an American fifteen years ago made it cool. But one does run the risk of looking foolish by doing something so out of context. See the douche Crown J and his antics, for example.
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The Korean artists may be introducing the fashions to most of the fans. The fans like it because their idols are wearing it. They don't care who else wore those clothes.
Most purveyors of hip hop will be the first to admit that hip hop is a multi-cultural, multi-racial phenomenon, so I don't think that it really matters that Koreans copy hip hop styles. There are a bunch of pretty sick breakdancers here and some of the beats to the hip hop acts are pretty good.
Korean hip hop also seems to deviate from the norm in the fact that the lines don't really rhyme. Listen carefully to a bunch of Korean hip hop, there is rarely any in-verse rhyming they get around it by making an English hook that rhymes.
This is a larger flaw that I am finding within American hip hop as well too. I like Nas feels that hiphip is dying and needs to be replaced with something else more powerful. I'll agree with you that Crown J is a bit of a cunt, but then again, that could be said for Solja boy.
Also a lot of actual M.C.ing happens in r and b songs which I feel ruins a lot of song that otherwise would be good. Just about any Korean pop song, Love ballad or even trot song has a few minutes of somebody saying Englis nonsense and speling out their n to the a-m-e.
Just think of Jewelry, The Wondergirls, and the the very unfortunate Epic high. Epic high came out with a pretty cool song called "One" that unfortunatly had rapping in it. But on the other hand Eminem's new song is a lot like that. I mean I listen to Eminem's "We Made You and kind of think "Wow Eminem made this very same song about 10 years ago and called it "The Real Slim Shady." It's also noteworthy that Eminem is in his mid thirties and still making songs where he makes fun of famous people.
The last problem I see in Korea with hip hip is that it is so perfectionist. I give Big bang a lot of credit because they have a lot of talent. They can all sing and dance well and they also produce their own tracks, but they were artificially raised by their entertainment company. Hip hip in it's true form is a kind of entrepenuership. Young kids who became famous hip hop artists have traditionally made their own tracks and sold mix tapes and earned their street respect. But it seems in Korea that there is a lot of young talent that is scouted and then trained for a few years, then they release a few albums, and then they join the army.
That reminds me of something that I read either on a blog or a discussion board. An African-American woman was teaching English in Korea. A Korean woman went up to her and said, "I like your music."
So if you like hillbilly music, be sure to go up to the nearest white person (any white person will do) and say, "I like your music.
'Tikka-diir,
tikka-diir,
tikka-diir-diir.'"
So, I take it you don't wanna hang with Clown J backstage?
I especially found the fact that "The A/C will be pumping like the Mother F**king north pole all night," apealing. When I worked in a restaurant as a teenager I would always go into the walk in refrigerator to listen to music I was embarrassed to be seen listening to.
As a black American, I wish people would stop stealing from us. First Jazz, then rock and roll, now rap and hip hop. Can't we keep anything for ourselves without whites and others claiming it for themselves? ;-)
By the way, I hate rap and hip hop. The Koreans can have it.
"The histories and experiences of Koreans and the African Diaspora are unique but not dissimilar, as both struggled and died to gain freedom and demand human dignity from brutal imperialist forces," states the esteemed Professor. As a black American I am tired of being portrayed by my own people as a victim. Once we get off the "victim merry-go-round" the better off we will be.
Being oppressed is not something unique to Koreans and blacks. As long as their are differences there will people out there using their own insecurities to commit and justify harm to others. If we were all the same color, someone would discriminate and harm others who are slightly different.
Discrimination and hate is something that is sadly part of the human condition and I am not sure how we can really stop. I think we just have to deal. Fortunately there are good people out there.
Discrimination is not just against another group. Discrimination can happen within the group. Koreans do it to themselves. Lighter Koreans discriminate against darker Koreans. (The is a lot of interest in skin lightening here in Korea.) Blacks in the past and to a certain extent today discriminated against one another. Has anyone heard of the "paper bag" test? If you were darker than a paper bag then you were no go in the eyes of the black elite. This a sad part of our history. I'm sure there is someone out there who does not appreciate me airing our dirty laundry in public, but this stuff has to be said.
So when I hear one of these African-American intellectuals talk about oppression, I shut off. It is time to look towards the future and stop looking in the past.
@ Kool Keith
How can you hate the unwanted bastard child of Jazz and Blues?
That's limiting a person's way to
express themselves. That's like saying only Carribeans can play Reggae Or Mexican's Ranchero.
So Keith did you past the paper bag test? Uncle Tom.
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